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I Tried Nearly EVERY Mac/MacBook: Here’s The Ones I Regret Buying

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Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:43 13in MacBook Pro
3:57 The Big-Screen MacBooks
5:30 iMac
9:24 Mac Studio
11:50 SSD Upgrades
13:56 Conclusion

Apple sells 3 MacBook Pros, and only 2 of them is really a “pro” machine and that pro machine comes in 2 different sizes. The smallest macbook pro, the 13in. is more of an M2 MacBook air in disguise with an old aging body. It’s bigger and bulkier with more battery life, but it also uses the touch bar which apple no longer offers on any laptops, it really seems like they’re phasing it out, and it lacks magsafe, the magnetic charging cable that easily snaps off if it gets snagged, preventing your laptop from being yanked from the table and onto the cold hard floor. It has more battery life, but the M2 air comfortably lasts a day anyway so if you’re someone who charges your laptops at night, it doesn’t make much of a difference. If your budget is only around the price of this machine, I’d opt for the M2 air or M2 Air 15in instead, magsafe really is a gamechanger in protecting your laptop, and frees up a port and if you wanted a “pro” machine, you really should be looking at the 14/16in Pros instead. Those machines are powerful and if you’re lucky you’d be able to find the M1 Pro macbook pro on clearance. So if you’re considering the M2 MacBook pro, it might be worth considering saving a few bucks for the super similar M2 Air 13in, spend the same amount on the M2 air 15in or if you want a machine with more performance, get the 14in MacBook pro instead. This one is just really funky, value-wise.

Currently there’s the 16in MacBook Pro and the 15in MacBook air that just came out. These laptops are super similar to their smaller counterparts except for a few key differences, these have higher price tags, larger batteries, weigh more, have larger screens, and the slighter faster version of the respective chips. I use a 16in MacBook Pro at my job, and honestly depending on what you use your laptop for, the extra cost might not be worth it. I’m just going to talk about the 16in Pro here, but a lot of the same applies to the 15in Air too. The larger laptop makes it heavier to carry around with you, adding additional weight in your bag. As long as you charge every day, it’s not a major benefit. That being said, if you primarily use your laptop on the go out in environments where you don’t have access to external monitors, the larger display comes in handy.

Next is the iMac. It’s a Mac mini with a pretty, glossy, 4k display up front. It’s a really nice looking computer. We can all agree there. It has built-in speakers that are pretty good, and a webcam that’s okay. And because all the components are built into the machine, it’s cleaner, takes up less space, and is easier to use. The purpose of this machine is to be something pretty to look at, fit into the environment, and be a compact clutter-free computer, all in one. The problem with that is when everything is rolled into one, it leads to some compromises. If you want to upgrade from the iMac you’re stuck buying a whole new set of computer accessories because the brains, screen, speakers and webcam are all built into this computer. Once the computer is no good, the screen, webcam and speakers are no longer usable. But, the iMac is dead simple to get up and running and use. I absolutely love the 24in iMac but I don’t think it’s the default mac someone should look at, and it’s definitely not the most economical one.

The Mac Studio has everything you’d want in a Mac, ports on the front, a ton of ports on the back, 10 gigabit ethernet, and it’s dead quiet 99% of the time during use. This is just the base model M1 Max version. But, that’s the issue, it might be too powerful for me. The Mac Studio Ultra was way too much power, and the M1 Max was already faster than anything I’ve used, so it seemed like the most logical choice. But the Mac Studio with the Max and Ultra chips, are really for power users or businesses who need higher end performance out of their machine, not the average person.

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29 Comments

  2. I’ve had my 5K iMac (late 2015) for almost 8 years and that computer has paid back for itself tenfold. The sad situation with it now is that there is no equally good upgrade for it, nor can I use it as an external display, although it is in perfect condition, it’s just become very slow. So I’ve had to get a MacBook Pro 14 inch M2Pro, it’s an excellent device. And I wish I could plug it to my iMac to use the big display, but Apple doesn’t think it would be a good idea. So I don’t think I will ever be buying an iMac again. It was a great computer, but now it’s just a slow old beautiful desktop that I cannot even use as an external display. It’s a major waste of a beautiful screen and great speakers. Apple claims to be about ecology and all, but their treatment of iMacs is an excellent example of how they probably don’t really care about e-waste. I guess I’ll just use my iMac to watch movies from now on. Pity.

  5. Thank you so much for getting me to focus on what I need vs what I want. I was drooling over the mac studio and then looked at how much I could spend on upgrading to more expensive. You brought me back to reality. Well at least my reality. I didn’t need all the info that gives benchmarks etc. because I’m not that kind of user. I’m sticking with the mac mini and get the external storage. Great video.

  6. I brought this, Now regret the purchase. It has too many issues, unfortunately I didn't knew about the apple care, as I brought it from flipkart in India. Thought it will last for bit longer. No one is taking about the how faulty the device is, Entire board to replaced in first 6 months and by next year horizontal lines on the display. I told apple to replace it while in warranty but they went with the repair instead. It would cost you same amount as the actual device if something goes wrong! say display and anything in the board. Fake certified apple centers in India will make things much worse. You can't upgrade not even the storage , can't trade in, can only be extended to one display. Hope it helps some one to make a better decision.

  7. I was actually confused has i was trying to buy a mac , i do complex coding and was confused between MacBook Pro 13invh or MacBook air 15 inch? ( in India MacBook pro 13 cost somewhere 1500 $ and MacBook air 15 cost 1600 both base varient) ! ( M2 )

  9. I use about 35gb of ram due to having a lot of coding stuff up. I haven't upgraded my 2018 mac mini only because I don't use that much cpu, but mostly ram. This pains me because only the mac studio is worth it. The m2 mini with max ram is already 1500+ which is too close to the mac studio. My ideal machine would have been the m2 if it had up to 48 gb of ram, but oh well we're locked at 24gb ;(. Maybe one day apple will up the mac mini ram to default 24gb / 32gb being the low end model and 48/64 being the upper end one.

