Is 256 GB enough for a Mac? For browsing, documents, email, streaming and a modest photo library kept in iCloud, yes. For video work, music production with full sound libraries, iOS development, local AI models or large games, it's tight from the first week, and you'll spend time managing space instead of working.
The reason is simple arithmetic. A 256 GB Mac has a little less than that to start with, macOS and its support files take their share, and the system needs free room to work: for updates, for swap when memory runs short, and for the caches apps build as you use them.
Storage in current Macs is chosen when you order. The realistic ways to add room afterwards are an external drive and iCloud, and both work well for some things and badly for others.
This post goes through each kind of use with the sizes the makers publish, then the alternatives, so you can decide before you buy or work out how to live with the Mac you have.
Is 256 GB enough for a Mac? The answer by use case
The useful question isn't whether 256 GB is "enough" in general. It's whether the largest things you keep, and the largest jobs you run, fit with room to spare.
| Use | Does 256 GB work? | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Browsing, email, documents, streaming | Yes, comfortably | Downloads and Messages attachments, if left to grow |
| Photos | Yes, with iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage | A library kept in full on the Mac, or lots of video |
| Video editing | Only with an external drive for libraries and media | Codec and resolution: ProRes fills a disk fast |
| Music production | Only with a small sound library, or one on a drive | Logic Pro's full library alone needs 44 GB or more |
| iOS development | Tight; possible with discipline | Simulator runtimes and DerivedData |
| Other development | Often fine for web work; tight with Docker and Android | Containers, emulators and package caches |
| Local AI models | Only for one or two small models | Model files of 5 to 20 GB each, or more |
| Gaming | One or two large games at most | A single large game can take over 90 GB |
The rest of the post explains each row. If your use spans several rows, add them up: a student who edits video and plays one large game is in a very different place from one who writes essays and streams music.
What does "enough" mean in practice?
Enough means you can install the next macOS update, export the video you're working on and download the project you need, without first deleting something. A Mac that's full most of the time works, but every large job starts with a cleanup.
Who is 256 GB a good fit for?
It suits someone whose files mostly live in iCloud or another cloud service, who uses web apps and a handful of native ones, and who doesn't keep large media on the Mac. A second Mac used for one job, such as a Mac mini running a single app, fits too.
Who should buy more?
Anyone who works with video, large photo libraries kept locally, music sound libraries, Xcode, Android Studio, Docker, local AI or modern games. For them, the step up is cheaper than the time spent shuffling files, and internal storage can't be added later.
Which Macs still come with 256 GB in 2026
Apple's current line has three Macs that start at 256 GB. The rest start higher, so for most laptops the question has partly settled itself.
| Mac | Starts at | Storage options | Memory |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Neo (A18 Pro) | 256 GB | 256 GB or 512 GB | 8 GB |
| Mac mini (M6) | 256 GB | Up to 2 TB | 16 GB, up to 32 GB |
| iMac (M4) | 256 GB | Up to 1 TB or 2 TB, by model | 16 GB and up |
| MacBook Air (M5) | 512 GB | Up to 4 TB | 16 GB and up |
| MacBook Pro (M5 family) | 1 TB | Up to 8 TB | 16 GB and up |
| Mac Studio | 512 GB | Up to 16 TB | 36 GB and up |
The figures are from Apple's specification pages in October 2026. On MacBook Neo, the 512 GB model is also the one with Touch ID on its keyboard, which matters to some buyers as much as the space.
How much of a 256 GB Mac can you actually use?
Less than 256 GB. Apple counts a gigabyte as one billion bytes and notes that actual formatted capacity is less. Part of the drive also goes to small separate containers that hold startup and recovery files, before macOS is even counted.
On a 512 GB Mac we checked, the main storage container was about 494 GB, with about 6 GB in those separate containers. On a 256 GB Mac, expect the main container to be roughly 245 GB. Everything you see in Storage settings has to fit in that.
Can you add storage to a Mac later?
Apple sells the internal storage as a choice when you order. It doesn't offer an upgrade for the internal drive afterwards, so treat the size you choose as the size the Mac keeps. External drives and iCloud are the ways to add room later, and both are covered below.
Does memory matter for storage?
It does, in one specific way. When apps need more memory than the Mac has, macOS moves some of it to swap files on the startup disk, and that space comes out of your free space. A MacBook Neo with 8 GB of memory that runs many apps at once will use more swap than a Mac with 16 GB.
