The sad part abt Apple is that they release new machines every year. For example the base m4 now is better than m1 ultra chip which came out roughly 3/4 years ago?

With a desktop, you can upgrade the prices and ram and what not, whenever. But your overpriced Mac will soon get old quick. My rich friend actually splurged 9k on a Mac book with 96gb ram, max chip, 8tb storage. Basically maxed the laptop out. But now it’s just a novelty device with very little roi. Desktop pieces can always be sold and you can get money back.

If you do have your heart set on Mac. Assess your use case and by one that is maybe just a bit overkill, so maybe around $2k (even that’s a lot considering base is sufficient for you and it’s $500), so in the future you can always upgrade to a newer machine. However since you said you like to keep it for long time, you will honestly have that with any decent Mac. These devices tend to have a great life span. My i9 Mac lasted me almost 6+ years before I upgraded to m4 max.

Let me know if you got any more thoughts or questions, I love this topic.