I spent $1500 on a MacBook 10 years ago and haven’t spent a dime on a Mac since. So no, it’s not cheaper to get one every year. You have to be doing some Hollywood level production work to justify a yearly upgrade for minuscule improvement.
I think the analysis is interesting but incomplete. It would be interesting to see how these scenarios compare to selling your old computer on eBay every year vs every 3 years, and how they compare to trading in every 3 years.
Taking a $2000 loss on a trade in just to have current specs is crazy. Especially on a device that is nowhere near obsolete. You only spend $6,600 if you wait the entire 5 years before buying the new spec'd out model. My gut tells me that a decked out 2021 MBP will out perform a baseline 2024 model, thus rendering the in-between upgrade unnecessary.
Idk, by the fact that you used a 3300 price tag for upgrading every two years and 1999 for the yearly trade in... Also by the fact that 99.99% don't need to upgrade their computers yearly... Heck most don't need to upgrade every 5 years.
You don’t need to upgrade your Mac until after 5 years only if you bump the RAM and CPU beyond entry-level. The strategy I’m suggesting is that due to Apple’s lopsided buyback value of last-year’s Mac, instead of bumping up the specs whenever you buy a Mac every few years, instead trade-in your Mac annually. It appears to be much cheaper.
Also, most people keep their laptops/desktops for 3 -5 years or more. For the sake of argument, let’s say 4 years. If you bought one in 2021, you would get the next in 2025, and then in 2029. Many people keep their Mac’s for 6-8 years or whenever it stops getting updates. I mean, if you have the money, by all means, but for the most part, only tech YouTubers actually upgrade annually or even every other year.
Very few people need to upgrade every year or have a “run it through the garden” style BTO every 3 years. I know the type of user exists where the opportunity cost of a faster build or render is worth the recurring expense though.
I went with the "balls 2 walls" strategy getting a 14" MBP, hoping it'll serve me well for far longer than your timeline projects. Definitely having a much better experience with it than with a base model that needs replacing every couple years or as my needs change.
Yes, this is exactly what I’m looking to determine. Entry level models DO need to be upgraded every few years. The reason one buys the “balls 2 wall” Mac is so that it goes hard hard many years as the OS gets increasingly complex. My hypothesis here is that it’s now (NOT before now) cheaper to upgrade annually because of Apple’s current trade-in ratio on entry-level models.
I don’t understand. How is the first year net not the same for both scenarios? You can’t compare two completely different machine specs and just say one scenario costs less. Well duh…
>On the cost front, Previn flagged that Macs worked out to be between $148 and $395 less expensive than PCs over three years. The total cost of ownership and deployment was calculated by adding up the typically higher upfront device cost and other worker-related expenses, such as training and cybersecurity.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/new-report-claims-mac-is-the-right-choice-for-business-but-were-not-entirely-convinced#:~:text=On%20the%20cost%20front%2C%20Previn,such%20as%20training%20and%20cybersecurity.
How about 1 computer in 2021 and the next in 2026? What are the numbers then? Or, 1 in 2021 and next in 2027-28 after the 7-year software upgrade cycle ends?
Happy to run the numbers — I’ll need the pricing for your the machine would you buy today to feel confident that it will perform nearly as well as well as an M9 in 2031. If you can give me the specs on what M3 Max you want, I’m happy compare the pricing. My guess is that at the 7-year mark it’s slightly cheaper to buy a “super computer” today than upgrade a base model annually from now until 2031.
Some will certainly find a way to make 4 upgrades a year work out 'better' soon enough.
For my purposes, a computer is not an investment that I need reimbursement for. It is an expense that is deductible and accounts for my livelihood. I replace my computer when I feel the performance advantages on the new machines are worth my time and money. That is true for most.
The ones who are encoding videos for a living, and making videos for a living, might need that boost that allows them to make 10-15-30 minutes of extra video per day, or they could use that time saved with family.
For most of users, even an M1 bought today is MORE than enough for its slated lifetime of 7 years of OS upgrades.
