New Macbook Air Programming

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© Provided by T3 MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro

With both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro having been refreshed in 2020, it's a tempting time to buy – but which is the best balance for your needs?

#MacBookAir #programming Is MacBook air good for programming? This is the most asked question in my inbox and I have answered it in this video. Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro May 21, 2019. 13-inch MacBook Pro Display Backlight Service Program May 21, 2019. Apple Three-prong AC Wall Plug Adapter Recall Program April 25, 2019. 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) Solid-State Drive Service Program. Apple added a big new feature to the latest model MacBook Pro. The Touch Bar is an OLED panel that sits at the top of the keyboard and replaces the row of function keys. It is contextual, meaning what appears on the panel will change, depending on what app you are currently using. The new 2020 MacBook Pro starts out with a 1.4Ghz quad-core i5 processor and earns a 948 and a 4015 on the same benchmarks. It outperforms the entry-level by a large margin due to being a quad.

We'll help you work out which is the better buy for an Apple laptop: the cheaper, lighter option or the more expensive, powerhouse option? We'll explain everything you need to know.

Keyboard Service Program for MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro May 21, 2019. 13-inch MacBook Pro Display Backlight Service Program May 21, 2019.

• Read our full Apple MacBook Air 2020 review Playstation live chat nz.

Of course what's right for one laptop buyer isn't necessarily right for another, and so we'll break down the differences between these two ranges so you know exactly what you're looking at. You'll also need to decide how you're going to be using your new computer, so you can make the best decision based on the information we'll give you.

  • Best Apple MacBook Air deals – find the cheapest price
  • Best Apple MacBook Pro deals – the latest offers
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MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: Design & usability

The MacBook Air is the smaller and lighter laptop of the two. hence the name. When closed, at its thinnest point it's 0.41 cm thick, compared with 1.49cm (0.59 inches) for the 13-inch MacBook Pro and 1.62 cm (0.64 inches) for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. However, it's worth noting that the MacBook Air is actually 1.61cm (0.63 inches) at its thickest point, so it's actually slight thicker than the 13-inch MacBook Pro. But its tapered design leaves it feeling slimmer and more handle-able overall.

The MacBook Air weighs in at 1.29kg (2.8 pounds), compared with 1.37 g (3.02 pounds) for the 13-inch Pro and 2kg (4.3 pounds) for the 16-inch Pro. Again, note that the difference between the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro isn't huge.

All three models use Apple's latest generation of keyboard, which is a crucial improvement over previous models. You may have heard of reliability concerns around Apple's keyboards over the last few years, but now 100% of its laptops use a new design for the mechanics of the keys, and it's both more comfortable and (based on use so far) less likely to break than previous models.

The keys have a fairly short travel, but you can feel the movement, and there's great feedback, so accuracy is no problem.

All the models have excellent trackpads, too – this is one area Apple nailed a long time ago, and never missteps on.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro finds room for noticeably bigger and more impressive speakers than you get on either the MacBook Air or the 13-inch MacBook Pro… or almost any laptop we've tried, really. They're genuinely impressive, and not in a mealy-mouthed 'well, they're good for laptop speakers' way. They use an advanced design with two opposing drivers in each side, one facing up, one facing down, so that the vibrations from each will cancel each other out, so you get big noise levels without feeling any shake in the frame. Some high-end speakers use this setup, including the Bang & Olufsen Beosound Balance.

The MacBook Air and smaller MacBook Pro also have good speakers, but now we're back into for laptops territory. The stereo separation is impressive, though, and you certainly won't feel like you're missing out when it comes to sounds.

The MacBook Pro models also have new microphone arrays that Apple's calls 'studio quality', though we'd still probably suggest a real microphone for your hit podcast. However, in our new world of video-conferencing all the time, they're a big improvement over most built-in mics.

There are also some differences in terms of the ports you've got available, which will get on to shortly. Starcraft 2 for xbox. Finally, while all these laptops come in either silver or space grey, only the MacBook Air offers a gold option – and it's a really nice colour.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: display

The comparison is really close when it comes to the display. Both the MacBook Air and the smaller MacBook Pro have a 13.3-inch screen running at a 2560x1600 resolution – though the Pro does use a wider P3 colour gamut, and is slightly brighter (500 nits versus 400 nits).

The difference doesn't matter much if you're just doing document work (though the extra brightness makes the Pro easier to see in bright light conditions, such as sunlight), but the broader colours and boosted brightness matter for creative work.