What macOS and its apps take on day one
Apple publishes some of these figures and not others. Where it doesn't, it's better to know what to look for than to trust a number someone guessed.
How much space does macOS itself use?
Apple doesn't publish a size for macOS. On a Mac running macOS 27.0 that we checked, the sealed system volume used about 14 GB and the Recovery volume about 3 GB. Storage settings shows its own total under macOS, which also counts support files such as Apple Intelligence's models.
The system volume is sealed and read-only. You can't remove anything from it, and you don't need to: the space is fixed, and it changes only when macOS updates.
How much space does Apple Intelligence need?
Apple says Apple Intelligence needs up to 14 GB of storage on Macs with M3 or later and at least 12 GB of unified memory, and up to 8 GB on other Macs that support it.
MacBook Neo, with an A18 Pro chip and 8 GB of memory, is in the up-to-8 GB group. The current Mac mini with M6 and iMac with M4, each with at least 16 GB of memory, are in the up-to-14 GB group.
Storage settings counts these models under macOS, not System Data. Some owners have reported higher figures there since macOS 27; the Apple Intelligence storage post explains what you can and can't change.
What do the built-in apps take?
Apps that come with macOS, such as Mail, Photos, Music and Notes, live on the sealed system volume, so they're part of the macOS figure. What grows is their data: your Photos library, Mail's downloads, Messages attachments and Music's downloads. On a new Mac those start near zero.
What else fills a new Mac in its first week?
Signing in brings things down from iCloud: a Photos library if iCloud Photos is on, Desktop and Documents if you store them in iCloud, Messages if Messages in iCloud is on. With the optimize settings on, much of that stays in iCloud until you open it.
Then come the apps you install, their caches and, if you have an iPhone, possibly a backup of it. An iPhone backup can be tens of gigabytes, which is a large share of a 256 GB disk.
How much free space should you keep?
Apple doesn't publish a single figure. What matters is room for your largest job: a macOS update, a video export or a large download all need space while they work, and can stop when it isn't there. Swap and caches also grow into free space without asking.
A practical habit is to know your largest regular job and keep at least that much free, plus room for the next macOS update. The post on checking storage explains which free-space number to trust.
- Apple Intelligence, other supported Macs8 GB
- Apple Intelligence, M3 or later with 12 GB memory14 GB
- Xcode 27, App Store download3.1 GB
- Final Cut Pro, space required7.2 GB
- Logic Pro, minimum to full Sound Library6–44 GB
- Android Studio with emulator, minimum to recommended free16–32 GB
- Llama 3.1 8B in Ollama4.9 GB
- Gemma 3 27B in Ollama17 GB
- Cyberpunk 2077, Steam to App Store92–159 GB
Figures from Apple's support pages and App Store listings, Google's Android Studio requirements, Ollama's model library and CD Projekt Red's support page, checked in October 2026. Apple Intelligence's figures are maximums, and Logic Pro's full library is 44 GB or more.
Everyday use: browsing, documents, email and streaming
This is the use 256 GB fits best. Web apps keep your data on their servers, streaming services don't store what you watch unless you download it, and documents are small.
What fills an everyday Mac over time?
Not the documents. On an everyday Mac, space usually goes to four things that grow without anyone deciding to keep them:
- Downloads. Installers, disk images, archives and files opened once stay in the Downloads folder until you remove them.
- Messages attachments. Every photo and video in your conversations is kept, for as long as Messages keeps the conversation.
- iPhone backups. A backup to the Mac can be tens of gigabytes, and old ones stay until you delete them.
- Caches. Browsers and apps keep caches that grow with use and come back after you clear them.
Each one is easy to manage once you know it's there. Messages can keep conversations for 30 days or a year instead of forever, and backups can go to iCloud instead of the Mac.
Is 256 GB enough for a student?
For most coursework, yes: essays, slides, spreadsheets, web research and video calls. It gets tight when a course needs specialist software, such as video editing, music production, engineering tools or a programming course that uses Xcode or Android Studio.
Check the course's software list before you buy. A single requirement such as Android Studio with its emulator, which Google lists at 16 GB of free space at minimum and an SSD with 32 GB or more free as recommended, changes the answer.
What about streaming downloads and offline files?
Downloads for offline viewing in the TV app and other streaming apps take real space, and a season of shows in high quality adds up. Storage settings' Optimize Storage recommendation removes Apple TV movies and shows you've already watched when space is needed.
