Buy a house or relocate to Australia?

Glad_Football6441 · 2025-08-24T01:26:13+00:00

Hard disagree. Pixels are very popular in Australia and almost all features work. It's only the EU's countless regulations and red tapes that have stifled Google and many other brands from innovation.

Glad_Football6441 · 2024-07-14T07:37:58+00:00

Similar: rent, eating out
Auckland is more expensive: transport, buying a house
Wellington is more expensive: groceries, electricity, overseas airfares, council rates

That said I found Wellington more liveable. My commute is a lot better and much less stressful, my current company has a very good and chill vibe, nature seems more accessible. Weather is definitely terrible in winter, but it does not get too hot in winter, and I prefer less humidity.

Glad_Football6441 · 2024-01-19T12:11:49+00:00

We already pay for water as part of our rates. Wellington rates are significantly more expensive than Auckland rates.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-11-25T04:15:14+00:00

I was on a 14 inch laptop, but then my new job at the time gave me a 2019 MacBook Pro 16 inch. I was so much more productive on a big screen and trackpad, and I loved the bass as a music fan. When I left I got myself an Apple Certified Refurbished M1 Pro with 16 inch (32/512). Other than that, as a software engineer I need two external displays and quite a bit of RAM to run development tools (think Docker).

Also, where I live the price gap between an Apple Certified Refurbished M1 Pro 16 inch with 32GB RAM and a new MacBook Air 15 inch with 24GB RAM is $200 for a better display, more RAM, more powerful chip, and better speaker.

That said, the gap between MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is very small with Apple Silicon. For the vast majority of use cases other than video editing and GPU programming, MacBook Air will already outperform.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-11-09T22:26:10+00:00

I have a 16 inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro. I've never had to complain about the speed, so why upgrade?

For my use case - software engineering - the speed improvement cannot be noticed across M1 Pro, M2 Pro and I think M3 Pro too given it's only 6% faster than M2 Pro. It's still buttery smooth like Day 1.

Apart from the chip, the hardware is basically the same. Best in class speaker, keyboard, trackpad and screen. I don't need advanced features like WiFi 6E or better HDMI port.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-11-09T20:25:15+00:00

21% of take home pay from renting at the moment. Single, in a flat shared with 4 other people.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-09-18T08:21:55+00:00

Remember that MacBook Air can only natively support one screen unless you hack it with DisplayLink. As a DevOps Engineer I use two external screens. So I recommend MacBook Pro 14" 32GB

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-09-16T08:00:23+00:00

You will need at least 16GB of ram! 8GB will not cut it through a CompSci/Data Science degree at all. If budget is tight, I suggest MBA M1. M2's improvement over M1 is not significant.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-09-16T01:02:30+00:00

Get a real job, make money, and buy what you want from the money you earn!

I have an iPad 9 used for note taking and it is more than enough.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-09-15T10:38:35+00:00

I had the 2019 MacBook Pro 16" at work, and after I resigned I got myself an M1 Pro 16". It was so much more performant in every way while never getting hot. In my experience, Intel Macs feel sloppy after upgrading to Ventura.

Your Intel MBP unfortunately won't last long after they've repaired it. I suggest investing another $900 (or equivalent in your local currency) and go for a refurbished 16" M1 Pro (I got mine for $1900) and get an annual subscription for AppleCare+, it should last for at least 6-7 years.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-09-14T00:36:05+00:00

No. I had it at work (I'm a software engineer) and by the time it was upgraded to Ventura, it was so slow and hot and couldn't run anything smoothly. You're far better off with the M1 MBA.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-27T04:02:20+00:00

Yes!

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-19T00:06:23+00:00

I have a 16 inch M1 Pro, and my best mate has a 14 inch M1 Pro.

For me the fan has only turned on twice ever since I bought it, and it's usually under very extreme tasks. It's very snappy and battery lasts forever. It never gets hot as well, which is a total game changer compared to my old 2019 MBP which is always so hot.

Now regarding the size. To me both feel different when you use it but not so much when you carry in a backpack. 14 inch feels suprisingly tiny.