The larger MacBook Pro sports a 16-inch screen running at a 3072x1920 resolution (with the wider colour gamut and extra brightness), which gives a lot more room to work.

The single most important thing (in our opinion) is that all three models support True Tone, which changes the colour balance of the screen to match the lighting of the room you're in, so you don't get that off-putting thing of a screen appearing blue when the light around you is yellow. This is kinder on the eyes in the evening – we wouldn't want to live without it.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: specs and options

Apple gives you a plethora of options when it comes to kitting out the latest MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros. The MacBook Air first: you start off with a 1.1GHz dual-core 10th-gen Intel Core i3 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz), 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. That's for the base version, which costs £999/$999/AUS$1,599.


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New Macbook Air Programming

There is a model that's a step up, though, giving you a quad-core 1.1GHz 10th-gen Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost to 3.5GHz), 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That costs £1,299/$1,299/AUS$1,599 and we think it's a good option if you want a bit more head-room for your tasks. The base version is good for web browsing, document work and basic photo and video editing, for example, but if you wanted to get fancier with Photoshop, 4K video or programming then we'd suggest the quad-core version. Getting the extra power plus double the storage for that upgrade fee seems like a good deal to us.

You can configure your MacBook Air further – you can go up to 16GB of RAM and a maximum of 2TB of storage. Graphics are provided by integrated Intel Plus chips on all 2020 MacBook Air models, which is a significant step up over previous versions of the Air.

• Browse all MacBook Air options at the Apple Store UK

• Browse all MacBook Air options at the Apple Store US

• Browse all MacBook Air options at the Apple Store Australia

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is the next step up in power. At its cheapest, you get a 1.4GHz quad-core 8th-gen Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz), 8GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645, all from £1,299/£1,299/AUS$1,999. These lower-end versions of the MacBook Pro 13-inch haven't had a spec upgrade this year – only the keyboard was improved.

However, at the higher end, the MacBook Pro 13-inch has had a very nice upgrade in 2020. Starting from £1,799/$1,799/AUS$2,999, you get a 2.0GHz Intel 10th-gen Core i5 quad-core processor, the latest Intel Iris Plus graphics, 16GB of faster RAM, and 512GB or 1TB of storage.

• Browse all 13-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store UK

• Browse all 13-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store US

• Browse all 13-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store Australia

The top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro configurations start out at a 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-gen Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz), 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB graphics. That'll cost you £2,399/$2,399/AUS$3,799.

The next model up gets you a 2.3GHz 8-core 9th-gen Intel Core i9 (Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz), 16GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD and Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB graphics. This version costs £2,799/$2,799/AUS$4,399.

If you really want to trick the laptop out, you can go all the way up to a 2.4GHz 8-core 9th-gen Intel Core i9 processor (Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz), 64GB of RAM, a massive 8TB of storage, and Radeon Pro 5600M 8GB graphics.

• Browse all 16-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store UK

• Browse all 16-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store US

• Browse all 16-inch MacBook Pro models at the Apple Store Australia

We should note that 16-inch MacBook Pro hasn't received a full upgrade in 2020, and is rumoured to get one in towards the end of the year.

That top-end 16-inch MacBook Pro is an absolute beast, but overkill unless you're rendering video or doing something equally demanding – for most casual computing use, the lower specs on the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro will do you just fine.

  • Here's our definitive list of the best laptops of the moment

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: features and ports

All these MacBooks are going to come running the latest versions of macOS, Catalina. They'll also get all free updates for the foreseeable future, including the new OS, Big Sur, that we expect to land in October 2020 most likely. From a software point of view, they all have the same features and capabilities, and access to the same applications.

The less powerful components of the MacBook Air equal longer battery life: Apple quotes 12 hours of wireless web use and 13 hours of iTunes video watching. That beats out the quoted 10 hours of wireless web use and 10 hours of iTunes video watching for the MacBook Pro models.

In practice, it's common for people to see lower battery life than that from the MacBook Pros, but not because of any deception with Apple's figures – it's just that those are the machines people use for more demanding software, and the more hardcore an app is, the more quickly it drains your power.

The MacBook Air features two Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) ports, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack. That matches the cheaper versions of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, but if you buy the more powerful versions of the 13-inch MacBook Pro (with the 10th-gen processors) you instead get four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports and a headphone jack.

