This is a question that comes up in a variety of situations – from the novice computer user to the PC salesman. Storage and use; these are the two drivers behind any user space requirement.
In my old laptop I had a 30 gig hard drive. Today, there are multimedia players featuring double that. My new laptop has 100 gig, two-thirds more. The space is good, and my needs on the base system (and hard drive) have actually lessened due to purchasing a 200 gig external drive.
This, coupled with my laptop and Xbox 360 form not only a lot of tech but a decent home entertainment hub. Lets do a quick audit of drives here:
- Laptop: 100 gig
- Xbox 360: 30 gig
- External HDD: 200 gig
- Old laptop: 30 gig
- MP3 player: 1 gig
This is, lets face it, a lot of space. I.T. has my music, videos, games and writing – along with my study and other work. My digital life in fact. As long as I have enough space though I don’t really monitor it, barring on my laptop (I try to keep it reasonably clean for swap file usage etc).
Referring to the eponymous question, how much space do you need? Now there are phone with memory for data storage, pen drives (USB), external, internal, DVD, blu ray, HD and many more storage formats. All are being sold on their various and unique benefits. Do you have TiVO? Sky Plus? An Ipod?
This all makes me think that there are those missing out – on the tech, the wider picture and the pleasure of having their own on-demand entertainment. The revolution is now, and it’s happening in our generation. That being the case, pick up the external, stick it in to your media centre, power up your HD TV and enjoy!