How Much Storage Do I Need? (Here’s How Much I Have!)
Many people ask “how much storage do I need?” while the answer is entirely dependent upon that individual asking the question.
Here’s why.
For example right now I have 256GB of non-removable or non-upgradeable SSD storage in my MacBook Air M1 and I have no problems with it.
That’s simply because I have two laptops with me one is a Windows-based laptop and the other as I told you is a MacBook Air M1.
When I need to store something I store it on my Windows laptop that has 1TB of SSD storage.
I store it on the Windows one because I’ve been using Windows-based laptops for YEARS and only in early 2022 I switched to MacBook Air M1 because of Apple’s revolutionary M1 processor.
I couldn’t resist buying their latest MacBook Air as it featured a processor many times faster and powerful than my i7 7700HQ processor in my Windows laptop.
Anyway this was just a real-life example of how a person’s storage need is dependent entirely on how he lives his life.
If I didn’t have the Windows laptop with me I’d have upgraded my MacBook Air M1’s storage to 512GB or 1TB or whatever I could afford to upgrade to anything above the basic 256GB storage option.
However if Apple hadn’t released a processor like the M1 I probably would’ve never considered a MacBook Air because this was their entry-level laptop until they came up with the M1 processor.
See how my storage needs change according to my situation? The same exact case is with most people who ask this question.
You need to look at what’s special in your case.
Do you need to upgrade your storage? If you do then simply upgrade.
But if you don’t then why are you even asking this question? 😅
Look at your current workflow if you think you’ll need to buy a larger storage disk soon then consider upgrading your storage when buying your laptop in the first place.
However it is also worth mentioning that most of the time buying an external HDD is cheaper than upgrading your laptop’s storage as is the case with Apple’s MacBook Air M1.
I could’ve upgraded my storage if I wanted to but I simply didn’t because I already have a 4TB external HDD lying around which I can always plugin and have that 4TB space at my disposal.
Again as you see as I keep sharing my experiences with you whoever’s asking “how much storage do I need” needs to look at their situation and figure out the answer themselves.
But if you still want a rough estimate of how much storage should an average person have in their laptop I’d say an average person in 2022 should at least have 1TB of storage in his laptop or computer even if they think they won’t fill it up ever in their lifetime which we all know is not true.
Here’s what USA Today has to say about this:
This answer is from 2012 and things have changed a LOT since then so it’s rare that these numbers reflect real-life use cases anymore of 2022.
I’d say in 2022 most non-professionals need at least 1TB of storage not 250 to 320GB.
