2021 and still only 256 GB in Apple Laptops

[majormike]

Back in 2016, I happily switched to Windows 10 because Apple couldn't offer me things I needed for a reasonable price.

Back in 2020, I got really excited, seeing an in-house based chip at a great price point with plenty of battery and portability, to be only disappointed by the mere 256 Gigabytes of storage it comes with.

What upsets me equally is then obviously again the price point for which you go from 256 to 512 Gigabytes. I mean, 50 Euro would be realistic, 100 to 120 I'd be willing to give for the brand premium but 250 is just ludacris.

I don't understand how people just suck up these rip-off prices from a company which claims to care for their customer and user experience.

Even as a student, 256 are not going to be enough. Just papers and docs are about 200 Gigabytes every semester for me and with which memory am I going to install apps now?

These machines don't even come with an sd-card Slot for memory extension.

The only person who'd be able to survive with 256 Gigabytes of non-upgradable storage would be my grandma and she'd probably meet the storage's capacity at some point as well.

I'd love to get an M1 device but I'm just very sensible to being ripped of and will probably pick a new Ryzen 5000 laptop up, which probably won't look as nice as the M1, won't have an equally good display and probably half the battery life but at least I'll get upgradable storage, almost twice the processing power of the M1 and upgradable Ram.

I was really enticed to go back to Apple but their business practices just kept me from going back to an old beloved brand.

 

[jerryk]

Sounds like you need to get a system with more storage. I am a developer and can get by fine with 256 with my cloud accounts and local NAS. So I appreciate the lower price.

You should buy the Ryzen machine.

 

[majormike]

Sounds like you need to get a system with more storage. I am a developer and can get by fine with 256 with my cloud accounts and local NAS. So I appreciate the lower price.

You should buy the Ryzen machine.

The point of a laptop is to be portable wherever you are. With cloud accounts and NAS you pretty much compensate obviously for the lack of standard space.

I don't like the idea of uploading personal data to a cloud and a NAS isn't really portable.

You know, if i didn't give a **** about Apple, I wouldn't have put up the energy to make such a post on a board I deem frequented by most Apple Users.

 

[chabig]

It's very simple. Buy what you need. Many people don't need or want more than 256GB so why would you make them pay for it? How many times do we have to hear that "choice is good" but then when given choices they complain.

 

[glenthompson]

200gb of data per semester sounds excessive. I have over 600 books on my MacBook Air and they only take up 17gb of space. My Photos library is over 10k images and just 50gb. What I don't have a lot of is videos and music. Those I keep on a NAS and move them over as needed.

 

[Quackers]

I've only browsed lightly at the Microsoft Surface laptops but aren't they the same, storage-wise?
Some I looked at had just 128GB

 

[Kelly Jones]

I do wish that Apple charged less for incremental upgrades. It seems like they would sell a greater number of Macbooks and they would make up for the lesser margin with volume. That said, I don't think they are treating customers with poor service just because they charge more for. It sounds like the Ryzen system is a better fit for you. Some of the new Ryzen systems coming out this year are great. It's all about tradeoffs and which ones you prefer.

 

[Kelly Jones]

200gb of data per semester sounds excessive. I have over 600 books on my MacBook Air and they only take up 17gb of space. My Photos library is over 10k images and just 50gb. What I don't have a lot of is videos and music. Those I keep on a NAS and move them over as needed.

And in 2 semesters, the 512GB system will also be at or near capacity. In two years a 1TB system will be nearly full. Hopefully the OP can archive on a regular basis.

 

[beach bum]

As a student myself, I don’t consider my course work to be personal since I’m emailing assignments every week, and 200gb seems rather excessive for course work alone. Maybe a solution would be to keep purely ‘personal’ documents on the internal drive and invest in a portable ssd or two which are fairly cheap now if you don’t want to consider a cloud based option? Also, once you’ve finished each semester, maybe put that information in the cloud and use the portable for your immediate course work? Apple laptops really are prime—my opinion only, and I think that there might be other solutions for your storage needs that might work for you with the base 256gb.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Back in 2016, I happily switched to Windows 10 because Apple couldn't offer me things I needed for a reasonable price.