With the 16-inch MacBook Pro, all models come with four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, plus a headphone jack. You might need a dongle or a hub (or two) whichever model you opt for.

It's worth noting that all of the MacBook Pros include the Touch Bar, and the MacBook Air doesn't. The Touch Bar is a touchscreen that runs across the top of the keyboard in place of the function keys, and it can display custom controls depending on the app you're in – or it can display a set of standard controls of your choosing.

These can be quite handy when they're shortcuts or give you access to fine-grained sliders or other options that would normally be buried a couple of clicks deep. Figure drawing software mac. But we wouldn't call the Touch Bar essential by any means – a lot of people just don't use it.

Both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models include Touch ID fingerprint security. That makes life much easier for logging in, and for verifying your identity for online security.

MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro: pricing and verdict

Both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro will give you a top Apple laptop experience – it's just a question of how much power you're going to need (and how light you want your laptop to be while you're lugging it around).

At the top end, the 16-inch MacBook Pro can be kitted out with ludicrous amounts of power, memory and storage, and it gives you that extra screen real estate to work with as well.

The 13-inch model offers an impressive level of performance from its upper-tier models too, though you don't get the discrete graphics options that you do with the bigger laptop. The cheaper 13-inch models are certainly capable, but it's a shame that internals haven't been upgraded to newer options.

On the other hand, the MacBook Air is lightweight and a little bit cheaper too (check out the widgets on this page for the latest prices). If you're more of a casual computer user then you can save yourself some money with a cheaper option – remember the macOS software is the same on all these models.

The scale of price and performance is clear to see as you move up from the MacBook Air to the MacBook Pro, despite there being some potential crossover where the higher-tier MacBook Air has a quad-core processor that appears not far off the power of the base level 13-inch MacBook Pro's processor.

But the more constrained chassis of the new Air means that processor will hit its heat limits fairly quickly when taxed hard, while the MacBook Pro has more room to manoeuvre. And if you step up the higher-tier 13-inch MacBook Pro, you get a major boost in speed even while staying at quad-core.

But the good news is that there are plenty of configuration options along the way, so you should be able to find an Apple laptop that meets your needs.

You can find the lowest prices on any given model of MacBook Pro or MacBook Air using our price finders below – you can use the Filters to specify the specs you want.

After deciding which MacBook (Pro or Air) you need while shopping on the Apple web site the second page is meant to upsell some upgrade options including extra storage. Chances are you possibly wondering how much do you need to spend to make sure that you will not regret your decision in a year or two.

There is nothing worse than spending a couple of thousands of dollars on a MacBook and finding out soon that you need to spend even more on a new one because the old Mac does not have enough space.

The purpose of this article is to help you decide on MacBook specs and hopefully make your purchase future proof. After all, Apple laptops are very expensive and anyone who's investing in those hopes to run them for at least 5 years or more.

So, is 128GB enough for MacBook? A 128GB MacBook will satisfy most users as long as the user regularly clears space from old applications and documents and/or uses other ways to extend the storage, such as iCloud or external hard drives.

However, it is recommended to double the storage if possible for better MacBook performance.

Now, let's get into details. Below I will review cases for college use, programming, gaming. I will also describe various ways to extend storage on your MacBook.

Several years ago Apple started soldering laptop components. It meant that the components perfectly fit and this allowed to produce the slimmest MacBooks ever. The downside of this approach is that MacBooks are nowimpossible to upgrade after the purchase. So, one needs to decide between 128GB and 256GB before making buying a new MacBook.

SSD storage on MacBook is needed to store the files. The files on your computer can be roughly placed in 4 categories:

Macbook Pro For Programming

  • System
  • Applications
  • Working documents
  • Archive.

So when assessing how much storage is needed you have to know (predict) how much space you will eventually need for those categories.

How much space should the Mac operating system take?

Do you know how much space is actually free out of the box on a 128GB MacBook?

If you were hoping that with the purchase of the base MacBook model you get entire 128GB disk space then I am sorry to disappoint you. On the brand new 128GB MacBook only 107.5GB space will be available for applications and documents.

The rest (about 20GB) will be immediately used by the MacOS system initially. Note that with more applications being installed on the MacBook and more the system gets upgraded the space taken by the system will only increase.

How much storage do I have on my Mac?

If you don't know how to find out how much storage you have on your MacBook here are simple steps to find out:

  1. Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen.
  2. In the drop-down list click on 'About This Mac' option.
  3. In a pop-up window click on the 'Storage' tab.

