I got a payout from work and haven't bought a NEW computer since 1999. My macs at home have always been older - I got a 2014 mini right now and it works fine.
But I recently got a gopro max, their 360 degree camera. And that sucker uses HEVC codec which is super-slow. I get 1/3 FPS on the mac mini, so I borrowed a 2018 MBP from work which had a smashed screen, and that plays back okay but takes 20 minutes to render a 90 second video
You’re going to be delighted with a M1 and socks blown off with any M2 studio. They (studio) render 8k like butter and the M1 renders 4k like butter tbh. Maybe slightly lukewarm butter, but still so effortlessly. And the built in storage is ridiculously fast.
I was eyeballing a used 2018 mini, because they have the T2 chip needed for HEVC. But for some reason they command ridiculous prices still.... probably the expandability.
I can see a cut-off point in the future where the intel macs are unsupported and the arm ones continue support.
But the intel macs still make kickarse linux installs..
