The non-upgrade support group

I know this is a first world problem, but man is this new iPad protesting my willpower. I don’t “need” it. My current iPad pro is the last gen iPad Pro 10.5 with cellular. In recent years I’ve tried to avoid upgrading when not necessary (having a kid and mortgage will do that). I still have an iPhone 7! (the shame!).

Anyone else resisting the temptation?

What’s the oldest device you have that you still use daily?

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I started building no momentum a few weeks ago. Glad I did. I reassure myself in two or three years it will be more wonderful than now. But with Max and 10.5 I’m not ill equiped.

I still use a second gen Nexus 7. It wakes me up and plays a story as I go to sleep. App upgrades still work. But the warning message,“This app is not optimized for your device,” flashes more frequently. I’ll use it till it stop working.

I’m at the point where I am trying to resist the new iPad. Part of the struggle is I know I’d benefit from some the changes (size, keyboard, pencil). But I’m at the point where I’m trying to frame in my brain what the iPad is for me. Instead of treating it like an iPhone where I get a new one every year, I’m beginning to think of it as a computer, something I might replace every few years.

Basically, Apple is pushing me in this direction because of pricing. When I spec out the iPad I’d want (plus keyboard and pencil), I’m at around $1500 (and that’s if I go with the 11” vs 12.9”). That’s the price of a laptop. Period. I’m in no way complaining about the pricing, because I think there is a lot of value I’d get from that. However, I can’t justify $1500-$1800 every year. Even if you take off the price of the keyboard and pencil (assuming they stay compatible) AND assume I can get around $500 for my existing iPad, I’d still be out of pocket $600-$700 each year. That adds up.

So that’s where I’m at — trying to change my paradigm about the iPad into more of a computer replacement cycle. My current 10.5” iPad is still kicking butt as my every day computer (my iMac fills the gap for heavier tasks).

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Fountain pen. But that’s because for me it’s superior to the alternatives. :yum:

If I had a 10.5 iPad Pro I would definitely hold off for another year. The new models offer a lot of individual improvements over your model but I’d think that for pretty much everything you do with your machine a new model wouldn’t make you particularly more productive. (Unless perhaps you draw for a living.)

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I know what you mean. I go through that a lot, and I feel like I’ve given in to temptation too many times, but now that you ask and I’ve taken inventory, it looks like I haven’t: I’ve got a mid-2011 Mac mini in my recording booth, still running something like Mountain Lion to preserve Pro Tools compatibility, and my mid-2012 MacBook Pro has been my main workhorse for over six years and is running Mojave. (It helps that I replaced the original hard drive with an SSD a couple of years ago.) I bought one iPad ever, iPad 4(? — the first one with a retina display). Maybe the iPhone is my weak spot. I went from a 4 to a 6, then a 7, now an 8, and the Xs is screaming my name…

When I was about to leave my Apple job, I used my employee purchase credit and discount to get an 11-inch MacBook Air for a price that was so low it would bring tears to your eyes, so I almost think of that as something I had to buy, rather than something I got out of sheer temptation. I couldn’t leave that money on the table. So I can leave my Pro on the desk connected to an external monitor all the time, and I use the Air when I’m away from home.

Still rocking my iPhone 6s, iPad Pro 9.7, and 2011 MBP. Phone is next to upgrade, probably a XS Max. Then something for the MBP since it won’t run Mojave. Maybe the new Mini since my iPad meets my portable needs now.

I have way too many lightning cables to switch to usb-c. We keep at least 3 charging cables in each vehicle.

Retired the last three years so I really resist temptation! Only Apple purchases the past year or so have been iPhones (we use a “strict” 3 year purchase cycle), Apple Watch Gen 4 – replacing the Gen 0 of my wife’s and Gen 1 of mine, but particularly for the fall detection (we average 72 years old). And I replaced my wife’s iMac last Christmas. She had been using my previous iMac, a 27" 2009 and I felt she deserved a Retina display.

So old devices still used daily? Two 2012 Mac minis, one as a server and the other on our entertainment center. My iMac (2014) has a 1989 Northgate OmniKey/102 keyboard and an external monitor, Dell 2001P from 2004. I just replaced our 2009 Airport Extreme with a UniFi AP-AC-LR a few months ago. It was still working and never crashed. Generally speaking, I don’t replace anything that is still running and doing the job.

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The oldest device I still use daily? You’re looking at it. iPad mini 2 - iirc I bought it in 2014 but it’s a 2013 device. It still works. I’m undecided whether to upgrade and if I do it will be to the 2018 iPad, not iPad Pro. I don’t need the power of the Pro.

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When it comes to iOS devices at most I only upgrade every other generation. I skipped the iPhone X and the 2nd generation 12.9” iPad Pro, but this year I upgraded to the XS and I have a new 12.9” pro on order.

I upgrade my Macs significantly less often. My oldest device in current use is a 2011Mac mini that lives on my desk at work. Depending on how some things shake out with some IT changes at work, I may replace that with one of the new minis. That will leave my 2012 Retina MacBook Pro as my oldest device (and it may well be the last laptop I ever buy).

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My main Mac is a MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015) which needs to be replaced but I’m holding off as long as I can.

I have a 9.7" iPad Pro that’s 2-3 years old at this point and still works fine for everything I need it to do. When it dies I’ll probably get the 12.-whatever inch iPad to replace it.

I still have a 2007 iMac which I use, sort of, every day. It’s plugged in and I usually screen-share to it to test different things. It still runs El Capitan because it can’t be upgraded beyond that. It runs Audio Hijack Pro and automatically records some podcasts that record live.