Here is how my MacBook Pro with Mojave OS looks like:

As you can without a single document or new app, I am only left with 107.42GB. The interesting thing is that the storage size is displayed as 121.12GB, not 128GB as you might expect.

The space that is not available (hidden) is used by macOS for OS image, so in case your MacBook crashes or catches a virus you can always wipe out the system and restore to default settings without needing an OS disk.

How much free storage should I have on my Mac?

Before we review the storage requirements for applications and documents let's discuss how much free space is needed on MacBook. If you ever wondered how a MacBook with 4 GB memory (RAM) can run applications that take 20GB on a disk the answer is that modern computers use the so-called virtual memory.

In the simplest terms, this means that operating system, e.g. macOS, only reads as little data as possible to the actual memory and when the application needs more data the macOS will simply load more when needed. This process is called swapping, macOS swaps data between RAM (memory) and disk (storage).

As a rule of thumb, it is recommended to have at free storage equal to 150% of computer's RAM. For example, if the RAM on Mac is 8GB then the amount of free storage should be at least 12 GB.

Why is this important? Since we have so little storage in the first place, after accounting for system and free storage space we left with only 95.5GB = (107.5 – 12) for anything else.

Storage for Applications

The amount of storage required for a MacBook (or any computer) depends on the applications you need to have on it. While it is possible to store the documents in the cloud or external devices, the applications in most cases required to be installed on the internal storage.

So if you ask me how much storage is enough I will ask you which applications you are planning to use.

Let's review some common user types and applications they typically use.

How much storage do I need on my MacBook for college?

As a college student, you will definitely need Microsoft office. If you run Office locally (and you can get a free copy from your college) then following are approximate space requirements for Office apps:

  • Excel: 1.93GB
  • Powerpoint: 1.71GB
  • Word: 2.31GB

Total for all 3 apps is around 6GB.

Note that these numbers only for app software, they do not include Office documents which may be quite large. With some quick calculations and if we don't need to install anything else we end up with 89.5GB (95.5 – 6) storage for your notes, lectures, books, email, and other documents. Apple imac magic keyboard.

Also, if all you do is browse the Internet, watch YouTube and don't like Safari, you can install other browsers and they will need some space as well. Google Chrome gets installed with 418MB of files, while Firefox only needs about 200MB.

This doesn't include a cache of course. Browsers, are famous for using cache in order to reduce network bandwidth (less time for you to wait), but this comes at the expense of storage space.

Verdict: For most college students MacBook Air with 128GB is good enough for the coursework. 128GB is enough storage to store hundreds (even thousands) of Word/Pages, Excel/Numbers, and PowerPoint/Keynote documents.

Is 128GB storage enough for Gaming?

Definitely not. Modern applications need a lot of disk space because they need to store different images, sounds, etc. Each game nowadays requires 10-20GB of storage. Install a couple of games and there will be no space left on the 128GB disk.

Is 256GB storage enough for gaming? The 256GB disk will be on the lower end for a gaming laptop.

New Macbook Air Programming App

However, there are ways to install multiple games on the MacBook. For instance, if you play games on Steam the application itself (the shell) is pretty small around 6MB.

Games themselves, however, require significant space. For instance, Counter-Strike Global Offensive takes up 20GB, Sid Meier's Civilization VI about 15GB and Fortnite a little over 19GB. https://torrentlogistics.mystrikingly.com/blog/the-sims-4-34.

Fortunately, Steam allows to install games on drives other than primary so you can install an unlimited number of Steam games on cheap external hard drives without investing in expensive primary storage.

So if the question is can you install Fortnite on external hard drive mac then the answer is yes, it is doable. And yes, it will run slower than from the primary disk. But it is far more important to have better CPU and Graphics for games like Fortnite than disk performance.

Verdict: Gamer laptops are the most demanding in terms of resources, including storage. With 128GB MacBook you will only be able to have 1 or 2 games at a time. If you don't mind uninstalling the games you are not currently playing and installing them back again then 128GB may be enough.

Installing games on external storage is also an option. When purchasing a gaming MacBook first invest in better CPU and more RAM, and then in storage.

MacBook Air for programming

Requirements for programming laptops have changed significantly in the last 5-10 years. In the early 2010s and late 2000s, I remember constantly craving for more hard drive space. I had multiple desktops and each desktop had multiple hard drives, the more the better. In those days (pre-cloud) we had to run everything locally – databases, VMs, multiple tools.

