Response: When should I replace my Apple family?

James Van Dyne just posted a response note and, much like him, I became curious too.

You got me curious about my mid-2014 Macbook Pro. I bought it Nov 21st, 2014. That’s 7 years 3 months, and 22 days ago. Or 2671 days. Cost was $2699 (before tax), which puts me right at $1.01 per day. 4 more weeks and I’ll hit that dollar / day mark!

https://jamesvandyne.com/2b2fa8ea-318f-4255-9bfd-a033c5d3344c

Let’s say the target for the phone and the laptop is $1/day — or roughly ₹75/day.

For the AirPods, I picked an arbitrary ₹20/day.

Where I have purchased AppleCare+, I am including it. Similarly, if I got a cashback from my bank, I am including that too as a credit to arrive at a net-sum-paid figure.

Considering that, my spreadsheet spits out the following.

2020 M1 MacBook Air.

I should use it until 11 January 2027 — or roughly ~4.8 more years from today. I think this is achievable even if the laptop starts showing its age in its twilight years.

Originally, I did not plan on using it for more than 2 years (so that it would still have 1 year of AppleCare+ left) and selling it off for the next Air. That 1 year of AppleCare would be enough to help me find suitors that are willing to pay an OK price.

I think that’s less likely to happen now. It will cause a lot of financial strain either way.

2021 iPhone 13 Pro.

Should be used until 13 October 2026 — or roughly ~4.6 more years from today. Considering iPhones get software support for 5 to 7 years, this should be okay.

Well, okay as long as I can take care of the device and Apple is generous enough to let me pay for a battery replacement.

2021 AirPods (3rd Generation).

I am targetting for ₹20/day (or $0.26/day) and looks like these should be used until 23 November 2022 — or roughly ~0.7 more years from today.

I got it for about 1/3rd of the MRP — as I was able to sell my OnePlus Buds (bought recently) and an old monitor as well (bought in 2019 and sparingly used). These sales make the outlook much brighter on the AirPods than it otherwise really is.

If I considered the full price paid, we’d be looking at more than ~2.3 years of use — I just don’t think these things are designed for that kind of longevity.

2021 iPad (9th generation)

At a target of ₹40/day ($0.53/day), I expect to use this until 23 January 2025 — roughly ~2.85 years from today. Sounds totally doable.

In the end…

Yeah, I’ve gone overboard these last few months…

I definitely think the Pro model is nice, but I could have maybe stuck with a regular iPhone. As much as I love the Telephoto and the adaptive 120Hz display, perhaps I screwed up there financially. It was a luxury purchase and I wasn’t thinking straight… marketing can play so well on your mind.

I already know my next earphones are going to be wired — but the USB-C-or-Lightning-?! mess is concerning.

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