Back in 2020, I got really excited, seeing an in-house based chip at a great price point with plenty of battery and portability, to be only disappointed by the mere 256 Gigabytes of storage it comes with.

What upsets me equally is then obviously again the price point for which you go from 256 to 512 Gigabytes. I mean, 50 Euro would be realistic, 100 to 120 I'd be willing to give for the brand premium but 250 is just ludacris.

I don't understand how people just suck up these rip-off prices from a company which claims to care for their customer and user experience.

Even as a student, 256 are not going to be enough. Just papers and docs are about 200 Gigabytes every semester for me and with which memory am I going to install apps now?

These machines don't even come with an sd-card Slot for memory extension.

The only person who'd be able to survive with 256 Gigabytes of non-upgradable storage would be my grandma and she'd probably meet the storage's capacity at some point as well.

I'd love to get an M1 device but I'm just very sensible to being ripped of and will probably pick a new Ryzen 5000 laptop up, which probably won't look as nice as the M1, won't have an equally good display and probably half the battery life but at least I'll get upgradable storage, almost twice the processing power of the M1 and upgradable Ram.

I was really enticed to go back to Apple but their business practices just kept me from going back to an old beloved brand.

Apple isn't ripping anyone off with their laptops. The problem is you don't want to pay Apple prices and still want the perks. The problem isn't Apple, its your false expectation that a business should only charge what you determine is acceptable for everyone.

Not a well thought out rant.

 

[ivnj]

256 is enough for me too. And for the rest I have a few externals.

 

[majormike]

As a student myself, I don’t consider my course work to be personal since I’m emailing assignments every week, and 200gb seems rather excessive for course work alone. Maybe a solution would be to keep purely ‘personal’ documents on the internal drive and invest in a portable ssd or two which are fairly cheap now if you don’t want to consider a cloud based option? Also, once you’ve finished each semester, maybe put that information in the cloud and use the portable for your immediate course work? Apple laptops really are prime—my opinion only, and I think that there might be other solutions for your storage needs that might work for you with the base 256gb.

Whatever I had during a semester I put on an external drive but 256 saturates for me so easily, i find it rather surprising how many people are fine with 256.

Sure, on my 9900k windows machine for Pro Tools sessions, 256 is fine as long as I don't install another DAW! If I were to have Pro Tools, Studio one and FL Studio for example, I'd need 500 easily. On my PC, it is not an issue because everything else is on separate SSDs.

Sure you could use an external drive for expansion but depending on which apps you install, 256 wouldn't even suffice without actual files or separate data. Or there wouldn't be any more room for additional files.

Is it really an absurd demand to have 500 Gigabytes in a laptop of a company who cares about user satisfaction?

Look, even my sister and my brother in law bought storage expansion in the first year they got their 256 GB macbooks in 2015 through the SD card slot and they use it for the most basic tasks. Sadly, there is non on the M1.

 

[ArPe]

The whole computer industry is offering 256 GB on base model laptops.

 

[LuisN]

Back in 2016, I happily switched to Windows 10 because Apple couldn't offer me things I needed for a reasonable price.

Back in 2020, I got really excited, seeing an in-house based chip at a great price point with plenty of battery and portability, to be only disappointed by the mere 256 Gigabytes of storage it comes with.

What upsets me equally is then obviously again the price point for which you go from 256 to 512 Gigabytes. I mean, 50 Euro would be realistic, 100 to 120 I'd be willing to give for the brand premium but 250 is just ludacris.

I don't understand how people just suck up these rip-off prices from a company which claims to care for their customer and user experience.

Even as a student, 256 are not going to be enough. Just papers and docs are about 200 Gigabytes every semester for me and with which memory am I going to install apps now?

These machines don't even come with an sd-card Slot for memory extension.

The only person who'd be able to survive with 256 Gigabytes of non-upgradable storage would be my grandma and she'd probably meet the storage's capacity at some point as well.

I'd love to get an M1 device but I'm just very sensible to being ripped of and will probably pick a new Ryzen 5000 laptop up, which probably won't look as nice as the M1, won't have an equally good display and probably half the battery life but at least I'll get upgradable storage, almost twice the processing power of the M1 and upgradable Ram.

