Michael K.'s Profile

I've been a professional furniture designer and retailer for years, and I can tell you that the "original" label should never apply to modern classics. It's sole purpose is to vastly inflate the manufacturer's profit margin. To wit, I bought an "original" Corbusier LC4 chaise, which DWR sells for $3685, for $400 from Cassina themselves, using my trade discount. But the larger point is that Corbusier himself designed furniture expressly for the new industrial mass production techniques, intending it to be widely and cheaply available. To charge over 3K for one of his pieces flies directly in the face of his entire career. And more or less the same is true of such figures as van der Rohe, the Saarinens, the Eameses, and so on. Only a hipster doofus or Wall Street nitwit would seek out "originals" of designs made in large quantities at huge factories. It's the form and quality that count—according to the designers themselves. Buy the best "knockoff" you can afford and be happy you're not getting duped by Knoll, Cassina, Herman Miller and their ilk.

I have a 500GB drive in my MacBook Pro, and I've already filled up 300GB. Two things stand out. First, my Adobe Creative Suite, which takes up a huge chunk of space. Second, hundreds of digital books and articles in PDF format. Obviously, this is not a "typical" user profile, but I don't think there is any such thing. Estimated averages are quite misleading when it comes to Mac storage, since the bulk of users fall at the extremes. Some store little media and pro software; others store massive amounts of both. Very few fall in between. I always advise buying the most storage you can afford; sooner or later, you'll need it.