OK- after advice from you all and what I can possibly afford (if I sell my Windows Laptop) I could afford a decent m1 mi

[August West]

Shop Microcenter or a personal acquaintance. Better yet, do what you can with what you have until you absolutely cannot. If you are using the hardware to make money, find a way to make it pay for itself. Ask yourself what is the most productive path forward. Spending all this time and angst on this level purchase would be better spent earning money to buy better hardware. Best of luck!

[Jerry®]

dk62 wrote:
I am not sure why you are comparing Acer processor to M1/M2. Do you run the same apps on both? You do know that you cannot install Windows on Apple silicon Macs and thus you would not be able to play any Windows games (which is why I keep an i7 mini with external video card)? You probably know all this, but I just want to make sure, as you are replacing a gaming Windows machine with a not-really-gaming Mac and comparing the processors in the two.

Sorry I wasn’t exactly clear - I was just comparing the two processors because the speed of my Acer is decent so if I were to get a used m1 or m2 I wanted to know how they compared when doing certain things like graphics, ONE game I play (that’s available on Mac and PC), audio projects, graphic design, and basic things like email, etc. I did some reading and talked to chatGPT just to compare them and give me some numbers so I can get an idea how fast an m1 or m2 might be in comparison to an intel i7 processor (yes I know they are different), and NO I do NOT want to run Windows on my Mac. I want to get AWAY from Windows. ChatGPT is actually pretty concise when comparing the two processors and comparing them when running World of Warcraft on the intel vs. an m1 or m2 Mac. From what I’ve read the m1 will run WoW perfectly fine but I’d really like an m2 so we’ll see.

Sorry for the confusion!!!

[Jerry®]

August West wrote:
Shop Microcenter or a personal acquaintance. Better yet, do what you can with what you have until you absolutely cannot. If you are using the hardware to make money, find a way to make it pay for itself. Ask yourself what is the most productive path forward. Spending all this time and angst on this level purchase would be better spent earning money to buy better hardware. Best of luck!

Yeah I’ve been looking at Swappa too. We don’t have a Microcenter near me and in our small town and the small towns around us there are not many Macs being sold locally. I have had to turn down gigs for not having a newer Mac but then again I don’t get a lot of them until. around Christmas. I HAVE been doing what I can do with my PC and I am right at that “absolutely cannot” anymore with it and want a Mac. And don’t get me wrong - I know I can be dramatic in my posts but. Im NOT losing sleep over this by any means. Just kind excited to know that it’s possible if I sell my PC that I could get a used m2 and get back into being a Mac-aholic!!!!

thanks!!!!

[August West]

I don't know what you do, but I've needed DBs for some jobs and just spun them up on AWS. I also used their free trial for some time.

[Black]

Jerry® wrote:
[quote=Black]
The M4 is such a jump in performance from even the M2, and was readily available under $500 for the base model.... it's hard to imagine paying over $400 for an M1. As I recall you need 1 TB of storage so whether there's a quarter TB or a half a TB internal isn't going to matter much.

The M4 or M2 under $500? Where? As for storage I probably could get by with 512 gigabytes and then use externals drives. So what do you suggest?
There was all kinds of buzz here about M4s for as little as $449.
https://forums.macresource.com/search.ph...ch_threads=

Moving up to 512 puts it far out of your price range.

[Black]

FWIW I don't think that M2 Mini in Springfield is a scam.

[Jerry®]

Black wrote:
FWIW I don't think that M2 Mini in Springfield is a scam.

The m2 PRO? He messaged me yesterday and I told him I was nervous about the arrangement and he understood and said I could pay 1/2 now and the rest when I received it. I then asked how much was the shipping and he hasn’t gotten back to me.

I found an m2 16/512 for $450 in Indiana. The guy is selling it on Facebook marketplace as well. He seems more legit because he has many seller ratings and I messaged him and he said he could ship it (he had it listed as a local pickup) but that if he shipped he couldn’t get it out until the 6th which I told him I was fine with. We’re still in talks but I hope one of these works out.

[Jerry®]

Black wrote:
FWIW I don't think that M2 Mini in Springfield is a scam.

I did a reverse search on his phone # and it’s a Florida # but he could have moved from Florida to Springfield….

[Black]

Jerry® wrote:
[quote=Black]
FWIW I don't think that M2 Mini in Springfield is a scam.

I did a reverse search on his phone # and it’s a Florida # but he could have moved from Florida to Springfield….
I did too.... I'd ask about it. He's got a pretty unique name, shouldn't bee too hard to Zaba etc. and see if there's a Florida connection.

[Jerry®]

Black wrote:
[quote=Jerry®]
[quote=Black]
FWIW I don't think that M2 Mini in Springfield is a scam.

I did a reverse search on his phone # and it’s a Florida # but he could have moved from Florida to Springfield….
I did too.... I'd ask about it. He's got a pretty unique name, shouldn't bee too hard to Zaba etc. and see if there's a Florida connection.

His name checks out via Zaba report from Springfield