M generation (Apple silicon) MacBooks have revolutionised the definition of the laptop (gaming excluded … who the faark games?
) incredible processing power and battery run times on an extremely portable platform. Whilst the cost to entry on Macs is generally higher than Windows based equivalents, IMO, the cost of ownership is much less.I originally bought a MacBook Air M1 13” when it launched nearly 5 years ago, and it served me remarkably well for my consulting work. 2 years ago I upgraded to a MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16”, more so for the larger screen and to cater for the amateur photography processing that I needed. The MacBook Air went to my youngest daughter for Uni.
Now nearly 5 years later, we’re up to the M4 generation, with upgraded performance and battery life, but I’ve felt no need to upgrade as my trusty M1 Pro is more than enough for my needs.
For iPhones, there was a period where I’d upgrade every year, as I would hand it down to my wife or one of my daughters, and benefit from the business tax write-offs.
In 2021, the missus and 3 daughters all had later generation iPhones due to this strategy, and I had the latest iPhone 13. Now 4 years later, there has been no compelling reason for me to upgrade, and with the release of the iPhone 17 generation, nothing has changed.
I’ve had an iPad Air gen 4 for nearly 5 years, and similarly, it does what I need it to do, even managing some of my photography workflow if I need to. There is no need to upgrade.
Battery life and performance on all 3 devices is still good, so any severe deterioration there will prompt an upgrade.
I’ve also had AirPods Pro (gen 1) for 5 years, but they have been nothing but trouble after 18 months. Had both buds replaced after 18 months under warranty, and they started to fail again about 2 years later. I lived with problems until recently, when I purchased AirPods 4 noise cancelling, and they’ve been great so far. Just need to remember to get them checked before 2 years to get a free replacement if anything goes wrong.
Why the long post?
Well, I’ve been crook all week so have written the week off work wise, so had the time. The other reason is that the WWDC keynote yesterday … another round of expensive upgrades that most people don’t need.
Moore’s Law is less relevant today and the ‘bang for buck’ and need to upgrade is diminishing as we nudge a so-called ‘peak technology’ phase.
If you have money, go for it, splurge every year … but the yearly upgrade cycle is dying, and tech companies such as Apple have to find new ways to encourage upgrades, rather than the punitive way of grandfathering support to make perfectly good products obsolete sooner that they need to be, which most companies do (Apple is actually not too bad here).
Don’t get me started on ‘AI’, that’s a post for another day.
This should have probably been posted in the Dull Men’s thread.
