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The fatal flaw with its hardware, for me, is the lack of upgradability. I brought the lowest spec M1 air ~6 months ago, these are pricey machines and I had no i

The fatal flaw with its hardware, for me, is the lack of upgradability. I brought the lowest spec M1 air ~6 months ago, these are pricey machines and I had no idea whether I'd like the hardware/software, so wanted to go easy. Turns out, I really like it, but 8gb ram and 256gb ssd isn't enough. In the world of most laptops, this upgrade would cost me maybe £150. For Mac, this upgrade costs me £3,500 (for half as much storage as well), because I'd need to buy a whole new machine.

walthamstow 3y ago
Where did you get those numbers? By my reckoning the upgrade would cost you net about £700 brand new and the upgraded machine could last the rest of the decade. Buy the model I have, the 16gb 512gb M1 Air at £1400 new (or ~£1100 new-ish on eBay). Keep both for a few weeks, transfer your stuff over, then sell your 8gb 256gb M1 Air for ~£700.
- bodge5000 3y ago
  The numbers for the standard upgrade were from a quick search on amazon (2TB NVME = £100, 32gb DDR4 = £50), and for the MacBook was just the cheapest I could find for the closest specs (£3,500 would actually only get me 1TB storage, that's just the most apple has for a laptop it seems). 1TB would be the minimum for me, especially spending that kind of money. Also I doubt I'd get £700 for my MBA, seeing as that's how much I brought it for (refurbished from Apple). When I was buying it originally, the prices on eBay were more along the lines of £600. Even still, I don't factor in the money I'd get back from selling my previous machine
  - kaba0 3y ago
    Why wouldn’t you factor in the money you get for selling the current one? It is not an upgrade otherwise.
    - bodge5000 3y ago
      Its not an upgrade either way if you're buying a whole new machine. As for my reasons, there's a few. First of all, particularly on higher priced items, a lot of the trouble with the price comes to having the full amount in the first place. I can't walk into an Apple Store £700 short but tell them "don't worry, I'll have the rest later". Aside from that, actually selling the thing is no guarantee, especially not for £700. I remember going to buy a laptop on eBay over 3 years ago and I still see it up there now. It might not be as in demand as the MacBook would be, but the point holds. Even if it does sell, the question then is how long it takes before it does. Based on that, I assume if I can only afford something if I sell something else, I can't actually afford it. There's just too many factors involved. If I can afford the thing and I sell the old thing after, great, that's a nice bonus.

walthamstow 3y ago

Where did you get those numbers? By my reckoning the upgrade would cost you net about £700 brand new and the upgraded machine could last the rest of the decade. Buy the model I have, the 16gb 512gb M1 Air at £1400 new (or ~£1100 new-ish on eBay). Keep both for a few weeks, transfer your stuff over, then sell your 8gb 256gb M1 Air for ~£700.

bodge5000 3y ago
The numbers for the standard upgrade were from a quick search on amazon (2TB NVME = £100, 32gb DDR4 = £50), and for the MacBook was just the cheapest I could find for the closest specs (£3,500 would actually only get me 1TB storage, that's just the most apple has for a laptop it seems). 1TB would be the minimum for me, especially spending that kind of money. Also I doubt I'd get £700 for my MBA, seeing as that's how much I brought it for (refurbished from Apple). When I was buying it originally, the prices on eBay were more along the lines of £600. Even still, I don't factor in the money I'd get back from selling my previous machine
- kaba0 3y ago
  Why wouldn’t you factor in the money you get for selling the current one? It is not an upgrade otherwise.
  - bodge5000 3y ago
    Its not an upgrade either way if you're buying a whole new machine. As for my reasons, there's a few. First of all, particularly on higher priced items, a lot of the trouble with the price comes to having the full amount in the first place. I can't walk into an Apple Store £700 short but tell them "don't worry, I'll have the rest later". Aside from that, actually selling the thing is no guarantee, especially not for £700. I remember going to buy a laptop on eBay over 3 years ago and I still see it up there now. It might not be as in demand as the MacBook would be, but the point holds. Even if it does sell, the question then is how long it takes before it does. Based on that, I assume if I can only afford something if I sell something else, I can't actually afford it. There's just too many factors involved. If I can afford the thing and I sell the old thing after, great, that's a nice bonus.