Whenever you're shopping for a new Mac, there's always a little
bit of uncertainty. How much RAM do you need? Will those extra CPU cores
really make a difference or should you shell out for a larger SSD? Well, these are all
questions and decisions that you will have to make while also taking into
consideration your budget and how long you plan to use your Mac. And like most companies, Apple
has figured out the best way to squeeze as much money
out of you as possible. And I've seen some people
either rightly or wrongly refer to it as a sort of scam. I mean, just take a look
at all the upgrade options for the 14-inch MacBook Pro. It can get really confusing. And you kind of feel
like you're missing out if you don't upgrade anything, and that's exactly how
most laptop manufacturers want you to feel. And this is where the concept
of future-proofing comes in. Just because that slightly more powerful or capable upgrade exists doesn't necessarily
mean you should get it. And in my opinion, future-proofing is one of the
biggest mistakes people make when buying a new Mac, and can end up wasting
hundreds of dollars. So in this video, I'm going
to explain a couple of things, including, will the apps
and software you use become harder to run in the future, what upgrades should you actually get, and why does Apple give you so many often confusing
upgrade options now? Are they just after your cash? Well, I mean, yeah, but it's a little bit more
complicated than that. So first of all, what is future-proofing? Well, the easiest way I can explain it, is the practice of ensuring your Mac can handle new technologies,
software and requirements that it may encounter in the future. The key word in that sentence is may. The basic logic behind this strategy is that your computer will
be able to run programs and software in the future even if they become more demanding or at least experience
less of a performance drop. Now, future-proofing
can take several forms. For example, choosing a more powerful CPU, or buying the latest model
of a certain Mac product line rather than the previous year's model. For example, an M2 MacBook
Air instead of an M1, or even something as simple
as a slightly bigger SSD in case apps take up more
storage space in the future. Future-proofing is often
seen as an alternative to buying a new Mac every few years, and it's particularly popular with those who intend to keep their device for a long time. However, future-proofing, in
my opinion, is a flawed concept and may actually turn
out to be a poor strategy and waste of money for many people. So let's find out why. But just before that, you know
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about to cover in this video, I'm certainly not saying
that CPU, GPU, RAM or SSD upgrades are useless, I'm specifically talking
about upgrading these things just in case, where you'll likely never
take advantage of them. So let's start with the first
point I want to make here. Let's be honest, most
people only use their Mac for very basic tasks. These usually include things
like web browsing, emails, Word documents, or the
occasional video call. And these tasks aren't
really that demanding. In fact, I have a decade old
base model 2013 MacBook Pro that can do all of this with zero issues. Sure, it's not as fancy or snappy as the latest Apple silicon MacBooks with their new screens and better webcams, but for actually doing
these simple everyday tasks, you'll barely notice a difference. And this brings me to my next point. A common argument I hear
in favor of future-proofing is that the programs and
websites you frequently use become more demanding and
difficult to run over time. Now, this is only partially true, so let me break down each area. Starting with web browsing,
as the internet evolves and becomes larger and more advanced, does make sense that computers correspondingly
find it harder to load and browse webpages, right? Well, this is an argument
I frequently hear when people are deciding
between 8 or 16 gigabytes of RAM for their Mac. But is there any truth to this argument? Well, to put it into perspective, I was able to browse the internet using that same 2013 MacBook
Pro with zero issues. This decade old device is so old that it's officially classed
by Apple as obsolete, yet I really didn't notice
much of a difference between it and my 2022 M2 MacBook Air. The reality is that, on average, the internet is becoming
more and more optimized as time goes on. Web developers need to ensure
their websites are efficient so they load quickly, and are compatible with
a wide range of devices, many of which are very old
like grandma's 20 year old PC, or outdated, or are mobile devices with limited internet speed. A website that doesn't load or work well on anything other than the
latest and greatest device is a website doomed to have low traffic. And I have personal experience
with this on our own website. There's something called
Google PageSpeed Insights, and its purpose is to
essentially rank websites in several factors, particularly
speed and compatibility. As a result, developers are incentivized to make websites load as fast as possible while using minimal resources. For example, bloated code
is cut down and streamlined, and images are compressed. The result is that the
web browsing experience continues to improve, and doesn't exactly slow down
if you're using older hardware or a device with only 8
gigabytes of RAM instead of 16, for example. By the way, if you want a full breakdown on how much RAM you should get, I made a really detailed video comparing all the M2 RAM options that you can watch via a
link in the description. Spoiler alert, if you
think there's a good chance you need 16 gigabytes
of RAM, you probably do. But getting back to performance, what about the apps and programs you have on your actual Mac, like Word, Spotify or
