Apple

I have 2015 MBP running Sonoma without issues 🤷🏻‍♂️ so to answer your question - yes, get m1. best value

Yes, given Apple’s lifecycle it should get major software updates for the next 4 years or so.

Editing videos might require more than 8GB of RAM which will significantly add to the cost though.

I have base M1s for personal and work. For my needs I haven’t found a (legitimate) reason to upgrade. Plenty fast, I store photos and music on cloud and use an external drive for movies, etc. which I use to stream to AppleTV. Been solid.

I’d say ultimately, it comes down to your need in using the MacBook…my son has 4+ year old Pro model (battery replaced under warranty), my daugher one likely 6+ years. So hopefully that gives you a sense of longevity.

if you are going to get the base model, the m1 has a batter value and a better performance than the m2.

M1 should last another 4-5 years without too much trouble as long as your use case isn't too demanding

I’m keeping mine for another 8 plus years. Amazing laptop. Sure can’t game as good as a m3 but so

If you get the base M1 Pro 14/16. You get 16ram and 512memory. Anything less not worth it.

A used low mileage M1 Air (think <50 battery cycles or >98% of original capacity) with 16GB Ram & 512 GB SSD for ~$850 is an excellent deal for a machine which should easily see you through 5 years of average use (with a bit of physical care).

As far as gaming though, your best bet is to take up chess ";0))

Just bought a m1 air(2t ssd + 16g ram) for a grand and I expect it to last 5 years at least The m1 chip is already powerful enough for all my needs, there isn't much of a point to get m3

easily, from a hardware standpoint, unless apple degrades it from the software side

Yes, But 16Gb minimum, if you wanna keep it 4/5 years don’t go for a 8Gb version!