I was really enticed to go back to Apple but their business practices just kept me from going back to an old beloved brand.

You are studying too much. 200 GB is 44.4 X the size of the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica :
Britannica 2010 Student & Home Edition DVD-ROM

Minimum Installation Size: 1.96 GB
Full Installation Size: 4.5 GB

 

[beach bum]

Whatever I had during a semester I put on an external drive but 256 saturates for me so easily, i find it rather surprising how many people are fine with 256.

Sure, on my 9900k windows machine for Pro Tools sessions, 256 is fine as long as I don't install another DAW! If I were to have Pro Tools, Studio one and FL Studio for example, I'd need 500 easily. On my PC, it is not an issue because everything else is on separate SSDs.

Sure you could use an external drive for expansion but depending on which apps you install, 256 wouldn't even suffice without actual files or separate data. Or there wouldn't be any more room for additional files.

Is it really an absurd demand to have 500 Gigabytes in a laptop of a company who cares about user satisfaction?

Look, even my sister and my brother in law bought storage expansion in the first year they got their 256 GB macbooks in 2015 through the SD card slot and they use it for the most basic tasks. Sadly, there is non on the M1.

No, it’s not absurd, but it may take a while for Apple to get where you want them to... remember 16gb? However, as long as Apple is still serving those who happily (or not) operate with 256gb, they have no reason to up the base storage. Apple has multiple storage tiers for each perceived need. It’s up to you to decide what will work best for your use and if Apple is the right platform.

 

[Falhófnir]

I definitely think they stuck with 128GB for too long, but 256GB for the lower end machines is a much more workable minimum. The higher end machines starting at 512GB is also welcome, the 2016-19 15" MacBook Pros having 256GB when starting at $2,399 was very stingy in 2016 and ridiculous by 2019.

 

[bobcomer]

Back in 2016, I happily switched to Windows 10 because Apple couldn't offer me things I needed for a reasonable price.

Back in 2020, I got really excited, seeing an in-house based chip at a great price point with plenty of battery and portability, to be only disappointed by the mere 256 Gigabytes of storage it comes with.

What upsets me equally is then obviously again the price point for which you go from 256 to 512 Gigabytes. I mean, 50 Euro would be realistic, 100 to 120 I'd be willing to give for the brand premium but 250 is just ludacris.

256G is common in the Windows world too, even with desktops. Most people don't need more than that.

Now for me, I have 4 PC's (2 are Mac's) and 2 NAS's for a total of about 45TB. I'm positively anal about backups.

 

[DieselFiend1989]

Sounds like you answered your own “question”. What do you want... lots of storage for relatively cheap? Or an overall nicer experience(fit and finish, os, ui, screen, etc) that you will have to pay a bit more for? Oh, and don’t forget, those windows laptops will not last as long. So figure replacement into your budget. Personally, there is a 2011 MBP that was purchased used in 2013 and has made the rounds in my family... gave it 8gb ram, swapped in a 240gb ssd and put in a new cooling fan at the end of last year and the old girl is still chugging along with no other repairs or upgrades(still get several hours out of the original battery at over 1100cycles). Thats why I pay for Apple crap. When was the last time you heard about a 10 year old windows laptop still putting in work? Of course, you CAN replace a few $400 laptops for the cost of a macbook. YMMV

 

[Maconplasma]

Sounds like you answered your own “question”. What do you want... lots of storage for relatively cheap? Or an overall nicer experience(fit and finish, os, ui, screen, etc) that you will have to pay a bit more for? Oh, and don’t forget, those windows laptops will not last as long. So figure replacement into your budget. Personally, there is a 2011 MBP that was purchased used in 2013 and has made the rounds in my family... gave it 8gb ram, swapped in a 240gb ssd and put in a new cooling fan at the end of last year and the old girl is still chugging along with no other repairs or upgrades(still get several hours out of the original battery at over 1100cycles). Thats why I pay for Apple crap. When was the last time you heard about a 10 year old windows laptop still putting in work? Of course, you CAN replace a few $400 laptops for the cost of a macbook. YMMV

256G is common in the Windows world too, even with desktops. Most people don't need more than that.

