So he didn’t dump it.
Is there a reason that you must keep your media local? I used to try to do this, but even one TB isn’t enough for me these days. You can get a nice NAS with 8TB or more of storage for a pretty good price these days. And if you’re worried about access outside of the house, consumer grade NAS makes this pretty easy to setup, too.
It’s nice not to have to move all of your media when you get new computers. And although RAID isn’t a backup, the right RAID offers a little bit of protection for single drive failures.
I insist on SSD for my OS and applications, but gigabit Ethernet (or even Wifi) is perfectly adequate for streaming your own media. I wouldn’t try to use use FCP with NAS hosted files, but general use will be fine.
Can we fight the ignorance around local storage on Chromebooks? They often don’t come with much built-in storage, but many come with SD and micro-sd slots. Fill up your first 200GB micro-sd storage, pop it out and put in another $40 storage card. With the amount you save buying a Chromebook, you can buy many TB’s of local storage with the cost delta.
And like Balthisar says, get a NAS and then you can get to your data from any device.
These comments are based on the requirements from this thread. I’m not saying USB2 or USB3 transfer rates (it will depend on the Chromebook you buy) will be fast enough for all applications, but for storing video files, it will work.
Local storage is a necessity. I am a TV producer/documentarian and I often store dozens of cuts on my computer. It’s a lot easier to control a video precisely when it lives on your computer rather than streaming–if I want to go frame by frame, say. And I’m often in a situation where I can’t stream, such as riding in a van for a couple hours, but I want to watch some cuts or occasionally dailies. The internet in production offices is often terminally slow, making streaming a non-starter even when I have a connection; it’s easier to download at home, or even wait 45 minutes at the office while I do something else, and have the file always available. Finally, it’s easier to compare older versions to current ones with all the versions in one place.
I didn’t realize there could be local storage on a Chromebook, I thought they were pushing everyone to the cloud. But the SD card solution isn’t a great one for me either. It’s one more small thing to keep track of/lose/have the dog eat, and it doesn’t help me if I fill it up card A with say versions 1, 2, and 3 of an episode and then version 4 is on card B–I’ve lost the ability to compare things side by side. Not to mention cross-referencing documents from earlier and later points in the production, if they’re spread across >1 card; for example, I’m watching version 4 on card B, and I want to check what notes I gave on the first cut, but those are on card A.
So, need local storage.
I should also add that beyond the performance issues, the trackpad is dying, which again I don’t believe is fixable any more.
I missed the edit window. Are there 512 or even 1TB SD cards for Chromebooks? If so, I might investigate a little further.
I think currently, the largest SD card is 512GB and there is a premium price on them now. The 400GB version is the sweet spot in large storage vs cost.
Yeah, it’s not quite there for large storage, but it’s getting there. There is also the speed factor: Some of the cheaper devices might be USB2 interfaces to them so keep that in mind.
You think a geek can only have one computer? My point is that die-hard Apple fans, people who love the Mac OS, who would prefer to use a Mac every single day of their lives are not using them for the writing because, in their need to trim another millimeter of thickness, Apple has produced the most hated keyboard since the Sinclair.
Lol, that apparently was your original contention, not mine. What other image is “dumping MacBooks for Windows laptops” supposed to invoke?
I suppose I shouldn’t expect much reading comprehension from someone who starts a response with “lol”. Again, Apple has screwed the pooch with the recent generations of the MacBook, and Apple fans like Andy Inhatko, the Chicago Sun-Times Mac columnist and Leo LaPorte are not using them to write, it should be a wake-up call, but it probably won’t be.
You can have my 2014 MacBook Pro when you pry it from ASF.
I will not, in any way, get a MacBook from whenever the touch bar thingy was introduced and onward.*
Back to your question. The specs for my MB Pro is still pretty impressive. 3.0 GHz quad**, 13" retina (very nice and easy on the eyes), 500 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM.
I came from an older MB Pro which had 8 GB RAM and I don’t the doubling the RAM made much of a difference. The SSD, though, is what makes this thing fly. I use a lot of Adobe software and they are not performing better with the extra RAM. I realize that RAM is not graphics, but since it dowesn’t have a separate GPU the read/write time to the disk is what makes it fast.
*My MB Pro has SD card reader, HDMI connection, audio output, 2x USB 3.0 and 2x Thunderbolt (which are growing obsolete. To call a MB “pro” and only have USB-C connectors is a joke. In reality, it’s a jazzed up MB Air with a fancy-schmancy (too big) track pad, that touch bar and an inflated price.
** IIRC. I’m at work with a crappy HP laptop that I’ve been provided with. It sucks. They call it Elite Book.
I just have to chuckle when you repeatedly appeal to the authority of Ihnatko and Laporte. You’re fooling yourself if you insist on holding them up as paragons of Apple influencers. It isn’t 1996 anymore.
“But Ihnatko and Laporte say…” is not a good opener. I mean, I get that as apostates they validate your preconceived notions of Apple, but you don’t have to hide behind them. If you think the keyboard sucks, just say the keyboard sucks.
You’re changing you’re your asking for, then. Your OP says, “The three main things I use the computer for are writing, web, and watching videos, both streaming and downloaded.”
Since you’re using the computer professionally, then just a max’d out BTO MacBook Pro. You can get 4TB of SSD that way. That’s an easy decision.
You’re right in that I should have been more specific in my original post, and I apologize if it seems like I moved the goalposts. These are however the main things I use my laptop for professionally.
I know I discounted the streaming aspect in a later post above; it does come into play sometimes, usually when I’m in the running for a new job and get a link to sample footage for review. In that case I’m not very concerned about fine control or video quality, and I’d be streaming it at home where I have a good fast connection, so I really should have left that out.
What does BTO mean?
Build to order.