Help me decide on 13" MBAir with 8g RAM

[madrich]

I have an early 2008 MBPro. It's a real work horse. I currently have my memory storage split for Snow Leopard and El Capitan OSX. The latter partition works well for at 129 GB. The SL Partition was used for my work, but I do not need it now, but I will back it up on my Time Machine. The El Capitan partition has about 10 GB free, and I will be deleting data for an additional 10 GB free memory.

1. Will I regret not getting 256 GB memory storage, or should I just get the 128 GB memory storage, and used SD Disk and/or USB memory stick for extra storage? Also, any recommendations for which to use for additional storage between the SD Disk or USB Stick?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Fancuku]

128GB is too little these days.

The 256GB Air is $200 off at Best Buy right now http://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-m...-flash-storage-silver/6444006.p?skuId=6444006

 

[ZapNZs]

For $200 less, IMO it is a toss up.

You can always purchase one of these in the future if you need either 128 or 256 GB storage. It will not be as fast as the internal SSD, but it will be as fast as a 7500 RPM HDD (which works fine for storing larger files like movies, vids, pics, etc.)

Further, $200 buys a very high quality MLC-based 500 GB SSD (or a lower end 750GB-1TB TLC-based SSD.)

 

[ChinkyBob]

I have an early 2008 MBPro. It's a real work horse. I currently have my memory storage split for Snow Leopard and El Capitan OSX. The latter partition works well for at 129 GB. The SL Partition was used for my work, but I do not need it now, but I will back it up on my Time Machine. The El Capitan partition has about 10 GB free, and I will be deleting data for an additional 10 GB free memory.

1. Will I regret not getting 256 GB memory storage, or should I just get the 128 GB memory storage, and used SD Disk and/or USB memory stick for extra storage? Also, any recommendations for which to use for additional storage between the SD Disk or USB Stick?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Get the 256 GB. With a little management that will be more than enough. 128 is just not enough anymore.

 

[Osty]

I opted for the 128GB model with a mind to update it with an OWC module or use USB/SD Cards for increasing storage. Given the woes I read about users going the OWC route, I won't be doing that so in that regard I do regret the decision.

That said, my usage is mostly productivity apps and their associated documents. I make heavy use of cloud storage and my own personal servers so I'm not close to using up the drive yet. I have a couple of low-profile 64GB usb 3.0 cards I picked up for A$35 and I use these for things like my iPhoto library or videos and this works fine for me.

As always, YMMV.

 

[erichui84]

1. Will I regret not getting 256 GB memory storage, or should I just get the 128 GB memory storage, and used SD Disk and/or USB memory stick for extra storage? Also, any recommendations for which to use for additional storage between the SD Disk or USB Stick?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Don't know about you, but I know for sure I would. 128GB definitely won't be enough these days.

 

[wjw0111]

I have an early 2008 MBPro. It's a real work horse. I currently have my memory storage split for Snow Leopard and El Capitan OSX. The latter partition works well for at 129 GB. The SL Partition was used for my work, but I do not need it now, but I will back it up on my Time Machine. The El Capitan partition has about 10 GB free, and I will be deleting data for an additional 10 GB free memory.

1. Will I regret not getting 256 GB memory storage, or should I just get the 128 GB memory storage, and used SD Disk and/or USB memory stick for extra storage? Also, any recommendations for which to use for additional storage between the SD Disk or USB Stick?

Thanks in advance for your help.

LOL. I love all the posts saying that 128GB just isn't enough "these days". Not sure what new data people are storing on their machines "these days" that they weren't before. I'd actually argue that you will likely need less "these days" since a lot of big storage hogs have moved to the cloud.

Depends on your own style of course, but I don't load all kinds of MP3s or Videos now, because I listen to Apple Music, watch a few movies and TV shows through iTunes, and stream from Netflix. My photos live in iCloud. Now to be transparent, I do have a 256GB drive because I wanted the new MacBook Pro and it starts at that. Current storage situation: 221GB Free of 250GB available.

All that said, if you don't make use of a lot of cloud storage, or your work requires you to have lots of big files on your drive maybe you need the 256 GB. I think this is a YMMV situation, so I doubt any advice here will be useful to you - you just need to ask yourself what you plan on storing on your computer. The "these days" argument is silly, as I have steadily stored less and less on my computer over the past 5 years.

 

[erichui84]

LOL. I love all the posts saying that 128GB just isn't enough "these days". Not sure what new data people are storing on their machines "these days" that they weren't before. I'd actually argue that you will likely need less "these days" since a lot of big storage hogs have moved to the cloud.

