Looking to Get a Secondary Computer for Travel: Which Size SSD HD for MacBook Air

Lusertonyn on 30/07/2024 - 11:33

Hey Everyone,

Looking to get everyone’s feedback as I have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 32GB RAM and a 1TB HD at home for all my heavy work but I’d like to update my travel laptop and get a MacBook Air 16gb of RAM (either M2 or M3).

Trying to balance out price, value and longevity.

  1. Given that I’m just doing typical multi tasking and no photo video editing on the MacBook Air should I get the M2 or M3. Will definitely get 16GB RAM

  2. I can’t decide between 256 or 512 SSD I’m ok with 256 for my own contents but would the operating system and app eventually eat into majority of that in the next 4 years?

Computing Apple Computer Laptop Ultrabook

Comments

  • sumyungguy on 30/07/2024 - 11:42

    My desktop is a Mac mini M1 and I've been playing around with an iPad Air 5th Generation with Magic Keyboard as my travel computer. So far so good

  • usertonyn on 30/07/2024 - 11:50

    Not a bad thought but with the Magic Keyboard that brings the price to $1498. Plus there are some apps that don’t work the same on iPad.

    I do have an iPad Pro M1 12in. Might see if I could find a second hand Magic Keyboard or another keyboard case to try it out.

    • sumyungguy on 30/07/2024 - 11:52
      +1

      I got my Magic Keyboard from Cashies for $239; having a trackpad and backlit keys is awesome

      • usertonyn on 30/07/2024 - 12:41

        Not a bad thought! I’ll check it out :) thanks

  • ihfree on 30/07/2024 - 12:08

    I found a phone to be enough on a recent trip. I had my iPad air+ magic keyboard with me but barely used it.

    I've had a 8/256 M1 MBA for 3.5 years and haven't had any issues with storage. I think storage is still at over 100gb free. Storage isn't too big a concern due to cloud storage/NAS/desktop. My usage is fairly casual as I also have gaming PC, though, now for pretty much anything non-gaming, I use the laptop.

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 30/07/2024 - 13:28

    I bought a decent laptop and just plug my laptop in at home. Better than forking out for a Mac mini + average MacBook.

    • usertonyn on 30/07/2024 - 14:05

      Yeah agreed but I bought my Mac mini at a time when laptops didn’t work with two monitors. Now they do. Got the spec’d out Mac mini for a really good deal at the time.

  • freefall101 on 30/07/2024 - 13:42
    +1

    macos installs haven't really grown much in size, if I recall correctly it even shrunk with macos 12 (but 11 was a bit oversized).

    IMO the pricing on the 8/256 M3 model is pretty sharp ($300 off at the big retailers atm) and there's no reason to go beyond that without a specific use case. The storage speed issues were fixed so being able cache a lot of browser windows isn't really an issue.

    • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 30/07/2024 - 17:17
      +1

      I’d go a minimum of 512gb, the 256gb isn’t quite enough once you download office apps and plus the huge size of macOS.

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