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Apple Launches 'Help Me Choose' Website for Finding the Right Mac

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Apple today debuted a new Mac website that's designed to help potential customers find the ideal Mac. The "Help Me Choose" site asks users a few questions and then suggests the Mac that will best meet the user's needs.

apple-help-me-choose-website.jpg

Questions include what the Mac will be used for, necessary day-to-day essentials, info on the user's creative pursuits, the need for portability, which peripherals will be used, and budget.

Apple's algorithm for suggesting a Mac takes all of these factors into account, and it doesn't just present buyers with base configurations. It suggests upgrades to memory and storage that would be useful, and it will also present options if your selected budget is a little flexible.

The Help Me Choose website can be found under the Mac section of Apple's website when selecting the "Compare" option or the "Shop Mac" and then "Shopping Guides" option.

Article Link: Apple Launches 'Help Me Choose' Website for Finding the Right Mac
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/18/apple-help-me-choose-mac-website/
I answered honestly for myself, and gave it a budget of up to $2,000 (which is a little more than I spent on my last Mac, a 14" MBP M1 Pro), and it suggested either a 13" or 15" MacBook Air.

Which I assume is because I listed lighter weight activities, like browsing the web and watching video.

But I prefer the better display (it's a truly gorgeous display) on this machine along with the great speakers. And the 14" MBP upgrade isn't that much, often on sale. I got this for $1500.

Plus in terms of considering browsing a lighter activity, browsers are absolute memory hogs. I wish I could upgrade the RAM on this computer. And yet it suggested a machine to me with half the RAM than I have now.

It also asked if I planned to connect acessories, and I clicked yes for external storage.

I assumed it would then ask what type of external storage, but it did not. And I frequently use the SD card reader on my MBP, not present on the MBA.

I know what I like, and this tool did not. Should have asked more probing questions.
 
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Not terribly useful. The last question is budget, and identifying your budget is most of the work in selecting a device. I picked up to $2500 and it suggested $2399 and $2499 systems. Also, the explanation for why you would want one device over another are weak.

Better than nothing, though, absolutely.
 
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Put in that I use it for work and it mostly consists of multitasking across multiple apps, and that I need something for design. Gave it the $1250 budget and it recommended an 8GB RAM MacBook Air 😵‍💫 I think they should've known to redirect me to microsoft.com 😂

But seriously, anyone who's casually browsing the internet an 8GB machine in 2024 is absurd, let alone someone who answered they multitask and do design 😅 It's all based on the budget question and whether you want a laptop or desktop.
 
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Spooky it recommended the laptop spec I have and Mac Studio. I selected monitor as a plug in which prob steered it away from imac
 
t0rqx said:
they all lead to the upgrade to the expensive version
Click to expand...
Quite the opposite when I tried it. It suggested the 18GB/1TB 14" MBP or the 36GB/1TB 16" MBP for me. I'm surprised it doesn't suggest more RAM, because I told it I edit photos as part of my work and as a hobby...

ETA: It seems this tool refuses to upgrade more than one thing or by more than one tier, as I tried it again for my wife's use case and it suggested a weaker Mac Studio config than the one we got her, with the base RAM and SSD despite me selecting $3500 and up as a budget. It also didn't suggest purchasing a Studio Display, even though we also bought one of those and I told the tool I was planning on plugging in all sorts of peripherals...perhaps it assumes I already have a display?
 
Maybe this will stop all the new forum threads of people asking what computer is better without providing their use case or budget. I'm keeping this in my back pocket!
 
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sdf said:
Not terribly useful. The last question is budget, and identifying your budget is most of the work in selecting a device. I picked up to $2500 and it suggested $2399 and $2499 systems. Also, the explanation for why you would want one device over another are weak.

Better than nothing, though, absolutely.
Click to expand...
For me I selected up to 2500 and the best choice was an $1100 machine...but yes, it should be an earlier option.
 
Once upon a time, Steve Jobs went to a whiteboard and drew up a chart which was a simple cross. At the top it had consumer and pro. On the sides it had desktop and portable. And those were the four products to reboot Apple. I think I remember he said that at this time there was some kind of guide for people to choose what was the right Mac for them.
 
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