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We can reasonably expect 1) external storage to become faster and cheaper every year (subject to constraints around interface) 2) more and more digital assets

We can reasonably expect 1) external storage to become faster and cheaper every year (subject to constraints around interface) 2) more and more digital assets to be cloud-native, e.g. photos stored exclusively on icloud and not on your computer So I'm less worried about storage than some. If Asahi Linux achieves Proton-like compatibility with games [0], then we're getting closer to the perfect general purpose game console. [0] https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/ https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/

kridsdale3 2y ago
With Thunderbolt 5, once external SSD enclosures supporting it exist, there should be zero performance penalty for external vs internal storage speed, finally. Then you can built a 1PB array, if you want.
- canucker2016 2y ago
  M4-based mac mini's (256GB storage) have Thunderbolt 4. If you need/require Thunderbolt 5, you'll have to step up from $599 to $1399+ for the M4 Pro-based mac mini's.
SoftTalker 2y ago
Cloud storage is still painfully slow compared to local.
- setgree 2y ago
  We can expect different storage solutions by product depending on how fast things need to be. It doesn’t need to be lightning quick to load a frame in a movie, for instance, which is why streaming dominates there.
NBJack 2y ago
Latency is a big problem for cloud gaming, and not likely to be solved any time soon.
- seec 2y ago
  Yeah exactly my thoughts. I have been trying all kinds of services since 2010 and it always comes back to that. Even with very fast fiber, there is no realistic way to get the latency into desirable territory. It makes a large amount of games borderline unplayable and a whole lot extremely annoying. Basically, the only thing half-working are slow paced story games and slow strategy games (mostly turn based), which ironically require little ressource most of the time (so why pay for cloud service ?!). Like most things "cloud" conceptually it is seductive but in practice extremely compromised.
drilbo 2y ago
i think M4 support in Asahi is quite a ways out
isametry 2y ago
Indeed. Realistically if anything, one should consider the “physical world” hassles with permanent external storage arguably more than performance ones: • Risk of accidental unplugging. • Contacts may become wonky over time → see above. • The need to sacrifice a port (or the portion of one in the case of a dongle). • Enclosures tend to have annoying IO lights. • Takes a bit of space. All of these can be solved, especially when dealing with a desktop that stays in place. Paradoxically, there was never a better time to be modest with internal storage. Although I will say: > photos stored exclusively on icloud and not on your computer Over my dead body :) If there’s one thing I’ll always happily carve out SSD space for, it’s local copies of my photo library!

kridsdale3 2y ago

With Thunderbolt 5, once external SSD enclosures supporting it exist, there should be zero performance penalty for external vs internal storage speed, finally. Then you can built a 1PB array, if you want.

canucker2016 2y ago
M4-based mac mini's (256GB storage) have Thunderbolt 4. If you need/require Thunderbolt 5, you'll have to step up from $599 to $1399+ for the M4 Pro-based mac mini's.

SoftTalker 2y ago

Cloud storage is still painfully slow compared to local.

setgree 2y ago
We can expect different storage solutions by product depending on how fast things need to be. It doesn’t need to be lightning quick to load a frame in a movie, for instance, which is why streaming dominates there.

NBJack 2y ago

Latency is a big problem for cloud gaming, and not likely to be solved any time soon.

seec 2y ago
Yeah exactly my thoughts. I have been trying all kinds of services since 2010 and it always comes back to that. Even with very fast fiber, there is no realistic way to get the latency into desirable territory. It makes a large amount of games borderline unplayable and a whole lot extremely annoying. Basically, the only thing half-working are slow paced story games and slow strategy games (mostly turn based), which ironically require little ressource most of the time (so why pay for cloud service ?!). Like most things "cloud" conceptually it is seductive but in practice extremely compromised.

drilbo 2y ago

i think M4 support in Asahi is quite a ways out

isametry 2y ago

Indeed. Realistically if anything, one should consider the “physical world” hassles with permanent external storage arguably more than performance ones: • Risk of accidental unplugging. • Contacts may become wonky over time → see above. • The need to sacrifice a port (or the portion of one in the case of a dongle). • Enclosures tend to have annoying IO lights. • Takes a bit of space. All of these can be solved, especially when dealing with a desktop that stays in place. Paradoxically, there was never a better time to be modest with internal storage. Although I will say: > photos stored exclusively on icloud and not on your computer Over my dead body :) If there’s one thing I’ll always happily carve out SSD space for, it’s local copies of my photo library!