How Much SSD Capcity is enough for you? - 128GB v.s. 256GB

[jonwilks]

How Much SSD Capcity is enough for you? - 128GB v.s. 256GB

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Preface: I intended to make a poll, however I cannot. I am assuming it is because I seldom/ever post.

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I am Interested in what option people would choose and why...

Things to consider:
- Price
- Different Dev Enviorments
- Application Space Reqs.
- Media/Content Space Reqs.
- VM's
- Multiple OS's / Partitions
- Gaming
- How the cloud effects it now/future
- Other subjects I forgot....


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I'm going to be picking up a Air once the refresh hits. Trying to sort out for myself what my needs are as far as SSD Capacity is concerned. I am a heavy desktop user who has not owned a laptop in about 5 years.

I feel like a could just squeak by on 128GB... but I would hate to be limited.
Of course price is keeping me back which ties into the fact I must max out the ram for future-proof-sake.

All sorts of things keep coming to mind... can Spotify replace iTunes Lib for me on my MBA?! Ok, I better stop before I start rambling... </rambling>

NOTE: if admins feel like adding a poll please do...

 

[ghsDUDE]

If it's JUST an on the go (meaning you have a main desktop/laptop) you should be fine with 128GB. I want an 11" really bad and hope the rumors of the base 128GB is true. I believe a jump to 256GB will be quite expensive. If you look at the jump right now on the 13" Air from 128 to 256...it isn't worth it for me.

Edit - Keep iTunes for now. I personally have 7000+ songs and love HAVING them. As in they're mine. Spotify seems cool but with me already having Netflix I can't justify two subscription based payments for music and movies.

 

[jackyyeow]

Easy. Go for the biggest SSD you can afford. I don't see why you should hold back when you have the money to spend, unless you have tight budget.

 

[xUKHCx]

NOTE: if admins feel like adding a poll please do...

You should be able to add a poll, however I have added one for you. If you want any of the options removed/changed let me know.

 

[Hellhammer]

I have an iMac with roughly 4TB of storage connected to it so 128GB was a no-brainer for me. I only have some music and my critical apps in it, and occasionally I move some movies or TV shows to it. To be honest, even 64GB would be fine for me.

 

[clyde2801]

Yeah, but keep in mind that media may be handled just fine on the iCloud for $25 bucks per year. Airdrop may allow you to have to keep copies of documents, etc., on your mobile machine full time. You may just pull what you want off of the cloud, mess with it, and put the new version back when you're done.

And if they bump up specs (or at least the 11" starts off at 128 gigs rather than 64) you may be able to get away with the base version, or a bump to 256 may be cheaper than on the current lineup.

 

[mrklaw]

I voted 128GB. The key for me is my photos. I have a fairly small (25GB) iphoto library and plan to move to lightroom soon. *if* I keep that on my computer then space might get a bit tight over time. I should be able to store the photos on my NAS, but then speed will be affected for browsing/editing etc.

My other documents which are also synced online with dropbox don't take a huge amount of space.

ipod apps start adding up after a while (I probably have a couple hundred apps).

With ios bringing wifi sync, I might switch my itunes storage to my mac mini and free up the space on my laptop.

 

[jonwilks]

You should be able to add a poll, however I have added one for you. If you want any of the options removed/changed let me know.

Thanks, I did a search and it seems as though other "newbies" had a similar problem. Regardless thanks.

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@jackyyeow - Very simple approach, and thats basically what it comes down too. However I feel I can afford either or, but in my case its whether or not I NEED it to comfortably compute.

Could use the extra scheckels to buy a fancy new lens for my camera rig....

 

[Pogopuschel]

Right now I'm only using about 200GB on my primary MBP. That includes pictures, movies, music and virtual machines which I don't really need on the go and easily could put on an external disk. I would still keep the music on my iPhone though. Spotify is not an option for me since I'm mostly listening to not-so-popular tracks.

It all comes down to price for me. If the price difference stays at $300 I'll go with 128GB. That would mean I need to change my habits and well, actually delete stuff sometimes or move more of it to the cloud.

How about iCloud? I have to admit that I still don't know how exactly it will work. I thought it was mainly a synchronization service. Does it actually allow you to *store* stuff (pictures, music, docs) without counting towards your storage limit and only download/view/listen what you want? The big things are music and pictures.

 

[Cynicalone]

I have a Mac Pro with TB's of storage space available. So the Air can be small and still work just fine.

128GB is small but I've made it work for almost 3 years now on my Air.

