Hello Fellow Technophiles,
Technology moves faster and faster every day. The power of a processor continues to grow relatively close to the rate predicted by Intel founder Gordon Moore in 1965. This prediction, now known as Moore’s Law, stated that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit would double every year for at least a decade. When the decade was up, the prediction was downsized to doubling every two years. This rate has held up remarkably well for forty years. At this point, however, we are hitting the limits of the materials themselves and this trend is unlikely to continue indefinitely. Nevertheless, machines will still continue to gain in processing power as multiple chips are utilized and software is optimized for specific tasks.
Apple is one of the leading innovators in computing and they continue to upgrade and improve all of their product line. Because of this, there is always something more powerful on the horizon. We are often asked by customers whether they should buy the current model or wait for the next one. My advice is usually to buy the current model as the other option can extend the decision to purchase indefinitely. Why only wait for the next one when the one after that will be even MORE powerful? Or why not the one after that or the one after that? As you can see, this quickly turns into turtles all the way down and you will never buy anything new.
Another good reason to move on to a new computer is that Apple only makes replacement parts for a limited time period. After five years a machine is marked as vintage and after seven years it is marked as obsolete. In California and Turkey only, vintage products can be repaired. Everywhere else you cannot get hardware service from an Apple Authorized Service Provider, such as Small Dog, on either vintage or obsolete products. This means that the late 2011 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro will be marked vintage soon, so if you have this model and there has been an issue, now is the time to get it looked at.
See Apple’s list of vintage and obsolete products here.
Thanks for reading!