Thanks Apple
Date: 4/7/2026
Get some popcorn — it's a rant session.
So here's the deal. I don't usually hate any brand or product without using it, but I do my research before forming any views.
I have usually met people who will hate Apple without ever using it, and people who just can't wait to upgrade their phone every 12 months. Two extremes, I know.
But where do I exist…
I exist in a place where when I got my first Mac, I thought I would never be able to use any other laptop. EVER!
But wait… spoiler alert.
After almost a decade of using Mac, I have shifted to a ThinkPad… yes, a ThinkPad T14 2025.
What led to this — and will I go back to Mac again, ever? Will I recommend a Mac to anyone?
Let's talk.
In 2016, I got a 2015 MacBook Air, with big bezels and a 128GB SSD.
Guess what — I used it for close to 7 years.
Lines on the screen. Hinge broken. Shuts down and doesn't work during winters.
Why didn't I get it repaired? IT'S EXPENSIVE.
I couldn't expand the memory or storage, couldn't change the screen or keyboard without selling a couple of body parts.
Initially, I never realised how these companies work and operate. I thought they made these proprietary cables because they were fast, that they made laptops difficult to upgrade out of necessity — but little did I know.
But even after using a laptop for 7 years with so many hardware problems and weird quirks, I thought — it did last me for so many years. Now it's time to get a new one, with as much space and memory as I can afford.
I went for an M2 Pro, 1TB with 16GB of memory. Sheesh — a powerful machine for someone who uses the terminal 99% of the time for their work. Either writing or running, it's the terminal. And that too — kitty, a fast lightweight terminal.
What the heck do I do with everything else?
Do I play games? No. Do I have lots of multimedia? No. Do I do editing? No. Do I do Xcode or Android development? No. Then why the heck this machine?
Because I was naive. I thought — the machine that was so old and just 128GB lasted me 7 years, maybe this will last me a decade.
But it lasted me 3 years… yes #@#@#@#@$ 3 years. (sorry for my language.)
It again got to a place where it started showing some weird issues — the same ones that happened with my last laptop. But this time I was looking for answers. What the heck.
I went to three places — two of them official authorised stores.
I spent enough that I gave up. I just gave up. After a decade of using Mac, I was done. A person said 99.99% — after this it will be fixed. It wasn't.
I didn't even have the energy to go and fight with them. All seemed like idiots. Sheer idiots.
My work got impacted for a month. I got a rented laptop from my workplace — Ubuntu — for a few weeks.
I decided — let's go. Let's find the most modular laptop available in the market today. I came across Framework.
Sadly, it's not available in India. Even if someone got it for me from the US — and if something happened to the parts, what then?
Anyway, I kept searching, and all this time one laptop kept coming up again and again and again.
The ThinkPads.
To my surprise, I never thought about why ThinkPads were the OG — but they are, to be honest.
When I was looking I found that in recent years things had gotten bad for ThinkPad — soldered RAM, difficult to upgrade. But luckily, all that changed in 2025 with the new ThinkPad T14 Ryzen. You can upgrade your storage, memory, keyboards, screens — you name it. Of course not the CPU and GPU, but yes, everything else.
YOU!! Yes, you. You can do it at home with one screwdriver and nothing else. Change your screen, keyboard, anything.
I was so impressed I started watching videos — about upgrading, about OG T-series ThinkPads — and decided I need one. I just need one, at any cost.
Then what — long story short. I got a refurbished one that was absolutely NEW. I checked the battery count, the writes on the disk. I got lucky.
For some reason I have become an advocate of buying used things, buying refurbished.
Phewwww.
If you're interested in what really kicked my motivation even further — it was when I was looking for some old ThinkPad videos, one of them being this one.
And if you're interested in reading more about what I did with my ThinkPad when I received it — My ThinkPad →
Thanks for your patience.
Gracias.