The news has me considering buying an Intel Macbook, just because it'll probably hold its value pretty well. MacOS still doesn't grab me as the most intuitive and useful OS out there but because you can run Linux and Windows on them (I think Windows is compatible with the latest?), they're still decent hardware.
Apple, being a company with basically infinite cash, just has to be sure to hire the right people to guide hardware development. Jim Keller just resigned from Intel and it's obvious to me it's because Apple gave him an offer that was hard to refuse.
The shift to ARM CPUs is great news for the development of microprocessors. Competition is healthy. We've seen what happens when Intel has little, multiple times: products stagnate.
I wouldn't buy any piece of hardware under the idea it will hold any sort of value.
If Apple is phasing out Intel, then x86 supported macOS is already starting to die off. It will take some time, and Apple will maintain support for years, but it is dying off, making an Intel-based Mac a product with a guaranteed expiration date.
I'm in a position where I am stuck on Windows 10 against my will, as a gamer and a business user, I need Windows and I refuse to dual boot. Linux isn't an option as support is still limited and many of the apps still look like they were made in 1970. macOS is the closest thing for me, many of the Apps I need have versions for macOS but gaming still is a problem. The problem is it only works on Hackintosh, there is no way I'd pay Apple for their inferior hardware with 200%-300% markup.
I was a Microsoft supporter up until Windows 10, a lot of the claims Apple made about Microsoft and Windows in their I'm a Mac I'm a PC did not age well because they all can be reversed to this day and Windows is actually more secure. But Microsoft went full evil with Windows 10 but there is nowhere to go for me without dual boot or dual computers. I used to run both side by side but it is just a pain.
In an ideal world, I'd run Linux as my main workstation.
Agreed about operating systems. Windows 10 was basically like Microsoft handing a Nobel Prize to Richard Stallman.
The point I'm trying to make is that maybe I wouldn't lose money on depreciation if I got a Macbook, ran Linux on it, and sold it 3 years later. My laptop isn't terrible, in part thanks to the general stagnation of hardware/lithography process development, but I am considering a replacement.
Whatever money you may save on depreciation, you would likely more than make back in savings by buying a Dell XPS or something.
I was looking at reviews on recent XPS models actually. Seems they've taken one step forward (design, keyboard layout) and two steps back (overheating, fan noise, keyboard feel, build quality). And the costs for equal storage and RAM haven't changed since I bought my laptop. At that point the only real reason I have to upgrade might be to get a fresh battery (non removable batteries, yay) and that's not worth the cost of a new laptop.
In my experience that applies only if you opt for the top of the line, maxed out MBP. And then you're truly talking ridiculous sums for a laptop and which will only find buyers among a pro crowd who just can't afford the newest top of the range specs.
IMHO with the switch to ARM that's going to be a very risky strategy.