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>...I regularly update components in my systems each year including RAM, GPU, SSDs, WiFi...

Then go for it - you have choices, and no one is forcing you to buy a Mac.

I personally got shit to do and have no interest in replacing all of that at that type of frequency.




You might not but someone else will thereby preventing your computer from becoming e-waste. The only way your non upgradeable computer won't become e-waste is if you commit to using it for as long as an upgradeable computer would be used for. Lets say 10 years. Will you commit to not contributing to ewaste by using your non upgradeable computer for the next 10 years?


I buy Apple computers precisely because I want a machine I can use for that long. I used my last Macbook Air for 11 years without having to replace anything, so was less wasteful than a person swapping out components every year. Its screen is toast so it's a headless server now.


> Past Performance Is No Indicator of Future Performance

Just because Apple computers before last a long time doesn't mean it will be the same with their current computers.

Although my personal bet is that the 2016-2019 MBP will degrade faster than the 2020 M1 Macs.


Desktop systems last even longer than laptops. Except, of course, Apple's desktop systems because they'll stop letting you upgrade the OS.


If everyone were like you then I would have no qualms about Apple's anti environmentalism. Personally I upgraded a garbage 2011 MBP from an unusable state with a SSD (came with HDD)and ram extending it's life. I find it ridiculous that I can upgrade an ancient MBP's ram to more than comes with the current base spec.


Each of my MBPs has been used for at least a decade (though not by me after ~6 years with most), so, sure, I'll commit to that since it's already happened with all the others.


I gave my son the 2012 MacBook Pro when I purchased the M1 MBP this year. He uses it for everything now.

I have tried giving older Macs to other family members, that didn't work out so well. So there are limits.

In general, used Macs have crazy high resale value, and if they work out ok, no problem with that. Both ends of the transaction receive value from the exchange.

I am in the process of clearing out quite a bit of e-waste, but we are talking fried PowerPC Macs and some iPhone 4 devices that I cant get working again. I have noticed that the Macs tend to be physically smaller than thier counterparts from the same era in my collection; that might suggest less e-waste overall, but of course the variation is all over the place.

The oldest operational x86 machines in my setup are two tower Mac Pros, a 2007 one and anither from 2009. These are somewhat upgradeable: you can use SSDs instead of rotating rust (duh), max out the RAM (easy), put in newer GPUs (drivers and BIOS permitting), or max out the CPUs (you need a moderately weird tool to get at the heat sink screws).

The fate of our electronics is indeed worthy of concern, but I don't see that Apple approach leading necessarily to more trash.

(oh yes: I am typing this on an ipad 4. I'd love to keep using it for another 14 months, it will then be ten years old. but it's getting a bit unreasonable. Works for hacker news though)




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