After years of getting myself the computer I want, I now only focus on the one I need.
The Mac is an outstanding computer. It has been my go-to computer for 16 years now. Before I started using a Mac, I, like many others, was introduced to Apple first with an iPod. I got a silver iPod Mini for a birthday one year, then many years later (and many other iPods later) I got an iPod Touch before finally getting my hands on the original iPhone.
The iPhone 3G came out right after I finally got the iPhone, so it was already old news but I didn’t care. I loved the iPhone and after using a ton of other phones that tried to be a smartphone (Sidekick, Windows phones, etc.) it was amazing to finally have something that felt truly futuristic.
This all led to me finally spending some savings to buy a Mac for the first time when I needed a new computer. I had been using an old Dell that my Dad got me right in the middle of high school, and it was time to get something new. My very first Mac was the aluminum unibody 2008 MacBook. It was only available for one year until it was replaced with the name MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Air was the first to introduce the aluminum unibody casing for the Mac laptops, but I loved that MacBook so much. It didn’t have Retina, the iPhone 4 wasn’t announced yet, and it had a CD drive that I used a lot to burn CDs all the time. I also moved my entire CD library into iTunes on that Mac.
The reason I have been thinking about all of this was because I was initially thinking about how I have come to feel like I suffer from Pro Computer Guilt. The Dell laptop I had before the Mac, was the top of the line in specs when my Dad and I configured it, so was the MacBook, and a 2013 MacBook Air I got later.
I didn’t necessarily opt for the most expensive or best computer available every time, but I allowed myself to get the configuration I wanted, over what I truly needed, because I was a geek and I wanted a powerful computer. The MacBook Air had 8 GB of RAM, the most I could get at the time, and a i7 Intel processor. It was an expensive laptop at the time but one I knew I would use a ton.
I used that MacBook Air all through college and some. It was a good computer and wish I still had it today. Instead I sold it and got a iPad Pro 10.5-inch that I used as my personal computer for awhile. I jumped around to 2016 MacBook Pro at one point, and a 11-inch iPad Pro, but I never bought myself a real specced out laptop again.
Since I started listening to more podcasts, and hearing how other people use there computers, I always felt for my needs I didn’t need anything that powerful. I think part of the reason why it has been difficult for me to spend a substantial amount of money on a computer, since my MacBook Air, is because I have been independent since.
Paul Alvarez
Right after college I moved out and have been living on my own. Now with a mortgage, being married for 7 years, raising an almost 3-year-old, and a new son on the way, the guilt of splurging on something I want has been something I have been struggling with for some time and didn’t realize it until recently. I have always just opted for a good enough computer, and never spending the money like I used too on what I wanted that would last years.
Granted, a 2016 MacBook Pro, even with the base model specs would still be fine today for most tasks. Even the MacBook Air that I used for so long, would still get me by now if I really had to use it. The point that I am making is that I think one of the reasons I jumped around with computers was because I felt guilty getting the computer I truly wanted.
The iMac Pro which I had for a while a couple years ago is a good example of me finally getting a computer that I yearned for when it was released but only 5 years later when I could justify spending the money — I got it around half of what it costs brand new. But even then, I sold it months later under the impression that I didn’t need it, but really I just felt guilty spending so much money on something that I didn’t use every day.
A few months ago Apple announced their new MacBook Pros with the M3 chips. I have been waiting for years to maybe get myself the M1 Pro MacBook Pros since the price of those laptops would be more reasonable. Even as I look at them now and I can get a nice configuration for a good price I feel the guilt creeping in.
So you can imagine how I feel when I look up the price of the MacBook I truly want. If I had the money, and no guilt, I would go for the Space Black MacBook Pro with the following specs:
- Apple M3 Pro chip with 11‑core CPU, 14‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
- 36 GB RAM
- 2 TB SSD
This configuration would cost me a whopping $2,999.00 before taxes (almost $3,300 with taxes). That is a lot of money for a computer even if I used to its fullest potential. But that is where I am starting to realize that it is unrealistic to always have to consider things on how you use them, as if not using them a certain way makes the purchase a waste of money entirely.
A couple of people that I have been listening to a lot in different podcasts are John Siracusa and Stephen Hackett. Both are huge Mac lovers and have bought, and collected, many Macs over the years. Sometimes spending tens of thousands of dollars on a single upgrade.
If I think about what these two people do for a living, you could make the argument they have computers that are way overboard what they need. But why does that matter? They both love Macs, and both can afford the ones that they want, regardless of how much or what they are normally used for.
This is all to say that like I have changed my mind about buying and keeping the iPad Mini, I am also rethinking how I feel about my computer. This isn’t me saying that I am going to buy the MacBook Pro, but that maybe I will start seriously saving for one in the future, instead of just not making it an option at all.
Or maybe, I will go another direction for my laptop needs, which may be radical, but something that I may truly need and want.