Other streaming apps keep their own downloads and settings for them. Remove downloads in the app when you've watched them, rather than looking for their files in Finder.
Photos and video on a 256 GB Mac
Photos and video are where a 256 GB Mac is decided for most people. A library of photos alone is manageable; a library with years of video, or video you edit, isn't.
How big does a Photos library get?
It depends almost entirely on video. Across Macs that have one, the research behind the app's catalog puts a typical library at 10 GB to 500 GB. A library at the top of that range doesn't fit on a 256 GB Mac at all, unless most of it stays in iCloud.
The supported fix is Optimize Mac Storage. Open Photos, choose Photos › Settings, click iCloud, turn on iCloud Photos, then select Optimize Mac Storage. When space is limited, Photos keeps smaller versions on the Mac and the full-size originals in iCloud.
That needs an iCloud plan big enough for the whole library. Apple's free tier is 5 GB, and the paid plans are 50 GB, 200 GB, 2 TB, 6 TB and 12 TB. The post on Photos and storage covers moving a library to an external drive instead.
Is 256 GB enough for video editing?
For short clips from a phone in HEVC, cut in iMovie or Final Cut Pro and exported, it can work. For anything longer, or for ProRes, the media won't fit alongside everything else.
Apple says ProRes files are up to 30 times larger than HEVC files. In Final Cut Camera, Apple notes that one minute of full-sensor ProRes RAW at 30 fps may use more than 10 GB, and ProRes RAW HQ more than 15 GB. A short shoot can fill what's free on a 256 GB Mac.
How do video editors work with a small internal drive?
They keep the library and its media on an external drive. Apple's own advice for a Final Cut Pro library that has outgrown the startup disk is to move it to a storage device formatted as APFS. In DaVinci Resolve, each project's Working Folders setting decides where its cache files go.
Final Cut Pro's App Store listing asks for 7.2 GB of available space for the app alone, and render and cache files grow inside the library as you work. With the library on a fast external drive, the internal disk only holds the app.
What about RAW photos from a camera?
RAW files from a camera are much larger than the photos an iPhone saves by default. A photographer who imports every shoot into a library on the Mac will outgrow 256 GB within months. Keep the library on an external drive, or import only the selects and archive the rest.
Music production on a 256 GB Mac
Music production is about sound libraries more than recordings. The instruments, samples and loops can be several times larger than the projects that use them.
How much space does Logic Pro need?
Apple's App Store listing for Logic Pro asks for 6 GB of available storage for the minimum install and 44 GB or more for the full Sound Library. Third-party instruments and sample libraries come on top, and many are tens of gigabytes each.
GarageBand downloads its own instruments, Apple Loops and lessons as you use them. Storage settings shows this content as Music Creation, where you can see it and delete what you don't use.
Can you keep the sound library on an external drive?
Yes. In Logic Pro 12 and MainStage 4, the whole library is one file, Logic Pro Library.bundle, in your Music folder. Apple's instructions are to drag it to another location, then delete the original if you copied it to an external device.
Apple lists an SSD or a USB thumb drive as suitable, and notes that you can't share one library between Macs. Keep the drive connected whenever you work in Logic Pro, since the sounds are on it.
The catalog's entry for the Logic Pro Library explains how to remove sound packs you don't use, from inside Logic Pro.
Is 256 GB enough for recording and mixing?
The recordings themselves are modest: audio is small next to video. With the sound library on an external drive and finished projects archived, a 256 GB Mac can record and mix comfortably. With a full library and third-party instruments on the internal disk, it can't.
iOS development on a 256 GB Mac
Xcode is the hardest single use to fit on 256 GB. The app itself is a modest download; what grows around it isn't.
How much space does Xcode take?
The Mac App Store lists Xcode 27 as a 3.1 GB download. Simulator runtimes, each several gigabytes, are downloaded separately, and DerivedData, device support files and archives build up as you work.
The research behind the app's catalog puts a single runtime at about 5 to 20 GB, and DerivedData at 5 to 100 GB on Macs that use Xcode. Developers' reports of Xcode's total footprint often land between 50 and 300 GB.
Can you develop iOS apps on 256 GB?
You can, for one or two projects and one platform, if you keep only the simulator runtimes you need and clear DerivedData now and then. It isn't comfortable. Adding a second platform, such as watchOS or visionOS, adds its own runtimes.
What helps most:
- Install only the platforms and simulator runtimes you build for. Apple's documentation describes Xcode's components as optional, so you can add what you need and leave out the rest.
