Comment by verticalscaler

In the olden times this used to be called the Jade plan:

  I don’t really complain. I had a good run which helped me skip over the worst price/performance Mac lineup that I remember. There’re now plenty good choices within the current crop of M1 / M2 / M3 machines and I’ll be following eBay closely for a good used Mac mini / studio models. Or maybe even splurge on something new.

I've been doing it for ages as Apple hardware holds its resale value exceptionally well. You can use the often exaggerated price premium to your advantage - buy brand new default config at an opportune moment in the upgrade cycle, sell just in time for a coveted new release.

This works even better if you happen to be traveling somewhere where Apple devices are unusually expensive.

I'm still on the M1 Air and will likely sell it just before a M4 release 12-18 months from now. Cost of ownership averages out to <$0.25/day.