Is 500 Gb enough?

Hello!

Just to add an additional perspective: I purchased a MacBook Air (M2, 2022) a while back with 8 GB of Memory and 256 GB of SSD storage. I don't regret it at all.

I have a 2 TB iCloud+ plan and I'm using ~300GB. With "Optimize Mac Storage" (Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support), I only have ~60 GB of data, including macOS, locally stored on my Mac at any point. This means that typically I have 200 GB free of my 256 GB storage. Quite impressive.

I do have one larger photo library, and that's stored on an external SSD, along with my iMovie Libraries.

But once iCloud Optimization is enabled, I don't ever fret over my available storage. iCloud works in the background to offload files that have been recently opened and is waiting to download more files on demand if I request them.

You could subscribe to an iCloud+ plan on your current Mac, Upgrade to iCloud+ - Apple Support, enable desktop and documents in iCloud, Add your Desktop and Documents files to iCloud Drive - Apple Support, and enable all other functions of iCloud, such as iCloud Photo Library, Set up and use iCloud Photos - Apple Support, and as long as all your files reside in an iCloud synced location, you can sign in with your Apple ID on the new Mac, and instantly have available all your files, photos and other content synced while using little local storage.

Also, FWIW, 8 GB of Memory is plenty for most on an Apple silicon Mac. The unified memory system found in Apple silicon Mac computers is a wonderful system and one that makes 8 GB feel like a lot more. When I occasionally push my Mac by running many high-demanding apps at once, I feel absolutely no degradation in performance. If needed, a small amount of swap (SSD temporarily utilized for memory) is used, and the Mac carries on. I'd even say an Apple silicon Mac with 8 GB of memory feels like an Intel Mac with 16 GB of memory.

Of course, I'd always encourage users to buy more storage and/or memory if they'd like. No one has ever said they have too much.

In any case, I hope this helps, and enjoy your new Mac!!

Jack

PhilBr wrote:

My current iMac (10 years old) has a 1Tb hard disk (400Gb used) and is slowing down. I am thinking of buying a 24" iMac but is 500Gb enough or will I be looking to get external storage from the moment I buy it?

As Keith indicated, it depends on what you want to store and whether you prefer to store them on the internal drive.

You might think forward in time: your current iMac is 10 years old, you are using 400 GB, what do you think you will be using in 10 years? If you store photos or videos, keep in mind how fast the storage requirements are increasing, as resolution increases. If your new Mac has 500 GB, and you are already using 400 GB, then that machine is basically already at capacity before you even start.

Someone else suggested you could put many of your files in the cloud to make room. That works well for some, but not for others. You should decide. Cloud storage is not free when talking about those amounts of storage.

In my opinion, 500 GB is FAR too small for a modern computer, with or without cloud storage. I use cloud storage extensively but all our Macs have a minimum of 1 TB, except for our 2010 MacBook Air which came with 250 GB, the maximum available for that model at the time.

IMHO it is always wise to get the same amount or more storage as your old Mac. You said your current machine has 400GB used, so I would say NO a 500 GB machine is not adequate storage for your needs. By the way, when the new machine arrives follow the steps in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant

I'd opt for another 1TB drive, which will be an SSD if it's a new iMac. Generally, storage needs increase over time -- from increased size of OS updates/upgrades, app purchases, and new user files. And even SSDs benefit from free space. You might care to see this article: https://www.macworld.com/article/704243/how-much-storage-you-should-leave-unused-on-a-macs-ssd.html

Yes, more than sufficient. Use externals/Clouds for user data as much as possible (I use it for everything), keeps life simple.

It would be better if you could get it down to around 350GB and keep it there.

Another option, is to move either your Music Library or your Photos Library off to an external drive.

Personally I like to keep everything on my internal drive and would do at least the 1T model.

I don't know, what do you store on your Mac?

If you have large photo or video libraries, and want to store them internally, you will probably need more storage.

I went ahead and got 2TB for mine.