Reasonable storage on imac?
what storage should i get on my imac? will be using most adobe programs like ID, Ps, Ai and more. I take a lot of pictures and at times I edit videos. So what is a reasonable capacity?
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External storage is a breeze to add and can be many times the internal capacity.
If we use the office analogy to illustrate the difference between RAM and storage (SSD or HDD), then RAM (memory) would be your desk and the SSD would be your file cabinet. When you want to work on a project (app) at the office, you take a few files from the file cabinet and put them on your desk to work on them. Because your desk is small (4GB RAM) you can only have a few files open on your desk at once before you have to start swapping them around and piling them up, and that slows down your work. If you double the size of your desk (8GB) you can have more files open and work on them more comfortably, And when the boss buys you the BIG desk (32GB) you can have a lot of stuff at hand in front of you!
The SSD and HDD storage, being your file cabinets, are where everything is kept when your aren't working on it. All of the documents and photos and associated project files are stored in the cabinet until you need them to work on your project (app). If you have lots of stuff to keep on file for different projects and clients over time, your files storage has to grow to keep up with it, so from time to time you have to buy a bigger storage cabinet. A 120GB HDD would be like a little 2-drawer cabinet you find at Walmart. But a big 1TB or 2TB SSD you get at OfficeMax is like having several 4-drawer cabinets with space for project files for all your bosses.
And finally, in this analogy, YOU are the CPU. You're working your butt off to get your work done and you rely on assistants who shuttle files back and forth between your desk and your storage. The assistant who transfers files to/from the HDD is just an okay worker. But the one who shuttles files to/from the SSD is really quick, so your stuff gets to you much more quickly.
These days your minimum RAM should be 16GB, and as Keith Barkley posted, more is better. You say you plan to work in Ps, Ai and ID with photos and vids (large files) so you should plan to buy a Mac with as much RAM as you can comfortably afford. It cannot be added later.
Storage is an easy add on after the fact. When you do add it, get an SSD device with the quick assistant.
And don't forget the little guys as you climb the corporate ladder. 🙂
