Looking for support of my choice NOT to upgrade to the M3 MacBook Air

[TracerAnalog]

Hi,

I’m looking for some support in keeping my perfectly working 2015 MBP 15” i7/16/512 and NOT upgrading to the new M3 15” MacBook Air, even though my laptop is 9 years old this year. I’m running Ventura now via OpenCore Legacy Patcher; just successfully updated to the latest version. Monterey is still officially supported until the end of the year, but I needed Ventura, and it works really well.

I don’t see why I should spend £1,445 (£1,700 with a 15% discount, as I know someone who works at Apple) for an MBA with the same spec. I don’t use the MBP for work, just for browsing, YouTube, FaceTime and some light vintage gaming via DosBox. My wife uses the laptop for light work tasks sometimes. She has a separate profile, so I think I need to keep 16GB of memory for when both profiles are running at the same time. I definitely need 512GB of storage, as now I only have 260GB free.

Many people on this forum upgraded to the Apple Silicon MacBooks. They seem to be very happy about it, and they also seem to actively promote these machines. But maybe the pressure to upgrade is self-imposed. Maybe it’s very clever Apple marketing.

I’m looking for support of my decision, really, so that I can stop thinking about the upgrade until a new, thinner and lighter 15” MBA is released. I feel guilty for not upgrading - this is wrong, I shouldn’t really feel this way.

Does the laptop do what you want it to do? Is the battery still OK? Then why would you even look at a new laptop?

However… of you have money burning in your pocket… I can guarantee you that if you would upgrade you would be blown away by the silence and the speed of operation. It is night and day. I came from a top end iMac from 2017 and for me it was a whole new experience.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Hi,

I’m looking for some support in keeping my perfectly working 2015 MBP 15” i7/16/512 and NOT upgrading to the new M3 15” MacBook Air, even though my laptop is 9 years old this year. I’m running Ventura now via OpenCore Legacy Patcher; just successfully updated to the latest version. Monterey is still officially supported until the end of the year, but I needed Ventura, and it works really well.

I don’t see why I should spend £1,445 (£1,700 with a 15% discount, as I know someone who works at Apple) for an MBA with the same spec. I don’t use the MBP for work, just for browsing, YouTube, FaceTime and some light vintage gaming via DosBox. My wife uses the laptop for light work tasks sometimes. She has a separate profile, so I think I need to keep 16GB of memory for when both profiles are running at the same time. I definitely need 512GB of storage, as now I only have 260GB free.

Many people on this forum upgraded to the Apple Silicon MacBooks. They seem to be very happy about it, and they also seem to actively promote these machines. But maybe the pressure to upgrade is self-imposed. Maybe it’s very clever Apple marketing.

I’m looking for support of my decision, really, so that I can stop thinking about the upgrade until a new, thinner and lighter 15” MBA is released. I feel guilty for not upgrading - this is wrong, I shouldn’t really feel this way.

I have a 2012 and a 2015 15” MBP and although I don’t think I’ll update the 2012 other than a battery, but I may upgrade the 2015 to a 1TB SSD and use OCLP to get it to Sonoma. If the 15” MBP meets your needs, then why upgrade?

 

[profcutter]

Hi,

I’m looking for some support in keeping my perfectly working 2015 MBP 15” i7/16/512 and NOT upgrading to the new M3 15” MacBook Air, even though my laptop is 9 years old this year. I’m running Ventura now via OpenCore Legacy Patcher; I've just successfully updated to the latest version. Monterey is still officially supported until the end of the year, but I needed Ventura, and it works really well.

I don’t see why I should spend £1,445 (£1,700 with a 15% discount, as I know someone who works at Apple) for an MBA with the same spec. I don’t use the laptop for work, just for browsing, YouTube, FaceTime and some light vintage gaming via DosBox. My wife uses the laptop for light work tasks sometimes. She has a separate profile, so I think I need to keep 16GB of memory for when both profiles are running at the same time. I definitely need 512GB of storage, as now I only have 260GB free.

Many people on this forum upgraded to Apple Silicon MacBooks. They seem to be very happy about it, and they also seem to actively promote these machines. But maybe the pressure to upgrade is self-imposed. Maybe it’s very clever Apple marketing.

I’m looking for support of my decision, really, so that I can stop thinking about the upgrade until a new, thinner and lighter 15” MBA is released. I feel guilty for not upgrading - this is wrong, I shouldn’t really feel this way.

