I have to admit that more than anything, the aspirational quality of Apple products is what’s hooked me into its ecosystem all these years. Though some of its products for me have lost that specific lustre- the iPhone for one, expensive as it is, has become so pedestrian that it’s become just another phone (among many). Though I wouldn't switch to Android in a million years- and I have tried at least twice- because the system is manically tedious.

I call myself a sort of Apple geek and yet probably don’t know half of every iPhone iteration’s functionalities or use any of its shortcuts and this is precisely why I like it because it leaves you alone. Save for the system updates which most of the time it does automatically anyway, it leaves you plenty of room to make choices if you want to use these features or not. Non-Apple users accuse you of being locked into an ecosystem without realising that this is what every other company wants (even Android).

I’ve ‘locked’ myself in and I like it- not that I have any choice at this point. I have files and photos all the way back from 2011 when iCloud was first launched; currently over 40,000 images would you believe- going through them, I had months on end where I took a photo every single day. I’ve had every iPhone that came out save for the 1st one and the minor models (the SE and the XRs).

I’ve been an Apple Watch user since it 1st came out; bought the 2nd gen when the 1st one broke, and gifted myself last Christmas with the 6th generation in stainless steel for a dressier look. It’s always on my wrist, the 1st thing I put on after showering, and the last thing I take off before I go to bed. It has kept me fit and updated on news, Covid-alerts, iMessages, because I have a confirmed case of FOMO.

I had the 1st generation iPad and currently have the (old) 2nd generation 10.5 inch iPad Pro; I’ve been obsessing with getting the M1 chip powered iPad Pros, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my old one to justify a nearly $3,000 upgrade. These damn things never break.

I’ve ever only bought one iMac- which is now being used by Chini- and fortunate that because I use it for work (the 27-inch ones), I get to keep them after the end of the three-year upgrade cycle which means I’ve had two since.

And Macbooks…I remember my very 1st MacBook which was the 2006 matte black version. I split the cost of it with my sister Binky- her half was her gift to me- and her sister-in-law hand-carried it to the Philippines from the US. To this day, I remember and continually look for its distinct smell- this crisply sharp plasticky smell.

When I moved to New Zealand, it became a bit easier to acquire them. I knew the tech suppliers well from my 1st job for a publication company, and my next two MacBooks- 2009 and 2012 15-inchers in the iconic aluminum unibody with the lit Apple logo cut-out- were actually leases that I got from them at cost.

But as I’ve said, aspirational products can actually make you better. I learned to create new forms of content, I moved on to a new job that offered an accelerated path upwards if I was willing to go beyond what I already knew. I learned video, high-end graphics and 3D rendering. I brought it everywhere with me and my workflow was and is always melded with my personal schedule (because my idea of relaxation also meant being online or editing a photo). So when the fourth-generation MacBook Pro with the (pointless) Touch bar came out in 2016, I was able to buy it outright -didn’t even use a credit-card.

I was happy with it until Apple dropped without warning, the 16-inch model in late 2019 which I currently have. When you’re not expecting something, the impact of it on you is greater and I didn’t think twice about getting it. But the same issues are there- the battery doesn’t really last (it’s almost always plugged) and there’s still a struggle doing just baseline graphic work such as 3D renders or Adobe Premiere. These are the issues that the new MacBook Pros with the M1 Pro and Max chips are supposed to address.

But more than the technical aspects, it’s about learning new stuff! Logic Pro! XCode! Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve! I’ll probably never get to first base on some of this stuff, but the whole point of life is in trying and evolving- to aspire, remember?

Don’t ever be that basic bitch.

However, the price is not basic- prices for the 16-inch, M1 Pro chip starts at $4299 while the M1 Max version starts at (gasp) $6049.