  11. Great video, first time viewer. Quick question, what is the large/long monitor stand I saw in some of your b-roll? It has like a middle shelf (metal I think in the middle). Where did you get it from? Thanks

  12. The 13 inch MBP with the M2 isn't a terrible device. If you need the power of the M2 but don't have or don't want to spend $2,000 on a laptop it has a fan so it can get more work done faster without being throttled like the Air but for a cheaper price around $1,400 or whatever it is. I wouldn't suggest it over the Air if you don't need the fan.

  15. I think Apple should make the basic MacBook again. So do a redesign of the 13 inch pro but based on the 14inch air design but with the thicker chassis like the 13 inch pro but with MagSafe, new screen bezels and keeping the bigger battery and keeping the fan so the MacBook Air is for basic users and the MacBook is for MacBook users that take advantage fully of their MacBooks but they aren't a pro users but dabble more then air MacBook users.
    So basic users like myself. I would be fine with a MacBook Air but I want the fan for cooling when I’m playing my games as I don't want thermal throttling or an extremely hot machine.

  16. Since you talk about the iMac and Mac Studio, you should’ve talked in depth about the Mac Mini — for those who don’t need mobility that’s the Mac with the absolute best value, more so after the release of Apple Silicon models….and setting it up with a monitor, keyboard, speakers, etc. is still a no-brainer even for total tech noobs too. 🖥️

  17. Apple's base model specs are pathetic and upgrade prices are ridiculous, it's a big no-go in 2023 especially when trying to think environmentally-friendly, with longer planned lifespan of a device, versatility and long-term usability – no matter how much Apple boasts about recycling and saving the planet, they intentionally make their devices prematurely useless

  20. I think the base Mac Studio is the way to go for a desktop setup. By the time you match the specs for an M2 Pro Mac Mini, you end up within $300 of eachother. This is a base model that actually doesn’t feel like you NEED to upgrade anything (except maybe external storage).

  21. Do you think it would be dumb of me to trade in my M1 Pro MacBook 14in for the new m2 MacBook Air? I can’t seem to sell mine and it seems like apple trade in is one way. I honestly just use it for school (writing/editing documents, simple web browsing) I’m not really pushing it to its potential. I already have a victus 15in gaming laptop that I use for gaming and downloading programs (macOS isn’t supported on🙄)

  23. Here to learn. My issue with storing things on external SSDs, is I always thought of them as backups. But then I'd need a backup.. for the backup.. so I'd be buying 2 of them. SSDs do fail. So then every time you load content onto the laptop or onto the external SSD, you also have to do it again on another SSD. Am I making this more complicated than it is?
    I also get leery with spending $400 on the 32GB Ram upgrade on the 14" Pro. I want to future-proof.. but $400 is a ton of cash. Might be better off saving that and just putting it towards a new laptop several years down the line. I wish there was a $200 24gb option for the pros, for just a little more future-proof headroom without having to be concerned about swap or whatever.

  25. few years ago i bought a specd out $4000 macbook pro 16in M-1 and a $1400 ipad pro 11in with magic keyboard. but with the release of the 15inch macbook air if i had to do all over again i would have bought a $1400 mabook air with 16gb ram and 500ssd and a $1300 inch 12.9 ipad pro without a magic keyboard. i just never use any of the power of the 16inch macbook pro and rarely used the 11inch ipad because the lcd screen was just too small and medicore compared to mini led on my macbook and hardly ever used the magic keyboard. realized i wasted around $3000 for no reason. if an upgraded 12.9 ipad pro comes out with landscape view front facing camera i will be selling my 16inch macbook pro and 11 inch ipad and buying the new 12.9 inch ipad and the 15inch macbook air.

  28. See this is the problem with those reviews. when it comes to the 13 pro, not too long ago and we are talking 2020 the Pro 13 was the best machine apple had to offer in the MacBook scene. Out of a sudden just because there is a better machine it becomes a black sheep? I am sorry but what kind of ignorant take is this? is magsafe good? yes, but is it an extraordinary feature? absolutely NOT. a lot of people plant their Macs in a desk at home to never move it again, a lot of people also have it in a desk in the corner where crossing paths with a cable is negligible. Touch Bar is not a bad tool there is a lot of use to it, getting on board of the collective "Touch Bar is bad" without real insights about it, specially in a video intended to judge ALL Macs is irresponsible. Another points is "bulkier" " you should go straight to the 14 pro" – first the 14 pro cost SIGNIFICANTLY more, enough to say that whoever had a budget for a 14 pro wasn't even considering the 13, so what's the point in setting up a non existing connection between them? the 14 pro is even bulkier than the 13. On every important thing that MOST YouTuber tends to forget just because something cost slightly more IT DOES NOT mean that people should spend the extra. I can't even count how many client I have at the bank I work at that discuss their monthly budget/cashflow and realize they spend the extra on several items just because it was better and "a tad more". Not considering that they didn't need the "extra" so they could, the same as the 13, get a good machine with less money. "Oooh but the air already last 1 day" so? is that a reason to ignore 2-3 hours more of battery life? How long ago we were praising ANY computer manufacturer for increasing their battery life by 1-2 hours, and now we are going to just "shit talk" an important improvement without proper reasoning?. At the end of the day this video is just another from the series of repetitive vanilla YouTube arguments of Air vs 13, 13 vs 14/16 without actually pointing out the good an bad of products individually instead of solely focusing on how one is far better than the other. Guess what, every new product is better than the previous one, I know right, who would've thought.