Should a man even consider new machines or aim for a choice older refurb model these days?

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Apple would no longer offer RAM as a separate option since it would be irrelevant.
Not true. There is always someone willing to pay a premium price for what they THINK they need, so Apple provides it. No conspiracy, just good business.

There is a way to create an alias where the backup goes to point to an external drive. You can search for it online, I don't remember where I saw it. It took a Terminal command to make the alias. When you make the backup, it goes to the alias, which points to the external. Done.
 
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Not true. There is always someone willing to pay a premium price for what they THINK they need, so Apple provides it. No conspiracy, just good business.

There is a way to create an alias where the backup goes to point to an external drive. You can search for it online, I don't remember where I saw it. It took a Terminal command to make the alias. When you make the backup, it goes to the alias, which points to the external. Done.
So we don't need the RAM? Good to know. :giggle:

Let me also add that if I want to just buy a 1TB laptop, I will have to buy a nice 4TB external and that will cost me $800, so why not just spend extra few hundred to keep it inside, at that point it's just juggling one issue for another.

I found a web page that explains the iPhone backup thing, it requires using Terminal and formatting the external drive to MS DOS FAT. Is this what you did? This sounds like I need an dedicated backup drive or I need to partition a backup drive to operate this way.

 
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No FAT format required.

This is a better description. Not quite what I used, but as I said, I don't really remember where I got the details.
 
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It's not huge at all. My 10 year old machine has 16GB RAM...

You may want to go back to post #12 and read the links that I gave about Apple Silicon and RAM. I'm sure that you will find it to be eye opening.
 
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You may want to go back to post #12 and read the links that I gave about Apple Silicon and RAM. I'm sure that you will find it to be eye opening.
I've already been convinced that additional RAM is completely unnecessary and a waste of money.

For sure I'll be waiting until 2023 updates and see how the offerings settle, and once I get a new machine, I will definitely post my findings on how the machine operates under normal high strain processing, including the gamut of audio processing that DOES require higher RAM in certain situations, or the less unexpected typical video rendering task. Replacing an entire professional 21st century analog hardware mix room with a slender laptop attempting to do even more than the analog room was able to do will on occasion prove challenging.
 
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IWT


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@Toroidal

This is an interesting thread. At the end of the day, it's your money, your choice and your hardware. Do what you like.

Valid discussion and debate is healthy and hopefully beneficial. That's we are here for.

The analogy with cars is relevant in a way because there are always people who want the fastest, most luxurious, most elegant car notwithstanding that road conditions and speed limits prevent many of these "extras" being utilised.

And so with HiFi. Speakers costing £5K, turntables at £2K and so on and on - because the people spending these thousands get joy from their listening experience - even if the rest of us can't hear the difference.

So be it with you. Buy what you want and revel in the thrill of using it.

Finally, I use the iMazing app to backup all our iDevices and store the backups on an EHD. The app is inexpensive (relatively) and once the first BU is done on a Device via USB, subsequent ones can be done via WiFi or USB cable. You might find that helpful?


All the best in your endeavours.

Ian
 
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@Toroidal

This is an interesting thread. At the end of the day, it's your money, your choice and your hardware. Do what you like.

Valid discussion and debate is healthy and hopefully beneficial. That's we are here for.

The analogy with cars is relevant in a way because there are always people who want the fastest, most luxurious, most elegant car notwithstanding that road conditions and speed limits prevent many of these "extras" being utilised.

And so with HiFi. Speakers costing £5K, turntables at £2K and so on and on - because the people spending these thousands get joy from their listening experience - even if the rest of us can't hear the difference.

So be it with you. Buy what you want and revel in the thrill of using it.

Finally, I use the iMazing app to backup all our iDevices and store the backups on an EHD. The app is inexpensive (relatively) and once the first BU is done on a Device via USB, subsequent ones can be done via WiFi or USB cable. You might find that helpful?


All the best in your endeavours.

