Silicon Mac users: What do you want from a new device in order to upgrade?

[antiprotest]

FaceID.

My M1 is still working great. I plan to wait until it can no longer keep up with increasing software demands and becomes a drag on my usage. For what I use it to do, it might take at least two more years for that to happen.

But what would make me considering upgrading sooner is if Mac adds FaceID. I am not sure if that will ever happen though.

 

[hajime]

Bootcamp

 

[floral]

Thinking about updating my 2017 27” iMac but given the smaller sizes of AS desktops am seriously looking at a 2020 iMac in the refurb store. Don’t really care all that much what’s under the hood, just whether or not I can see it onscreen.

Maybe you would like a Studio Display + Mac Mini combo
The Studio Display is the same size, and while it has a hefty cost, would be worth it for the identical display
(Or you know, you could just buy an average 27" display for a lot cheaper on Amazon or something ;3)

 

[izzy0242mr]

Nothing short of my 14" M1 Pro MBP becoming no longer functional will make me upgrade. And I think Apple Silicon will remain high performance (with much better battery) for much longer than Intel will.

 

[imdropbear]

FaceID.

My M1 is still working great. I plan to wait until it can no longer keep up with increasing software demands and becomes a drag on my usage. For what I use it to do, it might take at least two more years for that to happen.

But what would make me considering upgrading sooner is if Mac adds FaceID. I am not sure if that will ever happen though.

Even FaceID wouldn't make me upgrade from my M1 Pro MBP as of right now but that's definitely the feature that gets me the closest. FaceID won't make me upgrade right away but I definitely won't upgrade before it's a thing.

 

[Rychiar]

A pro grade 27”+ 5k iMac with 32+ gigs of ram obviously

 

[thefourthpope]

I’m very happy with my m2 air and hope to use it for at least 5 years. But I would immediately consider upgrading for the mythic iPad-that-runs-MacOS

So, maybe not entirely “my cold dead hands” but I see little real likelihood of it happening inside five years.

 

[Ethosik]

Better prices for more memory and storage. The upgrade prices are extortionate. And yes, Apple, believe it or not, we do need more storage than in 2012. One would think prices for both RAM and SSDs would have gone down since then rather than up.

RAM and SSDs are not the same as it was in 2012. 16 GB of RAM in 2012 is not the same as 16 GB of RAM today. I remember paying a massive price for early adopting DDR5. Over a thousand dollars for just the RAM alone. I don’t know where people get the idea that things get cheaper over time. Maybe DDR 3 is cheap now.

PCIe Gen 5 and 4 SSDs are expensive. This is why I typically stay with SATA SSDs.

 

[splitpea]

RAM and SSDs are not the same as it was in 2012. 16 GB of RAM in 2012 is not the same as 16 GB of RAM today. I remember paying a massive price for early adopting DDR5. Over a thousand dollars for just the RAM alone. I don’t know where people get the idea that things get cheaper over time. Maybe DDR 3 is cheap now.

Iunno. It's funny how outside of Apple's BTO store, a 1TB SSD costs a heck of a lot less than it did a decade ago, but today it costs just as much if not more. I used to get my upgrades from OWC, at a significant discount from Apple's prices, which at least kept them honest. The inability to upgrade aftermarket means Apple has us over a barrel in a way they never used to.

 

[1BadManVan]

He requires 3nm. Do you think Apple will still make Mac SoCs using 3nm in 2032?

Im basing it on the overall wants hes asking for, not just the one.

 

[hajime]

Non-silicon Mac

 

[ader42]

Way more cpu cores please

 

[Tagbert]

Non-silicon Mac

Organic?

 

[hajime]

Organic?

Quiet version of Intel Mac that can run native 486 version of Windows and Linux applications for scientists and engineers. The current Silicon Macs seem to be more geared towards youtubers, entertainers and the general public who bought it out of fashion and as a symbol of status.

 

[StellarVixen]

Hardware wise nothing, my grievances are software related.

 

[icanhazmac]

Odd question. I think the vast majority people wait until the device they have can no longer perform at an acceptable level or until a new device has a feature that in some way or another makes a significant enough difference in their work flow to justify the cost.

 

[avkills]

Way better graphics performance; although this is a loaded request because we still do not have a AS Mac Pro. The performance is better than what was on the Intel Laptops; so I have no issues with the laptops, even though I am still rocking the i9. Other stuff at work to buy that is more important.

 

[whitby]

I voted assuming it was for a laptop as the needs for a desktop are quite different. So for a laptop: longer battery life, bigger screen and light weight (not available as an option in the above poll). For a desktop it would be increased performance, expandable RAM, and expanded interface and graphics options.

 

[spiderman0616]

I'd like to keep my M1 Pro in rotation until it starts feeling slow, but it's starting to seem like that will never happen.

 

[h.gilbert]

FaceID.

FaceID makes so much sense for a laptop. Much more so than for a phone. I don't know why they don't put it in. I guess too big but the iPhone notch isn't very big although could be quite deep.

 

[throAU]

better performance. but right now i am happy. i’ll replace my m1 pro probably when it is out of warranty and there’s a substantial performance gap.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Selected: "Better Performance", "A new feature/gimmick", and "Something else (put it in replies)"

But I think that probably needs clarification. I only need "Better Performance" if the performance in what I have is deemed lacking in some way down the road. While I probably could stand to have a better GPU than a standard M1's full 8 GPU cores. My only real needs for wanting that are for games that are still running emulated in Rosetta 2 (native performance would surely render that moot). But that's today. I otherwise have zero problems with the CPU performance. And it's not like base M1 machines aren't still getting support for new macOS releases (I'd imagine we'll see Intel support drop altogether before we see the first OS that doesn't allow non-Pro/Max/Ultra M1 Macs into the party. So, when I attempt to use my M1 for something that it chokes on or provides a sub-par experience that would otherwise solved by a newer and/or faster Mac, that'll be a cue to start shopping.

As for the "A new feature/gimmick", I don't mean in the traditional sense. I'm an IT Consultant looking to establish an Apple-speciific consultancy. If there is a new feature that changes how Macs get deployed in the workplace (a la the T2 chip on Intel models or Apple Silicon Macs themselves), then I'll want to upgrade to a new model for myself to get familiarized with. I do not need to be a day one adopter for such a feature. But certainly within the first few releases, I ought to at least have played around with it enough to be a subject matter expert on it.

 

[zer0ed]

User replaceable/upgradable SSD and memory. The ability to boot off an external drive (come on Apple fix your ASR bug)!

 

[Tagbert]

Quiet version of Intel Mac that can run native 486 version of Windows and Linux applications for scientists and engineers. The current Silicon Macs seem to be more geared towards youtubers, entertainers and the general public who bought it out of fashion and as a symbol of status.

Or those of us who want a fast, quiet laptop that runs a long time and runs Mac Apps. I used to run a windows VM to run a couple of Windows apps but over time found I just didn’t need or want them. I’m sure you have a real ongoing need for Windows and Linux and will not be satisfied by the direction Apple is going. I’m sorry. Maybe you will need to switch or at least just get a secondary box to run those things on. Not sure about the quiet part though, from what I’ve seen.

 

[jdb8167]

I also wouldn’t mind a lighter machine with the same power as the MBP. I’m absolutely willing to trade off battery life for that. Usually I’m carrying it on my back from one place it can plug in to another place it can plug in. Can’t remember the last time I worked on battery for more than 2 hours at a time.

I use my M2 MacBook Air on battery every day for 8-9 hours. I want the lightest laptop but not at the expense of battery life. I usually end the day with 30-50% remaining though.