My apps almost take up 500 GB, so no, it's not enough. It is entirely based on your personal needs.
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Is 512GB Enough?
- Thread starter tygurr
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I can only comment from a desktop point of view, and windows at that. I have always used laptops until Covid, then we went completely remote for me. I build a desktop but my work, and more importantly, the proprietary software we used, required me to have a lot of disk space, both for backup and to have redundancy because I could not have downtime.
I now have a 1TB NVMe, a 1 TB SSD, a 2 TB SSD and a 2 TB HDD inside and a 1 TB external HDD and 500 GB external SSD. I had run into issues on my boot drive as that is where I keep my most used programs and certain data. I keep all other data on the 1 TB SSD and back that all up to the 2TB SSD. And back all that up to my NAS.
And then at the beginning of last year we changed software vendors and it all became cloud based. I now use 206GB on my 1TB NVMe, less than 200GB on my 1TB data SSD drive so while I answered yes, I no longer need all the extra storage I have.
TL
R, as has been said, it really is only something you could really know if you are comfortable with.
And yes, Apple rips you off on ssd and ram prices.
I now have a 1TB NVMe, a 1 TB SSD, a 2 TB SSD and a 2 TB HDD inside and a 1 TB external HDD and 500 GB external SSD. I had run into issues on my boot drive as that is where I keep my most used programs and certain data. I keep all other data on the 1 TB SSD and back that all up to the 2TB SSD. And back all that up to my NAS.
And then at the beginning of last year we changed software vendors and it all became cloud based. I now use 206GB on my 1TB NVMe, less than 200GB on my 1TB data SSD drive so while I answered yes, I no longer need all the extra storage I have.
TL
R, as has been said, it really is only something you could really know if you are comfortable with.And yes, Apple rips you off on ssd and ram prices.
I have two MBP's, one personal and one for work. Both have 1TB. I don't have storage issues in either, for different reasons. Both are used primarily for photography.
On my personal MBP, I download, edit, post-process and offload image files. So quite often I have many many GBs of data that is temporarily kept on the MBP while working on a take, before I move that data to hard drives.
On my work MBP I am mostly connecting to my employer's DAM system and doing my work with files that are accessed on a browser and stored remotely. So I might be moving files around, but they're rarely files that are actually on my machine.
So in cases like mine, 1TB is plenty. I only "store" large amounts of data on one machine, and even then it's only temporary. 512MB would be enough for my work machine but not my personal machine.
On my personal MBP, I download, edit, post-process and offload image files. So quite often I have many many GBs of data that is temporarily kept on the MBP while working on a take, before I move that data to hard drives.
On my work MBP I am mostly connecting to my employer's DAM system and doing my work with files that are accessed on a browser and stored remotely. So I might be moving files around, but they're rarely files that are actually on my machine.
So in cases like mine, 1TB is plenty. I only "store" large amounts of data on one machine, and even then it's only temporary. 512MB would be enough for my work machine but not my personal machine.
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More than enough for some, depends on your usage. If you find you need more, theres always iCloud and external storage. You only need to the super fast speeds of SSD if you dealing with terabytes of files on a daily basis, otherwise you'll be more than fine with alternatives I mentioned.
I'm a front/back-end software developer that moved from an 16" MBP i7 Intel 16/512 to an 16" MBP M1 Pro 32/512 and I am using 63% of disk space on the M1 whereas on the Intel I used 94%. Main change is the lack of support for Intel-based VMs on the M1, instead I moved these machines to an ESX-server. Parallels on the M1 only have a Debian-VM.
On the M1 I am running multiple Docker-based VMs, all arm-optimized; php, apache, mysql and localstack. Office, Illustrator, Photoshop, Xcode are the big disk space users.
On the M1 I am running multiple Docker-based VMs, all arm-optimized; php, apache, mysql and localstack. Office, Illustrator, Photoshop, Xcode are the big disk space users.
yeap, around 600+ now, a few 4k movies and it fills up, but now I am glad that I have 1TB because I dont have to think about external storage, because I travel frequently so one less thing on my mind
BTW - it's so easy to waste disk-space. Just found out that the Podcast app in Ventura 13.1 kept 4GB of downloaded podcasts. I never listen to music or podcasts on anything else than my iPhone but the default seems to be to sync across devices anyway.
I'm planning on getting a base model M2 Mac Mini with 256GB storage. I'll be upgrading to 16GB memory (+£200) so don't want to pay an extra £400 to upgrade to 1TB storage. Instead I'm going to get an external 1TB SSD which I can get somewhere around £70-£100. Hopefully that setup will work for me so I don't have to break the bank.
My 2012 iMac has 1TB storage - I'm at about 480GB. That's 9 years of design files, apps, photos, vids, music and documents. Running Monterey with only 8GB memory it's sometimes as slow as a tortoise... 😄
My 2012 iMac has 1TB storage - I'm at about 480GB. That's 9 years of design files, apps, photos, vids, music and documents. Running Monterey with only 8GB memory it's sometimes as slow as a tortoise... 😄
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Wow, this has blown up. Have read through all your comments this morning and I thank you all for your input!
Seems a pretty split opinion and the best thing I can do is just see how I get on. I will see how I get on in those first couple of weeks (I know this isn't a long enough time frame to fully figure it out) and if I feel I need the upgrade shall return for the 1TB version and suck up the price.
