Mac Hard Drives Underwhelming

Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
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.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
1,264
Reaction score
99
The smaller drives are SSDs which are more expensive, GB for GB, than mechanical drives, so cost is one reason.
I tend to keep my 'Data' on externally connected drives. i.e. one for Code, one for Photos and one for general stuff like word, and excel files. I keep very little in the 'Cloud'
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
139
Reaction score
21
Nothing in the cloud here. I do have some files on a server for a website, but I don't use the cloud to store anything else.

It would be nice if Apple offered the option between a larger non-ssd drive, and a smaller but faster ssd drive, at around the same price point. Then everyone could order their Mac to fit their situation, and there would be a lot less confusion and griping.

I have no data to back up this claim, but my guess is that only a small minority of Mac users really need the extra speed provided by ssd drives. That said, probably only a small minority need a 1TB drive too.

My guess is that Apple morphed in to a phone company because many or most people just don't need the features being added to new desktop computers. That makes it harder for the manufacturers to persuade us to buy a new machine.

I might have this wrong, but I believe I read awhile back that the Mac accounts for only something like 15% of Apple's profits these days. If true, that could explain a lot.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
1,264
Reaction score
99
The, small 256GB drives on modern machines seems gigantic compared to my first PC, an Amstrad PC2086/30 which had a 30MB drive :cool:

PC2086.jpg
 

Cory Cooper

Moderator
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
11,102
Reaction score
492
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
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
139
Reaction score
21
30mb is really all anyone requires. I mean, after all, once you have a few custom icons, what else does a person need? Also, never buy a Mac made in this century, very bad idea!! :)

Seriously, I got my first Mac in 1994, before the Internet was readily available to average citizens. I figured out how to connect to a local BBS over the phone wires, and we spent HOURS trading icons, showing off our new custom icons, arguing over who had the best icons etc. Sounds so ridiculous now, but at the time, it was thrilling.

And then the Net came along. This was before Netscape, or any kind of graphical browser. Text and links, that was the Web, nothing else. I started surfing from one city's web page to another. I would holler out to my wife in the other room, "I'm in Chicago!!" and then a few minutes later, "I'm in San Diego!!!" and she'd holler back, "Wow, really???"
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
139
Reaction score
21
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.

You make good points as always Cory. I just got done looking back and smiling in my last post.

Let's try this. Perhaps the issue for very many users is that there aren't enough truly compelling softwares available that require these new speeds. What I mean is, truly compelling softwares for the average user, those currently content with using their Mac for email, the web, and family photos.

If I bought a brand new Mac maxed out with every upgrade, what would I do with it that I can't already do on a ten year old Mac? Ok, so my video editing would surely be snappier, but is that worth $1000-$2000? More to the point, what would my wife do with a new Mac? Snappier email?? Would she even notice?

It seems that if Apple wishes us to keep riding the cutting edge it would really help if there was some software breakthrough that required the new equipment. Off the top of my head, maybe some kind of fun virtual reality software that was easy enough for average users to enjoy? Something like that, something that is compelling, accessible to average users, and requiring the new hardware.

Unless the software can keep up with the hardware, my guess is that we'll see an ever growing number of users questioning the need for a new machine.

My guess, Apple is a phone company now. It actually wouldn't surprise me if they discontinued the Mac altogether, or perhaps sold it off to another company.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
As for being a phone company, absolutely. That has been their market for years and a very successful market for them it has been. Which is why they keep making the Mac OS more and more like iOS, squandering the power of the Mac so that people can move from their iPhones seamlessly to a Mac. This is another trend that burns my butt. They have been dumbing down the Mac for years. I mean I get the reality. Macs are never going to be a big market draw for Apple so making all their products act like iPhones only makes sense from a business perspective. I get it. It just aches my soul as I have been using Macs for over 30 years. My first Mac was the SE. And over the decades Macs got better and better (we won't talk about the dark years) more and more powerful. Now I'm watching the Mac regress more and more. The desktop Mac is still my go to device. It's where I do almost everything. Sigh.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
Nothing in the cloud here. I do have some files on a server for a website, but I don't use the cloud to store anything else.

It would be nice if Apple offered the option between a larger non-ssd drive, and a smaller but faster ssd drive, at around the same price point. Then everyone could order their Mac to fit their situation, and there would be a lot less confusion and griping.

I have no data to back up this claim, but my guess is that only a small minority of Mac users really need the extra speed provided by ssd drives. That said, probably only a small minority need a 1TB drive too.

My guess is that Apple morphed in to a phone company because many or most people just don't need the features being added to new desktop computers. That makes it harder for the manufacturers to persuade us to buy a new machine.

I might have this wrong, but I believe I read awhile back that the Mac accounts for only something like 15% of Apple's profits these days. If true, that could explain a lot.
I'm really not convinced that regular people don't need a 1TB drive. My photo library is almost 2TB. My music library is 200GB. I don't have a big movie collection but that's almost 2TB, too. I'm not a professional photographer, musician or film maker, all this is just stuff I have collected over three decades. Externals are fine and useful. Still Apple is selling a computer with 256GB? Seems there should be a huge price break for that when other computers come with 1TB to 4TB drives which is not uncommon.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
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
Yeah I agree the future is cloud based storage. It's not here yet though. The cost is just too high. The lag is too long. And it is about as safe as your data on Windows 98. We know the bad guys can hack into virtually any system on the planet. How safe is my data?

