Ok, new computer came yesterday and, drumroll, I love it. There are some tasks that I am convinced that is does better than my desktop could. In fact, Adobe InDesign and Photoshop are much more responsive on my new laptop.

There’s one thing that is going to take some getting used to. Storage.

This is the first time since I’ve owned a computer that my main machine is a laptop. I’m not used to having a “measily” 250GB drive to work with. In my last three desktops, I always had at least 1TB of storage and in my Mac Pro I had 2TB. Now, I have 250GB to work with and I’m using that up very quickly. That 250GB drive actually dwindles down to 233GB after formatting. I have a 32GB partition set aside for running Windows (I’m giving Vista SP1 a shot), leaving me just 200GB for my main Mac HD. It’s a tight fit. FInal Cut Pro Studio 2 takes up about 40GB, the fulle Adobe CS3 Premium takes up something like 33. Microsoft Office comes in around 15GB, and all of Apple’s iLife and iWork apps chime in with another 10-15GB. And these all have to be installed before I can really consider my computer “useful.”

Oh, and our family iPhoto library is 25GB. My iTunes collection is about 90GB, but I keep it on an external drive and hook it up when I need to sync new stuff to my iPod.

So after getting everything installed, the amount of usable internal disk space I have is… 81.3GB. Yikes. Still, though, that’s more than enough room to have several projects going at once.

Externally, I have a 1TB drive and a 320GB drive. The 320GB is my raw video drive that I dump my video camera’s hard drive to. I would like to be able to keep all raw footage I shoot, but that’s no possible because I simply don’t have the storge capacity or the money to upgrade my storage capacity. To that end, I usually delete all raw footage a few weeks a after a project is complete (just to make sure I don’t want to go back and change something).

Overall, the internal storage limitation is the only negative aspect of swithing from a desktop to a laptop, so far. There are many positives, not the least of which is that I am no longer confined to my home office when I want to work on something. I am a natural multitasker, so I am now able to sit in my recliner downstairs and work while still feeling like I am in contact with my family. My home office is nice, but its upstairs and away from all the action.

Most people are probably thinking, “Well, yeah, isn’t that the point of a home office?” It is, and that’s what I thought when I set it up. In reality though, I can’t stand it. I feel like I’m in a cave, locked away from my family. I just get antsy when I’m left alone to work. I can do it, but I’d much rather have the input of people around me, especially my family.

So I’m glad I’m downstairs working now. My kids are glad, too, and that doubly makes it the right decision.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 2:01 pm and is filed under Apple, Personal, Technology. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.