Depends on your own style of course, but I don't load all kinds of MP3s or Videos now, because I listen to Apple Music, watch a few movies and TV shows through iTunes, and stream from Netflix. My photos live in iCloud. Now to be transparent, I do have a 256GB drive because I wanted the new MacBook Pro and it starts at that. Current storage situation: 221GB Free of 250GB available.

All that said, if you don't make use of a lot of cloud storage, or your work requires you to have lots of big files on your drive maybe you need the 256 GB. I think this is a YMMV situation, so I doubt any advice here will be useful to you - you just need to ask yourself what you plan on storing on your computer. The "these days" argument is silly, as I have steadily stored less and less on my computer over the past 5 years.

Like you said, how everyone uses their space is different.

I don't keep any videos or much music on my computer but I had a 256GB SSD on my Macbook Air that had about 10GB free space left.

Photos are getting bigger in size due to higher resolution, and not everyone likes the idea of having photos on the cloud only.

XCode installed on my mac has been growing in size over the years (last time I recall seeing it using more than 60GB of space, I think it's to do with these iOS files of different versions required by xcode)

The applications that are being installed are getting bigger in size most of the time (I know some do go smaller but most do not from my impression).

I've recently got a new macbook pro with 500GB SSD, and I have even installed everything yet and I have already used 200GB of space without any videos or Music.

I have been using my Macbook air 2011 and had about 150GB used of space and before I sold it 2 months ago I only had about 10GB of free space.

I do make use of Cloud storage like Dropbox and Google drive and I definitely want them to be synced on my laptop.

I don't get how other people's argument (or mine) is any sillier than yours.

 

[blesscheese]

I think the knee-jerk response is to recommend the larger SSD, and you certainly can't go wrong. Just look at how much drive space you are using right now & how much you plan on carrying over. Plus, ask yourself if you are going to get into any storage intensive activities, like photos, movies, etc.

I would use caution when thinking about using SD cards, unless they are really really fast they are going to be dog slow compared to your SSD. Also, while it is true you can upgrade the SSD later, with an OWC drive or whatever, people haven't always been happy with those.

FWIW, B&H Photo has the 256GB model for $999 as well, and you may not need to pay tax, depending on where you live:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1128913-REG/apple_z0rj_mjvg2_13_3_macbook_air_notebook.html

 

[madrich]

I think the knee-jerk response is to recommend the larger SSD, and you certainly can't go wrong. Just look at how much drive space you are using right now & how much you plan on carrying over. Plus, ask yourself if you are going to get into any storage intensive activities, like photos, movies, etc.

I would use caution when thinking about using SD cards, unless they are really really fast they are going to be dog slow compared to your SSD. Also, while it is true you can upgrade the SSD later, with an OWC drive or whatever, people haven't always been happy with those.

FWIW, B&H Photo has the 256GB model for $999 as well, and you may not need to pay tax, depending on where you live:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1128913-REG/apple_z0rj_mjvg2_13_3_macbook_air_notebook.html

Thank you and everyone else that has responded. You have helped me.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Thank you and everyone else that has responded. You have helped me.

Well, as someone who also subscribes to the school of thought that 128GB is not enough "these days", my iTunes library alone (which is only music, and is entirely comprised of CDs) takes up around 100GB.

So, yes, as a minimum, "these days", I'd recommend 256GB. My own personal preference is 512GB, but that is just me.

 

[Meister]

Depends on your usage. If the macbook will be your only computer then 128gb (120gb in reality) is very, very little.
[doublepost=1491123005][/doublepost]

Well, as someone who also subscribes to the school of thought that 128GB is not enough "these days", my iTunes library alone (which is only music, and is entirely comprised of CDs) takes up around 100GB.

So, yes, as a minimum, "these days", I'd recommend 256GB. My own personal preference is 512GB, but that is just me.

you should move your library onto an external hd and just keep the music on your ipod.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Depends on your usage. If the macbook will be your only computer then 128gb (120gb in reality) is very, very little.
[doublepost=1491123005][/doublepost]you should move your library onto an external hd and just keep the music on your ipod.

No, that doesn't appeal. And neither does the Cloud, or the rentier model of music.

Besides, I'm one of those who likes to carry my entire music - and every other - library around with me.

 

[Fancuku]

Besides, I'm one of those who likes to carry my entire music - and every other - library around with me.

Same here. My music library is 130GB (320kbps mp3) and I have to always have it on all of my computers.
256GB is the minimum storage that I need.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Same here. My music library is 130GB (320kbps mp3) and I have to always have it on all of my computers.
256GB is the minimum storage that I need.

Agreed.

256GB is the minimum that I would be able to live with, but 512GB is even better.

 

[blesscheese]

Agreed.

256GB is the minimum that I would be able to live with, but 512GB is even better.

LOL, and 1TB is better than 512GB...

I get the concept of networking, network storage, etc. and I understand that in "the future" as Steve Jobs envisioned it, we will all have personal and collective clouds, etc. (all impervious to hacking and malware and snooping and theft, etc.), so you don't have to have everything on your drive, you can just reach out and grab what you need, when you want it.

But, right now, if I have everything on my computer, then I don't have to worry about networking, connecting to a cloud, or whatever. And I gotta tell you, this whole cloud thing is way overblown, at least in my area, where sometimes internet connections are dicey and speeds aren't that great.

So yeah, I want the biggest drive I can get, and I want everything on my computer with me, at all times.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

LOL, and 1TB is better than 512GB...

I get the concept of networking, network storage, etc. and I understand that in "the future" as Steve Jobs envisioned it, we will all have personal and collective clouds, etc. (all impervious to hacking and malware and snooping and theft, etc.), so you don't have to have everything on your drive, you can just reach out and grab what you need, when you want it.

But, right now, if I have everything on my computer, then I don't have to worry about networking, connecting to a cloud, or whatever. And I gotta tell you, this whole cloud thing is way overblown, at least in my area, where sometimes internet connections are dicey and speeds aren't that great.

So yeah, I want the biggest drive I can get, and I want everything on my computer with me, at all times.

Well, I tend to view "the future" more in terms of an "à la carte" menu - as in I pick and choose which features of it I need - rather than ploughing your way through the consumption of the entire "table d'hôte" menu, which suggests that if something is available, you must choose to avail of it.

No, thank you.

 

[madrich]

Thanks everyone for their help.

FYI:
I purchased an MacBook Air 13" early 2015 with 8g ram and 256g storage memory with only 8 battery cycles (barely used) for $750 + shipping. AppleCare expires in July 2017.

 

[Johnny365]

Congrats! Enjoy!

 

[ChinkyBob]

LOL. I love all the posts saying that 128GB just isn't enough "these days". Not sure what new data people are storing on their machines "these days" that they weren't before. I'd actually argue that you will likely need less "these days" since a lot of big storage hogs have moved to the cloud.

Depends on your own style of course, but I don't load all kinds of MP3s or Videos now, because I listen to Apple Music, watch a few movies and TV shows through iTunes, and stream from Netflix. My photos live in iCloud. Now to be transparent, I do have a 256GB drive because I wanted the new MacBook Pro and it starts at that. Current storage situation: 221GB Free of 250GB available.

All that said, if you don't make use of a lot of cloud storage, or your work requires you to have lots of big files on your drive maybe you need the 256 GB. I think this is a YMMV situation, so I doubt any advice here will be useful to you - you just need to ask yourself what you plan on storing on your computer. The "these days" argument is silly, as I have steadily stored less and less on my computer over the past 5 years.

Good response. You are clearly more organised than me.
I have data all over the place and photos and music copied across multiple different usb hard drives. I try always buy the largest HD I can afford becuase well, you wont regret having too much space as opposed to having too little.
Maybe buying larger and larger hard drives is part of my problem as i have less inclination to organise my data properly. Your Email is a bit of a wake up call for me so thanks for that.
Note. I use windows via bootcamp, that alone requires significant extra diskspace.

 

[wjw0111]

Good response. You are clearly more organised than me.
I have data all over the place and photos and music copied across multiple different usb hard drives. I try always buy the largest HD I can afford becuase well, you wont regret having too much space as opposed to having too little.
Maybe buying larger and larger hard drives is part of my problem as i have less inclination to organise my data properly. Your Email is a bit of a wake up call for me so thanks for that.
Note. I use windows via bootcamp, that alone requires significant extra diskspace.

It's an evolving process, certainly doesn't happen overnight. Music ceased being something that I needed to store once Apple Music launched. I can easily justify the cost since I used to spend more than that on CD's every month back in those days. But some things just take a long time to come around to and they're different for everyone. For me it was always photos, I just never wanted to put them in the cloud, and I'm not sure why. When I finally bit the bullet it was really as simple as just dragging my giant folder of pictures into the Photos app and that was it, now everything lives in the cloud

Since that post I actually returned the MacBook Pro and went with the 12" MacBook instead. Haven't loaded all my apps on yet so I'm now actually at 227GB free out of 250, haha!