From: tomster@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: MAC Harddrive space
Date: 15 Dec 92 18:40:36
Organization: ZikZak Corporation
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu
In-reply-to: bcoleman@hayes.com's message of 15 Dec 92 14:05:11 EDT

>>>>> On 15 Dec 92 14:05:11 EDT, bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman) said:

  BC> In article <1992Dec6.224612.11434@doug.cae.wisc.edu>,
  BC> cmurphy@cae.wisc.edu (Christopher Murphy) writes:
> I have a question that hopefully somebody can answer.

  BC> We've got tons of answers.

> For about the past 8 months I've been watching 486 prices drop and
> was seriously going to get one.. since that time I've decided that a
> MacIIcx or something similar would be more useful. The question I
> have concerns hard drive space.
> 
> IBM users always talk about 200 MB being at the 'bare necessity' level, and
> that even THAT amount will be used up very quickly.

  BC> Yeah, they talk a lot, but I doubt that most of these people
  BC> really USE that kind of space.

  BC> A lot of these sorts merely snap up every freely distributed
  BC> application (and many that aren't freely distributed) and
  BC> utility and drop them on their disk.  They rarely use these (if
  BC> at all) utilities, but they at least have them.

I rarely use Norton Utilities.  Does that mean I should get rid of it?
No, because when I need it, I really need it.  There are many programs
like this.

  BC> Then, of course, there's the obligatory collection of nude .GIF
  BC> files and whatnot. Of course, no IBM system would be complete

Why is this seen as more prevalent on IBM-compatibles than on Macs?
My experience has been quite to the contrary.

  BC> without DOS, Windows, and OS/2 -- so there's three operating
  BC> systems taking up space on the disk.

???  Few people have all three.  How many people do you know who run
all of those Mac OS's you keep touting (what ... os-9, MacMach or
something like that ... plus System 7.1)?  Why do you think this is
different on the other side of the Happy Mac-Land barbed-wire fence?

  BC> No, I think most IBM'ers don't really need 200 MB, they just
  BC> think they do.  It's a sort of a "big car syndrome." They want
  BC> to buy big disks so they can brag to their friends as to how
  BC> much space they have -- then they feel inadequate because they
  BC> only have 10MB of files on a 200MB disk.

Uh-huh.  Well, sure we do ... you sure are a great psychologist, Mr.
Coleman.  :->

No, but you tell the truth; 200 Mb is not needed for *most* users.
Joe-Average IBM will hardly be able to fill 200Mb without pirating
everything in site or breaking his wallet.  For some, it is.

> Are Mac programs as large as IBM programs? The reason I am wondering

The answer here is no, sometimes.  Some programs are larger on Macs,
some are larger on IBMs;  the difference is hardly ever enough to
argue over, however (with the exception of a few really bad ports,
going either way).

> is that most of the Mac packages have a standard of about 80 megs or
> so. Would 80 megs last a lot longer compared to an IBM system using
> the same type of programs??

  BC> Since most Mac owners appear to USE their machines more than IBM
  BC> users, I'd say yes, 80MB is more than adequate for most users.

Well, this first statement is false.  Mac users I know do not use
their computers much at all, which is why it makes sense for them to
use a Mac.  But even if it *were* true, how do you conclude that 80Mb
is enough for most users if most users use their computer more than
the guy who "needs" 200Mb?

  BC> I bought a 105MB drive to replace my 40MB last year. I still
  BC> haven't filled it, even though it contains stuff like a 20MB
  BC> SoftPC hard drive file. When it does run short of space, you can
  BC> be sure I'll dig in there and remove all the flotsam from the
  BC> disk and be happy for quite a while.

Gee, sounds like me.  Bought a 105 from Quantum earlier this year.
Have yet to really *fill* it.  I mean, right now it has only 6Megs
free, but if I needed to put something else on there I could easily
cut out a good ten megs without even getting to stuff I really need.
I think the same basic phenominon appears with larger drives; they
tend to get filled with "fluff", and their owners tend to just put off
the disk-cleanning party for years on end.

  BC> My wife's Powerbook only has a 20MB disk. You have to really
  BC> think "do I really NEED this" when you go to install software on
  BC> it. But she has everything she needs on that machine.

> I realize that it's cheaper to buy harddrives from companies outside
> of Apple, but then the quality becomes a concern.

  BC> I bought my 105MB from APS. I've been quite happy.

  BC> When you run out of space, that's the time to start shopping for
  BC> a larger drive, not before.

I tend to disagree.  If you buy a small drive now, one which just
barely fits everything you *know* you need, that money is pretty much
gone.  When you find that you need more disk space you will be forced
to trash the old drive (or sell it for next to nothing) and re-invest
in a larger drive.  See?  You're out almost every penny you used to
buy the first hard drive.

On the other hand, there's no need to go out and buy a 2-Gig drive if
you can only envision yourself using forty.  Buy an eighty instead, or
maybe something a bit larger.  If you over-estimate your needs too
much you will end up having a lot of hard-drive that you never use by
the time it decides to die on you (or your computer does).

End story: buy what you need, plus a little bit.  Never get less than
what you think you need, but not more than twice that ammount either.

  BC> Go with the Mac.

No.  If you can, wait a while and see what happens with the newer
systems coming out.  Now is a bad time to invest heavily in either
architecture.  Of course, you can get some unbelievable deals right
now, but a few years back you could get an incredible deal on a T.I.
as well :->

If you can't wait ... well, you have to think more about which you
want to go with than just listenning to the Original Macintosh Bigot
... and you probably could do better than taking just my advice as
well.

BTW, if you're thinking about a Quadra, wait two months and you will
get a much better deal; a new line should be coming out and the 750
discontinued.  (This from my roommate, the Mac salesman for Billings,
Montana).

		---- tomster@wpi.wpi.edu

--
/****************************************************************************\
| "I sometimes used to try to catch her, :	FROM:   tomster@wpi.wpi.edu  |
| but never even caught her name."	 :	TO:	who(m)ever reads it  |
|	---- the cure			 :	CC:	programming language |
\vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv/
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy