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M1 Mac owners who have more than base storage... why?
- Thread starter Hexley
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Because the only things I store on my external NVMe SSD are:
- Photos Archives that I never access
- Backups.
I don't want the hassle of having to carry an external drive for things that I use frequently. My MacBook Pro is my main computer so I like travelling with everything.
- Photos Archives that I never access
- Backups.
I don't want the hassle of having to carry an external drive for things that I use frequently. My MacBook Pro is my main computer so I like travelling with everything.
Is this tested on an M1? What speeds are you getting? Presumably AFPS, right?@pugxiwawa The Samsung X5 is as fast as my 256GB internal one. But everyone has to decide. I only store stuff that I don't need regularly for me 16GB RAM is more important but that's just my opinion.
Samsung 1TB Portable SSD X5 Review: Leading Edge Performance
Samsung's 1TB Portable SSD X5 brings the speed of the Thunderbolt 3 interface and the NVMe protocol to a speedy external SSD.www.tomshardware.com
I have the 512GB Air in case I need the headroom. Also because the M1 chip in the 256GB version is essentially a reject with failed graphics cores, isn't it? Although I use an external SSD for CCC backup, that's only a weekly thing, I like my laptops to be absolutely complete as they are, all-in-one, and I've always refused to use a mouse with my MacBooks. Sure the 512GB costs a little more, but only a little, and at my time of life why would I care about money? If people are OK with always having an external drive attached then that's fine, but it's not for me.
256GB feels slow like eMMC rather than NVMe. For example, OS recovery takes forever with estimate of ~1hr while on other systems with NVMe it feels like 5 to 10 minutes. Also curious to see if OS recovery time is shorter/faster on bigger 512GB, 1TB and 2TB.
As time goes by programmes and OSes tend to spread out 
I've ordered 512GB with 16GB RAM mainly because I intend to use VM's.
I've ordered 512GB with 16GB RAM mainly because I intend to use VM's.
Because I have 285 GB of music and a 100 GB photos library and leaving an external rive connected all the time defeats the purpose of a laptop. However, if you're only talking about the Mini then I see your point.
That being said, I remember from one of the big '8 vs 16' or 'Air vs Pro' threads that the 256gb drive is a lot slower than the 512 and 1TB.
That being said, I remember from one of the big '8 vs 16' or 'Air vs Pro' threads that the 256gb drive is a lot slower than the 512 and 1TB.
I haven't bought an M1 Mac yet. However when I do (probably in the next few months) I'll go with a 2Tb SSD. I have lots of lossless music (around 1TB in total). iTunes doesn't handle external media/NAS very well - if it can't mount the external drive immediately it reverts the library location to an internal disc. Much easier with internal storage,
Went with 1TB I like to not have to carry an external drive when I go out, and It's not always about saving money, if I wanted to save money I'd buy an acer or some other cheap computer. Plus I have the Samsung T7 (2tb) for time machine backups anyway.
Where is the time I bought a MacIntosh 7300 power PC with a whopping 2 GB drive ?
As long as it is a USB3 drive that supports USB-A ports, there’s little chance it’s as fast as a TB3 NVMe enclosure or the internal SSD. Looking at Western Digital’s page on that drive, it’s limited to 1050MB/s. Yet, the 256GB M1 Air is doing 2.6GB/s read, 2.1GB/s write when doing larger transfers. We need drives that support USB-C’s 20Gbps mode to really get close to the internal SSD. (EDIT: I see I replied to a fairly old post, sorry about that)
But at the end of the day, I can see many users fitting in 256GB fine. For me 512 is about the bare minimum to handle all the caches from Xcode/etc, and give me a little room to have scratch space for projects locally before pushing things back to the NAS. Having to have an SSD attached for scratch space while working on projects from the NAS isn’t a great experience.
Similar situation albeit not for coding. 256GB just isn't enough space for me once I start addiing data I need locally. For me 512GB is minimum but even that doesn't allow for much breathing room.