Frankly I find that terrifying. All my data on some server farm in who knows where. And who knows who can get to see it whenever they want. Privacy in this modern world is nonexistent.

With the cloud not yet ready for prime time I want my large hard drives.
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
1,264
Reaction score
99
The thing I would like is the ability to have a second internal drive on my imacs, because on my windows PC I have a 128GB SSD for a boot/system disk and a 1TB disk for data, plus I have 2 spare SATA connectors for more drives if needed.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
139
Reaction score
21
To continue our arm chair analysis, a key "problem" may be the incredible power of the Apple brand, a truly historic business triumph.

When my wife wanted a laptop I suggested ChromeBook to her because she literally does nothing on a Mac other than email and web, and Chromebooks are something like $900 cheaper than a new Mac laptop.

To understand this story what you need to know about my wife is that she is a very careful, discriminating, savvy, price sensitive shopper. She's allergic to paying full price for anything, always an eye out for the deals etc.

But when it came to a laptop, she just wanted a Mac. She wasn't entirely sure why, she just wanted one. She said she didn't want to learn anything new. I I replied that surfing the web with Chrome on a Chromebook would be pretty much exactly like surfing the web with Chrome on a Mac. Anything else she needed to know could probably be learned in a day or less. She just wasn't persuaded. She wanted a Mac. So being a savvy husband I said, "Ok, honey!" and quietly kissed $900 goodbye.

But, being the savvy shopper she truly is, she then found a used Macbook Pro for $300, thus getting everything both of us wanted. Nice machine!

The point here of course is that if my wife wasn't such a relentless shopper she would have happily paid $900 more than needed, just because of the awesome power of the Apple brand.

So when millions of people are buying Macs based on Apple brand loyalty, and often not much else, why should Apple care about our opinion of their hard drives?

BTW, did you know the new iMacs coming out this fall will cost $24,000 and have no internal components? The case looks REALLY nice though! Beautiful Apple logo!!
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
The thing I would like is the ability to have a second internal drive on my imacs, because on my windows PC I have a 128GB SSD for a boot/system disk and a 1TB disk for data, plus I have 2 spare SATA connectors for more drives if needed.
Absolutely. That combination makes perfect sense for where we are technology wise at this time. Apple throws out perfectly good current technology even when the next better technology is not ready for prime time yet.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
So when millions of people are buying Macs based on Apple brand loyalty, and often not much else, why should Apple care about our opinion of their hard drives?

BTW, did you know the new iMacs coming out this fall will cost $24,000 and have no internal components? The case looks REALLY nice though! Beautiful Apple logo!!
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
So right. Apple is not creating machines for guys who have supported their product for 30 years. They really don't give a crap about us. We're going to be gone in a few decades. Again I can not blame them for this. It is a smart business model. The majority people using Macs these days are younger more than older. They have never known The Power of the Dark Side, errrr, I mean the power of the old Macs. They don't store reams of data on physical devices. They love flexibility and portability and are willing to sacrifice everything else to get that.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
Fun story, just throwing it in here. A couple years ago I went to my local Apple store. Was talking to one of their snot nosed 20 something sales people. He was wanting to know how I liked the Macs then available. I mentioned some of the things I don't like like being able to open only one window in iTunes (yes you can open a second window but it is a dumb window, it has no controls).

He told me and I quote "I don't think you could ever open more than one window in iTunes". I just sighed and thanked him for his time.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
139
Reaction score
21
Here's a story from the old Apple days, around 1998 or so.

I bought a new Mac. The modem in the new Mac arrived dead. I called Apple. Within 48 hours they had someone come to my house and install a new modem. That's the way premium priced products should work.
 
Joined
Jul 7, 2021
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Hello, I want to buy a new iMac for use in a small plant nursery - really just stock lists and photos. I am happy with the older 21.5 inch screen and wondering which of the 3 models are best for me. The screen resolution is a lot higher on the retina 4K displays and they area faster but figure I just need the 2.3GHz 246GB? These models are not available through Apple so will be buying from JBHiFi probably. Or am I missing something?? My basic needs don't warrant the newer models?
 
Joined
Jan 25, 2017
Messages
1,264
Reaction score
99
Hello, I want to buy a new iMac for use in a small plant nursery - really just stock lists and photos. I am happy with the older 21.5 inch screen and wondering which of the 3 models are best for me. The screen resolution is a lot higher on the retina 4K displays and they area faster but figure I just need the 2.3GHz 246GB? These models are not available through Apple so will be buying from JBHiFi probably. Or am I missing something?? My basic needs don't warrant the newer models?
My wife uses an iMac 21.5" (late 2015) 8gb ram, 1tb HDD, Mojave 10.14.3, 2.8ghz intel core i5 and uses it mainly for genealogy research plus emails and general office stuff, nothing fancy it just get's the job done.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top