When you want to buy a laptop, it is useful to ask yourself how much storage you need. For example, do you have a lot of files, photos or movies? Then you want a lot of storage space so that you can store all that data. But how much space do you need for what kind of files? I will explain that and more in this article.
How many files do you want to save?
To determine how much storage you need, it is useful to ask yourself what kind of data you want to store. For example, photos, games and films take up more space than music or text files. It is therefore advisable to opt for at least 2 TB of storage if you have or want to store many films and other large files. If you mainly store text files and occasionally some images, 1 TB of storage is sufficient.
How much data do you store on how many TB?
1 TB | 2 TB | 3 TB | 4 TB |
100 FHD movies | 200 FHD movies | 300 FHD movies | 400 FHD movies |
20.400 high resolution photos | 40.800 high resolution photos | 61.200 high resolution photos | 81.600 high resolution photos |
17.000 uur music | 34.000 uur music | 51.000 uur music | 68.000 uur music |
SSD or HDD:
Which one do you want? When it comes to storage media, there are hard drives and SSDs for laptops. The advantage of SSD drives is that they read files up to 10 times faster than a hard drive, are quieter and more durable. However, SSD drives with a lot of storage capacity are still relatively expensive nowadays compared to a hard drive. So if you need a lot of space and a limited budget, a hard drive is in most cases the cheapest alternative for your laptop. Otherwise, opt for an SSD.
SSD + HDD combo: the best of both worlds
Many laptops nowadays are equipped with an SSD and an HDD combo. This gives you an SSD drive for quickly starting your most important programs and files, while the HDD offers a lot of space for the rest of your data. This way you benefit from the best of both worlds in your laptop
Conclusion
If you are mainly going to store text files and photos, then 1 TB of storage space is sufficient. However, if you want to store a lot of movies, games and other large files on your PC, it is wise to reserve at least 2 TB of storage space on your laptop. This way you can move forward for the time being without threatening to fill up your laptop. And if you especially want to load files from your laptop very quickly, go for an SSD instead of an HDD.