I wanted a 16 GB model and didn't want to wait five weeks for it so a local store had the 16 GB/1 TB in stock. I ordered it and had it in four hours. The machine was requested by my daughter and she loves it. This laptop is always used in mobile mode - never at a desk or plugged into any peripherals. So external storage would be inconvenient. She can use the home NAS if she wants stuff where latency is higher than the local SSD.
Why would I want to carry another box around with my portable laptop? I went with 1TB.. I really hate running out of room.
In my experience was an IT professional, as others have said, many people don't want to carry around both a laptop and a hard drive. Add in the extra clutter on the desk, having to use one of the precious TB ports. Plus, not having the ability to upgrade the internal drive later is a hassle.
Yes, people can use a NAS, but most, if not all, of the people I work with don't know what a NAS is, much less how to set it up.
Just because an external hard drive is a better option for you doesn't mean it's best for everyone.
Yes, people can use a NAS, but most, if not all, of the people I work with don't know what a NAS is, much less how to set it up.
Just because an external hard drive is a better option for you doesn't mean it's best for everyone.
I actually do carry externals. However, I tend to have 512GB-1TB internal SSD + 4TB portable HDD. Programs and program data, full copy of iCloud and Dropbox, Calibre ebook library, etc. go into the internal SSD. Large media or pretty much a mobile-friendly copy of my Plex Media Server/NAS goes into the portable HDD.
I don't store videos on the internal drive apart from using it as scratch space for transcoding/conversion. However, I do need all essential data available so I can use the laptop standalone even when there's poor/no internet without anything dangling from it.
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I have a 2tb ssd in my 16" MacBook Pro. I ran out of space on my previous 1tb.
This is used professionally and I have. a 1tb Bootcamp partition. So really am running 2 os's on 1tb ssd's. It works perfectly.
I would never operate off external ssd, as I find it a PITA.
This is used professionally and I have. a 1tb Bootcamp partition. So really am running 2 os's on 1tb ssd's. It works perfectly.
I would never operate off external ssd, as I find it a PITA.
This is just a short video explaining why for me I made my choice of going for full capacity in my M1 Mac mini
Because its a mobile device and having to attach an external drive does not bode well with the idea of mobility.
In general I just hate dongling everything onto my computer just to be able to use it
Plus the internal drive is quite a bit faster.
See, I'm the exact opposite. Laptops are designed for portability - you want the computer itself to be as self sufficient as possible. For a desktop rig, I'm more than happy to hook up external storage since I don't have to lug it around and deal with hooking up and unhooking cables and connections.
That's exactly why I got the M1 MBP with 2TB/16GB to max it out, knowing that it's not upgradeable and that I'll probably have this thing for at least another 5+ years like my older 2015 MBPr (rip). I tend to mostly keep my MBP connected to a dock/hub, but it's great to use on the go and not worry about bringing extra external drives and cables. I keep everything like that connected to my dock at home.
Depends on what you use it for I guess?
The base OS takes about 20 odd, productivity and other apps perhaps another 20.
My user data is around 80GB - and it does not grow much as I practice moving photos older than 5 years into cold storage and google drive.
The day I feel that my icloud drive is running short with a 200GB plan is when I will think of an upgrade I guess.
In the interim, the 256 with more than half its space empty has enough headroom for my needs.
Added advantage with base model is lower depreciation when selling for upgrade.
I felt 256/8 should be adequate for at least 3 years for me - if I feel short, I’d rather sell and upgrade to the newer gen devices then..
Of course, the above does not apply if you are say a professional photographer or work with videos etc
The base OS takes about 20 odd, productivity and other apps perhaps another 20.
My user data is around 80GB - and it does not grow much as I practice moving photos older than 5 years into cold storage and google drive.
The day I feel that my icloud drive is running short with a 200GB plan is when I will think of an upgrade I guess.
In the interim, the 256 with more than half its space empty has enough headroom for my needs.
Added advantage with base model is lower depreciation when selling for upgrade.
I felt 256/8 should be adequate for at least 3 years for me - if I feel short, I’d rather sell and upgrade to the newer gen devices then..
Of course, the above does not apply if you are say a professional photographer or work with videos etc