Laptop Storage Calculator: Real Capacity and What Fits
A 512 GB drive shows up as about 476 GB. Enter a drive size to see the real figure and what fits after the system takes its share.
How it works
Drive makers count 1 GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes. Windows counts in units of 1,073,741,824 bytes but still labels them GB, so the number looks smaller. macOS uses the same decimal units as drive makers.
What fits is the free space divided by a typical file size. The file sizes are editable because photos, videos and games vary a lot.
Questions and answers
Why does my 1 TB drive show 931 GB?
Windows divides the byte count by 1,073,741,824 where the label on the box divides by 1,000,000,000. No space is missing.
Is 256 GB enough for a laptop?
For browsing, documents and streaming, yes. Large photo libraries, video projects and modern games fill it quickly.
How much space does the system take?
It depends on the operating system and preinstalled apps. The default here is an estimate you can change.