This article really resonated with me. I currently have a 2019 16" i9 MacBook Pro and looking for what the M3 upgrade would be was really frustrating. No clear path and all of the options cost way more than my current machine.
If buying a MacBook Pro is giving you a hard time, I can’t imagine what kind of meltdown you would have trying to pick out a Dell, HP, or parts for a self build.
I don’t think that’s really the gist here, I shopped for M2/M3 before, and the prices are stupid, buy a cheaper one, which you feel like won’t be enough for the lifetime you want to use it for, or go all out and hope that it is what you wanted for however long you need it.
By the time you get to storage, which you can never change, you’re stuck deciding if you go with what you feel you need, or go big and pay big.
The entire model is broken, and 8GB of RAM by default is also really really stupid, unless all you do is email and browse the web, but you shouldn’t be buying a pro model if you’re just needing a larger phone >_>
So you get stuck, do I pay for the future and hope it’s big enough for all the years I want to use it, or am I okay buying another laptop in less than 2-3 years just because I can’t change it afterward?
I understand your sentiment, I don’t mind building and maintaining my own PCs, the biggest problem with the newest MacBooks is that you’re stuck with your purchase, for better or worse until you get another one.
This might not be a big deal for people with light workloads and low usage, but for some of us, it makes it really hard to say yes to their prices, not knowing if it’s going to be enough for 4-5 years.
I’ve been an Apple user for 17 years. And this is some bullshit.
I work with drones, which means I work with 4K video. I’m a photography writer, which means I work with photos. I’m just the kind of creative who ought to have a MacBook Pro.
Not really. This honestly isn’t that complicated, and editing 4K video isn’t particularly taxing by modern standards. They should get the 15" M2 MacBook Air. Probably spring for 512GB storage. It’s $1,499 and it’s a certain to be a big upgrade over their current Mac. Problem solved.
I’m all for “8GB is horseshit”. There’s a reason it’s built onto the chip though. But past that the idea that having multiple levels of performance is bad is stupid.
And so is the idea that 4 grand on a laptop that will meaningfully save you work time is a huge deal. It it’s a hobby that doesn’t make you money, just let it be slower.
A lot of this is why I don’t use a MacBook as my main laptop now that I work for myself. I wanted a laptop with 2TB, and when I bought my Acer laptop, I only needed 512GB. So, I took it apart, took out the old drive and put in a 2TB NVMe. That’s not possible with a MacBook. I’ve also added more RAM in my laptop as my needs have changed. Also not possible with a MacBook.
I have a MacBook Air that I use to build the iPhone and Mac versions of my apps, and that’s about all it does. It was the cheapest MacBook when I bought it, and I chose it because I knew I’d never actually be doing any work on it. It’s not a bad machine, but it will never get any better than it is right now.
But hey, my business partner wanted a Mac to actually work on, so I bought her a $3000+ MacBook. Was it worth it? No. But that’s what she wanted, and yeah, Apple pressured me into getting nearly the top of the line MacBook, because in 6 years, if it’s a lower spec, she’ll just need a whole new laptop. It will not grow with her, so she needs the maximum capability she could conceivably need at the end of its expected lifetime. And that sucks.
Wow that website is horribly written. Pure garbage.