While we, programmers, still install multiple tools, the most resource-hungry applications have moved largely to the cloud. Now I run databases and VMs either on Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS.

However, the applications themselves grew in size as well. We use open-source libraries more often than before and many of them are not optimized for storage. Nowadays, even fairly simple applications come with dozens of nodeJS modules or other libraries.

Moreover, if you use source control (and you should) checking out branches or releases will double, triple and quadruple the space taken by the source code and executables.

When it comes to applications and tools the requirements also vary.

If you are just an HTML/CSS/JavaScript developer then you likely need a good text editor. For instance, Atom editor takes 520MB, while Visual Studio Code only 220MB (without plugins). If you need Photoshop for image editing then add another 3.5GB.

You need more resources if are building iPhone or Android apps. XCode is particularly bad with over 10GB space requirement. Java with Android library and simulator is another beast.

If you developing with Microsoft Visual Studio (yes, it is available on Mac) then expect 1.3 – 3.0GB storage taken.

So if you want to know my opinion on storage for programming MacBook, I'd say that 128GB will definitely be tight. Doable, but tight. If you are on a budget and need MacBook I would suggest choosing MacBook Pro with smaller disk over MacBook Air with a larger one. When it comes to programming the CPU is still more important.

How about VMs?

Previously, I never ran VMs on external drives because they were super slow. Recently, I tested a Virtual Box image on the external hard drive with the MBP and I was surprised to see how fast it was running. And I believe, this was because I have a super-fast external drive as well as great CPU and plenty of RAM.

While VMs are nice for the purpose of running multiple operating systems on the same hardware, some people prefer using Bootcamp.

Is 128GB enough for Bootcamp? Absolutely no. With Bootcamp one needs to split the drive. And while having 64GB for macOS is a challenge, running Windows 10 on the 64GB drive is essentially impossible.

Windows itself would take more than half of that space leaving almost nothing for other applications. For Bootcamp, I would not recommend anything less than 512GB.

Verdict: Nowadays programmers do not need as much storage as they used to 10 years ago. When purchasing a programming MacBook invest first in a better CPU. The only exception is when the programmer needs to have Bootcamp option.

Graphics Designers

Graphics designers need even more resources than programmers. Since they work with huge image and movie clips the storage requirements for Graphics designers are considerably high. I believe 128GB may not be enough even with external or cloud storage.

For these users, I would recommend getting as much storage as possible, as much RAM as possible and more powerful CPU (which means upgraded 15-inch MacBook Pro). It is true that most files the designers need could be archived away from the primary disk, but when editing image and video files you still need significant storage available on the main drive.

This could be hard to achieve after installing Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, GarageBand, and other essential apps.

Verdict: 128GB storage will be very challenging for Graphics Designers. A MacBook Pro with at least 256GB and additional cloud or external storage will be the most optimal solution.

Can I add more storage to my MacBook?

Unfortunately, the option of adding storage to MacBook is not available after purchase. However, while applications in most cases can only be installed on the primary disk, the majority of the documents (pictures, videos, last year presentations, old iTunes backups) can be archived and removed from the MacBook.

There are two main ways to archive old documents: cloud and external storage. Voice manipulation software mac.

iCloud

While there are many cloud storage options unsurprisingly iCloud is the most compatible for Apple laptops. What's cool about iCloud is that it automatically uploads your documents and clears your hard drive.

Let's compare iCloud pricing with money needed to upgrade MacBook drive from 128GB to 256GB.

To upgrade MacBook from 128GB to 256 you need to pay an additional $200.
iCloud does not have option for 128GB, only 50GB, 200GB and 2TB (in the US).

If you go with the 200GB option the monthly plan currently stands at $2.99, which is equal to $35.88 per year. So instead of spending $200 for additional 128GB, you can have 200GB for 5.5 years. By that time you most likely going to have another laptop.

Moreover, you can share iCloud account if you have multiple MacBooks and iPhones and you can also share the same account with your family.

The downside of any cloud storage is that you always need internet. Fortunately, at least in the US free wifi is available in any Starbucks and in most organizations. In the worst case, you can always use internet tethering on your smartphone.

New Macbook Air Programming Software

Microsoft OneDrive

Did you know that Microsoft Office 365 comes with at least 1TB of OneDrive space?

