I agree, most BTO options are unnecessary for most people. I just hate when people gatekeep even the base 14" MBP as this machine that's only for 'pros', by which they mean people working in very particular niches such as high end 3D graphics and video editing.
It's a great machine for anyone that wants an awesome, state of the art computer, whether you're going to use it for those kinds of activities or not
I agree and don't.
Obviously, people should buy what makes them happy. None of my comments here are directed at that, though, because that's a choice drive by personal desires, not actual requirements. So viewed in that light, you and I are aligned.
My comments are about people evaluating a Mac according to what they need to do with it and who want to balance those requirements with budget. Again, if someone is rich enough that the difference between $1500 and $5000 doesnt matter to them they should buy whatever they want. But if $1000 is real money to someone, the decision between a 16/512 Air and a base model 16" Pro becomes significant. If nothing they do is at all constrained by the capabilities of the Air, then buying the Pro is literally a waste of money.
I do also agree that the Pros are marketed in such a way that they're seen as high end machines for creative pros (specifically audio/video/photo) but others need the power they offer too. VR creators. Engineering apps. Even developers. A director at, I think it was AirBnB, commented that the new M1 machines cut their software build times in half. The math worked out such that this meant they'd save $100k in engineer hours over a year for an upfront investment of $32k for their 9 person team. Even the solo dev might want a Pro for things like running multiple VMs and thus needing 32 or 64g of RAM.
Ultimately, I think that people should buy enough computer to last them, comfortably, for the next 3 or 4 years but not significantly overbuy, thinking that they can keep the machine for 7, 9 or 12 years.
