M1 MacBook Air good enough?

[Chris Newbold]

I may have to upgrade my 2009 iMac (the one I tried to get working with a Mac mini in target display mode, but that’s another story now) but, like lots for people, need to do on a budget!

I know that the MacBook Air seems great for most purposes from reading people’s experiences. It’s for general use with perhaps a bit of light photo and video editing.

Actually my key question is about getting away with 256gb disk storage. How many of you are getting away with this and how? Can it be minimised as a problem if iCloud is used to the max and with external storage for, say, video files? Previously I’ve managed a 512gb MacBook Pro from work, but still need an external storage for that anyway!

Also I see it’s possible to connect to HD monitor making it a dual option for home bigger screen use and on the road.

Simple question, asked before I’m sure, but I’m just interested in people’s set ups..

Chris

 

[Aggedor]

In terms of performance, the M1 MBA out-guns almost every Intel-based Mac, I believe, so it'll be fine for that workload. A bigger screen, of course, would be useful, so sure, hook it up to a desktop display.

As for storage, that's something you'll need to decide on. I managed for a long time with a MBP that only had a 128GB SSD! But if you are editing large video files in 4K, for example, then you would want some external SSDs.

 

[Tchakatak]

If you can, get 1Tb. It's just not fun to be around with external drive.

 

[tangbuster]

I personally went with the base model, 256gb is enough for me. I have a NAS which gives me access a lot of my media folders and files if I have internet, Netflix for films and Spotify for music. I do plan to pick up an external hard drive later but not yet. My work doesn't require me to deal with big files but if you do have to deal with big photo, video files etc then it would be a good idea to go with a bigger internal hard drive and/or get an external hard drive as well.