Need advice switching from iMac to 13 inch MacBook Air

[livesimply]

So my 2019 21.5" iMac is having issues (running out of storage especially--246 GB being used of 250GB). I've since learned that an SSD drive needs at least a buffer of about 30% to run well. 🤷‍♀️ I tried deleting stuff and moving a lot to iCloud but I'm still stuck. I've decided to switch to a 13" MBA for portability and rearranging my home office; I used a 13" MBP for years in my last job so the size suits me fine. I was just given a generous Apple gift card by my niece, plus with using my husband's 10% military discount and $130 trade-in allowance I will be buying from Apple. Question--is it overkill to get this configuration: 13" M3 MBA with 24GB Memory and 2T storage? I do NOT like storing everything in the cloud to save space. The jump from 1TB to 2TB of storage is steep but since I can't add more storage later I am hoping this will be the way to go.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[russell_314]

You might be better off with an external hard drive or SSD. You could move large files to the external SSD and on the iMac it’s not going to matter.

If you get a MacBook Air, it’s not as convenient to use an external drive because it’s portable. Therefore, you’ll have to carry around another device. The iMac just sits on the desk so you really don’t have no inconvenience with the external drive. Maybe consider the modern version of the iMac, which is pretty nice and a little bit larger than your current one. With thunderbolt ports you could have an external drive, very close to the speed of the internal drive.


As to how much storage you need that all depends on what you like to carry on your laptop if you decide to go that route. If you feel the need to carry 1 TB of stuff then I would get 2 TB storage to have expansion. My personal rule of thumb for a computer is about 50% capacity so it allows room for extra files

 

[bellflyer14]

So my 2019 21.5" iMac is having issues (running out of storage especially--246 GB being used of 250GB). I've since learned that an SSD drive needs at least a buffer of about 30% to run well. 🤷‍♀️ I tried deleting stuff and moving a lot to iCloud but I'm still stuck. I've decided to switch to a 13" MBA for portability and rearranging my home office; I used a 13" MBP for years in my last job so the size suits me fine. I was just given a generous Apple gift card by my niece, plus with using my husband's 10% military discount and $130 trade-in allowance I will be buying from Apple. Question--is it overkill to get this configuration: 13" M3 MBA with 24GB Memory and 2T storage? I do NOT like storing everything in the cloud to save space. The jump from 1TB to 2TB of storage is steep but since I can't add more storage later I am hoping this will be the way to go.

Thanks for any advice.

It's not overkill if it's what you want and puts your mind at ease. 1tb is still a lot of storage, unless you are doing a lot of heavy photo and video editing. I think I would save the $400, get 1tb and spend a fraction of that on a 4tb external ssd