Should I get a 128gb or 256gb flash storage MBPr?

I am about to purchase a new MBPr, but I am stuck on the question... Which is the best option for me? I am a college student who will have to do projects and papers, browse the web, watch videos, listen to music, etc. The real question is... Will 128gb flash storage be enough for my photos and videos that I edit in my spare time or should I get the 256gb MBPr? I take more than enough photos and videos to fill up space as photography is a hobby of mine. Thanks for the help and opinions in advance.

Youre really looking at the wrong way.
The SSD of the Air and macbook Pro Retina SSD are "working platform" storage.
Your best practical option is buying a 1TB external HD for $65
128gig is PLENTY enough......for all your APPS and working files. Buy as much as you can reasonably afford, just remember that LARGE files are best kept off the macbook and on external storage, which is far cheaper.
You, regardless of internal HD or SSD, need an external backup for time machine and same for important file storage.
The "low" capacity of the SSD on the Air and entry level Retina are meant to be working platforms for these computers.
Meaning ALL your programs and your working data (stuff you use at least every week).
To try to use either the Air or Retina as a massive storage platform of any kind (lots of pics, music, movies etc.) is both not indicated or practical.
external storage, quality too, is absurdly cheap right now.
superslim external HD.
see this: only 7mm thick
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
Or better still this HUGE HD, which is very small, very reliable and very cheap:
2 Terabytes, 2.5" and only $119
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-HDTB120XK3CA/dp/B00ARJD56K
Or for $7 more is updated "design" casing cousin for $127
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba

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Hello Apple Nation -
I am about to buy a new iMac (woo hoo!) and I had a question on the hard drive. I was looking for pros and cons of the 1TB SATA vs. 256GB Flash storage, beyond the obvious storage size difference. Any thoughts on the performance of one vs. the other?
As a sub-question, would a change in the processor (say upgrade from 3.4GHz i5 to the 3.5GHz i7) improve the performance of what I would assume (rightly or wrongly) of the 1TB SATA drive?
Thanks!

Thanks very much for the help. Great article from MacWorld, too.
If you don't mind me asking, what benefits do you see from the i5 vs the i7? Very much like one of the respondants in the macworld article, my main uses will be photos and gaming. Do you see any benefits in the upgrade?
I had been thinking the video card would be a good investment, but from what I saw it looked like there was a significant performance improvement between the NVIDIA 755M to the 775M (enough to justify the $200), but enough of an improvement between the 775M and the 780M (for an extra $150).
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
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How much data can 256GB Flash storage hold?

How much data can a 256GB Flash storage hold? The only reason I haven't gone ahead with my purchase is that I'm worried that 256GB is too little. I wish it were possible to upgrade to 512GB on the base model.

Depends on what you're gonna put in it.
How big is your current HD? Are you 50% full?
Only you can answer that question.
I've got a 500GB hard drive and I've only used 80GB since everything else is saved on a external drive for security and privacy purposes in case i lose my MB.

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Hi, I am buying a macbook pro for the first time ever and I was wondering what I should get. I am set with the macbook pro with Retina display but do not know if to upgrade to 16gb Ram or leave it as it is. Also, how about flash, 128gb or 256gb? What is the difference?
(Also I am a freshman in college and want it to last at least until I graduate in 4 years)
Main uses:
Writing Papers in Microsoft Word (will be saving these on the computer, maybe 2 papers a week, but will delete/transfer the info to a usb drive after each year)
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Some may suggest that you backup or make viable duplicate files as well
as Time Machine incremental backups, plus use suitable hardware to
create and maintain a bootable copy of your computer system & content.
This would be an externally enclosed hard drive with chipset friendly to
OS X system, in a fast configuration so you could use it to run the Mac.
However, in the basic sense, do not wait a year to remove your important
files to archives outside of the computer; and make more than one copy.
Not all copies are created equal, so a backup is more than drag/drop.
A wireless Time Capsule arrangement may be a good partial backup
solution, in that you could arrange to archive off the MB/Pro SSD, &
then be sure your archive is accessible, before erasing the originals.
Also, macsales OWC has some solid options for wired backups. I'm
of a mind to not totally invest in off-site online iCloud archives since
they are just that. Totally dependent on the internet & ISP access.
Four years may be a stretch, for most computers nowadays. If you get
the extended optional AppleCare plan, then three years may be OK.
Plan on a backup computer, that can share workloads and files.
Good luck & happy computing!

