I have pretty much come to the conclusion that my new (refurbished) MacBookPro is going back and I have about 8 days to make that decision. It came with a 256GB Flash HD and with mostly just the OS and apps, I'm down to only 29GB free. Not a good way to operate. I will probably buy a 27" iMac but the variety of HD options is huge. I'm doing my best to research each type but you all are the ones who use your iMacs the way I will. Your views and experience will be the most help to me. So...would you all who have bought recently tell me your the specs you got and why? TIA!!
If you are going back to a desktop, you could always just use an external hard drive to store all of your supplies and pictures, etc. That's what I do. It does two things for me, 1. I can move back and forth between the two computers that I use at home AND I can take all my supplies to work with me and back them up off site easily. and 2. It keeps all the extra clutter off your computer. Oh AND when you get a new computer it's super easy to move to that new computer once your programs are installed. I know it's not for everyone, especially if you use a laptop, because it's an extra thing hanging off and doesn't make you as easily portable, but I only use desktops, so that has never been a problem for me. But, if you do want to go internal, the solid state drives to install programs on are so much faster for initial start up and loading of programs... then they usually add a regular HD for storage, but the 7200 rpm versions (usually in desktops) and faster than the 5400 rpm version they put in laptops. Of course my knowledge is based on PCs, but I'm pretty sure they use the same type of hard drives in both PCs and Macs.
Thanks @Karen. Yes, I do keep most everything except applications off my iMac's HD. Because I no longer do much work with documents, I do keep those on the HD. Piffling amount. I think I (and my dh) favor a Fusion drive (Flash & SSD) vs a SSD only since I don't plan to make my iMac a storage device. I learned that years ago and kept my iMac as empty as possible. Do I want (need!) a 2T Fusion or will 1T be sufficient???? Every choice seem to add $200... ETA: I would still be interested in knowing what kind of HD each new owner got and how you feel about your choice after having it a while.
I have a 2016 MacBookPro with a 1TB Flash HD. I keep my photos and documents on my computer but all my scrap supplies are on a portable external drive. I'm already at 520GB used and I've had the computer for about 9 months. My two cents - if you can afford the 2TB drive, get the 2TB drive. You'll never regret having extra space down the road. I was not willing to pay several hundred more for a 2TB drive upfront but I know I'll end up upgrading my hard drive at some point (when prices will come down a bit - hopefully).
Meredith, thank you for your input. I have decided to go with a 2TB Fusion. I finally read last night that the iMac 1T has only 24GB of Flash while the 2T and 3T have 128GB. That's a major difference and imho will give me enough Flash to keep the Adobe products happy. If the Flash amount were better on that 1T Fusion I might be ok with it. Now my only decision is processor speed.
I always say buy as much RAM, and processing power as you can! I bet you'll love the 2TB! We have a small SSD (128 GB), and I wish we had a bigger one. We install everything else on the 4TB HD that is also installed, but there's just enough that has to run on the SSD that causes it to fill up quickly! Of course, that's PC not MAC. Good luck buying the new computer!
