Anyone feel slightly miffed that their new M1 runs better than the expensive Mac they bought last year?

[Fomalhaut]

I've been using my new M1 Mac Mini for almost a week as my primary work computer, and am very impressed with it, having only found a couple of minor niggles (with my DisplayPort dock, and some Big Sur features that seem worse than Catalina).

However, I can't but help feel a minor resentment that I spent nearly AU$5000 last November on a shiny new MBP16, that is now sitting unused on my desk, and runs most of my day-to-day software more slowly that the M1 Mini that cost about a third of the price.

It's progress, and on balance, it's a great thing for this performance/price point to be reached.

The MBP is still a great machine and is obviously portable, so I'll still use it when I go back to office work, but as a home-office machine, the Mini is running like a champ.

I do rather wonder whether I could have saved the money on the MBP16 though....and just bought an M1 MBP or Air for any mobile needs...c'est la vie!

 

[Apple_Robert]

To sum up, you are mad at yourself for overspending on your previous computer, as well as Apple for bringing forward new technology that made you feel inadequate with your precious purchase, even though it was doing the job you bought it for.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

no, my last Apple purchase pre-M1 was a rMBP in Japan on holiday in 2013. made it until one month prior to the M1 being released.

 

[nick9191]

I've been using my new M1 Mac Mini for almost a week as my primary work computer, and am very impressed with it, having only found a couple of minor niggles (with my DisplayPort dock, and some Big Sur features that seem worse than Catalina).

However, I can't but help feel a minor resentment that I spent nearly AU$5000 last November on a shiny new MBP16, that is now sitting unused on my desk, and runs most of my day-to-day software more slowly that the M1 Mini that cost about a third of the price.

It's progress, and on balance, it's a great thing for this performance/price point to be reached.

The MBP is still a great machine and is obviously portable, so I'll still use it when I go back to office work, but as a home-office machine, the Mini is running like a champ.

I do rather wonder whether I could have saved the money on the MBP16 though....and just bought an M1 MBP or Air for any mobile needs...c'est la vie!

Have you considered selling the 16"? If you were, I would advise doing so shortly before it's replacement is unveiled and cuts its resale value sharply. Those who had even the prior generation 15" MBP saw a hefty cut to the resale value of their machines after the release of the 16", simply because it was a substantially better laptop and put to bed a lot of issues. I believe the 16" M1 will do the same again based on the performance we're seeing.

If you're not in the office right now, then you don't need it, but if you're returning to the office soon, you could still sell it, buy a baseline MBA to tide you over and pocket the difference.

I too have both the M1 Mini and a 16" MBP, of which I can't take my own advice over since it's a work laptop. As you say the Mini is noticeably better at any given task whilst running silent and cool.

 

[ArPe]

No I’m really happy. Sell the old one just like when the Core Duo was a big speed boost over the G4.

 

[Fomalhaut]

To sum up, you are mad at yourself for overspending on your previous computer, as well as Apple for bringing forward new technology that made you feel inadequate with your precious purchase, even though it was doing the job you bought it for.

Not really mad at myself - I bought what I needed at the time and have used that machine solidly for a year. I spent what I needed to, to get the spec I required.

Just feeling the pleasure of ownership somewhat deflated by the perceived reduction in value of a major investment resulting from technological advance, which is, of course, inevitable over time.

Apple made a huge leap in price/performance with the M1 - previous improvements have been much slower.

In the past, I found that there wasn't any point in upgrading a Mac for 3-5 years, because the performance improvements year-on-year were not very significant. After 5 years you could see a 50-80% improvement in performance, which was worth having, and for a 5-year-old machine, this wasn't a "painful" upgrade.

Apple has achieved this in one year, which naturally makes me now feel that my purchase last year doesn't represent great value...but only with hindsight. Had we known the M1 would be here a year later, I would have spent less on a stop-gap machine. But of course, no-one outside Apple knew this would happen.

I'm not complaining...the M1 is great, and my MBP16 is still a good computer. It's just fallen down the rankings more quickly than expected. It's technology...it happens...sometimes more quickly than we expect.

Just an observation, not a complaint

 

[Fomalhaut]

no, my last Apple purchase pre-M1 was a rMBP in Japan on holiday in 2013. made it until one month prior to the M1 being released.

Great timing!

 

[Fomalhaut]

Have you considered selling the 16"? If you were, I would advise doing so shortly before it's replacement is unveiled and cuts its resale value sharply. Those who had even the prior generation 15" MBP saw a hefty cut to the resale value of their machines after the release of the 16", simply because it was a substantially better laptop and put to bed a lot of issues. I believe the 16" M1 will do the same again based on the performance we're seeing.

If you're not in the office right now, then you don't need it, but if you're returning to the office soon, you could still sell it, buy a baseline MBA to tide you over and pocket the difference.

I too have both the M1 Mini and a 16" MBP, of which I can't take my own advice over since it's a work laptop. As you say the Mini is noticeably better at any given task whilst running silent and cool.

Those are certainly options worth considering. I'll need to do a cost analysis.

I was always planning on hanging on to the MBP16 in case I found serious software incompatibilities with the M1 - which is why I bought the Mini for experimentation purposes. So far, bar some development software tools (e.g. Docker), the M1 has been working very well indeed, and I am planning to get an M1X MBP14 or whatever the next release is.

I suspect the MBP16, even maxed-out, will be solidly beaten by the next "M1X" Macbook Pro, and as you say, it's value would sharply decline then.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Hexley]

I feel bad for buying these even if I knew Apple silicon was coming years prior. Was expecting it to be less than 20% better. It’s more like over 80% better.

