Anyone else find their M series Macs so fast they just don't see the need to upgrade until it breaks?

32GB m1 max user here.

I'd like to upgrade to the m4 max, but do I'm in the same boat, do I really need to?

I do video editing, motion graphics, some 3D. It's pretty slow at hardcore 3D renders compared to a 4090 (which i don't have), but comparable to a 3080 (which I do have).
 
Last edited:
I have a 14” M1 Pro purchased when they launched late 2021 and I’m not expecting to need to upgrade this for another 2 years at least

I do like the look of the new Mac Mini though and I’ll snap one up if I find a use case for it
 
pcfarrar said:
I've got an M2 Mini currently and have an AW3225QF connected via HDMI which is stuck at 4K 60Hz. Main reason for upgrading to the M4 Mini for me is so I can now run it properly at 4K 240Hz.
Click to expand...
Heh. Funny story, this silly bugger didn't do his homework when looking to shift away from windows, and in his eagerness pulled the trigger on an M2 Mac for £550 with 16gb and 256gb storage. Not the end of the world as most of my actual storage is on a DAS anyway, but being locked at 60hz was excruciating. Fast forward a week, I bought the caldigit TS4 hub so that I could run my display through thunderbolt, and the day after they announced the M4 Mac mini with 16gb of unified memory. I probably could have saved some money if I'd waited.

I have no regrets, I love my little box but my lesson for 2025 will be to learn the value in being patient. :cry:
 
2 year old M2 MBA still going absolutely fine. I am slightly tempted by the new shiny of an M4 Mac mini but I certainly don't need one and not sure how much I'd really use it.
 
Purchased my M1 MBA 256Gb/8GB in December 2021, i use it everyday as my home machine (Windows laptop for work) and its still fast as day 1.

Thought about upgrading it but after thought about it, i dont really need to.
 
lmfy2k said:
Purchased my M1 MBA 256Gb/8GB in December 2021, i use it everyday as my home machine (Windows laptop for work) and its still fast as day 1.

Thought about upgrading it but after thought about it, i dont really need to.
Click to expand...
Same. The only reason I will actually upgrade is that I'm trying to take a step back from gaming so will replace my MBA and gaming PC with a Mac Mini, plus my wife's 2014 MBP is now having issues running Office, so she can get the M1 MBA.
 
Karl said:
Or until the OS no longer receives updates. Usually before the hardware gives out!
Click to expand...

This, still have my original iPad mini etc and works fine but stopped getting software updates long ago and therefore can no longer download or update apps, nothing wrong with it apart from Apple choosing to no longer support it.
 
Last edited:
My 24GB M2 Maci Mini is horribly fast so I can't see me getting rid of that for a while. That said I really do like the 2024 model with its front ports...

I do have an M2 iPad Air, which is fast but sluggish in use on Safari - some websites are just slow af with 3x plugins that I use.
 
Oh Ed not again. said:
I wish people would hurry up and sell their M1s in the MM. Really fancy one. :D
Click to expand...
It’s still surprising at how unrealistic people are about the value of their Intel based Mac computers are though.

Like, M1 based MacBook Air laptops aren’t that expensive on the used market but you still have people asking somewhat close to the same price for a 7 year old Intel based MacBook Air.

The new Mac Mini M4 is a very very good option for anyone who doesn’t already have an M1 or M2 based Mini but the M1 is still plenty fast.
 
JollyJamma said:
The new Mac Mini M4 is a very very good option for anyone who doesn’t already have an M1 or M2 based Mini but the M1 is still plenty fast.
Click to expand...

I've been looking at selling my M1 16gb 512 and trading up and was surprised to see the resale prices on ebay, sold prices are anywhere from about £450 to £575. Damn tempting even though in reality I have never had this M1 slow on me or cause me any bother.
 
JollyJamma said:
It’s still surprising at how unrealistic people are about the value of their Intel based Mac computers are though.

Like, M1 based MacBook Air laptops aren’t that expensive on the used market but you still have people asking somewhat close to the same price for a 7 year old Intel based MacBook Air.

The new Mac Mini M4 is a very very good option for anyone who doesn’t already have an M1 or M2 based Mini but the M1 is still plenty fast.
Click to expand...

I went for an M1 Pro in the end, and yeah the amount of people expecting silly money for a soon-to-be out of updates Intel is bonkers.

I like the OpenCore project for the extra life it gives, but Apple are wise to it and are tying core OS features (like opening the change password box) to the T1 security chip. So as they deprecate the hardware the OS feature dies with it. Amazed the EU haven't taken them to court for it.
 
dannyjo22 said:
I've been looking at selling my M1 16gb 512 and trading up and was surprised to see the resale prices on ebay, sold prices are anywhere from about £450 to £575. Damn tempting even though in reality I have never had this M1 slow on me or cause me any bother.
Click to expand...
I think Apple based Mac devices offer really good power and performance and have held their value pretty well because of it. Itel based Macs used to have that balance but when compared to Apple silicon, they now seem a really poor offering since support is about to end for the Intel based units.

eBay can be a little cooked with it's pricing too - I still think that a lot of people buy only on eBay because they think that the price there MUST be the best because eBay but in reality, you can find better pricing elsewhere a lot of the time. I see sold items with prices that are super high and I think the buyer just got carried away and will have buyers remorse.

I watched a Youtuber recently do a review and breakdown of the M4 Mini and he said that it's the first generation of M silicon that he's tempted to upgrade to as his daily driver as the performance increase over his M1 Mini is significant enough to warrant it but that's a Youtuber who edits videos as part of his living so the upgrade is easier to justify.

I do agree with the view that the base M4 Mini is great value but once you start upgrading the RAM and storage the value goes down quickly.
 
Last edited:
Oh Ed not again. said:
I went for an M1 Pro in the end, and yeah the amount of people expecting silly money for a soon-to-be out of updates Intel is bonkers.

I like the OpenCore project for the extra life it gives, but Apple are wise to it and are tying core OS features (like opening the change password box) to the T1 security chip. So as they deprecate the hardware the OS feature dies with it. Amazed the EU haven't taken them to court for it.
Click to expand...
Why am I only learning of opencore now? This is fascinating.
 
Kainz said:
My 24GB M2 Maci Mini is horribly fast so I can't see me getting rid of that for a while. That said I really do like the 2024 model with its front ports...

I do have an M2 iPad Air, which is fast but sluggish in use on Safari - some websites are just slow af with 3x plugins that I use.
Click to expand...

I find it funny that the new one has a power button on the bottom and people are losing their minds over it but I don't remember there being anything like the complaints about no front ports on the last gen mini. I never turn off my macs but I do use the ports quite often. Power button doesn't bother me at all. No ports on the front would.

JollyJamma said:
eBay can be a little cooked with it's pricing too - I still think that a lot of people buy only on eBay because they think that the price there MUST be the best because eBay but in reality, you can find better pricing elsewhere a lot of the time. I see sold items with prices that are super high and I think the buyer just got carried away and will have buyers remorse.
Click to expand...

I have been gobsmacked on ebay by people paying over retail for items that are available in many places at retail. Its not even like you have to hunt around for a better price. As you say, people just get caught in a bidding war sometimes and get carried away.
 
The power button wouldn't bother me as ideally I'd leave it on forever but we do have a small 5-10 second powercuts in my village from time to time and that's the only time I'm powering back up. Not the end of the world though.
 
dannyjo22 said:
The power button wouldn't bother me as ideally I'd leave it on forever but we do have a small 5-10 second powercuts in my village from time to time and that's the only time I'm powering back up. Not the end of the world though.
Click to expand...
I have seen some clever solutions being worked on that solve the power button problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom