It may be heresy to say this, but my 2018 MacBook is still good enough for what I do. I’m a writer and a front-end React/JavaScript developer. I read email and I surf the web. My 8Gb 1.2Ghz Dual-Core Intel m3 MacBook lets me do all of that without any pain. Really.

Earlier this year my finances were secure, so I thought about getting a new Apple Silicon M1 Pro MacBook Pro with 16Gb of RAM. I crave new technology as much as anyone. I even went so far as to go onto the Apple website an put in an order. During the waiting period for delivery, however, I had second thoughts.

I took a good look at my work process. I usually have Visual Studio Code and Google Chrome (or Mozilla Firefox) open. More often than not I have Apple Mail, LibreOffice Calc, and/or LibreOffice Writer open as well. The only time the system struggles is if on top of all that I’m playing a video in YouTube. Then it suggests shutting down the web browser due to overheating. I think that’s acceptable performance for a mobile Intel i3 system—especially compared to some similar Windows systems I’ve used.

I will readily admit that I don’t edit video or audio. I don’t play games. I also am willing to wait a few dozen seconds while the computer assembles and packages my JavaScript code for me (that’s one place where I could use more power). For what I do, though, my MacBook is fine.

After thinking about it, I decided to cancel my order with Apple. It was just as well because I ended up needing the money for something else. I’m saving up again, though. Maybe at some point there will be an M2 Pro MacBook.