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> What extra up front cost? The Macbook Air costs $799 at BestBuy. Only if you go with the absolute lowest specs. Which means you cannot upgrade them and will

> What extra up front cost? The Macbook Air costs $799 at BestBuy. Only if you go with the absolute lowest specs. Which means you cannot upgrade them and will have to chuck that MacBook Air much sooner than any Windows laptop because it’s unable to keep up with you. Maxing out the specs on any Apple hardware is practically required for maximizing usable lifespan, and unfortunately, represents a massive barrier to entry for a majority of people. Since these products are not upgradable after the fact (as most Windows systems are), you have to choose between a much shorter expected lifespan or a much more expensive product. For example, I can easily put together a Windows machine for $3,000 that can do much the same things that a $2,000 Mac Mini can. But get the entry-level Mac Mini, and any Windows machine which matches that price is relevant for more than twice the time span thanks to its ability to be upgraded.

Nursie 4y ago
This is not really true. While the base spec won't meet all needs, you don't need to max out the spec to get a usable machine with a long life.
- newaccount74 4y ago
  Yeah, but the base models really are crippled by a lack of storage. I've had to help a couple of family members with their 128GB Macs and 16GB iPhones and I hated every second of it. I bought my partner a Macbook with maxed out storage just so I don't have to deal with that shit again.
  - Nursie 4y ago
    I don't think they sell 128GB macs any more do they? They shouldn't! 512GB seems to have been enough for me for the last ten years or so, if I need more storage than that, it goes on a different machine or cloud storage of some form. I haven't found it restrictive at all. I had my 2013 MBP (i5/8/512) in active use until 2020 when lockdown hit and I stopped needing a laptop for a while. Now I'm on a M1/16/512 Air, and two years in I'm still very happy with it. Hopefully I'll get 7 years out of this one too.
    - newaccount74 4y ago
      They don't sell 128GB any more but 256GB isn't much better. Pretty much everyone apart from the most casual users is going to fill that up.
      - Toutouxc 4y ago
        My 256GB Air, which is my work+personal computer, shows 94 GB free. That's my whole job, my paperwork, Apple Photos library with 5 years worth of data, all my apps and personal projects, all my ebooks, memes, notes, screenshots, cached music from Spotify, everything is in there. I do have a 4 TB NAS at home, but that's backups and childhood photos, no daily-driving stuff. I don't consider myself a casual user.
        tralarpa 4y ago
        I have a 150GB temp directory on my laptop, and I don't consider myself a power user (no video/audio editing, no modern games, etc.). 256GB is really tiny, even for my mother who just keeps local copies of photos and documents etc. ("temp" like "stuff I occasionally need", not literally /var/tmp)
    - nordsieck 4y ago
      > I don't think they sell 128GB macs any more do they? They shouldn't! The base model m1 macbook air has 256GB of storage.

Nursie 4y ago

This is not really true. While the base spec won't meet all needs, you don't need to max out the spec to get a usable machine with a long life.

newaccount74 4y ago
Yeah, but the base models really are crippled by a lack of storage. I've had to help a couple of family members with their 128GB Macs and 16GB iPhones and I hated every second of it. I bought my partner a Macbook with maxed out storage just so I don't have to deal with that shit again.
- Nursie 4y ago
  I don't think they sell 128GB macs any more do they? They shouldn't! 512GB seems to have been enough for me for the last ten years or so, if I need more storage than that, it goes on a different machine or cloud storage of some form. I haven't found it restrictive at all. I had my 2013 MBP (i5/8/512) in active use until 2020 when lockdown hit and I stopped needing a laptop for a while. Now I'm on a M1/16/512 Air, and two years in I'm still very happy with it. Hopefully I'll get 7 years out of this one too.
  - newaccount74 4y ago
    They don't sell 128GB any more but 256GB isn't much better. Pretty much everyone apart from the most casual users is going to fill that up.
    - Toutouxc 4y ago
      My 256GB Air, which is my work+personal computer, shows 94 GB free. That's my whole job, my paperwork, Apple Photos library with 5 years worth of data, all my apps and personal projects, all my ebooks, memes, notes, screenshots, cached music from Spotify, everything is in there. I do have a 4 TB NAS at home, but that's backups and childhood photos, no daily-driving stuff. I don't consider myself a casual user.
      - tralarpa 4y ago
        I have a 150GB temp directory on my laptop, and I don't consider myself a power user (no video/audio editing, no modern games, etc.). 256GB is really tiny, even for my mother who just keeps local copies of photos and documents etc. ("temp" like "stuff I occasionally need", not literally /var/tmp)
  - nordsieck 4y ago
    > I don't think they sell 128GB macs any more do they? They shouldn't! The base model m1 macbook air has 256GB of storage.