Ian
Glad you enjoy it.
Basically all I'm doing is customizing a future standard laptop offering from Apple with 2 minor upgrades, something people do all the time, and by no means to the limit, actually just in the middle of what is available. And, the more I research these M1 laptops, the more I realize what I should really do is upgrade the processor to the M1 Max (if I chose the current lineup), middle tier for a small amount, and that defaults to 32GB RAM from Apple (no choice to have less), and then I'd get the 2TB internal storage just because that's what I'm using for the last 5 years and even that is constantly being managed every 2 to 3 months so that I still have storage space available. I'm a heavy power user, and what I'm describing is rather benign. I'm hoping the machine doesn't have to be over about $3,200. Ten years ago this laptop I'm using now was about $2,800 the way it was configured.

I do use the computer for many important tasks, so of course I'll at least consider what will be useful for years to come rather than buy something underpowered. I did that a decade ago, it makes sense to do it now. You bet I'll revel in the thrill of it!
 
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Glad you enjoy it.
Basically all I'm doing is customizing a future standard laptop offering from Apple with 2 minor upgrades, something people do all the time, and by no means to the limit, actually just in the middle of what is available. And, the more I research these M1 laptops, the more I realize what I should really do is upgrade the processor to the M1 Max (if I chose the current lineup), middle tier for a small amount, and that defaults to 32GB RAM from Apple (no choice to have less), and then I'd get the 2TB internal storage just because that's what I'm using for the last 5 years and even that is constantly being managed every 2 to 3 months so that I still have storage space available. I'm a heavy power user, and what I'm describing is rather benign. I'm hoping the machine doesn't have to be over about $3,200. Ten years ago this laptop I'm using now was about $2,800 the way it was configured.

I do use the computer for many important tasks, so of course I'll at least consider what will be useful for years to come rather than buy something underpowered. I did that a decade ago, it makes sense to do it now. You bet I'll revel in the thrill of it!
Well, given the news of today's release, it's even easier for me to decide what to get, M2 Max with 2TB about covers it.
 

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@Toroidal, I can only relate my experience for whatever value it may be. I had a Mid 2015 13" Intel MBPr with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage. It had a "sleep" issue but otherwise worked perfectly well with macOS Catalina (the last macOS prior to current).
I upgraded to an 2021 M1 Pro Silicon 14" MBP with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage about a year ago. With it's 10 core CPU Apple claims it to be 70% faster than the M1.
You could say I sacrificed storage for efficiency but I have much lower storage requirements these days and find I can keep my HD to 250 - 300GB quite easily with the addition of external SSD storage.
Despite being 70 now I still run graphically and CPU demanding apps which the M1 Pro handles with ease, for me the 16GB and faster processor was well worth the money.
It's lightening fast and affords me all of the new Silicon based features of macOS Ventura and the compatibility I need for the current operating systems of my iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Apple TV.
Hopefully I will get 7 years use out of this device too.
I hope this is helpful.
Rod
 
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Hi, I think this is an open thread, so I sneak in :D .

I need to replace my MacBook Air | 16GB | 256GB disk | M1, I can't tolerate anymore such small disk for several reasons...
Gonna sell it for 900 pounds.

I'll use the MAC for development (not iOS or macOS development for now), but I can tell you that most of the time will be used for light tasks, like writing documentations, LOL!!!

The idea is to get a single machine, not holding this MacBook Air and get a Mac Studio as a 2nd machine...
For development purposes, it would be even safer to have both (malware risks), or at least I can say to have 2 machines, the price and the annoying thing to have 2 machines doesn't make me happy.

So, here's the plan:

1. Buy a single 14" MacBook Pro (the one due in a couple of days, 2023 model)
2. Pay 3150 pounds for 2TB disk | 32GB RAM
3. Annual Apple Care +, 90 pounds * 7(years or more) = ~42 pounds monthly cost over that time, excluding eventual Apple Care claims

A couple of things come up here:
1. I always need the latest technology, I need to be comfortable and have performance, no discussions.
Initially this brought me to think that it was better to buy and resell when it was due, but honestly, it's a pain I don't want to go through again, plus these big machines are not easy to sell...
So I thought to accept the 42 pounds monthly cost over a period of 7-10y.