Is the 256GB flash storage enough for me? Can I install a bigger SD?

Hi there, I am transferring from a Dell (which I love) to the Macbook Air 256. However, I'm very concerned about the storage. I've had my Dell for 10 years and never gotten near the storage capacity. It has 285Gb and I've used 215GB of it. I figured the 256 would be enough, but I've only transferred 1 year of pictures over to my MAC, and the storage space is already HALF FULL!!!! I barely deleted 50 photos, and you can see the storage space free up by a couple GBs. Does flash storage not hold as much as regular hard drives? I'm a novice at mac computers and am getting really frustrated that this computer might not hold anything. Everything is also on an external drive, but I like it all on my computer for easy access. I also heard that I can put SD cards into my Macbook air to give me more storage. Is this true and if so, where do I get that? Thank you so so much for your help!

firebox is only $30 at walmart, if you dont have a safe deposit box.
theft is more about HIDING IT than vaulting it, buy a fireproof SLEEVE on Ebay for $30 and hide it under etc etc something, very easy to do.
you can buy your own private website, which is what I do, I have several   Cost is roughly $120 per year unlimited storage..
(see godaddy.com or otherwise)
However safety has to be put in place to prevent others from accessing your data, also very easy.
Its all about redundancy #1 and #2 longevity (DVD professional archival) for very important information that cant degrade over short term and rated for at least 60+ years.
All these points are explained in detail in the link I posted you as User Tip.
Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
As for hard drives, dont make the HUGE mistake others make, only having ONE off computer copy on a HD, thats a tragedy in waiting, 2 copies is 1, and 1 is none, ....and the data on the computer doesnt count in the 2-copy scheme.
Hard Drive Warning (all makes and models)
Ironically but logical, new hard drives are far more fragile than one that has been working for several months or a couple years. So beware in your thinking that a new hard drive translates into “extremely reliable”!
Hard drives suffer from high rates of what has been termed "infant mortality". Essentially this means new drives have their highest likelihood of failing in the first few months of usage. This is because of very minor manufacturing defects or HD platter balancing, or head and armature geometry being less than perfect; and this is not immediately obvious and can quickly manifest itself once the drive is put to work.
Hard drives that survive the first few months of use without failing are likely to remain healthy for a number of years.
Generally HD are highly prone to death or corruption for a few months, then work fine for a few years, then spike in mortality starting at 3-4 years and certainly should be considered end-of-life at 5-7+ years even if still working well. Drives written to once and stored away have the highest risk of data corruption due to not being read/written to on a regular basis. Rotate older working HD into low-risk use.
The implication of this is that you should not trust a new hard drive completely (really never completely!) until it has been working perfectly for several months.
Given the second law of thermodynamics, any and all current mfg. HD will, under perfect storage conditions tend themselves to depolarization and a point will be reached, even if the HD mechanism is perfect, that the ferromagnetic read/write surface of the platter inside the HD will entropy to the point of no viable return for data extraction. HD life varies, but barring mechanical failure, 3-8 years typically.
Hard drive failure and handling
The air cushion of air between the platter surface and the head is microscopic, as small as 3 nanometers, meaning bumps, jarring while in operation can cause head crash, scraping off magnetic particles causing internal havoc to the write surface and throwing particles thru the hard drive.
Hard drives are fragile in general, regardless, ... in specific while running hard drives are extremely fragile.
PDF: Bare hard drive handling generic instructions
hard drive moving parts
Some of the common reasons for hard drives to fail:
Infant mortality (due to mfg. defect / build tolerances)
Bad parking   (head impact)
Sudden impact   (hard drive jarred during operation, heads can bounce)
Electrical surge   (fries the controller board, possibly also causing heads to write the wrong data)
Bearing / Motor failure   (spindle bearings or motors wear during any and all use, eventually leading to HD failure)
Board failure   (controller board failure on bottom of HD)
Bad Sectors   (magnetic areas of the platter may become faulty)
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Can you tell me why you don't think its a good buy? Someone bought it that must have thought it was a good buy? You?!!!
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Macbook 13" with Retina inc upgrade to I7 or Macbook 15" with Retina? Both 256GB Flash Storage

