Is upgrading right for me? M1 to M4 pro after a second liquid spill

Hardware
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~3 years ago I had an incident with a serious coffee spill on my M1 Macbook Air: 🤦‍♂️ Hardware Damage Moments

Yesterday I had a minor coconut water spill on my M1 MacBook Air.

BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME THIS IS TWO SPILLS IN IDK LIKE 5 YEARS OKAY :laughing:

Today, I brought the Air into Apple to just have them take a look at it. They took it apart, looks okay, but battery failed the diagnostic.

Apple Genius noted the following: “Hey man, two spills, it’s still working okay. Battery won’t effect trade in. We have a trade in promo right now, you’d get about $440 towards a new device. Might be a good time to trade in?”

It got me thinking…

This is an M1 w/ 16 gig of RAM and a 1 TB HD. Maybe it is worth upgrading? I’d budgeted to buy a new computer within 5 years of purchase and that time has just about come.

I was first considering an M4 Air, but getting the 1 TB HD is a “non-standard” purchase and means additional wait time. What piqued my interest was instead going for the 14" M4 MacBook Pro w/ 1 TB HD and 16 gigs of RAM.

Thoughts?

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Trade it in, take the money while you can. And buy the 14 inch MacBook Pro.

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Three strikes and you are . . . :wink:

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I had a similar purchase decision a couple of weeks ago. No spills though. I pull the trigger. Trade in was not going to increase and time frame was marginally ok. Bought an M4 with a 1tb h/d and 24 gb ram. Had it in store. No regrets.

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Some alternatives:

  1. Every time you have a cup of coffee with your new M4, put $5 in a jar to go toward your future M6.
  2. If you must drink, drink out of a sipper cup.
  3. Always use a cheap separate keyboard.
  4. Switch to a Mac mini with a cheap keyboard.
  5. Switch to Windows and buy something like the Panasonic Toughbook or other laptop that is impervious to spills.
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If you don’t do it and anything happens, you’ll regret it.

You have the budget for it, you have the reason for it, and the trade-in price, as others have said, will not go up.

You’re looking for an OK to get it.

OK. Get it.

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That seems like a really generous trade in price to me. I’d take that today if somebody was offering it to me.

My wife doesn’t need her M1 laptop for a few days does she?!

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I once spilled water to the point of hardware damage on my laptop twice in 6 months…I don’t allow unlidded glasses on my desk anymore :upside_down_face:

Do the upgrade haha

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Thanks - I wasn’t necessarily looking for an okay to buy as other folks floated. I was mostly interested in the trade in price, which DID seem generous.

Believe it or not, I really don’t mind the idea just continuing to use this laptop. These computers are all so good as is and besides a possible ticking time bomb of sugary corrosion in my M1, it suits my needs well!

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The performance gains are well and truly enough from M1 to M4, if it were me I’d be move to a new laptop.

That ticking noise in your head isn’t going to go away, and we’ll get louder!

However the M1 Air in my house that the family use is still going super strong, and I’m proud of that laptop. I don’t know when it will need to be replaced………so I guess that doesn’t help :wink:

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Buy a little riser to elevate the laptop off the desk about 4", and yeah - separate keyboard/trackpad. :smiley:

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Traded in my MBA M1 to Apple for $440 and purchased the MBA M4.

WOW, just……WOW! I thought the M1 was a game changer, but DAMN! It’s so sleek and sexy and all the power. Pull the trigger; you won’t regret it.

MBA M4 / 24gb RAM / 512 HD

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  1. Always use a cheap separate keyboard.

Just a reminder that basically ANY external keyboard is “cheap” relative to a Mac computer.

So, get the keyboard that is right for you. Comfort and ergonomics are important for the piece of the computer you physically interact with.

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Spilled water on my M2 MBA this week :sob: it’s ’drying out’ and I will try and fire it up later to see what the damage is :grimacing::grimacing::grimacing: EVERYBODY should elevate their laptops off the desk NOW!

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Haha. This is why I obsessively move any liquids behind my laptop. I just replaced an old Keychron because my 5-year-old knocked something onto it, though.

Edit: that’s a sympathetic haha. :frowning:

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