Mac Hard Drives Underwhelming

[RS-Orlando9]

Hi,

The capacity choices of Apple's SSDs in the current Macs are pretty much in line with the entire computer industry with regards to desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. Yes, Apple's products are more expensive, but they have always been. All computer manufacturers are making the same move to SSD/flash storage in their products for several reasons:

• reliability versus mechanical storage
• reduced weight
• reduced size
• reduced thermal output

As they evolve, the price has been dropping very quickly recently in comparison to a few years ago. And with the newer connection/port technologies, like USB 3.1/4 and Thunderbolt 3, external drives come very close to the speed of internal storage.

In addition, the movement of so many industries to cloud-based applications and storage, the need for local internal storage is slowly shrinking.

I agree, new technology advances aren't for everyone initially, and us old schoolers can be very set in our ways, but it is the direction technology is taking. As history has shown before, eventually we will all adapt and look back at where technology is today and smile.

C

The market rules!! I'm supposing that most readers have no knowledge of the old IBM PC's with the astonishing 350k floppy disks! (And DOS was all it came with), and the old PDP1183 DEC machines used by the aerospace manufactures.. The VAX Unix machines were heavy science! I moved to the Mac platform 3+ years ago and NEVER looked back, frustrated with the MS platform... It was surprise to me when I moved all my MS files to the MAC' 2 Tb worth- I ordered my mac with a 2 Tb HDD hoping I wouldn't have to upgrade to an additional drive. 3 years later and a lot more files, my total used space is currently 265 Gb. on my one internal drive. I pumped my iMac up with a better processor, memory and external accessories that jumped the price to just under 4K$ trimmed costs by staying with the HDD... I NEVER see the beachball and never have to wait for the system to catch up to me.
I work with very large files and somewhat more memory... There's a learning curve coming out of the MS swamp.

RS. Wekiva Springs Florida.

 

[RS-Orlando9]

It's because Apple, in its infinite wisdom (as you call it) is hell bent for leather on making more and more of us ever more dependent upon cloud storage. Sure, it keeps you perfectly synced across all your devices, making things convenient as all get out, AND it puts money into Apple's pockets as well.

Face it: Apple can't remain the Number One company on earth forever simply by selling iPhones, watches, iPads, earbuds, etc., etc. They've stated publicly dozens of times that the company's strategy is to position itself more as a services company as opposed to a provider of the world's coolest hardware.

I myself have an iMac, a MacBook Pro, and an iPhone. It used to drive me nuts to need a piece of data, a file, whatever, only to be out on the road and learn what I needed was in residence on the hard drive of my iMac on my desk at home. Cloud storage and syncing has saved my bacon more than once.

The downside is that we can be hostage to the availability (or lack thereof) of WiFi, or even a cellular signal!

With the cost of SSDs plummeting, it gets under my skin that Apple puts such dinky drives in their machines these days, too. And to compound my aggravation (and yours, too I'm sure) is that Apple has also gone back to Steve Jobs' ancient days in which all their devices are closed again! We can't even upgrade RAM anymore, and that's another pisser to me. I think Apple exhibits its greed to a good degree by requiring customers to pre-order, predetermine, etc., how much RAM and storage they'll need two-three years down the road since we can't upgrade our devices later.

These dinky little drives makes us more dependent on having external devices in my opinion. And that runs counter to Apple's desire we be more dependent on their cloud services.

I've stuck with my i7 2012 MacBook Pro so long because it was upgradeable, and has remained a monster machine all these years despite its age. I was able to upgrade to 16GB of RAM, and it has now has a 1TB SSD, both of which I did myself. The fact that I can't do that with a newer Apple laptop is the reason I'm still running the mid-2012 model!

I think the bean counters are the ones making the final decisions on this one.

As a retired aerospace engineer, the reality of the world in general is easily summed up!
Engineering design and political desire (profit + motive) are polar opposites! Corporate Fiefdoms are a human sickness. There's nothing common about common sense! My Opinion: Apples engineering fiefdom was invaded and overthrown. I like my iMac 18,3! I truly hope it outlast my 74 orbits around Sol! If not, Maybe the M-1 or 2 or 3... If they don't bas...ize it! Reality can be disappointing sometimes... The pendulum does swing though...

 

[rayj310]

Combine small 256GB storage with very few USB ports. The trend in data is larger file sizes. We now have thousands of photos, videos and PDF files. For me modern computing is the sending and receiving large files. I can't believe the iMac has the same storage as an iPhone. I noticed the resolution of my photos has dropped.

I think they are doing it to force people to purchase iCloud Storage.

 

[37Shannon]

Okay so this is mostly a gripe post so if that kind of thing bothers you please scroll along.

Would someone tell me why Apple in their infinite wisdom decided that modern Macs need hard drives that are sized for computers of 25 years ago? Does everyone really keep their entire life on clouds? Inquiring minds and all that.

It might just be cost. A couple of years ago I bought a Mac Mini with the M1 chip and 256Gb drive for $499. The next larger SSD was like $799, and it seemed to me that the extra space was not sufficient justification for the higher price - the value relationship just wasn't there.

My main computer is a 2014 Mac Mini which boots off an external 1TB SSD attached via USB3 cable. Performance is great. The original hard drive still works, but is too slow to use with APFS, which was introduced with Catalina. I also use an external spinning drive for backup (G-Tech), also attached via USB3. But, if you do this, make sure the drive spins at least 7200rpm and has a good amount of onboard cache (mine has 64Mb).

Only problem with this approach is that it consumed 2 of the 4 USB ports on the Mini. I've found that not all devices work through USB hubs.

 

[rayj310]

It might just be cost. A couple of years ago I bought a Mac Mini with the M1 chip and 256Gb drive for $499. The next larger SSD was like $799, and it seemed to me that the extra space was not sufficient justification for the higher price - the value relationship just wasn't there.

My main computer is a 2014 Mac Mini which boots off an external 1TB SSD attached via USB3 cable. Performance is great. The original hard drive still works, but is too slow to use with APFS, which was introduced with Catalina. I also use an external spinning drive for backup (G-Tech), also attached via USB3. But, if you do this, make sure the drive spins at least 7200rpm and has a good amount of onboard cache (mine has 64Mb).

Only problem with this approach is that it consumed 2 of the 4 USB ports on the Mini. I've found that not all devices work through USB hubs.

The cost of storage is dropping. You can buy a 1TB SanDisk SSD extrenal drive for $78 and Apple wants to charge you a fortune for 1TB