128GB computer enough for med school needs?

[Frogger27]

^^^^ is there a sig. difference between 128 and 256. Would like to save the 2-300 dollars if 128 is enough space.

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[drkube]

You don't really need 256 unless you plan on using it for other non med school stuff. Most lectures ppts/pdfs are only a few mbs each. I have a laptop filled with a year of pdfs and still have tons of space. Plus you can use cloud storage later on if you need more space.

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

I personally wouldn't spend that much to upgrade your hard drive. Instead, grab a 1TB external (~$40-$50).

 

[CharlieBillings]

.

 

[LyMed]

^Same. Some people even just went with a flash drive for extra space.

 

[Foot Fetish]

My laptop has 180 GB, and I haven't even used half of it. I don't think I'll ever need to either.

 

[BurghMed]

speaking very personally, my lectures are a couple hundred MBs each. I had to buy something else to add space to my macbook (128gb). if you really don't want to spend the money i agree with others, however, it is convenient not to have to get an external hard drive (albeit that is the way cheaper option). if 2-300 dollars is too much for you, don't drop that bank

 

[Keona]

Do you have kids or are you planning on having them in the next 4-5 years? If you think answer might be yes get the one with more storage. If not you likely won't need the higher amount of space. If you save lots of pictures while studying then you should also buy the larger amount of storage.

 

[bengirlxD]

If your laptop has extra housing for another drive, I would say invest in a 1 TB 5200rpm SATA hard drive. They are super cheap and add so much place. Use the 128 (I am assuming SSD) for booting for optimal speed on your laptop.

 

[Frogger27]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Ended up getting the 128 but will definitely add an external hard drive. Is there any recommendations on what specifically to save on the computer vs external drive?

 

[bengirlxD]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Ended up getting the 128 but will definitely add an external hard drive. Is there any recommendations on what specifically to save on the computer vs external drive?

I would keep that SSD as free as possible except for essential booting software that you use regularly. Keeps the speed zippy

 

[deleted407021]

Nah, that's plenty of storage for med school purposes.

 

[Tabiyou]

On the CPU, I would save PDFs that your M1s/M2s will have, power point lectures, and course packs. Once you are done with them, you can move them on to your external drive. You can save music too or use youtube to stream.

 

[sharpstickie]

128 GB has been perfect for me

 

[njtrimed]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Ended up getting the 128 but will definitely add an external hard drive. Is there any recommendations on what specifically to save on the computer vs external drive?

I didn't fill up my 128G drive until the end of M1, and that included both PDFs and mp4s of every single lecture, as well as Pathoma and Kaplan videos. At the end of the year, I just moved all of my school-specific material to a 2Tb external hard drive.

 

[neusu]

Here everyone is talking about HD space and I was thinking RAM.

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

Here everyone is talking about HD space and I was thinking RAM.

Are you even studying if you don't have 128GB RAM and dual 30" 8K ultra-wide curved monitors?

 

[SoYouDontWantaFishSandwch]

I go to a school where 128 wasn't enough... I ended up getting this (Corsair Flash Voyager GTX 256 USB 3.0 Flash Drive) which was about 40$ cheaper on Amazon when I bought it than it is now. It has been great as it is fast (much faster than AirDrop or other flash drives) which makes 20 minute transfers take 2 minutes.

 

[TorMed]

I have 512 GB. Using less than a quarter of it.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[WingedOx]

I needed that half gig of torrented music for studying though...

 

[Dagrimsta1]

Music, pics, older school pdf and notes, porn, all go on the external.
Everything else is good on the laptop. Gotta keep it clean!

 

[Tenk]

You want your programs and OS to be on your SSD so they boot faster. Put all your lectures and other stuff on a big external.

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Ended up getting the 128 but will definitely add an external hard drive. Is there any recommendations on what specifically to save on the computer vs external drive?

I had all of my school documents (mostly PowerPoints) in two places. I would just download them into organized folders and then import them into OneNote/Notability to keep them organized/add notes. Periodically, I backed up all of my school documents onto my external. This way I would have my school stuff in two places in case either my computer or external crashed.

Things like PDFs, videos, board prep materials are easily replaceable as you can just get them off a friend so I kept these primarily on my external. As I transitioned to board prep in M2, I would move whatever resources I was currently using onto my computer from the external so I wouldn't have to keep plugging in the external. Also, most PDFs like FA take up very little room so there's no harm in keeping them on your computer.

 

[Kurk]

you don't need a solid state drive for school stuff unless you're incredibly impatient and need lightning fast boot-up times. Can't go wrong with a western digital 500gb+ hard-drive.

 

[aldol16]

It depends on how forward-looking you are. If you need a computer just for basic online browsing, streaming videos, checking email, etc. then 128 is enough. The real question, however, isn't how much you can save on there. It's how much room programs actually take. As programs get more sophisticated, they'll take up more space and you'll have to dedicate more space on your hard disk for software. If you want this to last for a long time, I'd say 256 GB minimum. I have a 256 GB hard disk and have used more than half of it. I do have some research software on there that takes some room but nothing excessive.