Buying MacBook Pro for Wife - Need som assistance

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smakme7757

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
1
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My wife currently lives out of her IPad and IPhone.

Over time she has needed a PC for longer emails, browsing photos on the NAS, writing documents ect. She has a work laptop, but it's pretty locked down, so she doesn't use that.

Seeing as she is already living in the Apple ecosystem i figured a MacBook Pro might be a nice idea.

I've decided on the new model which came out a little while ago:

  • DualCore Intel Core i5 2,7 GHz
  • Turbo Boost up to 3,1 GHz
  • 8 GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3-RAM
  • 128 GB PCIe-based flash storage (Can upgrade to 256GB for a premium)
  • Intel Iris Graphics 6100
  • Battery (10 timer)
  • Force Touch-Touchpad
It will be used primarily for office tasks and photos (Lightroom at most). My concern is the 128GB SSD. It's a little small. For bulk storage (Photos, videos ect..) she can use a fileshare to our NAS.

How much space does a base install of a Mac take up? What about adding on Lightroom and Office, would that fill up a large chunk of the 128GB ssd?

I guess the point of this thread is: Is the upgrade to the 256GB model SSD worth the extra price or would she be ok with 128GB

PS: We looked at both the Air and MacBook Pro and felt the Pro was the better choice.
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,175
1,815
126
13" Retina MacBook Pro 256 GB with 8 GB RAM will fit the bill.

128 GB would work even with light to moderate Lightroom usage, but doesn't leave a lot of breathing room.
 
J

JAG87

Diamond Member
Jan 3, 2006
3,921
3
76
This really depends on your wife.

If she is trained (and I mean she actually trained, not "she can use") to use the NAS for bulk storage, then 128GB is enough, don't spend the extra money. OSX install is around 20GB, and even with those apps installed you won't hit over 40GB.

But if your wife is like my wife, then any IT information will be retained for approximately 7 minutes, or until the next Sephora email arrives (whichever comes first), and the next thing you will hear is "it says I can't update my OS because I don't have 5GB free".

Buyer beware.
 
smakme7757

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
1
81
Eug said:
13" Retina MacBook Pro 256 GB with 8 GB RAM will fit the bill.

128 GB would work even with light to moderate Lightroom usage, but doesn't leave a lot of breathing room.
Click to expand...


JAG87 said:
This really depends on your wife.

If she is trained (and I mean she actually trained, not "she can use") to use the NAS for bulk storage, then 128GB is enough, don't spend the extra money. OSX install is around 20GB, and even with those apps installed you won't hit over 40GB.

But if your wife is like my wife, then any IT information will be retained for approximately 7 minutes, or until the next Sephora email arrives (whichever comes first), and the next thing you will hear is "it says I can't update my OS because I don't have 5GB free".

Buyer beware.
Click to expand...
She will use the NAS as long as it's easy to access. I havn't used a Mac before, but i presume you can map up a shared folder/drive or something along those lines.

Either way, it wouldn't matter if i got her a 1TB SSD she would just fill it up. So NAS storage would be something she would have to use anyway :)

Good to know a base OS install will take around 40GB.

I think i might just go for the 256GB. At least she won't have problems installing applications and so on.
 
S

smackababy

Lifer
Oct 30, 2008
27,024
79
86
NAS are easy enough to set up and use, so that isn't a huge issue. I'd still opt for the 256GB, simply because 128GB gets tight quick if you're doing a lot of stuff.
 
smakme7757

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
1
81
smackababy said:
NAS are easy enough to set up and use, so that isn't a huge issue. I'd still opt for the 256GB, simply because 128GB gets tight quick if you're doing a lot of stuff.
Click to expand...
Yea, I'll be picking her up the 256GB model.

Thanks for info guys.
 
J

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
7,430
0
71
smakme7757 said:
Yea, I'll be picking her up the 256GB model.

Thanks for info guys.
Click to expand...

Good choice. 128GB "could" be manageable, but it's cramped and SSD's work better over the long term when they have some free space on them. The more free space, the faster they can clean up "unused space" (erased files have to be TRIM'ed away by the operating system and written to "0" so they can be written to again).

It's a much better choice long term to go with the bigger HD, though it does cost a couple hundred more. Sadly, they don't take standard SSD's so you can't just get the base model and add 500GB for under $200.
 
smakme7757

smakme7757

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2010
1,487
1
81
jiffylube1024 said:
Good choice. 128GB "could" be manageable, but it's cramped and SSD's work better over the long term when they have some free space on them. The more free space, the faster they can clean up "unused space" (erased files have to be TRIM'ed away by the operating system and written to "0" so they can be written to again).

It's a much better choice long term to go with the bigger HD, though it does cost a couple hundred more. Sadly, they don't take standard SSD's so you can't just get the base model and add 500GB for under $200.
Click to expand...
Yea that was a bit of a shame :p. That would have been perfect.

We ended up buying the model with a 256GB SSD. Cost an arm and a leg, but I think she will be happy, so that's the main thing.
 
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