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Q: Is a Macbook Air adequate for Uni? If so, is 128GB enough storage to last at least 4 years?

I will be intending to use it to write various essays, view social network sites and store a few photo's/ music etc. I don't know whether to buy 128GB or to buy a larger amount of storage?

I have a Mac at home so I will back up documents on that but unsure as to how much storage would be adequate for uni.

MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 5, 2014 3:41 AM

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Q: Is a Macbook Air adequate for Uni? If so, is 128GB enough storage to last at least 4 years?

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  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Aug 5, 2014 3:46 AM in response to St.kiu
    Level 10 (122,910 points)
    Apple Music
    Aug 5, 2014 3:46 AM in response to St.kiu

    For four years at university, better to get the 256GB's of storage.

     

    Photos, music, and documents, can take up storage space fast. Keep in mind, the operating system requires approximately 8GB's of storage space alone.

     

    How OS X and iOS report storage capacity

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Aug 5, 2014 3:46 AM in response to St.kiu
    Level 9 (52,556 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 5, 2014 3:46 AM in response to St.kiu

    For general studies at a university a basic 13" MBA is a near perfect notebook.  Light, portable with long battery run time.  A faster CPU and RAM are only optional and if the finances can absorb the extra cost.

     

    Do consider extra storage as much as the bank account permits.  External drives are to be avoided as much as possible (excluding backups).  Life will be a lot more pleasant.

     

    Ciao

  • by dwb,

    dwb dwb Aug 5, 2014 6:37 AM in response to St.kiu
    Level 7 (24,275 points)
    Notebooks
    Aug 5, 2014 6:37 AM in response to St.kiu

    Where I teach the MBA is close to if not the most prevalent notebook in use by students and instructors (many of whom use it only to run Windows - sigh). To me, the 13” MBA is the perfect computer, especially when paired with a nice 22” to 24” display at home or office. Today I’m recommending that users upgrade to 8GB of RAM simply because we don’t know what 4-5 years will bring in terms of the minimum requirements and we only get one shot at choosing the right amount of RAM. As to the SSD size, if you limit the amount of music and video you keep on the computer and if you offload old data to an external drive then 128GB is probably enough. But you are probably safest upgrading to the 256GB. I know quite a few people who carry around a external hard drive because they can’t keep everything they need (or think they might need) on the 128GB SSD.