Now for me, I have 4 PC's (2 are Mac's) and 2 NAS's for a total of about 45TB. I'm positively anal about backups.

You guys are both wasting your time. If you look at the OP's post history he's constantly complaining about the M1 Macs and complaining because Windows doesn't run on M1 Macs. Nothing positive to say including this rant of his now.

 

[majormike]

Sounds like you answered your own “question”. What do you want... lots of storage for relatively cheap? Or an overall nicer experience(fit and finish, os, ui, screen, etc) that you will have to pay a bit more for? Oh, and don’t forget, those windows laptops will not last as long. So figure replacement into your budget. Personally, there is a 2011 MBP that was purchased used in 2013 and has made the rounds in my family... gave it 8gb ram, swapped in a 240gb ssd and put in a new cooling fan at the end of last year and the old girl is still chugging along with no other repairs or upgrades(still get several hours out of the original battery at over 1100cycles). Thats why I pay for Apple crap. When was the last time you heard about a 10 year old windows laptop still putting in work? Of course, you CAN replace a few $400 laptops for the cost of a macbook. YMMV

That's a myth and it doesn't count for current Apple Macbooks, internal components-wise, when it comes to capacitors, resistors and general power layout designs, they are pretty average. Just watch videos of Louis Rossman who repairs them on a daily basis, before the M1, Apple put the rail which powers the backlight of the display next to the power outlet rail which leads to many defects of the backlight lead being fried when it shorts through dust in the device.

The old macbooks endured very well but they had better board designs.

When it comes to Windows Laptops, there are many which come with 512 GB of storage and when they are upgraded, it's about 100 additionally.

Dell XPS Laptops I'd say are direct competitors which come with 512 Gigabytes standard.

It is just unacceptable to me for a "premium" brand to equip laptops with such few storage space.

To upgrade the base model from 8 to 16 gb and 500 gb storage nearly 500 Euro, that's just too much. The type of drive they are using and the ram are together 150 max. To add another 150 would be fine for the apple premium but they just take unnecessarily money based on how much people would border on finding it unacceptable.

 

[majormike]

You guys are both wasting your time. If you look at the OP's post history he's constantly complaining about the M1 Macs and complaining because Windows doesn't run on M1 Macs. Nothing positive to say including this rant of his now.

I've owned two Mac Pros, two Macbook Pros, a Mac Mini and a Macbook Air so don't take guesses from the top of your head.

There was a time when Apple made sure users received enough headroom in storage and otherwise gave the user the ability to expand it afterwards. Now that the encryption chip is on the processor itself, they could easily allow swappable storage and there would even be room for it with small m.2 drives.

 

[Buck987]

256 works for me, if it didn't I would pay for more....pretty simple logic.

 

[Maconplasma]

I've owned two Mac Pros, two Macbook Pros, a Mac Mini and a Macbook Air so don't take guesses from the top of your head.

What guesses? This has nothing to do with what I said. Unless you're among the many who tend to state every Mac they've owned after they've been called out for their Apple trashing. ?

 

[Maconplasma]

When it comes to Windows Laptops, there are many which come with 512 GB of storage and when they are upgraded, it's about 100 additionally.

Dell XPS Laptops I'd say are direct competitors which come with 512 Gigabytes standard.

It is just unacceptable to me for a "premium" brand to equip laptops with such few storage space.

Then why are you here? You even made it clear in your original post that you are considering another Windows laptop. I'd say go for it. You're praising Windows machines and you're stating over and over how you feel Apple is cheating you in regards to base storage. Simple, don't buy a Mac. Not sure what you were going to accomplish by this rant? Apple is not reading your posts and they will make changes when they see fit. Get the Dell. That sounds like the right machine for you.

 

[Maconplasma]

Just watch videos of Louis Rossman who repairs them on a daily basis,

LMAO! That's all I needed to read. LR the biggest Apple hater on YouTube. Not only that he's not an Apple authorized repair service. Wouldn't trust him with a free repair. He trashes Apple to get YouTube clicks.