My current MacBook, named Shaymin. Honestly, way overpowered for my needs, but fits very nicely with my *wants*. Definitely more than I would have spent on a MacBook for myself, but my parents very generously wanted to buy one for me, and wanted me to spec it up to last. * MacBook Pro 14" 2023 * The 16" would be nice when using it at a desk, but a pain to carry around. And even when I'm not going out, I still move it around at home a fair bit. * M2 Max, 30-core GPU * The Max is overkill, really, but it's always nice to have extra power. There was a GPU upgrade available beyond 30-core, but I didn't see much point. * 32Gb RAM, 1Tb Storage * From too little RAM, this is now more than I ever use, but spare RAM becomes cache, so it's good to have. And anything less than 1Tb of storage is a bit tight for me. 512Mb is fine, but means more cases of things having to download from iCloud. ## Compared to Previous As an upgrade from my previous [MacBook Pro M1](../macbook-pro-m1/), it's pretty nice, though that one was still doing just fine for most things. The slightly bigger screen is probably the biggest improvement for me, followed by the extra memory. The extra ports are handy, especially having USB-C on both sides, the extra storage comes in useful, and the jump in CPU power is impressive, even if I don't *often* make much use of it. Compared to my previous one, there's no need to close apps I'm not using at the moment - things can just sit there until I need them, ready to go. I haven't come close to running low on memory yet. It's a bit of a revelation how much memory some things will use when they're not constrained any more, but it's things like Safari just using 1.5Gb for a single web page, which it would reduce if needed. When nothing else can make use of the RAM, it uses more for cache, so it doesn't go to waste. I thought I might miss the Touch Bar, which I did quite like, but I think losing it has shown me that I didn't so much *like* it, as just *not mind* it. Some people hate it, and for me it was fine. I slightly miss the screenshot button, but the hardware volume and brightness controls are better than the Touch Bar versions. ## Case A first for me - I got a case with this one. A hard-case that fits onto the MacBook, adding a bit of protection. Previous ones have taken a few small dents, and the anodising has worn in places. For one thing, the case should prevent that sort of wear, and for another, it should prevent damage to the things I've bumped with the MacBook. In a bump against a wall, a MacBook might take a little dent, but the wall will usually come off worse. Fitting it was very easy. It adds a *little* bit of size and weight, but not much. I can't say it looks as nice as a naked MacBook, but it looks *fine*. Might be mistaken for another brand, but I don't have a MacBook to show off, so that doesn't really matter to me. Also, I used to sticker my MacBook. And the stickers will cause the finish to wear differently underneath, leaving permanent marks. This way, I can sticker the case, without marking the MacBook's finish. Not a big deal to me, really, as I'll more than likely keep this running until it has little value anyway, so I don't generally worry about resale value. ## Sleeve I've now switched to keeping it in the Wandrd 14" Laptop Sleeve, so it can be carried reasonably safely in my little [[Wandrd Rogue Sling]] bag. I've found the sleeve really nice to use - doubles up as a handy stand, lifting the screen a bit when using the MacBook, as well as protecting it when I'm not. ## For Gaming Yes, I know, you don’t buy a MacBook for gaming. But if you have one for other things, you can play a few games on it too. The problem isn’t generally how well things run on it, it’s how few games are available. Fortunately, the types of games I like most tend to be the ones that are more likely to be available on the Mac. At the moment, that’s [[Timberborn]], but [[No Man's Sky]] works well too. It’s a shame Cities Skylines 2 isn’t coming to Mac, at least so far, but it looks like it needs a bit of work on Windows first anyway, so maybe a Mac version will happen in a couple of years. ## Backups With almost everything in iCloud, backups are less important than they would otherwise be. If I lost everything that *wasn't* in iCloud, there'd be relatively little actually gone. But I still do backups. iCloud is for syncing, and if I accidentally delete a file, iCloud will sync the deletion everywhere. Time Machine is very easy, and seems to work pretty well. Plug in an external drive, and when macOS asks, tell it to use it for Time Machine. If it's a desktop Mac and you can leave it plugged in, it'll back up every hour. Mine is a MacBook, so whenever I plug the drive in, it does a backup. I used to use a little USB-C stick from Kingston. It was only 1Tb, to back up a 1Tb SSD, which wasn't ideal, but it did the job, and I already had it from my previous MacBook with only 512Mb storage. But it got full enough that it was barely keeping any history, and started getting very slow. I replaced it with a little Crucial 4Tb SSD. Not as tiny, but still small enough. Much, much faster, and has enough space to partition it in half. One half is enough for Time Machine to keep a good amount of history, and the other half is good for extra manual backups, and some spare space.