Did future-proofing pay off for you?

[m1maverick]

Inspired by this post from @Steelhead1957 I decided to put together a poll for those who had purchased a higher end configuration for the purposes of future-proofing to see if that decision paid off. I'd like to limit responses from those who primarily purchased a higher configuration for the purposes of future-proofing.

So what say you? Did buying more than your current needs pay off? You bought more than you needed and with you hadn't? Something else?

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[uller6]

I could have saved a lot of money and been totally fine - most of my work is dominated by single core speeds so the low end Mx chips are just as fast as the higher end chips for me. But I love my 16” antiglare m4 max. Especially when I’m traveling and not in front of my triple 27” displays. Which I needed either a studio or max to drive (before the m4 mini was released).

 

[!!!]

Unfortunately after I purchased my 2018 mini I read some rather good advice about just purchasing the best you can at the time, and keeping a higher-end computer for longer. As such, I got the maxxed-out M4 Pro with 48GB of RAM.
If my M1 Air had come with 24GB of RAM I would've gotten that, but as far as laptops go I'm fine, I prefer to do most of my work on my desktop anyways.

As for the PC side of things, my 3080 and 32GB of RAM are holding up quite nicely, I don't think I could get 3080 performance today for the same price I paid for it originally.

For storage, I ended up grabbing a larger 20TB drive when it was on sale, I don't regret that at all. I do regret not buying some cheap SATA SSDs for my older Macs when they were dirt cheap.

 

[TarkinDale]

I bought an M1 Max MBP with 32GB RAM as soon as orders were open. It’s done the job flawlessly since, and should last another year or two.

 

[JPack]

Inspired by this post from @Steelhead1957

It seems to be an example of what not to do. He is retired and uses the computer to "make a couple videos a week."

M2/16/1T were substantial upgrades at the time. M2 MBA $1,199 + $200 for 16GB + $400 for 1TB = $1,799.

For the same $1,799 today, you get M5/24/1T.

M2 will lose major macOS updates by 2029. Why invest so much in an M2 platform you can't fully use?

 

[headlessmike]

My biggest issue has always been lack of internal storage, so since 2012 or so I always go as big as I can afford on my iPhones, iPads, and Macs. My main Mac right now is an M1/16/1TB mini. It's a great machine and the performance is still more than adequate for my needs. I do molecular modeling for work in academia and occasionally perform quite demanding tasks such as analysis of large datasets and ML model training and the M1 keeps up very well for tasks that don't require the computing cluster I have access to through work.

I do believe in some future-proofing when purchasing a computer, but mostly I purchase for my needs now, just with some growing room to spare.

 

[Harddrive]

I have always bought as much ram as my budget would allow and enough HD for things I want instant access to while offloading the rest on external drives or a NAS.

 

[BeatCrazy]

In 2017, I future-proofed a 12" MacBook with 16GB of memory for an extra $200.

3-4 years later, a cheaper M1 Air would end up running circles around that weak Intel machine, regardless of RAM.

 

[Nermal]

I paid extra for the fastest CPU and fastest GPU, and I'm still happy with the performance six years later (although I boosted the RAM a year or two after getting it). Apple is moving my machine into "unsupported" this year with MacOS 27, but I haven't even moved to 26 so I don't really feel like I'm missing out.

 

[throAU]

Excessively "Future proofing" generally is a waste of time, because normally hardware cost comes down over time and other hardware advance happens in the interim. You run a real risk of buying spec that, by the time you need it will often be bottlenecked by other things like missing CPU instructions, deprecated hardware support, etc..

Clear example is the 64GB trashcan I have on my desk. If someone had bought this sort of spec in order to future proof as opposed to buying it when they needed it - well, a 2020 Mac mini is generally much faster.

Work out the spec you need, buy appropriately.

RIGHT NOW though, I'm glad I got my 64GB M4 max when I did and the only regret I have is not going for 128GB when I had the chance - I was on the fence, 128GB would be much better for local models, and we're now in a storage/memory crisis.

