Upgrading now from Macbook Pro 2011 to M1 or waiting?

[johnkree]

Ok, this may have been discussed in a similar thread but I just need a little push in one direction or the other.
I have a Macbook Pro 2011 13" early and although it fell down from 2 metres and survived (I had to push the screen back into the case), I never had big problems with it.
- I upgraded to an SSD.
- I changed the HDD cable 2 times (the only weak point on this model)
- I bought a new charger because the Apple cable gave up.

I have crazy 1335 cycles on my battery, it's slightly bulging and this may be the reason because the trackpad won't click anymore.

Now I have to do something. And I'm not sure what's the best.
1. buying a new battery: the original costs about 90 € in Europe which is double the price it is worth right now. I don't really feel good putting that much money into the old machine.
2. buying a chinese Amazon battery: now the ones I would get in a reasonable time have bought good comments and very bad reviews that state they will hold a 4 months and will be dead by then.
3. Selling my MBP 2011 and my Mac Mini 2010 and getting between 100 and 200 € for them and getting a M1 Macbook Air or Pro.

Getting a M1 is the decision I would favor but I really don't know which one to get. All M1 base models are crazy upgrades to my old one so the one thing I really want is to be future proof and have it for 6-8 years again.
Now the 3 choices are:
Base Macbook Air with 7core GPU, 256 SSD and a 16MB RAM upgrade.
Macbook Air with 8GB RAM, 8core GPU and 512 GB SSD.
Base Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM and 256 GB SSD.

I'm really torn between those three options. They are all about the same price (around 1300 € more ore less). I don't want to spend more.

So what would you do? I really can't decide. I've read and watched tons of reviews...

 

[cupcakes2000]

Don’t try to ‘fix’ your old MacBook.
Get a new one.
All three of those machines will absolutely destroy your 2011 machine.

So really it’s down to: storage v ram v thermal overhead / form factor / battery life.

This depends on what you think you'll be doing with it/running on it. Do you know?

 

[johnkree]

Thank you for your answer.
the storage is the least thing I need. I have 2 500 gig SSDs I don’t use and I have more cloud storage I could use (I was with Dropbox from the beginning. I have Office 365 and so 1 TB of cloud space, I have iCloud with 500 gigs).

I will use the MacBook mostly for office stuff, organizing and making work sheets for my students. I’m a teacher.
I love to play indie games. I have a gaming pc at home but when I’m visiting my parents-in-law or when I’m on vacation it’s good to be able to play some games...

 

[TrueBlou]

Well, the sensible part of my brain would be wondering if, beyond a new battery, does your current system perform as you need it to? If it can manage all the tasks you ask of it, without you tearing your hair out, why go to the expense of buying a new system.

The gadgety side of my brain though, says get rid of the old stuff, Apple Silicone is the future of Macs. You’re going to see insane performance improvements over your old MacBook, so buy a new one and enjoy it for the next decade, or however long you like to keep a computer.

 

[johnkree]

This is the thing. On the one side my current system doesn't do what I need. With 4 MB RAM it is really weak for todays internet. Browsing Reddit is a chore and I do most of the stuff I did on my Laptop on my mobile phone, like calendar entries, todo lists, notes... It's just faster.
The other stuff I do on my gaming rig. Like MS Office and stuff.
I use my old Macbook just for the things I really need it for. Numbers, because I can't stand Excel for simple name lists and all. Creating worksheets with Pages with lots of pictures, because it's a chore in Word.

The question I'm asking myself: Do I really NEED a new one? No. Because I build myself some workarounds that I became accustomed to. It's not perfect but is working somehow. I could do another year or so without pulling my hair out.
On the other side a new Macbook would make my life easier...
I try to silence my gadgety side of my brain. This part always says "YES".