How Much Storage Do I Need On My Laptop?

Are you looking for purchasing a new laptop? If your answer is yes, then surely many of you may be wondering how much storage space do I need? Isn’t it? So, this is the reason why I have created this article which will help many of you who are in this confusion.

Well, when we are planning to purchase a laptop then there are a few important things that we need to look into it, and storage is one of them. In some cases, people purchase a laptop without any idea of how much storage space they need, and after a few months of using they get to know how much storage space they actually need.

So, as a student, business person, or any professional you should know or at least have a basic idea about how much storage space you need in your laptop. Ok, if you have no idea then don’t panic, this is the reason why I am here with this article.

Here, I will guide you properly so you can easily get to know how much storage space you may require. For instance, 256GB of storage is sufficient for you, or should go for a massive 1TB, you will get the answers to these kinds of questions which running into your mind.

Apart from the storage space, you also should know about the types of storage which are used in a laptop like Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD). We will also discuss on both kinds of storage in this article. Therefore, you will get at least a basic idea about everything and you will be able to understand how much storage is enough and what kind of storage you need.

Ok everyone, so now without talking too much, let’s move toward the main topic and talk about every aspect.

SSD or HDD – Which One Is Better?

These days you will get to see two kinds of storage such as Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD) as I have said above. HDD drive is uses in laptops/computers for many years. While SSD is a new technology storage drive that is built decades ago but its demand is increasing day by day due to its faster performance.

The HDD performs slower due to its spinning disk while SSD performs much faster because it runs on the chip. If we see the pricing then SSD costs you double than the HDD drive just because of its faster performance. Generally, SSD is the best option for those who use their laptop for video editing, 3D modeling/rendering, gaming, etc.

So, if you have a good budget and want a faster performance then nothing is better than an SSD drive. But if your budget is constrained and wants good storage space then HDD is the only option for you. Now, it all depends upon you is to go with SSD or HDD.

1. For Kids/Children Laptop

In recent years, the popularity of kids’ laptops is becoming increasing day by day because of online schooling and many other online activities.

But the fact about the storage is that they don’t require huge storage space like school or college students. Because they don’t use any heavy apps or work on heavy files which require a good amount of space.

For kids, 128GB or 256GB of storage space is good enough to install and run some online learning apps. Also, most of the kids spend their time watching videos and that’s why it is decent storage space for them.

2. For Personal Or Family Laptop

If you are looking for buying a laptop for personal use or family use then you will definitely need a good amount of storage space.

Because you want to use this laptop for both personal/family purposes and that’s why you will save all your data like photos/videos, and projects of your school/college kids also save on this laptop.

So, having a good amount of storage space is suitable because you will find that most of the storage is full in no time. All it depends on your personal and family usage, but still you will need at least 512GB to 1TB of storage space.

3. For School/College Students Laptop

Considering how much storage space is needed for students entirely depends on what they are studying.

If we talk about high school students then they don’t require a huge amount of storage space for their school homework because they don’t use heavy programs and it doesn’t take up too much space.

As per my research 256GB to 512GB of storage space is good enough to store all their school projects and other data.

Let’s talk about college-going students, the requirement of storage is different from course to course. However, if you have chosen a course that requires you to use Microsoft Office and a few of these kinds of programs then 256GB to 512GB of storage is enough to save all your small-size MS Office files.

But if you are into a course that uses heavy software such as 3D animation, video editing, computer/data science, engineering, etc., then for sure you will require 512GB to 1TB of huge storage space to store all files and course-related data.

4. For Business Laptop

Well, the requirement for storage is different from business to business like college students.

As a business person, if you create and edit big spreadsheets files and also use some of the specialized software related to your work then you will need a good amount of storage space.

So, if you are able to go for a storage option of 512GB to 1TB then it is suitable for you in long run.

5. For Gaming Laptop

When it comes to gaming laptops then it requires lots of storage space. However, if you want to play only some light games but still you’ll need at least 512GB of storage space.

But if you are a pro or hardcore gamer who wants to play AAA gaming titles then surely you need to go for at least 1TB of storage to store and install all your favorite games in it.

If you are getting confused and don’t know how to determine how much storage space you need for your gaming laptop then don’t worry. You have to simply do is check the storage requirement of all the games that you want to play and then as per all the games’ storage needs, you need to choose that much storage.

If you are planning to play AAA games then it every single game can take space of around 50GB to 75GB and there is a chance some of the latest ones can take more space than that.

6. For Video/Photo Editing Laptop

As we discussed for gaming laptops, video and photo editing laptops also need a good amount of storage space than any traditional laptops.

Actually, videos and photos eat more space than any other type of files and that’s why need more storage space.

Being a professional video and photo editor doesn’t mean you only need storage for your videos and photos but you’ll also require space to install all the software which you will be using to do your editing work.

As a photo editor definitely you will use Photoshop then alone it takes around 3.1GB of storage space. So, if you are planning to use any other apps also then see how much storage these apps can take and how much storage you’ll need. When it comes to videos then HD or 4K resolution long videos easily can take a few GB of space. This is the main reason as a video editor it is good to go for a laptop with huge storage space.

For instance, if you want to buy a laptop for photo editing then you need to buy a laptop with at least 512GB of space but for video editing simply go for at least 1TB or more than that.

Actually, when you are going to buy a laptop for any purpose it all depends upon your usage including how much storage you need. If you are a student of photography and you like to play games on your laptop then buy a laptop with 1TB of storage space.

7. For Programming

As a programmer, if you have just started your courier then 256GB SSD is also enough.

But if you are a professional or you are into android app development, game development, etc., then 512GB or more SSD would be beneficial.

In the end, I hope that after going through this article you have found the answer to your question which is how much storage space do I need on my laptop. Once you will go through this article you will get an idea about how to choose storage space as per your profession and need.

Here I want to tell you that when you are going to buy a laptop then choose a laptop with SSD drive over HDD because of its faster performance like it boots the system fast and loads the app quicker.

Still, if you are in trouble deciding how much storage space you need then feel free to drop me a comment with your requirement and budget. I will try my best to help you out.