The Value Proposition of the M2 MacBook Pro and Beyond: A Guide to Buying at the Right Time

I'm really, really good, and I'm sure it will be that still a really good value for the M2 and this is a common theme by the way with everything here except for the 15-inch MacBook Air which only came out a month or two ago. You can find tons of deals if you look hard enough now they're not going to blow your socks off right, you're not going to find these things for 50 off but a couple hundred dollars here and there definitely goes a long way at making the value proposition higher.

For example, let's take a look at some deals on the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros with the latest chips. I think some of the best advice I could give is if the Mac that you're shopping for came out more than two or three months ago, you shouldn't be buying it on Apple's website. If you can avoid it, typically when new Macs come out, you're going to pay retail or maybe you'll find a hundred-dollar discount on one of the pre-configured specs. But now that we're a couple months out, you can start to look for renewed options.

You can start to look for clearance sales and there's a lot of different ways that you can get a really good deal not just on the latest stuff. If you want to get a 16-inch MacBook Pro, what's stopping you from buying an M1 Pro machine from just last year? Here are a couple examples of those that I have found at significant discounts and these are all still being bought from major retailers.

When you step back and look at it that way, now is actually a really good time to buy a Mac. You have a ton of options. But beyond just good prices, there's also the fact that the current set of rumors doesn't have a particular device that is slated for a major redesign. I mean think about it, the MacBook Air 15 is a brand new device that didn't even exist before the 13-inch MacBook Air. The MacBook Pros are a new design from about two years ago. The iMac is two years old. The Mac Mini doesn't really seem like it's going to change at all. And the Mac Studio is also a brand new device that didn't exist until a year ago.

The Mac Pro, well that device you just shouldn't buy it anyway except if you're me because I bought one and I've actually got a video planned where I want to just absolutely load that thing out and try to make the most of the PCIe lane. So let me know in the comments below if you want to see that video. But anyway, I digress.

The point is there are a ton of good options out there, and I really don't want you guys to be afraid to buy a computer if you need a computer. I do legitimately get a ton of comments and Twitter DMs and emails from people saying like oh my gosh, I really want to get the new 14-inch MacBook Pro but I didn't get it back in January and now it's September and I'm terrified that a new one's gonna come out and I'm gonna feel like a schmuck because I spent two thousand dollars on a previous-gen device.

It's completely understandable to feel that way. I have felt that way in the past, and yeah if you really want to have the latest device and know that it's not going to get replaced immediately, the best strategy is to buy it on launch day just whatever you have if you want the latest and greatest just don't buy anything until Apple announces it and then buy it immediately. That's the only way that you're possibly going to be able to have any control over that.

But for normal people who buy on their schedule not Apple, there are a ton of options, and you shouldn't feel bad about buying something that came out eight or nine months ago or even two or three years ago. Anyway, I hope this video helps distill some calm out there because I know that uh we do tend to get a little excited over here in the tech world, and I'm no exception.

I'll admit we get excited about new devices coming out oh what's next what's next? We never really take a moment to say okay what if what we have right now is perfectly good. I'm sitting here with a table covered in MacBooks it's a ridiculous thing to say but all of them are a fantastic option you can find all of them for less than retail, and you really can't go wrong.

