The only reason to upgrade for most would be Apple intelligence. And most consumers don’t seem that bothered. There are AI you can access through other services via Microsoft and Google etc so onboard AI is not critical.
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Apple Discontinues M2 and M3 MacBook Air
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It’s a hideous waste of money to have a shorter update cycle than 5 years for an average consumer. Most will actually hold onto them for between 5 to 10 years.
I know people who still have Macs from 2012 etc
They still do the job for a lot of people and can be updated to other non Apple OS
There is very little reason for anyone with an m series Mac with possible the exception of the m1 to upgrade. Most people keep laptops for a very long time. I kind of wish I had held off on upgrading to man m3 last year from m1 because I could have got a better spec m4 for the same price I paid
All m series Mac’s are compatible with Apple intelligence
Well, they know their minor spec bumps do not look very good when compared to last few year's models and aren't gonna motivate most to upgrade.
But going forward the 8 GB RAM on base models would be the weak point.
That’s where new features will be dropped for older models. Where insufficient RAM for adequate ML usage.
On my M2 MacBook Air I’m not bothered by this, it will still have many years of support left, even if it doesn’t have the latest AI features
They are compatible, but the M4, particularly with 24 or 32GB of RAM would perform better.
Yes, I think making 16GB standard had a big impact. I generally advise buying the lowest end specs that meet your needs if resale is important. I.e. if you upgrade frequently, don't buy more RAM or SSD than you need currently.
I think the base models are fine most of the time for the average consumer and that includes myself. All of the base model Macs I’ve bought since about 2006 have lasted 5 to 10 years with ease. And therefore been really economical buys for my computer needs.
For work I use Microsoft and in those machines I can more cheaply buy more RAM or upgrade RAM/Storage as required in some cases.
I wouldn't insult you by giving you such an ancient piece of retro hardware.Do you have a 15" MBA?
I'm happy to recycle it for you ... I'll even pay for the shipping
Let's get rid of that junk!
I was seeing this even before they upgraded to 16GB of RAM for free. Where I am you could get 70 maybe 75 percent of your purchase price back. Ever since Apple Silicon resale value has dropped to about 50% at best.
Real world experience .... My M1 Ultra Studio with 128GB of memory and 8TB SSD cost over $7,500. When the M2 Ultra came out the next year, I was offered less than $1,500 trade in Value.
The four levels of M1 processors had nearly the same single core speed. The same applied to the M2 four levels single core speed. The big question now is the single core speed of the just announced M3 Ultra the same as the other three M3 processors or that of the M4 family. Most of the M3 Ultra numbers are the double of the M4 Max numbers in my new M4 Max laptop that has 128GB of ram and 8 TB SSD. It's single core speed is about double that of the M1 family.
Needless to say I will not dispose of my M1 Ultra for a long time.
The four levels of M1 processors had nearly the same single core speed. The same applied to the M2 four levels single core speed. The big question now is the single core speed of the just announced M3 Ultra the same as the other three M3 processors or that of the M4 family. Most of the M3 Ultra numbers are the double of the M4 Max numbers in my new M4 Max laptop that has 128GB of ram and 8 TB SSD. It's single core speed is about double that of the M1 family.
Needless to say I will not dispose of my M1 Ultra for a long time.
In theory the should cost the same. But in reality, in the early stages of production, the rejection rate for faulty chips is significantly higher, leading to increased costs.
I promise I won't be offended, but I do greatly appreciate the concern and consideration
I'm here to help 😁
Makes sense. They've been making M4's for a while now for the iPad Pro. They probably have it to a point where (unusually for a corporation) they're just passing on the savings to the customer. The $100 drop is welcome and I think these things represent a great value in base spec.
I just wish the upgrades were better priced!
You would be disgruntled and would be pretty unhappy. I won't put you through that.
I always do when upgrading. Still doesn't help that Apple charges insane amounts for RAM and SSD.
These days I really want minimum 1TB and ideally 2TB. Call me paranoid, but I prefer to keep local copies vs. relying on the cloud. You never know when Apple/Google/MS will kick you off their service! And, yes, I have a NAS too - just like having multiple redundant copies of things. #datahoarder
True but they do need to attract new users from the Windows world. With the introduction of Apple silicon, many people have been using these machines for longer than ever. (higher price is also a reason ). So, instead of comparing with a 5-year-old Intel Mac, they could compare with a Windows equivalent.
Dude, my 2015 MBP is still going strong. Your M2 is still a great computer and will be for many years to come.
Same with your avatar! Yes I just ordered a new iPad Air M3 to replace my 4th gen Air. I guess I was meaning in the Macs.