iMac Desktop or laptop storage !

chantele176 wrote:

Thankyou. What I am wondering is if the desktop computers come with higher storage options than the laptops?

When I looked at the Technical Specifications and custom-ordering options on the Apple site, my impression was that the range of SSD sizes was as follows.

For current desktops:

• 24" M3 iMacs – 256 GB to 2 TB
• Mac minis with base M2 chips – 512 GB to 2 TB
• Mac minis with M2 Pro chips – 512 GB to 8 TB
• Mac Studios – 512 GB to 8 TB

For current laptops:

• M2 and M3 MacBook Airs – 256 GB to 2 TB
• MacBook Pros with base M3 chips – 512 GB to 2 TB
• MacBook Pros with M3 Pro chips – 512 GB to 4 TB
• MacBook Pros with M3 Max chips – 512 GB to 8 TB

If you're buying a desktop Mac, one option might be to use an external drive to store photos.

You can get

• AC-powered desktop (3.5") hard drives in sizes up to around 20 TB (per drive)
• Bus-powered notebook (3.5") hard drives in sizes up to 5 TB (per drive)
• External SSDs in sizes up to around 4 TB (per drive)

Note that whether you store the main copies of your data on an internal drive or an external drive, you will want to buy external drives with which to back up your data.

That is for you to decide. When buying a Mac model, if it is an iMac or a MacBook, you can select the amount of storage you want. On the Apple Silicon Macs, this storage is non-upgradable so you must choose wisely to the amount of storage that you'll need.

You can always use iCloud storage to store photos and documents there, so that you have more space on your internal drive.