2. The battery could long or forever, in any case, it will degrade by age, not by my heavy usage, it will be mostly plugged in...
By experience, in 10y garbage batteries out there can retain 70% quite easily...

3. I've chosen 2TB disk, but in reality, I need to use 150 GB from the day one, plus other data archived on cloud, but I don't consider those, they will end up in a NAS anyway btw...
So, for real usage, I won't even use 1TB, maybe 600GB in production, but the 2TB will make this machine live for the next 10y with me, plus, the 2TB M2 usually have 2x TBW, around 1200, not bad... (400 pounds more :D )

4. I'll use the laptop keyboard, not an external one, I'll try but I don't have much space for such thing, by experience keyboards last, but this one could cost me an **** to be replaced, luckily Apple Care would charge me 79 only...

5. Apple may not have spares after 7y, what happens if I have Apple Care??
Do they give me money back for the value of the laptop + Apple care paid for that year (their evaluation is always a joke, my MacBook Air was worth 300 instead of 900 for them...), or I remain f.....?
I think they can offer some cash bonus to be used on the purchase of a new Mac, but I can't tell by experience...
In general, I think that they will forbid me to renew my Apple Care if the laptop will be judged as obsolete after 7y, I just don't see it written anywhere in the conditions...

How do you see it?
 

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ced89, although all our posts are essentially open it's difficult to address two users within the same thread so in future I suggest you start a new thread of your own. That way all replies will be to you and your question.
My second point is, what is your question? If you are seeking an opinion that will vary dependent on the responder.
Personally I'm having a bit of trouble understanding some of your statements eg. "The idea is to get a single machine, not holding this MacBook Air and get a Mac Studio as a 2nd machine..." Are you planning to have one or two machines?
Further, you say you, "always need the latest technology, I need to be comfortable and have performance, no discussions." Yet you are planning to keep this machine for 7-10 years? I'd say it will not be, "latest technology," in 5 years.
Broadly speaking, the best advice I could give you is to buy the latest and greatest you can afford. By that I mean, get the fastest most efficient device with the maximum capabilities and storage that you can afford.
 
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Annual Apple Care +, 90 pounds * 7(years or more) = ~42 pounds monthly cost over that time, excluding eventual Apple Care claims
I have not heard that AC+ runs for 7 years. All I have seen is 3 years. Maybe it's a UK thing? Any members from UK that can confirm that, either way?
 

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I have not heard that AC+ runs for 7 years. All I have seen is 3 years. Maybe it's a UK thing? Any members from UK that can confirm that, either way?

It's 3 years for Macs and 2 years for iDevices in the UK.

Ian
 
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Hi, I think this is an open thread, so I sneak in :D .

I need to replace my MacBook Air | 16GB | 256GB disk | M1, I can't tolerate anymore such small disk for several reasons...
Gonna sell it for 900 pounds.

I'll use the MAC for development (not iOS or macOS development for now), but I can tell you that most of the time will be used for light tasks, like writing documentations, LOL!!!

The idea is to get a single machine, not holding this MacBook Air and get a Mac Studio as a 2nd machine...
For development purposes, it would be even safer to have both (malware risks), or at least I can say to have 2 machines, the price and the annoying thing to have 2 machines doesn't make me happy.

So, here's the plan:

1. Buy a single 14" MacBook Pro (the one due in a couple of days, 2023 model)
2. Pay 3150 pounds for 2TB disk | 32GB RAM
3. Annual Apple Care +, 90 pounds * 7(years or more) = ~42 pounds monthly cost over that time, excluding eventual Apple Care claims

A couple of things come up here:
1. I always need the latest technology, I need to be comfortable and have performance, no discussions.
Initially this brought me to think that it was better to buy and resell when it was due, but honestly, it's a pain I don't want to go through again, plus these big machines are not easy to sell...
So I thought to accept the 42 pounds monthly cost over a period of 7-10y.