- Delete runtimes for OS versions you no longer support. Choose Xcode › Settings, click Components, click the information button next to a component, then click Delete. The list shows how much space each one would recover.
- Clear DerivedData for projects you've finished. Xcode rebuilds it when you open them again.
- Test on a real device where you can, instead of in many simulators.
The post on Xcode's storage goes through each folder and what's safe to remove.
Does an external drive help with Xcode?
Less than with media. Projects can live on an external drive, but simulator runtimes, DerivedData and caches stay on the startup disk by default. The internal disk has to hold what Xcode itself manages.
Web, Python, Android and other development
Development outside Xcode varies a lot. A web developer working on a few projects may never notice the space; one running Docker, Android Studio and several language toolchains will.
Is 256 GB enough for web development?
Usually, with care. Each JavaScript project keeps its own node_modules folder, often hundreds of megabytes, and package managers keep download caches on top. Removing node_modules from finished projects and clearing caches now and then keeps it in check.
The research behind the app's catalog puts JavaScript dependencies and caches at 5 to 200 GB on Macs that use them, and Python caches and environments at 2 to 50 GB. The low ends fit easily; the high ends don't.
What about Docker?
Docker Desktop keeps every image, container and volume inside one disk image, and it grows as you pull images and create containers. On Macs that use it, the research behind the app's catalog puts its real size at 10 to 100 GB.
On 256 GB, remove images, containers and volumes you don't use in Docker Desktop's dashboard. Lowering the disk usage limit in its settings sets a smaller ceiling, but Docker's documentation says it deletes the current disk image, with every container, image and volume in it, so export what you need first.
Never delete the disk image file itself in Finder: it holds your volumes' data.
What about Android Studio?
Google lists 8 GB of free space for Android Studio alone, 16 GB with the emulator, and recommends an SSD with 32 GB or more free. Each emulator system image and virtual device adds more. One Android project with one emulator fits on 256 GB; several API levels and devices start to crowd it.
Toolchains and version managers
Each version of Node.js, Python, Ruby, Java or Rust you install stays until you remove it. A version manager makes switching easy, and also makes it easy to collect ten versions you no longer use. On a small disk, remove old ones with the tool that installed them.
Local AI models on a 256 GB Mac
Local language models are some of the largest single files people keep. They're also limited by memory as much as by storage, which on a 256 GB Mac usually means the two limits point the same way.
How big are local AI models?
Ollama's library lists Llama 3.1 8B at 4.9 GB, Gemma 3 12B at 8.2 GB and Gemma 3 27B at 17 GB in their default builds. Larger models run to tens of gigabytes. Every model you try stays on the disk until you remove it.
A model runs from memory, so a Mac with 8 or 16 GB of memory runs the smaller models best anyway. Those are also the smaller downloads, which makes one or two models workable on 256 GB.
What fills the space with local AI?
Not usually the model you use, but the ones you tried. Trying five models of 5 to 17 GB each to compare them leaves between 25 and 85 GB behind. Apps such as LM Studio and Ollama keep each download until you delete it in the app, and other tools keep their own copies.
The local AI models guide shows where each tool stores models and how to remove them. Ollama's app can also keep models on another disk, from its settings.
Image generation and speech models
Image generation apps and transcription tools download models of their own, often several gigabytes each. Chrome can keep an on-device model of several gigabytes for its AI features too. Each app's settings are where to turn the feature off or remove the download.
Gaming on a 256 GB Mac
Modern games are large, and they're getting larger. A 256 GB Mac can hold a few small games, or one or two large ones, but not a library.
How big are Mac games?
CD Projekt Red lists Cyberpunk 2077 for Mac at 92 GB when downloaded from Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store, and 159 GB from the App Store. The App Store version alone takes more than half of a 256 GB Mac's usable space.
Smaller games from the App Store or Apple Arcade are often a few gigabytes. The range is wide, so check a game's listed size before you buy it.
Can games live on an external drive?
App Store games can. In the App Store, choose App Store › Settings and select Download and install large apps to a separate disk, then choose the disk. Apple says this applies to apps larger than 1 GB, the disk must be formatted as APFS, and it must be connected to open those apps.
Steam can keep a game library on a second drive too, and move installed games to it. Uninstall games in Steam, not in Finder, because a game's folder can hold saves that aren't in Steam Cloud; the catalog's entry for Steam games explains why.
