Which Direction?—Basic User looking to “do a little more”

[wayland1985]

I’m considering a MacBook Pro: 92% of my computing the last few years has been handled by my iPhone… and 4% by my ancient iPad Pro, and the rest I’ve made due with my even more ancient iMac or by taking liberties with my computers at work…

I had issues in the past with iCloud destroying my iPhoto backups (Live Photos got broken down into thousands of photo files and corresponding 3 second video files): so the primary function of the machine will be as a physical backup to my data.

I’m thinking I may dabble a bit more into video editing, however. (Nothing serious: just family movies and perhaps some of my drone videos).

I was about to pull the trigger on a decked out M3Pro with 36GB ram and 2TB of SSD: reason being future proofing (all of my apple devices, aside from my phones, have lasted years). While researchinġ last night, however, I came across a different school of thought: save money on the upgrades now, and flip the computer in 2-3 years, putting that money towards a newer model (Since Mac’s historically hold their value)

It seemed like sound advice…. But now I’m lost. What do the keyboard warriors think? Go big now? Or scale it back and upgrade in the future (if I need to).

 

[ItsGavinC]

The new M3 MacBook Air is all you need. You've been using your iPhone for your needs, the M3 Air will be completely sufficient for years for you and is cheap as well. Don't overthink this.

 

[wayland1985]

The new M3 MacBook Air is all you need. You've been using your iPhone for your needs, the M3 Air will be completely sufficient for years for you and is cheap as well. Don't overthink this.

The screen, the speakers and the ports are swaying me to the pro:

I stream podcasts/music at work on my iPad; I’d be giving up the ipad in favor of the laptop, so speakers would be nice.

The screen is self-explanatory

The ports: the HDMI and the SD reader mean I won’t need to carry extra dongles when I’m trying to download the drone’s footage, or when I want to share slideshows out and about.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The screen, speakers, and ports are perfectly adequate on the air.

I have a 16" M1 Pro for work, and a 15" Air for personal use, and the most noticeable difference is the weight. I never mind myself going "But I wish I had my Pro's screen" or "I wish I had my pro's speakers" while using my air.

You can get a dognle that will handle SD, Micro SD, and USB-A for $20. It's probably something you'll want anyway, because of the USB-A port.

 

[wayland1985]

The screen, speakers, and ports are perfectly adequate on the air.

I have a 16" M1 Pro for work, and a 15" Air for personal use, and the most noticeable difference is the weight. I never mind myself going "But I wish I had my Pro's screen" or "I wish I had my pro's speakers" while using my air.

You can get a dognle that will handle SD, Micro SD, and USB-A for $20. It's probably something you'll want anyway, because of the USB-A port.

Good point with the USB-A…

I guess I just assumed the $300 difference was a worthy upgrade between a 15” M3 MBA with 16GB and 2TB versus the 14” M3Pro (11Core) MBP with 18GB and 2TB.

Do airs hold their value as well as pros?