256GB ssd is bull

[macsound1]

There are tons of usecases where a computer can get used to death and never use up storage space.
Education, journalists, CEOs, copy editors.
Not all files are large. You could store 10 years of word docs on a 8GB usb stick.

"Mac nerds" tend to be video and photo heavy which consume lots of storage space. Regular people aren't like that.

Also lab and shared computers that have local storage disabled obviously don't need local storage. I was a network admin for a school and for all 500+ machines you could only save to your mapped network home directory except in the video lab. Same goes for most corporate office jobs. They want the machine you're sitting in front of to be disposable and everything is worked on from the network or portal.

 

[Budgiemac]

Yeah it blows. I have an m1 256 16 13'' Its anoying. I had to chose the extra ram over the extra space. I want to update the ssd so bad but we cant.

 

[ahurst]

I made it 5 years (2016-2021) on a 128 GB SSD laptop as a programmer and data analyst. It wasn’t fun and I did regular spring cleaning, but it was manageable enough that I didn’t bother buying a larger SATA SSD for it. From that perspective, 256 GB seems absolutely roomy for anyone not working with a lot of media!

Of course I keep all my photos, music, movies/shows, and VMs on my 3 TB iMac, but I’m also not the only person to have a home desktop and laptop so I’m sure there are a lot of customers with similar setups.

 

[tobyringle69]

Logic Pro takes 100 gb... ?

Logic Pro is 1.15 GB.

 

[4743913]

Logic Pro is 1.15 GB.

go ahead and download all the sounds. I will wait..

heh nice necrobump of a 3 year old thread.. I have moved on to an M3 Max

 

[sunny5]

Mac is so expensive and yet Apple still sticking with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD which is a joke.

 

[Zest28]

Indeed, Apple is expensive as **** in 2024. Picture this:

Ultra portable PC laptop for $1299:
- 90 hz display
- OLED panel
- 32GB RAM
- 1TB SSD

Apple M2 MacBook Air for $1299:
- 60 hz panel
- IPS panel
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD

Where is all the money going? And the performance difference and battery life isn’t that big anymore.

 

[iHorseHead]

Indeed, Apple is expensive as **** in 2024. Picture this:

Ultra portable PC laptop for $1299:
- 90 hz display
- OLED panel
- 32GB RAM
- 1TB SSD

Apple M2 MacBook Air for $1299:
- 60 hz panel
- IPS panel
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD

Where is all the money going? And the performance difference and battery life isn’t that big anymore.

Apple has always been expensive.
I remember MacBook had 1GB of RAM while some other PCs for the same price had 4GB of RAM etc…
It's even worse in some other countries. In my country you'd pay like $1500 for the very same MacBook Air that you just posted, but I'm not sure if your price includes the tax. PCs and Android phones are way cheaper.

 

[CheesePuff]

I mean the Vision Pro is $3,499 and starts at 256 GB of storage, woof...

 

[4743913]

Indeed, Apple is expensive as **** in 2024. Picture this:

Ultra portable PC laptop for $1299:
- 90 hz display
- OLED panel
- 32GB RAM
- 1TB SSD

Apple M2 MacBook Air for $1299:
- 60 hz panel
- IPS panel
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD

Where is all the money going? And the performance difference and battery life isn’t that big anymore.

you aren't just figuring this out are you? This is why I rocked a Commodore 64 back in the day over an Apple II.. The C64 was the superior machine at half the cost.

 

[thebart]

While you can in theory move apps and data to external, in reality it's not that simple

Most apps save their internal data to internal drive and give you no way to move it. I have one that saves 30+ gigs of data to internal and when I try to move and symlink to it the app doesn't see the data

If you move an app installed from the app store, you break uodate. To update it, you have to delete the app, install it again, then move it again

SSD likes to have a good amount of free space to operate, so with 256gb you should have the OS and a few core apps and that's it. But people who buy the base storage are "normal users" who are less likely to bother managing their storage or don't know how to and will naively fill up their internal drive.

Apple's stinginess just makes life worse for their users. They don't mention this part when they talk about the vaunted Apple experience

 

[pshufd]

While you can in theory move apps and data to external, in reality it's not that simple

Most apps save their internal data to internal drive and give you no way to move it. I have one that saves 30+ gigs of data to internal and when I try to move and symlink to it the app doesn't see the data

If you move an app installed from the app store, you break uodate. To update it, you have to delete the app, install it again, then move it again

SSD likes to have a good amount of free space to operate, so with 256gb you should have the OS and a few core apps and that's it. But people who buy the base storage are "normal users" who are less likely to bother managing their storage or don't know how to and will naively fill up their internal drive.

Apple's stinginess just makes life worse for their users. They don't mention this part when they talk about the vaunted Apple experience

You can move the user directory to the external drive and the data will get stored there.

 

[boss.king]

Indeed, Apple is expensive as **** in 2024. Picture this:

Ultra portable PC laptop for $1299:
- 90 hz display
- OLED panel
- 32GB RAM
- 1TB SSD

Apple M2 MacBook Air for $1299:
- 60 hz panel
- IPS panel
- 8GB RAM
- 512GB SSD

Where is all the money going? And the performance difference and battery life isn’t that big anymore.