If you don't have old Microsoft Office license and thinking about purchasing an Office 365 subscription you will be happy to find out that for $69.99 per year (or $6.99 per month) you can get Personal edition of the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. And that includes 1TB of cloud storage. College students can get this even for free as far as I know.

External hard drives

The advantage of the external hard drives is obviously the ability to work offline. With the speeds of the latest drives, you will not see a big difference between documents (or applications) stored on internal or external disks.

All you need to know is which drives are best for your MacBook. If you need a recommendation then check: The Most Reliable External Hard Drive For Mac Ever.

New Macbook Air Programming Manual

The downside of the external devices is that you need to carry them separately while traveling. Another problem is that you may not have enough ports (especially with the latest 12-inch MacBook) to plug-in devices which means that you need adapters too.

Flash drives

While flash drives are normally smaller and slower than SSD drives they are way more convenient. If you deciding which Flash drive to buy check the ones I am using myself.

SD Cards

There is a better solution for extending storage if you are buying a used MacBook (2015 or earlier). Transcend 256GB JetDrive Lite is an SD card which fits nicely in the expansion slot if your MacBook has one. The beauty of this approach is that you get an external drive of a decent size which is always inside the laptop.

You don't have to plug and unplug it when transporting and it does not use USB ports so you can still use other devices which is super helpful.

Transcend cards are specifically designed for MacBooks. They are not some generic cards that people happen to use for both PCs and Macs. There are four different sizes so make sure to scroll down this Amazon page to find out which type fits your Mac.

New Macbook Air Programming User

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a commission, at no additional cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.

The MacBooks I personally own

I am a lucky owner of three MacBooks and I am thinking about getting another one. The temptation to buy one was so overwhelming during 4th of July sale when I saw 12-inch MacBook for $849 ($450 off) so I had to keep distracting myself and work on this post instead.

By the way, if you want to know how to save up $500 on a new MacBook check my article here.

Here is my list:

  • MacBook Air Early 2014, 128GB SSD, 4 GB RAM
  • MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch Early 2015, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM
  • MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016 TouchBar, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM. I have a Bootcamp on it.

I also have old Mac Mini which I use as a desktop (and I have Bootcamp on it too).

As you can see 2 of my laptops have 128GB storage. Have I ever regretted my decisions to buy base models? Frankly, never. Mostly because I have plenty of external hard drives and flash drives.

Still not decided?

If you still deciding if you need more storage, let me tell you one thing: No matter how much storage you have, if you do not clean MacBook regularly you will be out of space eventually. More storage just gives you more time between periodic clean-ups.

How are you supposed to know which applications you will possibly need? How are you supposed to know whether or not 128GB will be enough for you based on what your probable needs might be at some point in the distant future?

Let me share with you one interesting fact. I have a quiz on my site called 'Which MacBook Should I Buy'. One of the questions on the quiz is 'Are you a software developer?' with three answer options: Yes, No and Maybe in the future.

The interesting fact is that every single person who answered the quiz picked the last option. I highly doubt that all those people seriously considering a career change, but the fact is nobody can predict what they will do in the future and as a result, nobody can tell how much storage is enough.

But I hope that I helped to ease your stress and fear about buying a base model with 128GB. Because now you know that even if you find out that the storage on your MacBook is inadequate, you still have options to extend storage by other means.

Last piece of advice

Things have a tendency to accumulate and take all available space. That's why you have to delete the files you don't need. Make a habit of deleting garbage data at least once a month and maybe you will not even need external drives or cloud storage.

Following are the things you need to check and periodically clean:

  • Browser cache
  • Downloads
  • DMG files – read more here about them
  • Old iTunes and Time Machine backups
  • Empty Trash
  • Uninstall applications you no longer need

If you still need help with selecting a proper MacBook then email me at al@macmyths.com.

By the way, while you exploring the topic of purchasing a MacBook there are two other posts you may like reading as well:

  • A post about choosing between MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, written specifically for college students: Best Apple Laptop For College Student.
  • A post which explains the things to consider when selecting between 8GB or 16 GB RAM for your MacBook: Is 8GB RAM Enough For MacBook Pro?

And final note

While working on this post I found out that I CAN upgrade SSD on my old MacBook Pro 2015 with Feather M13 SSD replacement. I've been thinking about this for two days and at the end I decided against the upgrade for two reasons:

  • I am already used to live with 128GB
  • I want to buy a new MacBook in the fall when Apple releases something more exciting

This article is from 'Which MacBook Should I Buy' series.

Image credit: Apple





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