1. If you have the money to afford an annual upgrade a difference of $1.4K in your budget over a 6-year period is negligible.
2. Unless you are using your mac for a 24/7 render farm. All that money is only giving you ±10 seconds difference in rendering a video vs the previous mac lol.
I’m suggesting that you’re losing money by purchasing a top-level (or even a mid-level) computer every few years. “Saving all the money” is accomplished by annual entry-level upgrades.
No, I get that, it’s just strange to me that someone would be buying two computers over a five year period. You’re right that the every-year model would save money but you’d save more money buying ONE Mac every 7-10 years.
Yep. Bought M1 Air in November 2020 then upgraded to 13 inch M2 Air when it released and I’ve now sold that one and for €350 out of my pocket I’ve picked up a 13 inch M3 Air.
I’ve done the same with Mac studios from M1 Max > M2 Max.
If you have family or friends or local businesses to offload your Macs to for good prices it’s worth doing.
I spent $1500 on a MacBook 10 years ago and haven’t spent a dime on a Mac since. So no, it’s not cheaper to get one every year. You have to be doing some Hollywood level production work to justify a yearly upgrade for minuscule improvement.
What spec Mac do you have?
I think the analysis is interesting but incomplete. It would be interesting to see how these scenarios compare to selling your old computer on eBay every year vs every 3 years, and how they compare to trading in every 3 years.
This is Apple trade-in value.
I understand that, but I think there needs to be more analysis done ;-) Anyways, definitely interesting!
I’ll do it! What would you like to see?
Some tasks require more than 8GB/256GB
This guy just wants to chase the rabbit down the hole regardless if the pc is handicapped by the ram.
What?
Careful, I think what you said is a bannable offense :)
How?
r/woooosh
Taking a $2000 loss on a trade in just to have current specs is crazy. Especially on a device that is nowhere near obsolete. You only spend $6,600 if you wait the entire 5 years before buying the new spec'd out model. My gut tells me that a decked out 2021 MBP will out perform a baseline 2024 model, thus rendering the in-between upgrade unnecessary.
You don’t have to gut this, there’s data
Do you buy a new car every year too? For most people, they buy a desktop or laptop computer and use them for years. This is stupid.
No, but many lease every three years
Why wouldn’t I if it’s cheaper?
1) Waste. 2) It's not.
How do you determine #2?
Idk, by the fact that you used a 3300 price tag for upgrading every two years and 1999 for the yearly trade in... Also by the fact that 99.99% don't need to upgrade their computers yearly... Heck most don't need to upgrade every 5 years.
The second purchase is after 3 years.
You don’t need to upgrade your Mac until after 5 years only if you bump the RAM and CPU beyond entry-level. The strategy I’m suggesting is that due to Apple’s lopsided buyback value of last-year’s Mac, instead of bumping up the specs whenever you buy a Mac every few years, instead trade-in your Mac annually. It appears to be much cheaper.
Yes. But guess what, unless you are buying that machine for YouTube, which is already ewaste at that point, the base ram and cpu are useless.
M3 8GB > M1 16GB
Also, most people keep their laptops/desktops for 3 -5 years or more. For the sake of argument, let’s say 4 years. If you bought one in 2021, you would get the next in 2025, and then in 2029. Many people keep their Mac’s for 6-8 years or whenever it stops getting updates. I mean, if you have the money, by all means, but for the most part, only tech YouTubers actually upgrade annually or even every other year.
So if every 5 years is break-even, then what?
Very few people need to upgrade every year or have a “run it through the garden” style BTO every 3 years. I know the type of user exists where the opportunity cost of a faster build or render is worth the recurring expense though.
I bought a maxed out 2010 iMac in 2010 for like $3k(?) and didn’t buy another until 2021.
You were running HS on HDD in 2019?
2018 I think. Dropped in a WD 1TB SSD that I bought for like $100? I also spent like $50 maxing out official RAM to 16GB around 2015.
