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Jacoblee23

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 10, 2011
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Just curious if I should trade in now before the trade values continue to go down. I have a M1 Pro 16" with 66 cycles and 97% battery health. In the past it was easier to predict how long Macs would get support but with apple making their own chips now, it's harder to predict. What do you all think? I have my annual $150 Apple Care getting ready to renew in January so I am trying to decide if I should hang onto it and let it renew or trade it in for something newer. The machine is still very fast. What are you M1 Pro owners doing? Thanks in advance!
 
Depends on what you do. If your job relies upon editing LOG 12 bit 8K footage then probably yeah, sell it and get a new one. But if you only surf the web and use Office from time to time then you can push more than 10+ years from this machine.

I bought my maxed out M1 Air in 2022, i.e. when it was already 2 years on the market. I wanted to avoid as much as possible “butterfly” type of manufacturing faults that Apple is known for. And? So far so good, I watch movies on this laptop and surf the web, 16 hours battery as promised and still going strong enough. Not planning on selling since selling is always losing money, not earning. Although I am already getting tired of it and will probably get some fast Windows laptop or M5-M7 15’ Air instead and will give this one to my parents. Because thats what I always do whether it is iPhone, iPad or anything else. And devices are used until full end of effective life which goes far beyond official updates support. With your machine you can expect fresh macOS versions until 2029 I think.

There are people on this forum still playing around with theirs 2007 17’ MacBook Pros or even G5 machines, installing hacks and stuff. While they already have their fresh daily drivers, those purely ancient dinosaurs are great hobby machines (given the battery is removed hehe).

Surely lifespan of new MacBooks with soldered batteries and stuff is not as promising, but maybe I am wrong and my M1 Air will live until 2034 and battery won’t even pillow, who knows
 
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Macs don’t hold their resale value like they used to. I think that’s down to the sizeable performance gains that seem to be made each generation and also the increased supply due to the popularity of Apple devices. The M1 is still a very capable chip. Is the power adequate to your needs? If so, you could get another three years of use out of it, or more. Loads of people are happily running decade-old computers. Personally, I won’t use a Mac online which is no longer getting security updates.In that respect, you are still good for a few years. I would perhaps weigh up the cost of AppleCare against the value of the machine at the three-year mark, but that’s just me.
 
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