I’ve been trying to decide which Apple laptop to buy for hobby programming.
I’m leaning towards the cheapest laptop Apple sells, the 2019 MacBook Air. As far as I can tell, is fine for my current needs.
I specced out a more powerful and future-proof laptop, a 2019 MacBook Pro with 2x the RAM and SSD storage, but it was 60% more expensive.
I think it makes more sense for me to buy the cheaper laptop today, and plan on replacing it sooner. Especially because I have a lot of family members who would be fine with the cheaper laptop as a hand-me-down.
It does feel a little weird to decide that I don’t need a “Pro” machine. When it comes down to it, Xcode, a SSD and a retina display are all the “Pro” I need for hobby programming, and Apple has made those features available in the budget Air line.
Follow-up
In the end I bought the more expensive Macbook Pro. I am a sucker. :-)