I bought a new computer. Well, an old computer. A newer computer from the refurbished store. I appreciate that there are discounts on Apple products, because they can tend to be fairly expensive, and their add-ons are overpriced because they have a captive audience due to the soldered-on nature of the components.

Using the iOS devices without being able to upgrade them hasn’t really been an issue for me. It has trained me to appreciate the contained, singular nature of the devices, and I find that I don’t really mind that I can no longer upgrade the RAM or put in a new HDD to prolong the life of the machine. At some point it just becomes necessary to move to a new model.

I didn’t expect to do this so soon, but I had a couple of friends who bought new M2 macs, and I found myself with the itch to do something about my own setup. So far, it seems to be worth it. The performance gains that are happening with each M-series chip are particularly pronounced, and upgrading from the normal M1 (which felt magical) to the M2 Pro seems to be another level altogether. I didn’t think it would be like this, but that’s because the Intel that we have just came out of was so incremental.

These computers have gotten a bit more expensive. Gone are the days of a $1200, entry-level MacBook Pro. But the cost is becoming more worth it. I bought refurbished so that I could spend on extra RAM (or, unified memory, as we’re calling it now) and a bigger SSD, because I found myself always at the limit of 512GB. 1TB feels like a luxury, but I’m sure it will be a constraint in a couple of years.

Still, I find it hard to spend money on luxuries. But this seems to be worth it so far, and I think we are in a place where we won’t feel like the money went missing.