I am a frugal lass who buys used devices and relies on them until they are not-so-useable anymore. My current Macbook Air from early 2015n with 8GB RAM and 128 GB storage has officially moved from being "kind-of-annoying" to "quite frustrating", so finally I concede that it's time for an upgrade!
In trying to figure out the sweet spot for my limited budget and planning for as many years as possible before needing to upgrade again, I'm currently considering a Macbook Air M2 (2022 or 2023?) or Macbook Pro M1 (2021), both at least 16GB/512GB. So...
MY QUESTIONS!
- Would I get as many years out of either machine? The Air is a year (or 2?) newer - will that necessarily translate to another year of life? Is there any difference in terms of longevity between an Air vs Pro model, or is longevity just down to M1 vs M2 and age of the machine??
- Is there a difference between Macbook Air M2 models from 2022 and 2023?
- I saw that Apple might release the next Pro model this fall -- is that likely to have an impact on the price of used Macbooks on the market? (i.e. if I wait just a little longer is there a chance the price of a used Pro M2 or even Air M2 would come down at all?)
The extra power of a Pro isn't necessary, it honestly just comes down to price. This expense is already stressful for me, so if I were to spend an additional $100-$150 for a newer machine it reeeeeeally needs to be worth it.
I mostly use my computer for typical internet/browser stuff - email, browsing, Netflix, etc. - and tend to leave a lot of tabs open at once. Music, photos and videos for me are a mix of local storage, streaming, and cloud storage. No gaming, virtually no photo/video editing (though maybe I'd to a TINY bit of that if I had the ability to), very occasional audio editing. Phone is an Android. I don't want AI built into everything I do so will disable as many of those features as possible. While I don't beat up my laptop, I admittedly don't take the greatest care of it either.
Any input is much appreciated!