Can’t even calculate the number of hours and probably days I’ve lost because I cheapened out when I bought my MacBook Pro with too small of a hard drive. Still really like this computer (16-inch Intel) and don’t want the hassle of upgrading it just for more space.

@manton 512?

@fahrni I work remotely so often that managing external drives can be a bit clunky. I do have a couple nice external SSDs, though.

@jemostrom 1 TB. Honestly should’ve sprung for 4 TB.

@manton Perhaps the lesson is not to cheap out on hardware you really need? and just order an M2 MacBook Pro with a 4TB drive now and be more productive.

@manton dang that’s a lot of space. 1 TB is what I need in the computer, and I have a lot of crap.

To be fair all my music is on an external drive because I’m pushing 700 GB. I guess I could avoid that with a bigger drive…

@manton 😁 at work I got 512 for my 16” - enough for what I need there. At home I got a Mini with 512 … and a selection of SSDs and too few USB connectors 😁

@manton I prefer to spend the money on a NAS.
I wouldn’t go for the lowest storage for my Mac, but I’m not sure 4TB is necessary. But then I rely on a constant connection to the internet - either to access my NAS for archival stuff or iCloud.

@ezwal I try to keep everything on my computer and not on external drives except for backups and long-term archiving, so that changes my requirements a little.

@frankreiff That’s stupidly expensive though, and for many literally way out of budget.

I know Apple loves their margins, but considering what SSDs actually cost lately, it’s just insulting now.

@manton Not going to happen for me with TB of music and more importantly photography. I have a desktop so external drives for some stuff isn’t a big deal.

Work laptop is good with 1 TB as I have no media to speak of there. Just data.

Apple needs to reduce pricing on RAM and SSDs. Too many tough decisions at purchase with no ability to upgrade later.

@manton Is it feasible to upgrade the SSD or is it too tightly integrated? I thought that in the Intel machines it is still doable (just about).

@manton Ouch! I upgraded to the 16” M1 Max (after helping my mother get the smaller one and experiencing teh snappy, a long-lost sensation, and because my Intel MBP was struggling with Teams and flickering touchbar) and I’m acutely aware that everything useful is probably printed on a single stick nestled between the batteries.

I thought about replacing the touchbar but you can imagine what’s like on iFixit. And the risk!

@manton Since you work from coffee shops a lot, I highly recommend the latest Apple Silicon ones. Not just are they faster but the battery life is amazing! I just got one from work after my 2018 Intel-based got way too old for work.

@torb Yes, it’s insulting.. then again not being able to use your work machine fully also sucks.

@manton Love my 2020 Intel 16” MBP but I carefully planned my needs & got 4TB of storage. Digitizing 27 years of film, need my MBP to display edited photos exactly the same as 27” Intel iMac. But I’ll have to upgrade sometime 🙁

@manton I heard it from somewhere, check how much you use and then multiply it by 2 or 4. I have upgraded from 256 to 1TB MBP M1.

@ezwal you also can stream it from iTunes Match, just an options ($25 a year).

@yurkevich Absolutely! Master copy of my music at home, all other devices get streamed via iTunes Match.

@GeekAndDad very interesting, upgradable external SSD, and the prices are good. Thanks for sharing.

@70BPM and don’t forget the redundancy if you set up RAID. If one drive does, you can replace it and the NAS would restore the data on the dead drive.