So just keep your eyes peeled, find a good deal if you do want to wait then wait but don't put it off for like two years. I don't think that really helps anyone anyway. I've rambled on for long enough. I hope you guys found this video helpful. Let me know down in the comments below if you did. Make sure to like comment and subscribe, and I'll see you in the next one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwell folks it's that time of year again the summertech drought is over Apple just announced their September event which means new iPhones Apple watches and maybe an iPad or a homepod or something are just around the corner and that also means that it is Peak Tech buying season most people buy computers phones whatever they need between September and December and ironically this is also a period of time where people are the most indecisive because right now apple has a full lineup of fantastic apple silicon Max these are just the laptops there's a whole other range of desktops that I don't even have with me and the question that I've been getting a lot lately is is now a bad time are any of these devices in imminent danger of being replaced or upgraded with three nanometer M3 chips that we just talked about in my most recent video so it's definitely a complicated situation if you are looking to buy a Macbook right now but if I may I'd like to try to break it down as much as I can and we'll start with a very simple bit of advice there is no such thing as the wrong time or a bad time to buy a device when you need a device that's the time to buy one I think a lot of people including myself tend to get way too fixated on oh maybe I shouldn't buy the M2 15-inch MacBook Air because the M3 chip is coming out soon so I gotta wait for the M3 version of the 15-inch MacBook Air before I upgrade but then who knows by the time the M3 15-inch MacBook Air comes along maybe there's a rumor saying oh well next time it's going to get OLED and now you really want OLED and you end up in this endless cycle where you're not satisfied with the machine that you bought and you're always just waiting for the next thing so I think the best way to break things down is to step back avoid the speculation and examine three key things the first is your needs what do you want in a computer the budget the performance the size Etc the second is to examine the landscape of what's actually available don't get caught up with thinking about oh what's going to come out in 2024 think about okay this is what we have now there's X number of sales or discounts and there's refurbished versions of these products to choose from so make sure that you understand that and the third is yeah keep an eye on the rumors now granted that's a lot easier with an iPhone because these come out every September so you can just look at a calendar and say okay well it's August maybe I'm not gonna buy a new phone right now with the MacBooks you're gonna need to read a little bit more tea leaves so for example right now the M3 chip is the big rumor that's supposedly coming as soon as October of this year but you'll notice that supposed and as soon as okay not very concrete now I have a whole video talking about why the M3 Max look pretty exciting but the key takeaway as it relates to this situation is the time frame October of this year is the absolute earliest that we're going to see anything with an M3 chip and it's not going to be the higher end of the scale it's going to be the base model stuff so if you're shopping for a 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pro you should be keeping in mind okay these devices came out in January that's about nine months ago so they are a good ways into their cycle but they're not going to be imminently replaced because the M3 chip hasn't even come out yet which means there's at least six or eight months after that before an M3 Pro and Max chip are going to come out so that should help you on that end but on the base model end which are imminently going to be replaced I don't think that that disqualifies them either because the thing about the base model M2 MacBook Air right now is that you can find some really incredible deals on it starting with Apple's own website you can get these things for 970 dollars you can also find them on Amazon for the same price but just recently Newegg launched a new refurbished program and I suspect in an effort to gain market share they are absolutely demolishing everyone else on price you can get the base model M2 MacBook Air with the 8 core GPU eight gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage for just eight hundred and fifty dollars now that's a pretty crazy price okay and I've got links for everything that I'm talking about in the description below if you are actually buying a new Mac right now but holy cow 850 that's 250 dollars less than retail and that's very important because let's say in a perfect world The M3 MacBook Air comes out in October there's no information suggest that the form factor or anything about the device and design are going to change so it's a chip upgrade so you can get the same design right now and you can save 250 over retail even if the M3 chip is really really good and I'm sure it will be that's still a really good value for the M2 and this is a common theme by the way with everything here except for the 15-inch MacBook Air which only came out a month or two ago you can find tons of deals if you look hard enough now they're not going to blow your socks off right you're not going to find these things for 50 off but a couple hundred dollars here and there definitely goes a long way at making the value proposition higher here are some examples of 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros with the latest chips and some pretty decent discounts I think some of the best advice I could give is if the Mac that you're shopping for came out more than two or three months ago you shouldn't be buying it on Apple's website if you can avoid it typically when new Macs come out you're going to be paying retail or maybe you'll find a hundred dollar discount on one of the pre-configured specs but now that we're a couple months out you can start to look for renewed options you can start to look for clearance sales and there's a lot of different ways that you