2. The battery could long or forever, in any case, it will degrade by age, not by my heavy usage, it will be mostly plugged in...
By experience, in 10y garbage batteries out there can retain 70% quite easily...

3. I've chosen 2TB disk, but in reality, I need to use 150 GB from the day one, plus other data archived on cloud, but I don't consider those, they will end up in a NAS anyway btw...
So, for real usage, I won't even use 1TB, maybe 600GB in production, but the 2TB will make this machine live for the next 10y with me, plus, the 2TB M2 usually have 2x TBW, around 1200, not bad... (400 pounds more :D )

4. I'll use the laptop keyboard, not an external one, I'll try but I don't have much space for such thing, by experience keyboards last, but this one could cost me an **** to be replaced, luckily Apple Care would charge me 79 only...

5. Apple may not have spares after 7y, what happens if I have Apple Care??
Do they give me money back for the value of the laptop + Apple care paid for that year (their evaluation is always a joke, my MacBook Air was worth 300 instead of 900 for them...), or I remain f.....?
I think they can offer some cash bonus to be used on the purchase of a new Mac, but I can't tell by experience...
In general, I think that they will forbid me to renew my Apple Care if the laptop will be judged as obsolete after 7y, I just don't see it written anywhere in the conditions...

How do you see it?
I think it's a great idea, ditch the Air with no space, get the two Macs that you need to work safely and enjoy your 2TB and new tech that will be very fast and capable.

I think you are asking about Battery Replacement after 7 years, but who cares after 7 years since you will just be considering a new machine by then?

My 10 year old MBP has a working battery inside that is not replaceable, but it is beginning to expand in size up against the trackpad which is definitely not good for continued use.
 

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ced89, although all our posts are essentially open it's difficult to address two users within the same thread so in future I suggest you start a new thread of your own. That way all replies will be to you and your question.
My second point is, what is your question? If you are seeking an opinion that will vary dependent on the responder.
Personally I'm having a bit of trouble understanding some of your statements eg. "The idea is to get a single machine, not holding this MacBook Air and get a Mac Studio as a 2nd machine..." Are you planning to have one or two machines?
Further, you say you, "always need the latest technology, I need to be comfortable and have performance, no discussions." Yet you are planning to keep this machine for 7-10 years? I'd say it will not be, "latest technology," in 5 years.
Broadly speaking, the best advice I could give you is to buy the latest and greatest you can afford. By that I mean, get the fastest most efficient device with the maximum capabilities and storage that you can afford.
Getting every 2-3 years the latest is very expensive and time consuming... I forgot to mention that the actual performance are overkill for me, so it should be good for the next decade taking the 2023 model.

I'd like to get a single machine because I want a laptop mainly, and this MacBook Air is unusable for me with 256GB disk anyway.
Instead of buying another laptop and a Mac Studio too, I can get a single laptop for everything (cost saving).

I have not heard that AC+ runs for 7 years. All I have seen is 3 years. Maybe it's a UK thing? Any members from UK that can confirm that, either way?

On the UK website there is the option for annual payment, until you don't cancel it, so, does it go beyond 3y??? ****, I need to check that...

I think it's a great idea, ditch the Air with no space, get the two Macs that you need to work safely and enjoy your 2TB and new tech that will be very fast and capable.

I think you are asking about Battery Replacement after 7 years, but who cares after 7 years since you will just be considering a new machine by then?

My 10 year old MBP has a working battery inside that is not replaceable, but it is beginning to expand in size up against the trackpad which is definitely not good for continued use.
Batteries growing up in size are at risk of explosion, the 2012 models were probably not even anti-fire, definitely not anti-explosion, there is a little chance that Apple had the best at that time, but I wouldn't risk.
I would stop using that laptop for your own safety.
 
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This is what I found on the Apple website, but it's on the case of renewal, not from the day 1, I'll ask Apple at this point...

