What do you plan to do when the M2 (or whatever the next M chip is) launches?

[Yebubbleman]

Interesting. I have been forced into using Windows machines 3 different times over the last 5 years. Each time has been its own nightmare for different reasons. Unnecessary complexity and having to reboot at the worst times were highlights, inconsistencies between install of the same OS made trouble shooting exhausting. In one case my 6 year old MacBook Air and was more often used and a year later at a different location I was using it when my new Windows 10 wasn’t but couldn’t access some systems so I was stuck.

It's honestly about finding something wherein installation of every driver you need isn't annoying. In the case of building your own PC, every component that needs a driver will either come with one or have instructions on where to go to get the newest one. In the case of business PCs from Dell, HP, or Lenovo, there's a utility that either will come pre-loaded on the machine or is easily downloaded that you can use to download and install all of your drivers in one go. So, worst case scenario (and not even really necessary on Dell business systems), you do a clean install of Windows 10, install your drivers, run Windows updates, and then you're good to go. It's a little weirder with consumer PCs; gamer laptops tend to not come with bloatware that you don't want, so that's not as big of a deal. Higher-end non-RoG Asus laptops are good in this regard too. Everything else is garbage.

But seriously, super stable.

 

[Yebubbleman]

That was a long way of saying “I’m not sure.”

True. Though, it's not that I'm not sure if I'm getting an "M2" Mac. I'm 100% sure that I'm not getting an "M2" Mac. What I'm not sure of is whether or not I'm getting ANY Apple Silicon Mac or simply using the Apple Silicon transition as an excuse to get off the Mac platform altogether because that's super tempting right now.

 

[AnthonyHarris]

Think I am going to keep my 16, and get my hands on the real pro (£1800) 13 inch M(whatever) when it comes. If we are ever allowed to travel again, I'd rather not take this beastly slab of aluminium again.

 

[klinux]

Staying on a Mac forums, will do that to you. Windows too has its fair share of update doomsday, its just u will never hear of it unless u go to pc websites.

Agree. I have a Surface Book as well as an old MacBook Pro 13”. Sometimes the Surface will just restart on me in the middle of working on something, even though I clicked restart later. I already told my boss that if he decides to upgrade my computer, I’d prefer a MacBook Air.

 

[narc1981]

If you’ve already snapped up an M1, do you see yourself selling it on and upgrading to a 2nd gen device?

Are you purposely buying just the base model now so you feel ‘less’ invested for the above scenario? Or do you think the base will be enough to fend off the lure of M2 power?

Are you planning to keep your current M1 longer, and either expecting the base model to see you through or going 16gb for increased future-proofing?

Or maybe you’re holding back from snapping up a machine now, preferring to wait for 2021?

What might influence your decision to upgrade? Faster CPU, dGPU, 32Gb RAM, 14”/16”?

As for me, I’m pretty sure the base Air would do me just fine and I have the urge to pick one up from a non-Apple store this week. However, I also want to hold on until my 16gb Air arrives mid-Dec in case Parallels actually release a stable Win 10 environment that demands it. The former would make me feel better about upgrading to M2 if appropriate. The latter would make me feel like I have a capable enough tool already.

What do you see yourselves doing?

Such an intelligent consideration!

I'll wait for the M5. They say it'll be incredibly powerful.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Agree. I have a Surface Book as well as an old MacBook Pro 13”. Sometimes the Surface will just restart on me in the middle of working on something, even though I clicked restart later. I already told my boss that if he decides to upgrade my computer, I’d prefer a MacBook Air.

That's probably your IT department getting you to reboot your computer to install updates. They can still do that on a Mac too.

 

[ninecows]

I will keep putting money aside for the M5 iMac (+/-).

Just bought the 27 iMac 2020 and while the M1’s are pretty impressive they are not superpowered enough to slow down my Mac and that should still serve my needs well until apple drop support for OS updates.

 

[beastforum]

I’ll keep this MacBook Pro 13” M1 for possibly 3-4yrs and then buy a new one with the latest M processor. Will give this to one of my kids then. Won’t be upgrading every year as that’s a lot of money based on that mentality. There’s 5 iPhones, 1 iPad Pro, 1 Apple TV, 1 MacBook Pro 16” and now this MacBook M1 in my household. Same for my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Will upgrade in 3yrs. Don’t know why Apple don’t just update MacOS every 2-3yrs and really make a big change. Same for the iPhones.

 

[Bonte]

I'm just waiting for the Mac Pro Mini, iMac or Mac Mini Pro for another boost in performance, the M2 will take a year or 2 and I need a it sooner than that. Current speeds seem to be OK but I do expect the first real desktops to be almost double the speed than current M1 models.

 

[Frank Philips]

To be honest I am in the same position. A part of me wants to invest as little as possible on this M1 MacBook Air, but another part of me needs to max it out, to 16GB of RAM and at least 512GB of storage. But investing so much in this M1 machine, it won’t be a good deal to sell it and get the next model/redesign. However, the redesign might come with some flaws, so better take this solid, proven and reliable design right?

In the same boat with the Mini. Part of me wants to grab one, part of me looks at the price of the 16GB + 512GB or 1TB and it get a wee bit too pricey (at least here in Japan) for my taste.
I could get a Windows PC with a 8 cores / 16 threads CPU and a RTX 2060 or 2070 for just a little bit more cash.

