Hi everyone 👋 I'm saving up to get myself a full apple ecosystem at the end of 2023 (iphone,ipad,MacBook,airpods) and I wanna hear your opinion on some questions that I have :
1) how long will my products receive updates for ? ( I'm thinking about getting either the iphone SE 3rd gen 2022 since it has the newest chip or an iphone 11 , but couldn't choose from between , I want something that last but at the same time the iphone SE is small and feels outdated design wise / MacBook air M1 or m2 ? Both are 8gb and 265gb , I'm using them for coding and machine learning / ipad 9th gen 64gb / airpods 2nd gen )
Thank you in advance 🙏
P.S : I'm coming from a third world country, so we don't have access to the latest apple tech and even if we did they're so expensive so there's that , so no need to tell me to get the latest products please
Here's my honest advice: Don't do it. Or, at least, don't go full-tilt into the ecosystem. Like, iPads are phenomenal. Get an iPad regardless of the rest of the ecosystem. But, otherwise, especially being located in a country that won't have great support options for the Apple ecosystem, just don't. It's an ecosystem that's extremely easy to join and can be extremely difficult to leave.
Mac hardware is generally amazing, but the operating system has some real quality control issues. You also don't have the option to go back to Windows as an alternate/fallback as easily as one did with Intel Macs.
The iPhones are fine, but there's nothing I can say about an iPhone over, say, a Google Pixel or a OnePlus that makes it better. However, there are a lot of products that REQUIRE you to have an iPhone. You can't switch back.
While it has seen better days, Apple's support is the best for consumer class hardware. By going all-in with Apple in a part of the world where you can't take advantage of that is risky and will likely lead to headaches as your products age.
So, again, my advice, get an iPad. It is compatible with any possible other existing ecosystem that you have in place. And while you should still get AppleCare on it, not having Apple support options locally won't hurt anywhere near as badly. But, stop there. If you really feel like you need more Apple in your life because you're sick of Android and Windows, go switching. But getting all oogley-eyed and diving in without considering the current state of things is a foolish idea.
THAT BEING SAID:
The current SE is a better buy. Don't get an iPhone 11. The design being out of date is a superficial feature that doesn't affect you having a phone that does what that phone is supposed to do. The iPhone 11 could lose support as soon as Fall of 2024 or as late as Fall 2027.
The 9th Generation iPad is only a good buy if you NEED the older iPad design for compatibility with older accessories or if you absolutely need a headphone jack. 10th Generation iPad is a better buy and certainly, a 5th Generation iPad Air, for having an M1, is even better than that. 9th Generation iPad will lose support before any of the other currently available iPads do.
If you are doing coding on a Mac, you will want more than 8GB and more than 256GB of storage. If you can only afford the base model, you will have better bang for buck with the M1. But, I'd honestly get no less than 16GB of RAM and no less than 512GB of storage. I don't know what KIND of coding and machine learning you will be doing. Certainly Macs are great for coding, though, depending on what kind of development environment you will want to be using, that ought to dictate what computer you get more than anything.
AirPods are nothing special as far as headphones go. The one thing that makes them special is how easy it is to pair and switch devices with other Apple products. If you really are just wanting to give Apple money, cool. But they're kind of not worth it otherwise.