can get a really good deal not just on the latest stuff if you want to get a 16 inch MacBook Pro for example what's stopping you from buying an M1 Pro machine from just last year here's a couple examples of those that I have found at significant discounts and these are all still being bought from major retailers so when you step back and look at it that way now is actually a really good time to buy a Mac because you have a ton of options but beyond just good prices there's also the fact that the current set of rumors doesn't have a particular device that is slated for a major redesign I mean think about it the MacBook Air 15 is a brand new new device that didn't even exist before the 13-inch MacBook Air is a new design from one year ago the MacBook Pros are a new design from about two years ago the iMac is two years old the Mac Mini doesn't really seem like it's going to change at all the Mac Studio is also a brand new device that didn't exist until a year ago and the Mac Pro well that device you you just shouldn't buy it anyway except if you're me because I bought one and I've actually got a video planned where I want to just absolutely load that thing out and try to make the most of the pcie lane so let me know in the comments below if you want to see that video but anyway I digress the point is there are a ton of good options out there and I really don't want you guys to be afraid to buy a computer if you need a computer I do legitimately get a ton of comments and Twitter DMS and emails from people saying like oh my gosh I really want to get the new 14 inch MacBook Pro but I didn't get it back in January and now it's it's September and I'm terrified that a new one's gonna come out and I'm gonna feel like a schmuck because I spent two thousand dollars on a previous gen device it's completely understandable to feel that way I have felt that way in the past and yeah if you really want to have the latest device and know that it's not going to get replaced immediately the best strategy is to buy it on launch day just whatever you have if you want the latest and greatest just don't buy anything until Apple announces it and then buy it immediately that's the only way that you're possibly going to be able to have any control over that but for normal people who buy on their schedule not apples there are a ton of options and you shouldn't feel bad about buying something that came out eight or nine months ago or even two or three years ago so anyway I hope this video helps distill some calm out there because I know that uh we do tend to get a little excited over here in the tech world and I'm no exception I'll admit we get excited about new devices coming out oh what's next what's next we never really take a moment to say okay what if what we have right now is perfectly good I'm sitting here with a table covered in MacBooks it's a ridiculous thing to say but all of them are a fantastic option you can find all of them for less than retail and you really can't go wrong so just keep your eyes peeled find a good deal if you do want to wait then wait but don't put it off for like two years I don't think that really helps anyone anyway I've rambled on for long enough I hope you guys found this video helpful let me know down in the comments below if you did make sure to like comment and subscribe and I'll see you in the next one thank youwell folks it's that time of year again the summertech drought is over Apple just announced their September event which means new iPhones Apple watches and maybe an iPad or a homepod or something are just around the corner and that also means that it is Peak Tech buying season most people buy computers phones whatever they need between September and December and ironically this is also a period of time where people are the most indecisive because right now apple has a full lineup of fantastic apple silicon Max these are just the laptops there's a whole other range of desktops that I don't even have with me and the question that I've been getting a lot lately is is now a bad time are any of these devices in imminent danger of being replaced or upgraded with three nanometer M3 chips that we just talked about in my most recent video so it's definitely a complicated situation if you are looking to buy a Macbook right now but if I may I'd like to try to break it down as much as I can and we'll start with a very simple bit of advice there is no such thing as the wrong time or a bad time to buy a device when you need a device that's the time to buy one I think a lot of people including myself tend to get way too fixated on oh maybe I shouldn't buy the M2 15-inch MacBook Air because the M3 chip is coming out soon so I gotta wait for the M3 version of the 15-inch MacBook Air before I upgrade but then who knows by the time the M3 15-inch MacBook Air comes along maybe there's a rumor saying oh well next time it's going to get OLED and now you really want OLED and you end up in this endless cycle where you're not satisfied with the machine that you bought and you're always just waiting for the next thing so I think the best way to break things down is to step back avoid the speculation and examine three key things the first is your needs what do you want in a computer the budget the performance the size Etc the second is to examine the landscape of what's actually available don't get caught up with thinking about oh what's going to come out in 2024 think about okay this is what we have now there's X number of sales or discounts and there's refurbished versions of these products to choose from so make sure that you understand that and the third is yeah keep an eye on the rumors now granted that's a lot easier with an iPhone because these come out every September so you can just look at a calendar and say okay well it's August maybe I'm not gonna buy a new phone right now with the MacBooks you're gonna need to read a little bit more tea leaves so for example right now the M3 chip is the big rumor that's supposedly coming as soon as October of this year but you'll notice that supposed and as soon as okay not very concrete now I have a whole video talking about why the M3 Max look pretty exciting but the key takeaway as it relates to this situation is the time frame October of this year is the absolute earliest that we're going