The base config is priced just right (barely more expensive than some mid-range graphic cards here) but would it be enough???
And more importantly, base model or maxed up, would my music hardware (i/o card, DAW controller, USB midi keyboard) work without any issue?

It's still a bit too hazy for the moment.

 

[robvalentine]

My M1 mb pro is replacing my 2014 mb pro. Hopefully I will get a similar lifetime. The touch bar is annoying though (outside of Logic Pro where adjusting guitar effects is super convenient)

 

[skogkatt]

Got the base spec MBA with M1 and and don't see myself changing it for the foreseeable future. When I will realize that the 8GB of RAM or the chipset will be struggling in my day-to-day operations, I will consider upgrading. Probably not before 3 years though. I will also see what improvements future machines will bring (Face-ID, better display, even longer battery life?) For now it's just great. Silent, cold, quick, light. The occasional software hiccups will be ironed out with upcoming MacOS updates. It's just a perfect machine for every day use, I'm in love ?

 

[skogkatt]

[sorry, duplicated post]

 

[lxmeta]

Such an intelligent consideration!

I'll wait for the M5. They say it'll be incredibly powerful.

I prefer the X5M, it has more off-road capabilities

 

[Denzo]

I will have an orgasm. Then ask when the m3 is coming out.

 

[Digital_Sousaphone]

Yeah I’m in a similar situation, I had to switch due to the utter lack of VR support, and I tried hard to stay, preordering the developer eGPU kit and helping to beta test etc.

But thankfully my mobile computer has more flexibility, so I’ll jump back for that, at least once I lock down Big Sur’s phoning home (grr).

The golden age of 3d on a mac was probably from the introduction of x86 up until the trashcan. The imac pro is pretty nice, but I was left scratching my head with the Mac Pro's price/perf. So once this imac pro is dead it's back to Windows full time.

 

[Suxamethonium]

My M1 MacBook Air is an interim machine until the more powerful ones come out, then I will hand this down to my wife to replace her 2020 Intel MacBook Air (which I will trade in) towards the 16" MacBook Pro with M1X or whatever it has once that comes out.

Having said that I am enjoying the form factor coming from a 15" MBP, the portability is nice, but I do miss the additional screen real estate.

 

[Supermacguy]

Not buying M1 now (lack of 2 monitor support, not enough ports, more ram), buying M2 in 15/16 MBP when available.

 

[yegon]

Hoping to rinse another couple of years from my 2013 MBP.

Ideally, I want the second version of the next MBP form factor.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

I plan on keeping my M1 MBA until the end of its useful life just like I did with the rMBP 2015 I moved from. This machine has plenty of power and for most of my use cases I am sure it will stay up to the task for many years to come.

Besides, upgrades are always better when you jump multiple generations. You don't tend to notice much difference going from gen 1 to gen 2, or gen 5 to gen 6, and so on.

The biggest noticeable upgrades are always gen 1 to gen 5 or gen 5 to gen 10 etc.

 

[Jemi9OD]

I *want* an M1 Mac very badly; but not badly enough to sell my 2020 intel MBP for it. I foresee this Mac lasting me a good long while, so I'll sit on the sidelines while I be truly excited for all that M1 represents, and Apple's future. I mean, if these are the base models...

 

[Obioban]

M1 was a massive step forward over intel. Double the battery life, many times better graphics, many times better processor, lots of quality of life improvements. . A solid time to buy, imo. Going forward, I wouldn't expect massive steps like that-- just the reasonable/great 20-30% gains Apple's silicons has seen on the iPhone/iPad year over year over year (which have allowed them to outpace Intels ~5% gains per year).

My M1 MBA replaced my 2011 MBA. I expect to get at least 9 years out of this one, as well.

My 2011 iMac is also do for a refresh-- which I'm waiting on a large screen M1X iMac for. I expect to get a decade of use out of that, as well.

To be clear, the above is about future generations of Apple silicon, not variants. I fully expect the desktop versions (and high end laptops) to be significantly more powerful than the existing M1. But, I think the existing M1 is pretty spot on the priority set I'm looking for in a laptop. It's the M2 MBA that I'd expect to be 20-30% faster than the M1 MBA (an order of magnitude smaller step than the 200-300% improvement going from the intel 2020 MBA to the M1 MBA).

The M1 has me super stoked to add a new iMac with desktop variant!

 

[csicilia]

I might be considering on changing my MBP 15 late 2016 for a new silicon MBP 16. But after suffering horrible experiences with multiple repairs needed with a first release unit of new MBP generation, I think I think I will wait for the 2nd release, unless my MBP needs repairs again, this time out of extended AppleCare :-( …

 

[DaveN]

That's probably your IT department getting you to reboot your computer to install updates. They can still do that on a Mac too.

As a former IT person, we would always schedule the updates for overnight. Just flash a message on everyone's screen to leave their computer on when they leave. There would always be a few that would shut their computer don anyway and the occasional problem install but it got the job done.

 

[ZachNathan]

They don't spend three years in QA. That's not how that typically works.

Maybe not for other companies. But Apple's internal structure allows for several product development timelines to occur simultaneously, generally anywhere from 1-2 to 3-5 years out from launch. While the chips themselves may not usually see that lengthy of a dev cycle, it's not out of the question given the company's tight integration between industrial design, performance, OS, etc.