Please explain Flash storage?
 

Hi all

I've searched the threads w/ macBook Air in them and didn't see any answers. I am thinking of getting a MBA and don't understand what the "flash" storage is > I understand i can save data/files on a cloud based solution but does this mean I can't save docs to the machine?

I mostly use it for data - documents, some spreadsheets - that would be nice to be able to save on the machine itself. I don't play games but i might watch an occasional movie.

thx

Your data is still stored within the MBA. Solid state is much faster than conventional hard drives but the price is higher per GB. It is the same type of storage used in USB drives, iPhones, newer iPods, tablets, etc.

it means that instead of a spinning physical hard drive that there are chips that save data to the computer. it acts a little bit like ram memory modules, the difference being that ram is much faster than flash drives but ram doesn't save anything once you shut the computer off.

the advantage of flash memory is that it's much, much faster than traditional spinning hard drives. you notice the difference immediately. the disadvantages are that it's more expensive and the storage limits are smaller due to cost. a laptop hard drive costs $50 for 500gb. a flash drive costs about $150-250 for a 128gb drive.

so how do you load software?
 

or is nothing on CD's anymore?

Some software does occasionally come on CDs -- especially if you buy a camera, for example. However, there are usually workarounds. But if you really need to read a CD/DVD, you will need to connect a USB-optical drive.

That issue, however, is separate from having SSD storage. My laptop (a vaio) has an SSD drive and I love it -- prices are falling, but it is pretty pricey. One thing that put me off the MBA (other than it being a mac) was there was no option to get a bigger than 256GB hard drive. Although with affordable portable HDs that isn't a huge issue, it did put me off.

tb

Anything like a camera driver is super easy to just download.

SSD is a replacement for hard disk drives, not CD/optical drives.

You load software just as you always have, from the CD (if provided) to the permanent drive. In this case, the "drive" consists of solid-state memory chips instead of a rotating magnetic drive.

The anti-Mac
 

I've never seen it explained, but why is there all this animosity of "Mac" related things?

Animosity? What are you talking about?

A laptop (whether it is a Dell, or Lenovo, or Mac, or Acer...) that doesn't have more than 256GB of storage does not meet some people's requirements.

It's pretty simple, actually. :)

The "other than it being a Mac" comment certainly conveyed a certain tone of animosity. As in, the fact that it was a Mac was already a strike against it.

joe

There are few SSDs past 256gb. A quick check on Pricewatch shows very few bigger ones and they start at over $800. Usual SSD configs are a SSD system drive + normal spinning storage for data.

The fact that Mac's are priced sky high doesn't help either. While I like my macbook (I am typing this post from it) I am getting ready to get a new laptop and it is looking like I will be returning to the PC world. Hard to justify spending almost 3k for a 17" macbook when I can get pretty much the same thing from Dell or HP for about 1K +/- a few pennies. The only major diff is the operating systems. (and I have not heard any major uproars about windows 7 like there was about vista). Plus most of the software works on both (what is not cloud based) so I wont have to re-buy much software.

SSD + external HDD = solution. I carry a 2TB where ever I travel for my photography and other various music or entertainment.

One could ask: why the need to defend the world's biggest tech company? I don't see people queueing up to defend IBM etc. whenever someone has a moan. As it happens, I think macs are well made, but a) I don't like the O/S, b) the ridiculous 'add-ons' that are sold as options but are actually essential (such as the connector for VGAs) really gets to me and c) lack of customisation options, as in the case I quoted.

tb