WarashiMost people upgrade because the old Mac “feels slow” or the new one looks great. A better reason: your own data shows you're running out of something.
The three things that matter
- Memory: are you under memory pressure and swapping on normal days? See How much RAM do I need?
- Storage: how fast is your disk filling? A drive that's 70% full and grows 20 GB a month will be full within a year.
- Chip: how often does it run flat out, for how long, and does it slow down from heat?
When not to upgrade
If memory pressure is green, your disk has room for a few years at its current rate, and the chip rarely runs flat out for long, a new Mac won't feel much faster for your work. Clean up storage and keep the money.
When to upgrade, and to what
Buy for the limit you actually hit: one memory size up if you swap on busy days, storage sized for three years of growth plus room to spare, and a Pro or Max chip only if you sustain heavy load or your GPU work demands it.
Let 30 days decide
Warashi's Upgrade Advisor records the evidence every day and, after 30 days, recommends memory, storage and chip, rounded to configurations Apple sells, with the numbers behind each answer.