Hopefully by 2028 memory pricing is back under control, but its looking sketchy right now.

 

[Performa460]

I guess I tell myself that I'm future-proofing in order to justify the cost of my devices, but at the end of the day, I guess I just want the best I can get, which in my case, is a relatively high-end iPad or MacBook every two or three years.

Now, I saw where the prices for storage and memory were going in the months before I got my M5, so I got all the memory they could give me. When it comes to storage, though, I'm fine with external drives and memory cards and have come to prefer them, so when I see them at good prices I snatch them up. I don't really agree with what Apple charges for on-board storage.

 

[boswald]

I believe it has! I only had enough for a 24GB/1TB Air, and since I got it in March I've occasionally checked Activity Monitor and haven't noticed ANY memory pressure limits or swapping. A huge relief for me, since I plan on keeping this thing for a very long time. With macOS getting leaner and meaner next release, I'm actually breathing a sigh of relief. My only concern is why Music uses almost 2GB of memory...

 

[nickf]

Yes. I replaced my M1 Mac mini with a 48 GB/2 TB M4 Pro mini last year, bought with an edu discount, and am very happy I did so when I did. This machine would be unaffordable for me with Apple's current prices. Like a poster above, I also use it for molecular modelling and visualisation (using VMD) and have had no performance issues so far.

 

[splitpea]

Considering what’s just happened to the price of RAM? Yup.

It has in the past, too. Migrating to a new machine is a hassle, and worth not having to do as often.

And the one time I bought a stopgap instead of future-proofing (needed a replacement right around the time the AS rumors really picked up), for various reasons I ended up having to use it for almost 6 years, and even 2 years in it SUCKED.

 

[m1maverick]

Thank everyone for your votes and comments. I was surprised to see such an imbalance in favor of future-proofing.

It appears that it reality future-proofing makes sense for many people.

 

[Harddrive]

If 4 or five years in your machine runs as good as the day you bought it then you selected the right components wisely.

 

[turbineseaplane]

In this modern era of Apple, I think it's most prudent to by the least machine for your needs and upgrade more frequently.

If there is a base model you can get by with you get the most bang for your buck up front and on trade-in.

 

[BeatCrazy]

In this modern era of Apple, I think it's most prudent to by the least machine for your needs and upgrade more frequently.

If there is a base model you can get by with you get the most bang for your buck up front and on trade-in.

I would have agreed with you, one year ago.

But with component shortages ad price increases, it might be better to lock-in something that either might not exist (Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB) or go up substantially in price (Mac Studio M3 Ultra).

 

[MisterSavage]

I bought an M1 Max MBP with 32GB RAM as soon as orders were open. It’s done the job flawlessly since, and should last another year or two.

Was going to say the same thing word for word.

 

[Fishrrman]

My needs really aren't all that great, compared to some.

However, when I ordered my 2024 m4 Mini, I bumped up the RAM from 16 to 32gb, and the SSD from the base (256gb) to 1tb.

That certainly isn't "maxing out".
But it DOES leave plenty of "room for growth" in the future.

Also, I'm one of a very few users who TURN OFF VM disk swapping completely -- I don't want it!
So everything I do runs "in live RAM".
I've had no memory-releated crashes.

I began doing that on my old 2012 Mini (10gb RAM), carried it through to my 2018 Mini (16gb), and still doing it. Still fine.

 

[Royksöpp]

Never kept my stuff long enough to find out. That might change with the price increases. It's a good thing I upgraded everything this year.

 

[capamac]

Base 2020 Air.

Only problem I had is X-Plane 12 would be nicer with 16 GB RAM rather than 8 GB. Other than that, no problems.

 

[Harddrive]

It seems no matter what OS we use they have all required more ram so as the saying goes purchase as much as your budget will allow within reason.

 

[cbum]

Still using my maxed out MacPro 2010...

 

[TarkinDale]

Was going to say the same thing word for word.

I also went with a 2TB drive because of print work. Expensive, but it’s paid off.