 

[Brenzo]

While 128 is enough considering that I have another computer at home hooked up to a 2 TB external, I'd rather upgrade to 256 if it's a somewhat affordable option in the refreshed 11" Airs. My photo library alone is over 60 GB and while I don't plan to always be editing photos on the go, it's nice to have access to my most recent ones.

 

[jonwilks]

I have been waiting to click one of the poll radio buttons... I feel like I am now closer to clicking 128GB. I as many do, have ALOT of data on my main rig... I am buying the MBA strictly because its the first laptop I beleive meets the requirements of "portable". Maybe I just have to understand I can't bring everything with me and learn how to get easy access to what I need (dropbox, spotify, airdrop, netflix)

 

[blueroom]

NAS with Time Machine, if I need it I can get it anywhere.

 

[nickdag]

256GB for me

Some months back I decided to get a 256GB SSD. (Actually, I got the Intel 300GB, but 256 was the cut-off.) I'm very, very pleased with the purchase.

I have a single MBP13 that is my primary (and only) computer. I have 1 external drive for TM backups. I wanted all my files (including music, vids, and pictures) on my computer to simplify storage and backup.

With 128GB I would have had to play musical chairs with my files, which means I would have ended up getting annoyed and/or not backing up everything consistently.

My priority was simplification & speed with as little maintenance as possible and without having to worry about exceeding capacity.

 

[maclaptop]

NAS with Time Machine, if I need it I can get it anywhere.

Likewise.

 

[jonwilks]

NAS with Time Machine, if I need it I can get it anywhere.

I am working on a dedicated NAS (in my head for the time being) ... envious of your solution. I just have a giant windows Rig packed with drives currently duplicating. I have far to many raw picture files to hold out much longer.

 

[PDFierro]

As I was preparing for a 11-inch Air (which will be my only computer and my first Mac) I was thinking about how I was going to fit everything onto 128GB. I could, but I'd be limited.

My storage space would fall somewhere between 128 and 256, so I'm glad it looks like 256 will be an option on the 11-inch. Now I don't really have to worry about it.

I'm a writer, so I won't be doing anything too intensive ... but I do plan to be putting a lot of videos on the Air, so I will need that extra storage space.

 

[Invisible Elf]

I have yet to buy a Mac, but I have lived with an 80gb HD in my windows laptop for the past 6 years, and this is with a windows folder that takes up 12gb. At the moment I have 10gb free and no problems at all. I will probably be fine with 128gb when I eventually buy the MBA.

 

[Duke15]

I travel A LOT so I plan just get the std SSD then using a portable hard drive that I'll keep in my suitcase so either 128 or 256 should be fine

 

[Chilulu]

I currently use a MBP 13" with a 160GB (X25-M) SSD installed. I keep all media files (mainly iTunes music) local and use an external hard drive for TM backups. Also, I do quite a bit a virtualization with Fusion for studying/experimentation. Thanks to thin provisioning, I still have 40GB or so free, but the fear of running out of space is always there...

So, even though theoretically I could get by with 128GB, if there is an upgrade option for 256GB I would get that in a heartbeat. (As long as it's not +$500 or something like that.) Basically, if I get the new MBA, it would replace my mid-2010 MBP, so it has to have 128-256GB for storage, and memory upgradeable to 8GB.

Anyone know for sure if the new MBA will have a field replaceable SSD or if it's going to be soldered-on as rumored?

 

[jclardy]

I'm going with the smallest one, as I already have a MBP with 500GB HDD which I use for video editing, photos, music, graphics etc.

I also have a 1.5TB external, and will probably get an even larger external once I need more space.

I am not planning on installing Windows in a bootcamp partition like I have on my MBP, so the entire space would be for OS X. Also, no music library (Streaming from my main machine/Spotify), no videos/photos (Unless I am just offloading them temporarily from my camera) means I should be more than fine with 128GB, and probably would even be fine with the current 64GB.

 

[Davidkoh]

128 would be enough for me. I have all my video files/other data on my HTPC which has around 6 TB of storage, getting another 6 soon since it's almost filled. Then I can just stream it to my laptop, or take a select few with me if im going on a flight. For music I use Spotify so that takes little space.

 

[clyde2801]

I travel A LOT so I plan just get the std SSD then using a portable hard drive that I'll keep in my suitcase so either 128 or 256 should be fine

Doesn't sound very portable if you have to keep it in a suitcase....

 

[WhoDatWayne]

I would love 256! keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[radiohead14]

the more the merrier

my music collection alone is almost 200GB