Which drive suits games?
Game load times depend on the drive. A fast external SSD on a USB-C or Thunderbolt port is the usual choice; a slow hard drive or USB stick makes large games load slowly. Keep a game's drive connected whenever you play it.
External drives and iCloud: the honest alternatives
Neither one makes a 256 GB Mac into a larger one. Each moves a particular kind of file somewhere else, and each has a cost: a drive has to be connected, and iCloud needs a plan with room and a connection to open older files.
What works well on an external drive?
The best candidates are large, self-contained things that one app manages and that you open at a desk:
| What | On an external drive? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Photos library | Yes, APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) | Quit Photos, drag the library, open it from the drive |
| Final Cut Pro library | Yes, APFS | Move it in Final Cut Pro, or in Finder with the app closed |
| Logic Pro Library.bundle | Yes, SSD or USB drive | Drag it from the Music folder, then remove the original |
| Large App Store apps and games | Yes, APFS | App Store › Settings |
| Finished projects and archives | Yes | Copy, check the copy opens, then remove the original |
| Time Machine backups | Yes, on a drive of its own | Time Machine settings |
Don't keep a Photos or Final Cut Pro library on the drive you use for Time Machine: Apple's instructions for both rule it out.
What doesn't belong on an external drive?
macOS itself, your home folder, swap and the caches apps keep for speed all stay on the startup disk. So do simulator runtimes and DerivedData for Xcode. A drive also doesn't help a laptop you use away from a desk, unless you carry the drive.
Cloud-synced folders are another case. Don't move iCloud Drive's folder or another cloud service's folder by hand; use the service's own setting for online-only files.
How does iCloud help a 256 GB Mac?
Store in iCloud, in Storage settings, keeps your Desktop and Documents in iCloud Drive, your photos and videos in iCloud Photos, and your messages in iCloud. When space is needed, the Mac keeps recent files and smaller versions of photos, and downloads the rest when you open them.
For iCloud Drive alone, Optimize Mac Storage removes local copies of older files when space is needed. Control-click a file in iCloud Drive and choose Remove Download to free its space now; it stays in iCloud. The catalog's iCloud Drive entry has more.
What does iCloud cost you?
Space in iCloud, and a connection. Everything stored counts against your plan, and opening an older file or a full-size photo needs the internet. If your plan is full, the optimize settings can't help until you make room or move to a larger plan.
256 GB plus a drive, or 512 GB?
| Situation | Better choice |
|---|---|
| Light use, files in iCloud, Mac stays at home | 256 GB |
| A desktop Mac with a drive always connected | 256 GB plus a fast external SSD can work |
| A laptop used away from a desk | 512 GB or more |
| Video, music libraries, Xcode or games on the go | 512 GB at least, often 1 TB |
| A Mac you plan to keep for many years | One step up from what you need today |
Living with a 256 GB Mac
If you already have one, the habits that keep it workable are simple. Most of them take minutes, and the hardest part is noticing what grows.
Set it up to stay small
- In System Settings › General › Storage, turn on Store in iCloud if your plan has room, and Empty Trash automatically.
- In Photos, turn on Optimize Mac Storage under Photos › Settings › iCloud.
- In Messages, choose Messages › Settings, click General, and set Keep messages to a year or 30 days if you don't need everything.
- Back up your iPhone to iCloud rather than to the Mac, if your plan allows.
- Before you install a large app or game, check its listed size against your free space.
On macOS 26 Tahoe, these settings are in the same places. Before macOS Ventura, Storage was under About This Mac instead of System Settings.
Check the big categories every month or two
Open Storage settings and look at the three largest categories. One that has grown since last time is where to look: usually Documents, Messages, iOS Files, Photos or System Data.
Then empty the Trash, clear Downloads of what you've finished with, and remove apps you haven't opened in months. On a developer's Mac, clear DerivedData and simulator runtimes you no longer need.
What not to do
Don't delete files inside the Photos library, the Library folder itself, or anything in the System folder to make room. Don't delete iCloud Drive files you only want off the Mac; use Remove Download. And don't paste Terminal commands from a web page to free space: commands that delete files can't be undone.
Clearing caches frees space, but it doesn't make a Mac faster, and apps rebuild them as you use them. On a small disk it's a useful one-off, not a routine.
When is it time to stop managing and add space?