Hi all,
Thanks for reading!
My title explains it all really. My budget is the basic 15" Macbook Pro with Retina or the Top Spec 13" Macbook Pro with Retina including an upgrade to I7, not I5.
I'm a teacher and will use it largely for work, this includes a heavy use of word processing, slide creation, browsing and emails etc...
I'll also use Sibelius (a composing software) and possibly Logic in time.
I can also envisage me doing more photography over the next few years and would enjoy basic editing...
I obviously need to transport it to and from work every day for use in the classroom.
Any advice would be gratefully received!!!
Thanks so much

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Thank you so much!

In my opinion your interests would be best served by a Macbook Air rather than a Macbook Pro. Unless you are taking a photography/video course or scientific studies that use applications that require lot of CPU/GPU resources, the Air will do everything you need to do very efficiently. Combine that will the ease of portability and vastly superior battery run time. it is an ideal notebook for college work. It will also be less expensive!
Ciao.

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Thanks.

There's no 3rd party for that yet. The company to watch would be Other World Computing. They do have SSD's for previous generations of Retina, but the new models have a different interface. One thing you can do is to add an SD card in the slot and format it as OS X Extended (Journaled) NOT case sensitive. It's nowhere near as fast as your SSD, but it's convenient and maybe good for less important data files.
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Hello - I have a 2010 15" MBP that I use for home and business, but I've decided a need a lighter, more portable notebook to take to/from the office, on business trips, etc. I'm not familiar with flash storage, but I've been fairly happy with my current MBP response times. It has 4GB of storage which is nearly at capacity with my entire iTunes library and a number of movies I have stored on it, but I don't need the MBP optical drive and all of those media files with me when on the road. I would primarily use my MBA for Keynote or PPT presentations, playing short form video, MS Office and Web access. I plan to keep my MBP as my main workhorse PC at home for as long as it holds out, and use the 13" Air as a portable notebook.
So... do you think the standard 256 GB of flash storage likely sufficient for me, or should I spend the extra $500 for additional capacity?
And is it reasonable to assume I'll be able to transfer working files easily between my Pro and my Air 2-3x/month via a Thunderbolt/Firewire adapter, or should I just move everything to the Cloud?
Thanks!

As long as you aren't planning on storing a large collection of large movies and you have reasonably sized media (iPhoto/iTunes) libraries, you should have no trouble working with 256GB of storage.
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Hope you enjoy your MacBook Air!

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Can i use another storage flash for my apple air mackbook(change from current 128Gb to 256GB without any issue)

Can i use another storage flash for my apple air mackbook(change from current 128Gb to 256GB without any issue)

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How much of Flash Storage Should I get?

I am planning to buy a 13" macbook pro but i am a little confused on what size flash storage to get. I've heard some people say that 128GB is enough, some say it's not. I plan to use this computer for little bit of gaming, email, pics, video, do PC stuff. Also i wanted to know, how much GB of HDD is equivalent to 128GB flash drive? Thanks in advance!

dr.aventi wrote:
I am planning to buy a 13" macbook pro but i am a little confused on what size flash storage to get. I've heard some people say that 128GB is enough, some say it's not. I plan to use this computer for little bit of gaming, email, pics, video, do PC stuff.
it depends, I have a 120 gb ssd and have plenty of room.
dr.aventi wrote:
Also i wanted to know, how much GB of HDD is equivalent to 128GB flash drive?
the same, 128gb.

Should I get a 128gb or 256gb flash storage MBPr?

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