

Using a disk size calculator, and subtracting an extra 20GB for operating system to be on the safe side, you’ll find that “128GB” is more like 99GB, “256GB” is more like 218GB, and “512GB” is more like 456GB.)

(According to Lifewire, for each gigabyte that you think your hard drive has, it has about 70.3 megabytes less of disk space. There are two reasons for this:įirst, your laptop's operating system takes up a good chuck of space right out of the box the latest version of macOS, (Monterey) takes up a little more than 12GB, for example, while the latest version of Windows 10 takes up about 15GB.Īnd second, most laptop manufacturers deal in specs that are base-10 numbers instead of the less intuitive base-2 numbers computers actually use, meaning hard drive capacities are always slightly lower than they are rated to be.

One of the most important things to know is that there's a difference between the amount of usable storage space on a laptop and the amount advertised - it's actually much less. But there are some handy rules of thumb and wrinkles to know about. So, how much storage do you really need? There is no perfect answer, of course. If you have any questions or run into any issues, our expert customer support team is here to help.How Much Smartphone Storage Do You Really Need? We know how intimidating it can be to upgrade your iMac for the first time, and our installation videos walk you through the entire process, step-by-step. Our DIY upgrade kits include everything you need to safely perform the upgrade yourself. The upgrade is much more straightforward than you might think.Īt Macfixit Australia, we strive to make the SSD upgrade process as simple and easy as possible. And you do not have to be an Apple technician to upgrade safely – you can do it yourself. Additionally, if you have a 2016 or older MacBook Pro or a 2017 or older MacBook Air, you can upgrade your internal storage up to 2.0TB. Although this is increasingly true for more recent MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, the SSDs and hard drives of nearly all Apple iMac and Mac Pro desktops are still upgradeable. Many Mac users still do not realize that their hard drive or SSD is upgradeable, and they believe that to have more storage, they must purchase a new Mac. Upgrading the hard drive or SSD in your Mac is easier than you think.