to see anything with an M3 chip and it's not going to be the higher end of the scale it's going to be the base model stuff so if you're shopping for a 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pro you should be keeping in mind okay these devices came out in January that's about nine months ago so they are a good ways into their cycle but they're not going to be imminently replaced because the M3 chip hasn't even come out yet which means there's at least six or eight months after that before an M3 Pro and Max chip are going to come out so that should help you on that end but on the base model end which are imminently going to be replaced I don't think that that disqualifies them either because the thing about the base model M2 MacBook Air right now is that you can find some really incredible deals on it starting with Apple's own website you can get these things for 970 dollars you can also find them on Amazon for the same price but just recently Newegg launched a new refurbished program and I suspect in an effort to gain market share they are absolutely demolishing everyone else on price you can get the base model M2 MacBook Air with the 8 core GPU eight gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage for just eight hundred and fifty dollars now that's a pretty crazy price okay and I've got links for everything that I'm talking about in the description below if you are actually buying a new Mac right now but holy cow 850 that's 250 dollars less than retail and that's very important because let's say in a perfect world The M3 MacBook Air comes out in October there's no information suggest that the form factor or anything about the device and design are going to change so it's a chip upgrade so you can get the same design right now and you can save 250 over retail even if the M3 chip is really really good and I'm sure it will be that's still a really good value for the M2 and this is a common theme by the way with everything here except for the 15-inch MacBook Air which only came out a month or two ago you can find tons of deals if you look hard enough now they're not going to blow your socks off right you're not going to find these things for 50 off but a couple hundred dollars here and there definitely goes a long way at making the value proposition higher here are some examples of 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros with the latest chips and some pretty decent discounts I think some of the best advice I could give is if the Mac that you're shopping for came out more than two or three months ago you shouldn't be buying it on Apple's website if you can avoid it typically when new Macs come out you're going to be paying retail or maybe you'll find a hundred dollar discount on one of the pre-configured specs but now that we're a couple months out you can start to look for renewed options you can start to look for clearance sales and there's a lot of different ways that you can get a really good deal not just on the latest stuff if you want to get a 16 inch MacBook Pro for example what's stopping you from buying an M1 Pro machine from just last year here's a couple examples of those that I have found at significant discounts and these are all still being bought from major retailers so when you step back and look at it that way now is actually a really good time to buy a Mac because you have a ton of options but beyond just good prices there's also the fact that the current set of rumors doesn't have a particular device that is slated for a major redesign I mean think about it the MacBook Air 15 is a brand new new device that didn't even exist before the 13-inch MacBook Air is a new design from one year ago the MacBook Pros are a new design from about two years ago the iMac is two years old the Mac Mini doesn't really seem like it's going to change at all the Mac Studio is also a brand new device that didn't exist until a year ago and the Mac Pro well that device you you just shouldn't buy it anyway except if you're me because I bought one and I've actually got a video planned where I want to just absolutely load that thing out and try to make the most of the pcie lane so let me know in the comments below if you want to see that video but anyway I digress the point is there are a ton of good options out there and I really don't want you guys to be afraid to buy a computer if you need a computer I do legitimately get a ton of comments and Twitter DMS and emails from people saying like oh my gosh I really want to get the new 14 inch MacBook Pro but I didn't get it back in January and now it's it's September and I'm terrified that a new one's gonna come out and I'm gonna feel like a schmuck because I spent two thousand dollars on a previous gen device it's completely understandable to feel that way I have felt that way in the past and yeah if you really want to have the latest device and know that it's not going to get replaced immediately the best strategy is to buy it on launch day just whatever you have if you want the latest and greatest just don't buy anything until Apple announces it and then buy it immediately that's the only way that you're possibly going to be able to have any control over that but for normal people who buy on their schedule not apples there are a ton of options and you shouldn't feel bad about buying something that came out eight or nine months ago or even two or three years ago so anyway I hope this video helps distill some calm out there because I know that uh we do tend to get a little excited over here in the tech world and I'm no exception I'll admit we get excited about new devices coming out oh what's next what's next we never really take a moment to say okay what if what we have right now is perfectly good I'm sitting here with a table covered in MacBooks it's a ridiculous thing to say but all of them are a fantastic option you can find all of them for less than retail and you really can't go wrong so just keep your eyes peeled find a good deal if you do want to wait then wait but don't put it off for like two years I don't think that really helps anyone anyway I've rambled on for long enough I hope you guys found this video helpful let me know down in the comments below if you did make sure to like comment and subscribe and I'll see you in the next one thank you\n"