[M_Six]

My primary machine at home is this mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro I'm typing on. One of the last user-upgradeable versions. I dumped the DVD drive, moved the 500GB spinning drive to that space, installed a 500GB SSD, and bumped the RAM to 16GB. It's still a fast and reliable machine. Those days are gone. Now to get a decently equipped MBP, you need to sell a car or cash in your retirement account. The iMac Pro is an impressive machine for those who need that kind of horsepower and can afford the huge layout, but I have to think most folks would look elsewhere at those prices.

I just saw this "great deal" on a 13" MacBook Air with an i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 128GB SSD. It's going for $699 and is out of Apple's warranty even though it's "new." The same vendor had an Acer 15.6" gaming laptop with an i7, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD for about the same money. Unless you really need the super thin and light MacBook Air, you'd be far better off with the Acer.

All of which makes me wonder if Apple has squeezed all the blood out of the stone. I love the Apple environment, but I doubt I'll be buying another Apple laptop.