• 2017 Dell Inspiron 15 7000 7567 Gaming
• 2018 MBA
• 2019 MBP 16”

Also wish I sold my 2012 MBA when someone offered to buy it a month before the November Mac event.

if I did these things I would have bought these Apple silicon Macs instead.

• Late 2020 MBA
• Early 2021 MBP 16”
• 3nm process iMac 27” or larger display

To replace these Macs

• 2016 MacBook
• 2011 MBP 13”
• 2012 iMac 27”

To add I was offered $1000 for my 2012 iMac 27” towards buying a 2015 iMac 27” 5K Retina display. If I was more responsive I would’ve sold it.

Sell your old tech as soon as you upgrad. With Apple silicon.... they’re so fast ???

 

[thingstoponder]

If you read MacRumors then you already knew this was coming. iPads were already faster for many tasks than most Macs. It’s why people were begging for Apple Silicon in the first place.

 

[dmr727]

It's tech - I'm not miffed at all. If you want some perspective, go take a look at what Apple did to the IIvx.

 

[semiconduct]

/del

 

[MevetS]

No. Not at all. I made an informed decision and purchased a 2018 Mac mini last December. I expect it will meet my needs for several more years.

There will always be something better tomorrow. It is silly to fret about it.

 

[semiconduct]

/del

 

[BigMcGuire]

Nope not at all. My 2020 MBP 13' meets all the needs I place on it - does stuff the M1 can't do right now that I require. Will I upgrade to the M2 and M3? Quite possibly.

Tech keeps changing. These are tools to get jobs done.

My laptop is still super fast, does all I need it to do, and will continue to do so for many years to come. I don't do anything video or anything like that so, ... probably doesn't affect me as much as others.

No. Not at all. I made an informed decision and purchased a 2018 Mac mini last December. I expect it will meet my needs for several more years.

There will always be something better tomorrow. It is silly to fret about it.

Very well stated.

 

[Bending Pixels]

nope.....

 

[Maxwells_Equations]

id rather have a 5600m and 64gb ram....

 

[throAU]

No, I'm excited. This is actual progress. This is an exciting time for computing again, like back in the 90s.

The past decade plus has been minor incremental improvements.

 

[spyguy10709]

To sum up, you are mad at yourself for overspending on your previous computer, as well as Apple for bringing forward new technology that made you feel inadequate with your precious purchase, even though it was doing the job you bought it for.

To sum up, Apple was happy to take your money for a product that probably should never have been introduced in the first place.

 

[August West]

No. My last Mac purchase was my 2012 mini. I was thinking about upgrading it last year but luckily that was about the time word got out about Apple switching to ARM. So I figured I'd wait and see how they performed. Glad I waited.

 

[KShopper]

I had a 2013 13" MBP that I loved and used daily until I dumped a drink on it in 2019. Picked up a 2018 13" MBP off the Apple Refurb store - and absolutely detested it. The Butterfly keyboard was so bad to use, and the Touchbar was a hinderance to my productivity and happiness. Two enormous mistakes on Apple's part.

So, when the 2020 MBA came out with a the Magic keyboard and no Touchbar I ordered one immediately. Took a pretty hefty hit selling the 2018 MBP locally, nobody wanted the bad keyboard (understandably). But was happy to be rid of it!

MBA was okay but fan noise and insta-bake temps doing things as simple as a group audio call were grating.

Grabbed the M1 MBA when they launched and couldn't be happier! The resale on the 2020 MBA went to about 55% of what I paid for it 7 months earlier so I ended up trading it for a PS5 and a bit of cash (ouch).

So yeah, Apple's bad products and my own poor decision making have cost me a fair amount over the last two years. Prior to that I had used two MBPs for 6 years and 8 years. In both recent cases I dumped a product I didn't enjoy using for one I thought would be better.

I'm way happier now than I would have been keeping either the 2020 MBA or the 2018 MBP, life is too short to use a computer you hate everyday.

 

[Luposian]

No, I'm excited. This is actual progress. This is an exciting time for computing again, like back in the 90s.

The past decade plus has been minor incremental improvements.

Don’tcha know it! It’s like the PowerPC era all over again! Whoo-hoo!!! ?

 

[1240766]

I feel for the people who just bought the 2020 before the M1, that sucks IMO....

Looking at stores - Costco, Bestbuy....lots of great deals on these vintage () Intel Macs....

 

[stgall]

I'm not miffed, since I'm enjoying the best of both worlds and I bought my iMac in August knowing that there were new models coming. Plus, it works great as a home machine for the pandemic and looks great in my living room.

But - it is staggering that my new base model 7-core, 8GB RAM M1 Macbook Air can outperform a 27" 3.3Ghz Intel iMac with 40GB RAM which was more than twice the price. A testament to what Apple has done with processor technology.

 

[KPOM]

No, I'm excited. This is actual progress. This is an exciting time for computing again, like back in the 90s.

The past decade plus has been minor incremental improvements.

That’s my view. The M1 MacBook Air is amazing. Considering the early 2020 was running a Y-Series processor, it’s incredible that Apple removed the fan and more than doubled the performance with the M1. Over the years I’ve gradually reduced my dependence on Windows (figuring Apple would eventually drop compatibility), but my last remaining Windows program (Quicken 2020) runs adequately under Crossover for now. Quicken for Mac is slowly getting better and hopefully will be viable once Apple drops Rosetta 2 support from MacOS.