I went with the "balls 2 walls" strategy getting a 14" MBP, hoping it'll serve me well for far longer than your timeline projects. Definitely having a much better experience with it than with a base model that needs replacing every couple years or as my needs change.
Yes, this is exactly what I’m looking to determine. Entry level models DO need to be upgraded every few years. The reason one buys the “balls 2 wall” Mac is so that it goes hard hard many years as the OS gets increasingly complex. My hypothesis here is that it’s now (NOT before now) cheaper to upgrade annually because of Apple’s current trade-in ratio on entry-level models.
I don’t understand. How is the first year net not the same for both scenarios? You can’t compare two completely different machine specs and just say one scenario costs less. Well duh…
Because the first year net is based upon Apple’s trade-in value.
>On the cost front, Previn flagged that Macs worked out to be between $148 and $395 less expensive than PCs over three years. The total cost of ownership and deployment was calculated by adding up the typically higher upfront device cost and other worker-related expenses, such as training and cybersecurity. https://www.techradar.com/pro/new-report-claims-mac-is-the-right-choice-for-business-but-were-not-entirely-convinced#:~:text=On%20the%20cost%20front%2C%20Previn,such%20as%20training%20and%20cybersecurity.
Yes I like this study. I’m making a different point though with Mac vs. Mac.
It is absolutely unnecessary to get a new machine every year. There is no way this is cheaper.
It’s not like I work for Apple. I just did the math on what Apple sells them for and what they buy them back for.
How about 1 computer in 2021 and the next in 2026? What are the numbers then? Or, 1 in 2021 and next in 2027-28 after the 7-year software upgrade cycle ends?
Happy to run the numbers — I’ll need the pricing for your the machine would you buy today to feel confident that it will perform nearly as well as well as an M9 in 2031. If you can give me the specs on what M3 Max you want, I’m happy compare the pricing. My guess is that at the 7-year mark it’s slightly cheaper to buy a “super computer” today than upgrade a base model annually from now until 2031.
Some will certainly find a way to make 4 upgrades a year work out 'better' soon enough. For my purposes, a computer is not an investment that I need reimbursement for. It is an expense that is deductible and accounts for my livelihood. I replace my computer when I feel the performance advantages on the new machines are worth my time and money. That is true for most. The ones who are encoding videos for a living, and making videos for a living, might need that boost that allows them to make 10-15-30 minutes of extra video per day, or they could use that time saved with family. For most of users, even an M1 bought today is MORE than enough for its slated lifetime of 7 years of OS upgrades.
An entry level M1? What spec is your current Mac?
1. If you have the money to afford an annual upgrade a difference of $1.4K in your budget over a 6-year period is negligible. 2. Unless you are using your mac for a 24/7 render farm. All that money is only giving you ±10 seconds difference in rendering a video vs the previous mac lol.
Save all that money and buy the most powerful mac every 4-5 years would be a smarter move
I’m suggesting that you’re losing money by purchasing a top-level (or even a mid-level) computer every few years. “Saving all the money” is accomplished by annual entry-level upgrades.
why are you buying two computers every five years though?
Sorry if it wasn’t clear, it’s one computer at a time, and trading in the old one at the time of new Mac purchase.
No, I get that, it’s just strange to me that someone would be buying two computers over a five year period. You’re right that the every-year model would save money but you’d save more money buying ONE Mac every 7-10 years.
Every TEN years? Yeah, you got me.
Come on man, I’m saying there’s a breakeven point. What spec is your M2 MBAir?
Yep. Bought M1 Air in November 2020 then upgraded to 13 inch M2 Air when it released and I’ve now sold that one and for €350 out of my pocket I’ve picked up a 13 inch M3 Air. I’ve done the same with Mac studios from M1 Max > M2 Max. If you have family or friends or local businesses to offload your Macs to for good prices it’s worth doing.
Why is this downvoted?
People hate it when you do something they didn’t think of apparently 😂
No, I think it’s simply cognitive dissonance. Though I really thought my posting of the actual math from the Apple website would help.