MacOS Big Sur update - need a new MacBook?
Discussion
I’m having exactly the same problem.
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with 128gb. I don’t keep anything on my MacBook apart from software and a handful of documents as everything is cloud based for me, and yet even after a big clean up, I can only find 22gb spare.
Big Sur requires 35gb free before it can be installed, and it seems there is no way I can get to that amount of free space unless I start deleting stuff like Office, Photoshop, Lightroom etc, and I can’t be arsed doing that.
A bit of Googling revealed that many Mac news websites are saying “don’t even bother trying to install Big Sur if you have a 128gb Mac” because you will struggle to get the 35gb required, even if you start deleting your software.
Apparently most MacBooks sold over the last few years were 128gb, so I imagine this is a widespread issue.
It isn’t necessary to update to Big Sur at all, but... It’s a bit of a shame because Big Sur looks like a totally fresh and game changing OS for Mac, unlike the steady incremental updates over the last 5-10 years. The interface looks like a modern iPad Pro styled affair.
All the new MacBook’s, including the Air, are now 256gb minimum, so I may be tempted to get my company to buy one for me and just sell my 2018 Pro.
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with 128gb. I don’t keep anything on my MacBook apart from software and a handful of documents as everything is cloud based for me, and yet even after a big clean up, I can only find 22gb spare.
Big Sur requires 35gb free before it can be installed, and it seems there is no way I can get to that amount of free space unless I start deleting stuff like Office, Photoshop, Lightroom etc, and I can’t be arsed doing that.
A bit of Googling revealed that many Mac news websites are saying “don’t even bother trying to install Big Sur if you have a 128gb Mac” because you will struggle to get the 35gb required, even if you start deleting your software.
Apparently most MacBooks sold over the last few years were 128gb, so I imagine this is a widespread issue.
It isn’t necessary to update to Big Sur at all, but... It’s a bit of a shame because Big Sur looks like a totally fresh and game changing OS for Mac, unlike the steady incremental updates over the last 5-10 years. The interface looks like a modern iPad Pro styled affair.
All the new MacBook’s, including the Air, are now 256gb minimum, so I may be tempted to get my company to buy one for me and just sell my 2018 Pro.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 7th December 23:18
If it's a Pro, surely it's fairly trivial to upgrade the SSD?
I'm running Big Sur on my mid-2014 Pro on the coffee table, but my older Pro in the office won't run it. (That's still on High Sierra, but it's a Core i7 with lots of memory and a fast SSD, so still flies along)
To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the update anyway, unless forced to by an app you need to use.
I'm running Big Sur on my mid-2014 Pro on the coffee table, but my older Pro in the office won't run it. (That's still on High Sierra, but it's a Core i7 with lots of memory and a fast SSD, so still flies along)
To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the update anyway, unless forced to by an app you need to use.
Landcrab_Six said:
If it's a Pro, surely it's fairly trivial to upgrade the SSD?
I'm running Big Sur on my mid-2014 Pro on the coffee table, but my older Pro in the office won't run it. (That's still on High Sierra, but it's a Core i7 with lots of memory and a fast SSD, so still flies along)
To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the update anyway, unless forced to by an app you need to use.
Not possible to replace the SSD unfortunately.I'm running Big Sur on my mid-2014 Pro on the coffee table, but my older Pro in the office won't run it. (That's still on High Sierra, but it's a Core i7 with lots of memory and a fast SSD, so still flies along)
To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the update anyway, unless forced to by an app you need to use.
Any MacBook Pro from 2016 onwards doesn’t have a removable SSD as such, but just an SSD chip soldered directly to the main board. It is not replaceable.
Lord Marylebone said:
I’m having exactly the same problem.
I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with 128gb. I don’t keep anything on my MacBook apart from software and a handful of documents as everything is cloud based for me, and yet even after a big clean up, I can only find 22gb spare.
Big Sur requires 35gb free before it can be installed, and it seems there is no way I can get to that amount of free space unless I start deleting stuff like Office, Photoshop, Lightroom etc, and I can’t be arsed doing that.
A bit of Googling revealed that many Mac news websites are saying “don’t even bother trying to install Big Sur if you have a 128gb Mac” because you will struggle to get the 35gb required, even if you start deleting your software.
Apparently most MacBooks sold over the last few years were 128gb, so I imagine this is a widespread issue.
It isn’t necessary to update to Big Sur at all, but... It’s a bit of a shame because Big Sur looks like a totally fresh and game changing OS for Mac, unlike the steady incremental updates over the last 5-10 years. The interface looks like a modern iPad Pro styled affair.
