There’s this thing going around where people imagine they have to limit themselves to using a 64GB MacBook Air. What would the essential apps be if space was at a premium? Interesting question.

As an example, below is a list of apps Stephen Hackett of Forkbombr would install, given the crazy 64GB ceiling. I have most of those installed on my Air, and have included their sizes for reference. Where I don’t have a specific app I picked something that should be close.

• Dropbox - 36MB
• MarsEdit - 16.2MB
• Transmit - 47.3MB
• Twitter for Mac - 8.9MB (Twitterific)
• OmniFocus - 57.3MB
• NVAlt - 8MB
• Reeder - 21.4MB (NNW)
• Pages - 561MB (Jesus!)
• Keynote - (??, let’s say 500MB)
• TextWrangler - 41.8MB (BBEdit)

That’s it? You’ve got 64GB to work with, and you’ve just limited yourself to a little over 1 GB of software. I’m all for going minimal and I love the idea of choosing essential apps, but the Air doesn’t really need to be a significant factor in that decision.

I have a boatload of apps on my Air. All of them, I think. My Total? 8.4GB. Never once have I not installed something because I was worried about drive space^ps. Why not skip an album or two in iTunes and install whatever useful app might someday come in handy?

64GB is both not very much and a lot.