Ever since my first interactions then, I’d gone through dozens of Macs over the years from G4s, G5s, iMacs to Powerbooks, Mac Pros, Macbook Airs and Macbook Pros for my work. However the last proper Mac I'd bought was back in 2013 and I'd not gone back since. And the reason for that is because, aside from the lack of innovation I find compared to the late 90s-2010s Job era (where likes of Firewire & Thunderbolt appeared), the newer Macs don't offer you user upgradeable parts and you are forced to change the expensive logic boards when the system fails with things like the proprietary NVMe SSD. If you want to dual boot Windows you can't do that on a new AS Mac due to lack of x86 support. That's what I generally dislike about the newer Macs, the fact that aside from the so-called speed improvements, it is generally incompatible with everything else around it AND it costs you a lot of money to run especially if it needs repairs.
For better or worse, Macs are disposable products. Use them until they are outdated or when your hardware is no longer supported on the latest version of macOS and replace them. This was true even with Intel based Macs.
Assuming you wanted to use the latest version of Mac OS X/macOS, you had to buy a new Mac when Apple dropped support for Core 2 Duo or HD 4000 graphics, etc. Apple has been regularly depreciating hardware support for as long as I can remember.
If you want to use old hardware, your options are (1) stick with old versions of Mac OS X/macOS, (2) Windows, or (3) Linux.
Realistically, SSD and RAM are pretty reliable and rarely fail. I'm not saying they don't fail, I know they do. But, on a grand scale, it's pretty rare. (Samsung stuff might be an exception. Lol). Yes, all SSD have a limited lifespan and degrade over time and use but they
usually last long enough for the useful lifespan of a computer. Don't under spec a Mac at the time of purchase and the SSD and RAM should last way beyond when the system has been updated/replaced.
Yes, you can't dual boot an Apple Silicon Mac between macOS and Windows. But, soon, you won't be able to dual boot a PC with the
latest macOS and Windows either. Dual booting of macOS and Linux is possible on Apple Silicon Macs.
I don't think Apple has ever been really concerned about whether Macs are compatible with other operating systems, software for other operating systems, or hardware. This has been true since 6502, 680x0, PowerPC. At times, it even seemed like they went out of their way to be incompatible (i.e. ADB vs PS/2 or NuBus vs ISA or PCI).
The fact that macOS can be run on non-Apple hardware was unintended. We, as users, benefitted greatly. With Apple Silicon, Apple is just returning to their roots. The free ride is coming to an end...
Macs have never been the cheapest option and probably never will be. If you want to continue to use macOS, you're going to have to fork up the cash. If you don't want to, the options will be Windows or Linux.
forums.macrumors.com