All the new MacBook’s, including the Air, are now 256gb minimum, so I may be tempted to get my company to buy one for me and just sell my 2018 Pro.
Use “grandperspective” app and see what all you space is being taken up with. I have a 2018 MacBook Pro with 128gb. I don’t keep anything on my MacBook apart from software and a handful of documents as everything is cloud based for me, and yet even after a big clean up, I can only find 22gb spare.
Big Sur requires 35gb free before it can be installed, and it seems there is no way I can get to that amount of free space unless I start deleting stuff like Office, Photoshop, Lightroom etc, and I can’t be arsed doing that.
A bit of Googling revealed that many Mac news websites are saying “don’t even bother trying to install Big Sur if you have a 128gb Mac” because you will struggle to get the 35gb required, even if you start deleting your software.
Apparently most MacBooks sold over the last few years were 128gb, so I imagine this is a widespread issue.
It isn’t necessary to update to Big Sur at all, but... It’s a bit of a shame because Big Sur looks like a totally fresh and game changing OS for Mac, unlike the steady incremental updates over the last 5-10 years. The interface looks like a modern iPad Pro styled affair.
All the new MacBook’s, including the Air, are now 256gb minimum, so I may be tempted to get my company to buy one for me and just sell my 2018 Pro.
Edited by Lord Marylebone on Monday 7th December 23:18
Lord Marylebone said:
Not possible to replace the SSD unfortunately.
Any MacBook Pro from 2016 onwards doesn’t have a removable SSD as such, but just an SSD chip soldered directly to the main board. It is not replaceable.
How about getting a very small USB memory stick and moving your apps folder to there?Any MacBook Pro from 2016 onwards doesn’t have a removable SSD as such, but just an SSD chip soldered directly to the main board. It is not replaceable.
I've got a 128GB Air here, too and had to get creative with where I put stuff to upgrade the OS in the past - I ended up with a half size SD card permanently in the machine for storing documents, photos etc.
(Actually, I wonder how big your Photos library is? that could be taking up a big chunk of space)
ATC110 said:
Is it necessary to install this update? If so, will I need to get a new Mac with more storage?
TIA
Which OS is currently installed? Apple typically provide security updates for a couple of years after an OS is superseded, so you're probably not looking at an urgent problem, unless you're looking for an excuse to upgrade.TIA
With the M1 chip I had the same issue earlier this week on my 2017 MacBook. Easily solved my storage issue by reducing the folders I am syncing with Google Drive, and temporarily moving near 20gb photo library to an external SSD.
Interestingly after the big sur update, I ended up with probably 10gb extra storage space than before.
Interestingly after the big sur update, I ended up with probably 10gb extra storage space than before.
AJB88 said:
I thought these Macbooks "just worked"
I don’t see how the blame can be placed at Apple’s door. On my system the OS takes up 16Gb. Apps another 5gb. Plenty of spare space. In this day and age with cheap external mass storage, network storage and the huge range of cloud storage providers I don’t see this being any more of an issue than one of file organisation. Well, it was all my own fault for not checking properly what I had stored on MacBook.
I now have 38GB free. Turns out there were a few things eating a lot of space:
1) I never use iTunes on my Mac, only on my phone, but I had left the 'sync' option ticked, so my iTunes library on the Mac was full of 7GB of music and album art that I never knew was there.
2) Lightroom had left a couple of years worth of cache in some folders. Another few GB.
3) Found that some of my Dropbox folders were set to 'Local and cloud' instead of just 'cloud', another few GB.
4) Found some hidden 'GpPro' folders that the GoPro Quik created to store videos in. Another 5GB of video files that were hidden.
5) Found a few GB in my Photos library even though I can't remember using it. Stuff must have synced there.
etc
So I now have enough room to update to Big Sur, but now I'm too scared, as I use my laptop everyday for work and I'm worried something goes wrong
I now have 38GB free. Turns out there were a few things eating a lot of space:
1) I never use iTunes on my Mac, only on my phone, but I had left the 'sync' option ticked, so my iTunes library on the Mac was full of 7GB of music and album art that I never knew was there.
2) Lightroom had left a couple of years worth of cache in some folders. Another few GB.
3) Found that some of my Dropbox folders were set to 'Local and cloud' instead of just 'cloud', another few GB.
4) Found some hidden 'GpPro' folders that the GoPro Quik created to store videos in. Another 5GB of video files that were hidden.
5) Found a few GB in my Photos library even though I can't remember using it. Stuff must have synced there.
etc
So I now have enough room to update to Big Sur, but now I'm too scared, as I use my laptop everyday for work and I'm worried something goes wrong
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 10th December 10:43
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