Curious which laptop you're comparing to. Obviously Macs aren't cheap, but there's more to these machines than a specs list.

- OLED vs IPS aside, what's the quality of these panels? Colour reproduction, brightness, resolution, etc.
- What's the build quality of the machines like? Fit and finish, etc?
- How's the CPU and GPU performance? Does the PC run hot? Does it have a fan that constantly kicks on when doing anything moderately intensive? What's it like on battery?
- What are the speakers, keyboard, trackpad, etc like?
- What's the battery life like?

For something like a laptop, where you can't just chuck it under a desk or in the next room while you're using it, these things are pretty important.

 

[coffeemilktea]

It's wild that in 2024, a lot of Macs cost $1200+ AND still come with 256 GB of storage as the cheapest option.

But I guess Apple didn't become worth 2.9+ trillion dollars by being generous. 😤

 

[pshufd]

It's wild that in 2024, a lot of Macs cost $1200+ AND still come with 256 GB of storage as the cheapest option.

But I guess Apple didn't become worth 2.9+ trillion dollars by being generous. 😤

That's $2.97 trillion. And they need to catch up with Microsoft.

 

[dgdosen]

I mean the Vision Pro is $3,499 and starts at 256 GB of storage, woof...

 

[K two]

Has anyone mentioned iCloud is a profit center? 🤔

 

[adib]

You can move the user directory to the external drive and the data will get stored there.

This is only practical for stationary computers. It's a big problem for mobile computers since one can't log in with an unmounted home directory.

 

[Agincourt]

Seeing how old this thread is should show how far behind the curve Apple is when it comes to extremely cheap components. Most M series computers are like Ferrari cars when it comes to performance and form, but are artificially bottlenecked in critical areas like RAM and storage. Of course when you need something half decent like 512 GB storage or even 16 GB RAM, suddenly Apple decides to be cheap and price gouge. Now you're forced to compromise between sticking with poor base stats or paying through the nose for what only costs Apple maybe $20 USD more to manufacture.

There is no good argument for why they didn't use modular SSD's for its laptops, and especially for desktops where physical size doesn't matter. It's so blatantly obvious these specs are substandard because they want us buying new computers that much sooner or paying their outrageous upgrade costs.

 

[pshufd]

This is only practical for stationary computers. It's a big problem for mobile computers since one can't log in with an unmounted home directory.

Then you need to size correctly on your MacBooks.

I do use a large external on my Studio with the base storage and it's working out quite well.

 

[Chuckeee]

There is no good argument for why they didn't use modular SSD's for its laptops, and especially for desktops where physical size doesn't matter.

But the Mac Studio does use a modular memory for SSD. Of course it is a unique Apple proprietary module. Apparently designed specifically to thwart any attempt for a lower cost means to accomplish a SSD upgrade. But at least an SSD in a Mac Studio is obviously repairable without having to buy a whole new computer.

 

[staypuftforums]

I agree with OP, but I personally prefer using external storage.

It’s handy in case you need to format your main drive, reinstall the OS, or try out another OS, all of which I do on a semi-regular basis.

 

[Agincourt]

But the Mac Studio does use a modular memory for SSD. Of course it is a unique Apple proprietary module. Apparently designed specifically to thwart any attempt for a lower cost means to accomplish a SSD upgrade. But at least an SSD in a Mac Studio is obviously repairable without having to buy a whole new computer.

Of that I absolutely approve of, even with Apple imposing their extreme prices on a module that should be user upgradable. At least this allows for an extremely expensive computer the option of upgrading later through Apple or at least not making the computer dependent on a consumable part. In fact Apple could have done this with the iMac and Pro to allow the option of serviceability and upgradability. With this we customers can take some peace of mind knowing we at least have the option to do this later on, or simply knowing the computer can be repaired if and when the SSD's fail.

 

[Chuckeee]

Of that I absolutely approve of, even with Apple imposing their extreme prices on a module that should be user upgradable. At least this allows for an extremely expensive computer the option of upgrading later through Apple or at least not making the computer dependent on a consumable part. In fact Apple could have done this with the iMac and Pro to allow the option of serviceability and upgradability. With this we customers can take some peace of mind knowing we at least have the option to do this later on, or simply knowing the computer can be repaired if and when the SSD's fail.

This apple SSR module might not fit within the “computer on a stick” approach in the current crazy thin iMac although it probably could fit in the current MacBook Pro (but not the MacBook Air).

 

[Agincourt]

Yeah they can't do that now because of that stupid design, but that's what happens when you shrink the form to the point it's completely impractical. The iMac line used to be an upper tier computer design but Apple has reduced it to the point no professional user would want it.

I mean it's a desktop! You don't look at it from the side, so it doesn't matter how thin it is. And ever since the iMac G5 customers have always been wanting Apple to remove the 'chin' and what did they do instead? They baked it into the design to the point that's impossible. No option for an SSD module, even though the previous generation could easily have provided that. 128 GB RAM potential now upgradable to 24 GB maximum, and costing more than 4x 32 GB modules.

I hate the post-intel generation computers because they perfectly display Apple's infinite greed.