New iMac - Is 256GB Flash Storage enough?

I'm getting a late 2013 27" iMac in a couple weeks. It will be configured as such:
- 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz
- 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X4GB (I'll purchase 2 more 4GB memory sticks from Crucial bringing it to 16GB total)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2GB GDDR5

Will the 256GB Flash Storage work well with this set up? I would have all my video collection and mp3 music collection on an external HD. Other than the operating system and apps, the only other tings I'd have on the flash drive would be about 35GB worth of images, personal videos and original music that I create. this would leave 231GB free for the operating system and apps. Is this enough space or should i opt for the 512GB flash drive?

You know your needs best, however, 256 GB of flash storage nowadays doesn't seem adequate with the way most folks use their machines. I would recommend 512 GB of flash storage, but that will mean extra $$. BTW, that's a nice machine and will be great for video and just about anything else.

Yeah, that was my initial thought as well. I'm familiar with the "at least 20%" free space guideline for things to run smoothly, I just wasn't sure how much space the OS and apps would take up.

Appreciate the input.

I've been managing 250 GB for 4 years and am only now beginning to feel the pinch of space.
"Managing" is the key word here as all my media is kept on external drives.

The question goes back to you - how much space are you using on your current computer?
Do you have additional data stored on external drives that you will want to store internally on the new one?
Are you planning some change in your computer habits? For example, storing a lot more music/video/games than you currently have?

You make a good point, bobtomay. While I do have nearly 2 years experience with the iMac (2011-2012), I haven't owned one since 2012. I've been using a Windows 8 box for may day-to-day use as well as music creation and video editing.

If i take my current PC user and multimedia creating habits into account, I get this:

Windows "C" drive:


External Drive:

You appear to be in the same situation I am. There is no such thing as a SSD large enough to keep your multimedia content internally.

Since you only have 80 GB on your OS partition now, I would guess you're already quite familiar with managing your data and you could continue that with a 250GB SSD. You'll likely be sitting at 60-100GB used space with the OS and Apps similar to what you have now. Then need to consider how much space you need while you're in multimedia creation mode that would be on the drive while you're working on it. A 500 GB would make it easier to manage, but manage you need to do - or just give you more time to get data moved off the OS partition.

Also, consider what you may want to do in the future. What I'm running into at this point is all game related. I have WoW, a couple of Steam games, Civ 5, etc... which are taking up over 100 GB of space. Thus I have no room to install another OS (was wanting to install Linux Mint) nor am I going to install another game on here without removing one. It is, therefore, time for me to either upgrade the SSD in this 4 yr old computer or breakdown and get a new one. (I have up until this point maintained 20% free space on the SSD which is a big accomplishment on a 250 GB drive for me.)

and on the memory i would make sure you have memory slots free on that model usually there is only 2 slots

Thanks for the input and advice bobtomay!

yeah i use up 250Gb in no time i have a 500gb in my alienware because its my main pc but have a 350 in my mac

@spellbinder Good advice so far. If you are one who tends to keep your computers for several years then try to spring for the larger drive. I'm glad I did but then again I'm something of a digital pack rat.

I'm a bit of a digital pack rat as well. But even on my PC, not much other than to OS, apps, pictures and and temporary projects I'm working on are on the "C" drive. Everything else is backed up on a 3TB external HD and then backed up yet again on another 3TB external HD. Still, I may just go for the 512 Apple offers if for nothing more than piece of mind.

I think at most 1tb is good but i would go with a 500gb if u want to take the cheaper route

iHate Vista said:

I think at most 1tb is good but i would go with a 500gb if u want to take the cheaper route

Click to expand...

You do realize that the upgrade price for 1 terabyte of flash storage on a 27" iMac is $1000. This is $1000 on top of a $2000 iMac ($3000 total). Not many working folks can afford this sort of upgrade.

- Nick

@ iHate Vista

If I kept all my info, video projects, music projects and such on the main drive, 1TB might make sense. I only keep one to two projects that are being worked on on my main drive. If you saw my images above, I peak at less than 100GB on my current "C" drive on my PC. The 512GB SSD (flash drive) that Mac offers seems like it would be MORE than enough. And as I said, all my finished video projects, my finished original music as well as my mp3/flac music collection reside on a 3TB external drive which is then backed up on another 3TB external drive. And as pigoo3 pointed out, the 1TB SSD (flash drive) is rather expensive. An expense that it doesn't look like would benefit me in the long run anyway. The only thing on the 512GB SSD would be the operating system, apps, pictures and documents and one or two current projects.