I have a Mac mini (Late 2012) which is my home media server, and a Mac mini Server (Mid 2011) which is my Mac Mini Colo machine. Both of them probably should be replaced with newer Mac mini models, but the new pricing is not compelling.

(The amount of SSD you get with the base models is insulting, not to mention the weak “i3” processor or whatever it is. Apple has always been expensive, but you used to get good value for your extra money. Doesn’t feel that way in the Tim Cook era. Feels like you’re constantly being gouged for as much as they can get out of you while giving you the least they can get away with. First it was the 16 GB iPhone size, and now it’s the 128 SSD on the desktop Macs. Not to mention the 5 GB of “free” iCloud storage which wasn’t enough 5 years ago, never-mind today.)

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My oldest is a mid 2015 MacBook Pro (13 inch with retina) that is still working well. Considering replacing it with an iPad Pro next year

Oldest device is a 2016 iPad mini which I keep mainly for reading portability. Otherwise, a late 2016 13” MacBook Pro which is current in the shop for a swollen battery. Tempted by the new Air, but it’s the same size as my MBP and only 4 oz lighter, and the MBP has a 1 TB SSD.

I’ve got a iPad mini generation 1, an 11 inch-Macbook Air from late 2013, and an iPhone SE. iPad Mini is old enough it no longer gets iOS upgrades. I love the form factor for many things, but I want to start using an iPad for replacing the stacks of notepads I end up at the office. As tempting as the iPad Pros are, it just seems like if my major applications on that are a note app, Liquidtext, and iThoughts HD, I’d be better off with doing that with an iPad 9.7 and the original Apple Pencil and saving my money for a new Macbook adorable or Air next year than spending a 1,000 plus on an iPad this tax year.

It might make the forums twinge, but I would still probably keep using the Mini for the Kindle App and occasional web surfacing around the house because the form factor is so nice.

My oldest device still in regular use is a 2008 unibody MacBook. My son uses it for school work. I also have a 11-inch MacBook Air from 2011, a 2013 13” MacBook Pro, and a 2015 MacBook Pro I tried the 2016 MacBook pro and returned it. Too expensive. I am tempted by the 2018 model though.

I broke down and bought an iPad non-Pro today as an upgrade for my iPad mini 2. Am I getting kicked out of the non-upgrade group?

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I also have an iPad Pro 10,5” Cellular and think it’s still fine, but I have not seen the new iPad Pro devices in real life yet…

With that iPad, an iPhone X, and an Apple Watch Series 3, I had the latest & greatest (earlier this year), but that was more of a coincidence than anything else (updating iPhone 6, iPad 4, and Apple Watch Series 0).

My oldest Apple hardware in use is my Mac mini from 2011. That’s my secondary desktop. The main one is still a PC from 2008.

I’m really disappointed that Apple did not announce an updated iMac, because I am saving my money for that upgrade…

@MitchWagner, if they kick you out, you’ll have some company.

I broke my iPad Air 2 about a month ago and have been waiting for the new iPad Pros. I don’t need a Pro, but have been wanting one ever since a co-worker walked in with his (then) new 10.5.

I was ready to order a new 11 in Pro before the keynote presentation ended, and then they announced their new higher pricing. Pow, the reality distortion field failed.

I rarely purchase things I don’t need, even when I can easily afford it. I picked up a non-Pro 128GB iPad at my local Apple store yesterday.

Like my old Air 2, it does everything I need from a computer.

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Apple is clearly ratcheting up the prices on its latest products, and beware that once it sets its price tiers it rarely deviates from them - it’ll change the features and product mix, but generally the prices at those tiers stay put (or even occasionally rise). This is obviously a carefully planned change.

While Apple are quick to point out the lower-cost options in the product-mix, but those are not (and hardly ever are) the newest, fastest, or sexiest. With an expected contraction of some markets and global cellphone market growth stagnation (and longer replacement cycles), Apple are looking to move up the price ladder to higher margins and premium products/pricing. And being a premium product company not only gives them a cachet and halo effect for those lower-priced items, but also protects the company in certain ways (economic, legislative and judicial).

I think the rdf is working for them as they want it to and they’re going to sell a shedload of iPad Pros (and iPads for average consumers who get sticker shock) and watches and MBAs.

I’ve come to give up on hoping for a bargain from Apple. I always play the price game of what I think would be a good price for an Apple product I desire, and the actual price is usually 20-30% higher. But then, after buying an Apple product I never really feel like I haven’t gotten my money’s worth. (So Phil Schiller is earning his paycheck, I suppose.)

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Your process was the same as mine. I specced out the Pro model I wanted in the Apple Store: 10.5”, Pencil, Smart Keyboard cover. Looked at the shopping bag. $1600. For a device for which I can find no business justification — I just use it to read and for social media.

Instead, I paid $766 for the non-Pro iPad. I’ll think about maybe getting the Pencil later. $766 still seems like a lot of money to me. But I got four years’ use out of my iPad mini and hopefully I can do the same here.

As for a keyboard, I have a Microsoft Universal Mobile keyboard I’m very happy with.

The Universal Mobile Keyboard is not a case, and doesn’t attach to the iPad. When you’re not using it it folds up into its own attached cover. For me that’s ideal. Like I said, I use the iPad for social media, and I can hold it in my hands to read and then drop it into the keyboard when I want to type out a reply to something. Like now. But I know many people prefer something that converts the iPad into a laptop.

Katie is upgrading her iPad Pro. I don’t know what to believe anymore.