I would absolutely support using an older device as long as you can. If you’re not bothered by speed or reliability on your current machine, there’s no need. For me, it started to bog down, I had the same machine upgraded to a 2TB drive. So for me it became time to upgrade when it got in the way of my work.

 

[bradman83]

Hi,

I’m looking for some support in keeping my perfectly working 2015 MBP 15” i7/16/512 and NOT upgrading to the new M3 15” MacBook Air, even though my laptop is 9 years old this year. I’m running Ventura now via OpenCore Legacy Patcher; I've just successfully updated to the latest version. Monterey is still officially supported until the end of the year, but I needed Ventura, and it works really well.

I don’t see why I should spend £1,445 (£1,700 with a 15% discount, as I know someone who works at Apple) for an MBA with the same spec. I don’t use the laptop for work, just for browsing, YouTube, FaceTime and some light vintage gaming via DosBox. My wife uses the laptop for light work tasks sometimes. She has a separate profile, so I think I need to keep 16GB of memory for when both profiles are running at the same time. I definitely need 512GB of storage, as now I only have 260GB free.

Many people on this forum upgraded to Apple Silicon MacBooks. They seem to be very happy about it, and they also seem to actively promote these machines. But maybe the pressure to upgrade is self-imposed. Maybe it’s very clever Apple marketing.

I’m looking for support of my decision, really, so that I can stop thinking about the upgrade until a new, thinner and lighter 15” MBA is released. I feel guilty for not upgrading - this is wrong, I shouldn’t really feel this way.

Why do you feel guilty for not giving a multi-trillion-dollar company your money?

If your 2015 MBP still suits your needs then keep on using it. Once it gets to the point where it's really lagging, can't receive security updates, or the hardware starts failing then you can upgrade. Perhaps by then we'll be on M4 or M5 and the difference will be even greater. Too many people in these forums seem to think Macs should be upgraded annually based on how they decry incremental upgrades that add up over time.

 

[dmr727]

My 2015 MBP was the perfect laptop for a long time, until I finally started feeling its age after an upgrade to Big Sur. Sadly I'm pretty sensitive to perceived sluggishness in the UI, even if it doesn't affect my actual usage. So I upgraded to an M1 Air and didn't look back.

But that said if you're happy with your machine and it's still checking all the boxes for what you want it to do, no sense in replacing it if you don't want to.

 

[0339327]

Hi,

I’m looking for some support in keeping my perfectly working 2015 MBP 15” i7/16/512 and NOT upgrading to the new M3 15” MacBook Air, even though my laptop is 9 years old this year. I’m running Ventura now via OpenCore Legacy Patcher; I've just successfully updated to the latest version. Monterey is still officially supported until the end of the year, but I needed Ventura, and it works really well.

I don’t see why I should spend £1,445 (£1,700 with a 15% discount, as I know someone who works at Apple) for an MBA with the same spec. I don’t use the laptop for work, just for browsing, YouTube, FaceTime and some light vintage gaming via DosBox. My wife uses the laptop for light work tasks sometimes. She has a separate profile, so I think I need to keep 16GB of memory for when both profiles are running at the same time. I definitely need 512GB of storage, as now I only have 260GB free.

Many people on this forum upgraded to Apple Silicon MacBooks. They seem to be very happy about it, and they also seem to actively promote these machines. But maybe the pressure to upgrade is self-imposed. Maybe it’s very clever Apple marketing.

I’m looking for support of my decision, really, so that I can stop thinking about the upgrade until a new, thinner and lighter 15” MBA is released. I feel guilty for not upgrading - this is wrong, I shouldn’t really feel this way.

You buy the computer you need.

Maybe, sometimes you buy the computer you want.

Never buy a computer due to peer pressure.

However, when you do buy a machine, buy one that will last your intended lifespan for that machine.

A 10 year old computer may work very well for your needs. My oldest regularly used machine is a 2019 MacPro. My wife’s? A 2012 MacBook.

To spend money for no reason is no better than burning it.

 

[cogzero]

As is widely believed here, 8GB of RAM should be more than sufficient for your use cases. I suggest you downgrade your current laptop accordingly.

You can schedule weekly visits to your local Apple store to pet the macbooks in stock to slowly desensitize your body.