Stability lovers: Buy M2 now with 13.5.2, or wait for M3 with 14.0?

[ThomasJL]

The first versions of any macOS are usually very buggy. If the M3 MacBook Air ships with Sonoma 14.0, it will be impossible to install the least buggy version of Ventura, which is 13.5.2.

Assuming the rumors are true (which they may not be) about an M3 MacBook Air being released in October:

For people who want to upgrade from an old Intel Mac and happen to value stability and reliability—i.e., as few bugs as possible—above all else, would they be better off buying an M2 MacBook Air right now while it is still possible to install Ventura 13.5.2 on it, or should they wait until next month, October, to buy an M3 MacBook Air which would likely ship with Sonoma 14.0?

 

[russell_314]

For people who want to upgrade from an old Intel Mac and happen to value stability and reliability—i.e., as few bugs as possible—above all else, would they be better off buying an M2 MacBook Air right now while it is still possible to install Ventura 13.5.2 on it, or should they wait until next month, October, to buy an M3 MacBook Air which would likely ship with Sonoma 14.0?

I think it depends on if you need a new Mac now or not? If the rumor is true, that a new one is coming out in October, then I would wait till October. Sure it's going to be buggy for a few months but is it worth getting a newer model? I guess if it's for somethings, that's critical such as you're using it to control the entire power grid of a small country then perhaps get the old model. If it's for browsing the web and you just annoyed by some bugs, then deal with it for a few months. That's just my thoughts and I think it depends on how much some minor bugs will annoy that person.

On the other hand, I don't see the M3 MacBook Air being significantly ahead of the M2. Oh no, it gets two hours of battery life extra because you know 20 hours isn't quite enough to make it through the day. If you buy the M2, it's not like you're going to be really disadvantaged. This is especially true if you're coming from an Intel MacBook

 

[vanc]

If the rumor is true, that a new one is coming out in October, then I would wait till October

The latest rumor is no M3 Macs for 2023 at all. Don't hold your hope.

 

[russell_314]

The latest rumor is no M3 Macs for 2023 at all. Don't hold your hope.

I can't see anything that an M3 MacBook Air would have that I would need or want. A faster processor is great but for me, 30 seconds shorter render times for 4K video doesn't mean anything. I don't think it will be a redesign with smaller bezels and current battery life is more than what I need. If I were to request improvements, they would be improvements to the operating system and not hardware. Of course that's just my needs and wants so it may be different than someone else's.