Photoshop, for example? Surely they become more demanding and require a more powerful system to run in the future, right? Well, again, this is only partially true. For your everyday apps
like Spotify or Word, there won't be much difference. All of these things still work
perfectly even on older Macs. And sure, professional and demanding apps like the Adobe Suite video editors and 3D modeling programs, for
example, become more demanding with frequent updates and new features, not to mention often the
data and files you work with become more complex, for example, when 4K footage started to
become more popular than 1080p just a few years ago. But will those extra two
CPU cores, for example, make a difference? Or are you better off
simply saving that money you would've spent on
future-proofing upgrades and simply upgrade your entire
system after a few years? Well, firstly, depends what you want. I mean, some people like
to keep their devices for a long time, and some prefer to upgrade
every two to three years to stay on the cutting edge. Both strategies have pros and cons. If you're like me and use demanding apps
on a day-to-day basis, a good strategy is to buy
the exact upgrades you need and will fully utilize for
the next two to three years, if you actually need any
upgrades in the first place, then sell and move to a new system. And I always sell my used
Macs on a second hand market, and typically I can recover about 60% of the total cost I spent on it brand new due to the high resale
value of Mac products. It also helps reduce e-waste because I'm not just throwing
my computer in the bin every few years. And I think this strategy
is a good middle ground for people who use their Macs for more than just everyday tasks like web browsing and emails. You're able to use the
Mac for a few years, and just before you start
seeing a significant decrease in performance versus new tech, you can sell it to someone
who doesn't care about that and just wants a decent laptop at a discounted second hand price. For example, look at the
performance differences between just one generation
of chips, the M1 and M2. Sure, it's not a huge amount, ranging from about 10% to
25% in real life tasks. But fast forward five years in the future and make the same comparison, this time between the M1 and the M4 or whatever Apple ends up calling it. And if you're a
professional editing videos or compiling code, for
example, time is money. And don't forget, new tech
is constantly being released that can have a massive
impact on your workflow. A great example of this are the built-in hardware
footage encoders and decoders on Apple's silicon chips. This made a huge difference to video editing workflows in particular, and is only something you
can unlock with a new Mac. Just imagine if you bought
a fully future-proofed and upgraded 16-inch
Intel MacBook Pro in 2020, intending for it to last about five years, only for it to be completely demolished by the Apple silicon version
released just one year later with a ton of new features. I know, I know, this is a
bit of an extreme example, but hey, it does happen. Luckily, this is really only something that users who use demanding or pro apps have to worry about. If you're just browsing the web, answering emails or writing Word docs, get whatever you want, and it's going to be good for many years. This brings us to the final question. What should you upgrade? Well, just answer these two questions. Will you take advantage of this particular upgrade immediately or in the near future? And, does it make financial sense? Because you don't want
to go spending money that you don't have. If you answered yes to both questions, hey, maybe that upgrade is a good choice. For example, if you're doing
CPU intensive tasks all day, get those extra CPU cores. Are you a hardcore web
browsing multi-tasker? Upgrade the RAM to 16 gigabytes
or maybe even 24 gigabytes. Are you pretty sure that 256 gigabytes of
storage won't be enough? Well, get the 512 gigabyte upgrade. But whatever you do, just
make sure you buy something that you'll actually take
advantage of and use every day, and not something that you
might use or will come in handy a couple of of years down the track. And if you need help figuring out which upgrades are the
best bang for your buck, well, check out videos
from channels like this. I go into detail on
pretty much everything. And you can watch videos
from other channels out there to make sure the results are consistent and you're making the
most informed decision. And if you're wondering why there are now so many
different upgrade options for the CPU and GPU on
Apple's silicon Macs, the answer is simple. During the process of
manufacturing these chips, something called chip binning occurs. Basically, the chips with
the least amount of defects become the more powerful chips, and the chips that might
have slightly more defects get some of their CPU
or GPU cores disabled and are marketed as an 8-core CPU instead
of a 10-core, for example. So don't think that by not
getting an upgraded chip you are getting an inferior product. Apple offers all these
chip variants on their Macs for two reasons. Number one, so they're
not wasting silicon, and number two, it gives customers more
options to choose from, which also gives Apple
a little bit more money. One thing I also want to talk about are those people who
intend to keep their Mac for a long time, like
10 years, for example. There is nothing wrong with that. I know it might seem like
this video is saying that getting a new system every
few years is the best option, but that option isn't the
best choice for everyone. For example, even if you sell your used
Mac on the second hand market, buying a new one every three to four years is still expensive. All I'm trying to say in this video is that don't waste money
buying or upgrading things you know you're not going to need or won't make a difference
even 10 years in the future.