When the same cleanup has to happen every week, or a job you do regularly no longer fits. At that point, a fast external drive for your largest library, or a larger iCloud plan, is cheaper than the time. For a Mac you'll keep for years, the next one is the time to buy more storage.
How the app does it
Wombit shows what's using your Mac's storage, explains every item in plain language, and clears it safely: Trash first, undoable and logged. On a 256 GB Mac, that means seeing quickly which of the things in this post are on your disk, and how large each one is.
It scans the whole disk or any folder, reading only names, sizes and dates, and shows the result as a treemap and sunburst map with a list and search. File names and paths never leave your Mac.
Each item the catalog knows gets a level:
- Safe: the owner recreates it and nothing is lost, such as app caches and Xcode's DerivedData. These start checked, and only they count in the headline number.
- Usually safe: it comes back at a cost, such as Logic Pro's sound library.
- Review first: it may be the only copy or a large download, such as iPhone backups, Steam games and local models. Nothing starts checked; you choose.
- Managed by macOS: Apple Intelligence's models and the Photos library are explained and handled through macOS's own mechanism, never moved.
/
System/ Library/ AssetsV2/ com_apple_MobileAsset_UAF_FM_* The on-device language and image models that Apple Intelligence features use.
Managed by macOS · Explained only: never removed
~/
**/ *.photoslibrary A Photos library: your photos and videos, your edits and albums, and the previews Photos makes from them.
Managed by macOS · Explained only: the app shows you how
/
Library/ Developer/ CoreSimulator/ Images The iOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS system images that simulators run on, each several gigabytes.
Managed by macOS · Explained only: the app shows you how
~/
Library/ Developer/ Xcode/ DerivedData Build products, indexes and logs Xcode keeps for every project you've built.
Safe · Moves it to the Trash
~/
.ollama/ models Language models you've pulled or created with Ollama, stored as shared layers.
Review first · Explained only: never removed
~/
Library/ Application Support/ MobileSync/ Backup/ * Backups of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that were made on this Mac, one folder for each device.
Review first · Moves it to the Trash
System Data, explained splits that one number into named buckets and shows how much it couldn't explain. An honest space meter in the app and the menu bar keeps the available space in view, which matters most when there isn't much of it.
The analyzer, the map, the explanations, System Data explained, Undo, Put Back and Empty Trash are free. Cleanup, the Apple Data actions for iPhone backups, installers and large old files, the uninstaller and What Changed, with alerts when space runs low, are PRO: one payment of $4.99 with lifetime access.
Every Pro tool's review is free to open, so you see what would go and why before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
Is 256GB enough for a MacBook for college?
For essays, slides, spreadsheets, research and video calls, yes, especially with files in iCloud. Check your course's software list first: video editing, music production, Xcode or Android Studio with its emulator can each take tens of gigabytes. If one of those is required, choose 512 GB.
Is 256GB enough for programming on a Mac?
For web development on a few projects, usually. For iOS development with Xcode, Android Studio with emulators, or Docker, it's tight, because simulator runtimes, emulator images, containers and build caches grow quickly. You can manage it by keeping only what you use, but 512 GB or more is far more comfortable.
Should I get a 256GB or 512GB Mac?
Choose 256 GB if your use is light, most of your files live in iCloud, and the Mac mostly stays at home. Choose 512 GB or more for a laptop you use away from a desk, for media or development work, or for a Mac you plan to keep for many years. You can't add internal storage later.
How much storage does macOS take up?
Apple doesn't publish a figure. On a Mac running macOS 27.0 we checked, the sealed system volume used about 14 GB and Recovery about 3 GB, and Apple Intelligence needs up to 8 or 14 GB more depending on the Mac. Storage settings adds these up under macOS.
Can I upgrade the storage on my Mac later?
Apple sells the internal storage as a choice when you order and doesn't offer an upgrade afterwards. To add room later, use an external drive for large libraries and apps, or a larger iCloud plan with Store in iCloud and Optimize Mac Storage turned on.
Is 256GB enough for photo editing?
For iPhone photos with iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage on, yes. For camera RAW files or a library you keep in full on the Mac, it fills within months. Keep the library on an external drive formatted as APFS, or keep only your selects on the Mac.
Is an external SSD a good substitute for internal storage?
For some things, yes: a Photos or Final Cut Pro library, Logic Pro's sound library, large App Store apps and finished projects all work well on a fast external SSD. macOS, your home folder, swap and Xcode's simulator runtimes stay on the internal disk, and the drive has to be connected to use what's on it.