-------

If your AppleCare+ plan expired recently, you might be able to continue coverage.

In Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States​

  • If you paid upfront for an AppleCare+ plan for your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch, you might be able to purchase new coverage that renews monthly or annually.
  • If you paid upfront for an AppleCare+ plan for your Mac, you might be able to purchase new coverage that renews annually.
Purchase the new coverage within 30 days after your original coverage ends. To find out if you can purchase the new coverage, go to mysupport.apple.com and follow the onscreen instructions. The new coverage automatically renews until canceled.
Your plan coverage may continue beyond 24 or 36 months, on a monthly or annual basis, until canceled.
If you choose to continue coverage, your coverage will be subject to the then-current AppleCare+ Terms and Conditions.

-------
 

IWT


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There may be a problem here.

The Link to "my support.apple.com" brings up this:

"Sign In - Apple"

It will NOT allow me to post the exact URL no matter how I try.

DO NOT sign in to this. I got warnings from Safari that this might be a scam site and Safari stopped it just as it requested my Apple ID and PW........... that's dodgy. There were no Apple icons or insignia that I could see.

I then went online to Apple and other legit sites and found that coverage for Macs was 3 years and iDevices 2 years.

They did say that you could purchase Apple Care+ up to 90 days from purchase and that payment could be one-off or by instalment - up to 3 years for Macs and 2 years for iDevices.

Some citations:


Ian
 
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There may be a problem here.

The Link to "my support.apple.com" brings up this:

"Sign In - Apple"

It will NOT allow me to post the exact URL no matter how I try.

DO NOT sign in to this. I got warnings from Safari that this might be a scam site and Safari stopped it just as it requested my Apple ID and PW........... that's dodgy. There were no Apple icons or insignia that I could see.

I then went online to Apple and other legit sites and found that coverage for Macs was 3 years and iDevices 2 years.

They did say that you could purchase Apple Care+ up to 90 days from purchase and that payment could be one-off or by instalment - up to 3 years for Macs and 2 years for iDevices.

Some citations:


Ian

That's very sad... I was really counting on it, **** then I'll have a risk on my shoulders...
Back to the plan of buying a brand new machine every 1-2y max and sell it out then, I don't wan to have 1k bill to fix it if it breaks...
Anyway, in UK the default warranty could be extended up to 6y (in England specifically) for consumer law, if it can be proved that it's the manufactor fault, but it's hard to prove for a single user...
Also, how long a monitor is supposed to last for example? How the UK regulator sets these longevity levels?

Plus, what is it supposed to include? Monitor stops working? Keyboard fault? CPU melted? How can I successfully prove such things without having Apple being smarter than me. I can record a video that there is no damage, but they can always blame the battery etc, so I can pay at least a minimum amount of cash for their costs...

Regarding the website, you must have some adblocker, I tried by myself and the certificate belongs to Apple, also the domain obviously.
 
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IWT


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In this document for Apple Care UK, you can read the following: https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-s...plus/2209/220907_applecareplusmac_uk_ipid.pdf

When does the cover start and end?

Coverage starts on the date you purchased AppleCare+. This means that if you buy AppleCare+ after you purchase your Apple device you will only receive coverage on your covered Apple device from that date. The technical support coverage starts on expiry of the complimentary technical support cover provided by the manufacturer, which starts on the date you purchase your Apple device. For Fixed-Term Policies, coverage ends 36 months from the date you purchased AppleCare+ as shown on your sales receipt for your device. For Annual Policies, your coverage is for twelve (12) months (one year) from the date you purchased AppleCare+ as shown on your sales receipt and will automatically renew each year beginning on the date you purchased AppleCare+ as shown on your sales receipt unless cancelled earlier. Coverage may end earlier if you have exercised your right to cancel.

To me it seems that Apple can't cancel the contract, but there's can be always some exception due to their business changes etc...
One limit that I'd pose is 7 years for the hardware supportability...
 

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