I want to buy new Mac computer as it comes. I’m that spoiled. Or say I am a voluntary victim of a total Apple ecosystem. If not all, I want to buy the most possible Apple stuff year after year. My buying habits are based on how Apple assembles its words together in convincing me as it speaks at WWDC. And this is happening to many folks out there who think and act most likely the same manner.
It becomes even quite interesting when I refresh my gadget lines to incorporate my workflows and thus improve my creativity. Unfortunately pretty much of my productivity remains the same. I don’t become more creative than before. I don’t see any improvements in my productivity as I deem to imagine they would. All that happens is the shiner new gadgets occupy the places of the previous ones.
What makes me scratch my head after buying new Mac?
Then I begin to tinkle my head why the improved graphics, processors and even longer battery life of my things don’t improve my productivity. Why don’t the shiner bezels and beefed up powers and packed pieces of technology features add up anything to my real life earnings than emptying my wallet year after year. So what is it all about upgrades? What am I missing here?
Buying a new Mac computer is not always a good option when you consider it impacting your workflow. It also depends on the existing applications in your productive life. There are quite good some applications out there and the developers spend quite much of their lives improving efficiency and reliability in computing returns. Most of them don’t even fall for shiner machine just so. They require time testing approach to consider upgrades. This may be the core value of becoming productive in a piece. This approach seems healthy applies to the most of the world scenarios. Hence, to get the best out of your Mac computer, you might not need a new Mac or a Mac companion every year.
What direction the pro features heading?
Since Apple is heading toward a completely different direction of upgradability of its computing machines, Mac buyers need to pay attention while making a buying choice. The new Mac computers are not upgradable anymore. You may like to read Antonio Villas-Boas’ post ‘Why I’m not buying the most powerful MacBook Pro anymore‘ to get insight on how the older Macs are worth keeping for a while.
Starting 2007, Apple decided to forbid memory upgrade introducing a new line of Mac as MacBook Air. Applying the same principal, MacBook Pro retina lost the opportunity of memory upgradability in 2012. And pushing it even further Apple brought a halt of any kind of upgradability introducing its all new MacBook Pro Touch Bar lineup in 2016.
Now the Mac computers are more like disposable machines. You buy it to trash when it fails. If it runs slow over the years, you can’t add memory to run it faster as you would expect. And you can’t add more drive space at all. Seems like you have a very limited choice left.
Consider you are making enough to afford a new Mac computer every other year or so, you are so out of luck in tweaking your Mac cost effectively. Then you may linger with the failing machine until you are ready to afford a new one. Why? Since the main board of the new Mac computer integrates processors, graphics, memory and drive in one complex block, the serviceable cost is likely to come as closer as buying a new Mac.
There are quite good existing Mac computers and the new hardware upgrades in the form of buying a new Mac is not quite necessary. A thoughtful approach of upgrade or update will be enough to keep an old Mac computer efficient.
How long to keep a Mac computer before even thinking of upgrading a new one?
Many users consider keeping their Mac computers for over 5 years. When the older operating systems response slower, upgrading to the supported new macOS may help. But not all the time. Sometimes, macOS upgrade over older Mac models is counter productive. It may invite many issues on the course. But the flexibility of their hardware most certainly offer greater value when you upgrade cost efficiently.
Those who have the Macs between the years 2010 and 2012 non-retina, they are likely to utilize maximum upgradability of those Macs. All they will need is to max out the memory and upgrade to a faster SSD. Others who have non-touch bar reruns Macs between 2012 and 2016, they can still upgrade PCIe based drive to the maximum affordable size. Unfortunately memory upgrade on these Macs means upgrading it with a high end logic board and which is almost like buying a new Mac.
How about the operating system alone upgrade?
When the Mac is really old and new operating system is not supported, it’s a good idea to upgrade to a new Mac computer. Otherwise consider your priorities. You may also consider computing equipments you use side-by-side. New Macs do not support regular USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports. They are USB-C type now. When your old Mac is usable and is still productive, the new Mac will not make your jobs more efficient. Rather it may jeopardize demanding you extra expenses for adapters and cables. Also the chances are that newer Macs may demand newer equipments. You may like to get a quote consulting a Mac tech to consider potential impacts in your computing setup and productivity.
As long as the machine supports new and improved macOS, it’s still a good idea to upgrade the operating system considering that it will not invite incompatibility issues whatsoever. Do some research and then only long to upgrade your system or system setup environments. If you need any assistance in understanding your situation, contact us via our contact page and we’ll try to help understand the possibilities and the impacts if any.