MacBook Air SSD Space

My uncle wants a Mac, asked me what he should get. We've decided and he's getting the 13 inch MacBook Air (2011 model). Now we just don't know whether he should go 128GB or 256GB. He gave me some information and he's using about 190GB of stuff on his PC, however, that includes tons of GBs of crap Windows had already installed, plus several large iTunes backups. He wants to keep his Mac clean and simple though, only gonna keep the things he needs. He has about 10GB of video and pictures and 5GB of music. What would you guys do? He doesn't wanna get stuck down the road as the Air isn't upgradeable. Is it worth spending $300 for the extra space?

I'd look more closely at the data stored on his current machine.

Why "several" iTunes backups - this doesn't make sense. While he may have duplicates of his iTunes stuff, it's definitely not a "backup" if it's stored on the same hard drive.

After eliminating all duplicates from his video, picture and music libraries - if he's been using that machine for several years and has less than 50GB of his own data - then I'd think the 128 GB should be big enough. Unless that is, he starts downloading a bunch of video and music to the machine.

Having said that, if he's got the money and it ain't gonna kill him to spend the extra $300 - that's what I would do... and did with my new MBA - I'm also storing all of my video, music and photos externally. My wife on the other hand could live with a 64 GB drive and not have to worry about storage space.

I mean they're backups for different devices.

Alright, thanks. He isn't too tech. savvy, I think I'll visit him and see how much he's actually using, then we can go and actually buy it. Thanks!

Another question: How much of the 128GB is actually useable?

Ballr24 said:

My uncle wants a Mac, asked me what he should get. We've decided and he's getting the 13 inch MacBook Air (2011 model). Now we just don't know whether he should go 128GB or 256GB. He gave me some information and he's using about 190GB of stuff on his PC, however, that includes tons of GBs of crap Windows had already installed, plus several large iTunes backups. He wants to keep his Mac clean and simple though, only gonna keep the things he needs. He has about 10GB of video and pictures and 5GB of music. What would you guys do? He doesn't wanna get stuck down the road as the Air isn't upgradeable. Is it worth spending $300 for the extra space?

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SSD's are very expensive ($$$/gigabyte) compared to traditional hard drives. Buying more storage space than currently needed is always a good idea (when we're talking traditional HD's)...but with SSD's...this can get pretty expensive.

Like "bobtomay" suggested...try to get a really good idea of what's on your uncle's computer before deciding on an SSD. Also consider that many people store a lot of "stuff/junk" on their computers that they really don't use that often...and thus this "stuff" (although important to save)...doesn't necessarily need to reside on the internal HD or SSD of a computer. So some sort of external backup could be used.

I have a MacBook Pro with a 160 gig internal "traditional" HD. I don't store much "junk" on it...and I'm currently only using 35gigs of storage space (and I've been using this computer for years). I'm sure I do have some "junk" on this computer...and I'm sure I could probably get around 3-5 gigs back if I removed items I really don't use very often.

As far as formatted space of an SSD...here's a review for a 256gig SSD...where it states formatted capacity to be around 238gigs:

Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SSD Review | bit-tech.net

Here's a review for a 128 gig SSD...where formatted capacity is around 112gig:

Zalman N128 128 GB SSD Review - Page 10/10 | techPowerUp

HTH,

- Nick

The folks I've seen post about it had approx 100GB free - out of the box - with the 128GB SSD in the current gen MBA.

bobtomay said:

The folks I've seen post about it had approx 100GB free - out of the box - with the 128GB SSD in the current gen MBA.

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I'm assuming that 100gig free "out of the box" includes the OS install...which is certainly a much more useful number when talking about "free space available".

- Nick

Thanks a lot guys! I'll make sure to find out just exactly how much he's using. I think 128GB will be good for him, he has a desktop which he uses quite often as well, so not all data will go on this computer.

Best bet is to clean up the excessive clutter on the old computer first. Reassess and then decide whether 128 or 256 is sufficient. Cleaning it first will make the data transfer process run more quickly anyhow. I have a 128GB SSD in my '11 Air and am fine, the caveat being I keep my main iTunes and media libraries on a shared Mac Mini with a 2TB RAID. I just drag 20 or 30GB of entertainment to the Air when I travel.

Always buy the largest HDD or SDD you can, you will use it

I have a 256 gig new MB Air and do not have enough room on it to store iTunes. I keep that on my 500 gig MB Pro. I also do not have anywhere near enough room on either for my photos so they are on an external 1 TB drive.

XJ-linux said:

Best bet is to clean up the excessive clutter on the old computer first. Reassess and then decide whether 128 or 256 is sufficient. Cleaning it first will make the data transfer process run more quickly anyhow. I have a 128GB SSD in my '11 Air and am fine, the caveat being I keep my main iTunes and media libraries on a shared Mac Mini with a 2TB RAID. I just drag 20 or 30GB of entertainment to the Air when I travel.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was gonna do, thanks.