Seems a pretty split opinion and the best thing I can do is just see how I get on. I will see how I get on in those first couple of weeks (I know this isn't a long enough time frame to fully figure it out) and if I feel I need the upgrade shall return for the 1TB version and suck up the price.
As a 2nd computer you will be fine with 512GB storage, is my opinion.
I’ve had an MBA as a 2nd computer for 4 years with 256GB, and sure I clean it up at times. Not using it for heavy stuff. With a desktop and iCloud it have worked totally without issues.
Though I would chose 512GB if I would replace it today. But I won’t, it still serves me well.
I’ve had an MBA as a 2nd computer for 4 years with 256GB, and sure I clean it up at times. Not using it for heavy stuff. With a desktop and iCloud it have worked totally without issues.
Though I would chose 512GB if I would replace it today. But I won’t, it still serves me well.
I've had a 13" MBP M1 since early 2021. It was configured to 512GB. I only have 127GB remaining, and this is with me cleaning about once a month. This can be a problem, especially if you're a programmer. I occasionally make games, but they have tiny assets (current project is <200MB after over a year of work) if I made games with more advanced graphics I'd probably be much closer to being full already.
Next computer I get is gonna have at least 1TB, probably 2. At least I convinced myself to go with 512 over me trying to convince myself 256 would work out.
Next computer I get is gonna have at least 1TB, probably 2. At least I convinced myself to go with 512 over me trying to convince myself 256 would work out.
It depends of a lot of things. For example, if you used to have a huge CD and DVD collection which you all ripped and now want to store locally, you’ll need hundreds of GB for that alone. However, if you rely on Spotify and Netflix for that, you need exactly 0 GB for that.
If you have a huge photo library which you want to keep locally, that can also be hundreds of GB. If you are fine with having them in iCloud, that will take very little space.
If you plan to run virtual machines and you want to keep them locally, that’s another huge amount of data.
If you do a lot of gaming on a Mac, don’t forget some games can take a lot of disk space.
However… don’t forget that extra internal storage is, in the end, just a matter of convenience, because you can also store stuff on an external SSD, which is a lot cheaper and it’s not tied to one specific computer.
For me personally, 256GB is too tight. 512GB is all right, but I do need to move some stuff to external storage (e.g. my music library). With 1TB, I could have almost everything on the internal drive. With 2TB, I wouldn’t need external storage at all.
Given the prices of internal storage at Apple, I went for 512GB and I think it’s fine.
Exactly. I do the same. I have photos from my grandparents, parents etc on it, plus old home movies from them. So I maxed out the 2019 MBP with 8TB. There is around 3 TB left. I have around 800 GB in Photos. There is a fair amount in iTunes both audio and video from old media. The rest is backups of my wife's 2021 MBP, work and stuff like that.
I just don't want to lose the old video and photos - so I back it up, but would want to be able to grab just one thing and not lose the stuff. (Yes, I do have several backups, but it is nice to have everything in one spot.) Hopefully it never comes down to "What would I grab on the way out if my house was on fire" though.
I keep them (usually) a long time. 7-8 years, perhaps using it for the kids if we replace it before that time period. So I'll probably have the 2019 MBP for another 3-4 years so I tend to max them out so that as tech progresses it doesn't fill up. E.g. ProRes or 4K video or 48MP raw etc on the iPhones vs .3 Mpx on the 1994 QuickTake or 1K or whatever on older iPhones.
So some questions for OP are:
1. How long will you keep it?
2. Do you shoot ProRes? Have a lot of photos or videos?
3. Do you have a large iTunes library of music, movies, tv shows etc?
If you just want to, say, install Xcode, you'll sell a 256GB Mac right away. This is what I have in my M1 iMac and I've lost so much time trying to install macOS on an external drive just to have Xcode. It works - but it sucks.
As for 512GB, I'd say it should be the bare minimum Apple provides. I believe it's suitable for most people.
If you have or produce a lot of media content however, you really should be looking for more.
As for 512GB, I'd say it should be the bare minimum Apple provides. I believe it's suitable for most people.
If you have or produce a lot of media content however, you really should be looking for more.
If you use the cloud and streaming, yes; if you use an external SSD, yes; if you store some stuff locally, yes; if you store a lot of stuff locally, no. It's probably worth your getting an external SSD for Time Machine backups anyway.
Like adult diapers, it depends, but I went with 1TB because I keep music stored locally.
What are you talking about? In 2010 the 512GB SSD was the top of the line costing $1400 ($1900 inflation-adjusted) extra in a MacBook Pro. Now it's literally the minimum in the base model.
I have 512GB iMac but have a 1TB SSD external to hold photos and videos. Keeps the drive clean with only apps taking up space.
I’m one of those people who can easily get by with 256 GB. But I guess that’s because I use external drives and/or cloud storage for most of my stuff.
So, most of my devices only have on them what I absolutely need on the respective device.
If I had only one device and maybe a backup drive, I would probably go for 512 GB or 1 TB.
So, most of my devices only have on them what I absolutely need on the respective device.
If I had only one device and maybe a backup drive, I would probably go for 512 GB or 1 TB.
And in 2000 the iBook was shipping with a 6GB hard drive. Definitely leveling off.
It should be. And if it isn't, you can always offload things to the cloud or external storage. But I went 512GB on my Mac Studio last year and have plenty to spare so far.
The base MBP in 2012 had 256GB. Now over 10 years later, the base is 512GB. That’s terrible progress IMO.
Same for RAM… we only just doubled 10 years later.
That’s what I’m talking about. It seems to me like progress has been slow.