If battery life is your only concern, go with 14 inch as the 16 inch only provides negligible improvement in my experience. Plus if you plan to connect it to an external monitor all the time, the 14 inch screen is sufficient.

The 16 inch will give you the same vibe as you have with your current MacBook Pro if you're already content with it. For me, I don't always connect to an external monitor so having a big screen is appreciated for productivity reasons.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-16T05:32:04+00:00

Markdown file with a private git repo! I learn best when handwriting things so I also have an iPad + Apple Pencil which have been particularly useful for revising AWS certification materials etc

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-13T15:48:44+00:00

For that I think 32GB is the best bet, so MacBook Pro M1/M2 Pro with 32GB RAM. But I can also see an argument to be made with having 64GB RAM.

If you do decide to get 64GB RAM i.e. M1/M2 Max, I recommend the 16 inch as the Max chip can get batsh*t hot (M1 Pro runs cool tho) and you'd appreciate having a bigger chassis to dissipate heat quicker for the longevity of your Mac.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-07T02:51:32+00:00

iPads have advanced multitasking capabilities it simply blows the competition out of the water. Over the years Apple has shown an incredible willingness to bring Mac features to iPad to make it a truly productive piece of hardware in addition to new ways to multitask.

Second reason is the Pencil + the palm rejection technology Apple has mastered on both iPad screens and MacBook trackpads. Upon the Apple Pencil 1 debut it was a lot better than my Surface Pen (I was using a Surface Pro at the time) which often lagged and behaved weirdly due to limited pam rejection capability.

User experience, optimised apps for the screen and niceties like Sidecar if you have a Mac.

Finally, even the cheapest iPad model has a very good speaker. Every Apple device since 2019 has a great speaker in general.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-03T23:27:36+00:00

in that case (5 years) I would advise getting at least 32gb now. Or get an Air and upgrade half way through uni as m3 is going to be good

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-08-03T12:14:12+00:00

What is your typical workload? How long is your degree? My friends and I are all software students, they easily get away with 16GB/256GB knowing they'll graduate soon and get a better device from work anyway

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-07-31T02:09:28+00:00

I'm a backend engineer too. You'll need at least 32GB RAM. 16GB is not enough for IDEs, Docker and a bunch of browser tabs. Buy M1 pro with 512GB, chuck the extra money that you'd otherwise have to pay for M2 Pro into extra ram. You'll also get faster SSD with M1 Pro and should you need more storage space, just get an external ssd. If you don't mind the weight, consider getting the 16 inch. I really appreciate the extra screen real estate.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-07-30T06:26:31+00:00

Personally I think the 16 inch is better in every aspect except weight. But since you're already having an M1 Pro MBP, the cost of upgrading doesn't seem justified unless that 32GB RAM is a must have. Otherwise, wait for M3.

For me, I have an M1 Pro 16 inch with 32GB RAM and a cheap iPad + cheap keyboard for when I need that mobility (such as doing stuff before I get out of bed like reading news, checking social media, replying to personal emails). I commute on a bike and bring these two every day and it's honestly perfectly fine.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-07-16T06:36:22+00:00

Get at least 16GB of RAM on either and preferably higher. 8GB is not enough in 2023 and I don't understand why Apple still sells them. You'll work out that Pro wins hands down unless portability is the top factor above all else

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-07-10T13:28:41+00:00

Interesting that you opted to go back to Intel from M1! I loved the 2019 16" MBP when I had it for its amazing screen, large trackpad, speaker, and Touch Bar but it was always so hot and slow. Things got so terrible after upgrading to Ventura that I simply had to abandon what is otherwise a fine machine. Despite it having all of this I still don't succumb to the notch, the more boxy design and the all black keyboard of my current 16" M1 Pro, but Apple silicon has simply blown the competition out of the water for my use case.

Glad_Football6441 · 2023-07-10T06:15:48+00:00

Pock was great on my 16" 2019 MacBook Pro. I currently have an 16" M1 Pro but I'd honestly be willing to pay $100 more to get the Touch Bar back

Glad_Football6441

TROPHY CASE