Your usage sounds light enough that you won’t notice any performance difference.

The processor isn’t the only thing to consider, though. The M2 has a brighter screen, better webcam, and MagSafe charging which can free up an extra port for accessories. I personally feel that those features are worth the price difference.

You need a hub/dock that supports Thunderbolt.

Here’s one from OWC if you want to stick with them: https://www.owc.com/solutions/thunderbolt-hub

I still have 2 Months warranty but if IceTea or whatever got spilled on the keyboard apple wont fix it for me unless i pay for it ( so no warranty will apply i guess).

Bring it to Apple and have them take a look?

If the key is sticky because of a spill, then you’re right that it won’t be covered under warranty. But you don’t know if that’s what happened.

macOS comes with built-in antivirus protection:

https://eclecticlight.co/2022/11/01/everything-you-need-to-know-about-xprotects-malware-protection/

Yes, but note that you’ll probably need to install extra software to get the scroll/buttons working the way you want. Logitech’s software is garbage, but there are third-party options like Steermouse.

That other port is for Thunderbolt 2:

https://support.apple.com/kb/sp714?locale=en_US

Search for “Thunderbolt 2 to HDMI adapter” for options. Here’s one:

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-DisplayPort-Supports-displays-3840x2160/dp/B00S0BWR2K

There is no way to tell without having the MacBook in your possession and poking around.

Can you post screenshots of the CPU and Memory tabs in Activity Monitor? And also let us know how much free space you have left on your disk?

I don’t think there’s any need to upgrade now if it’s serving you well. At the very least, you should be good for security updates for another two years.

There are still plenty of advantages to upgrading, of course. Even if you don’t need the extra processing power, the longer battery life could be quite useful.

(And we’re not talking small differences here … modern MacBook Airs offer like 5x the processing power and 3x the battery life.)

When I’m reading a bit on apple’s website, everyone says it’s normal, but I don’t understand how 2 people could have this much different results

There are many factors that contribute to battery degradation. Cycles and age are factors (as you’ve already identified) but also heat and differences in manufacturing.

So, maybe you run more intensive apps than your girlfriend and, because of that, your battery gets warmer. Or maybe she just got a good battery from the factory.

This is why all of the situations that you’ve described are considered normal.

Which dock?

You need a Thunderbolt adapter/hub/dock to get two external monitors working. Non-Thunderbolt USB-C docks rely on MST (multi-stream transport) which is not supported by macOS.

There are many Mac apps which are not available through the App Store. You should get them directly from the developer’s website.

Your photo is blurry, but yes, it looks like you cracked your screen.

The only battery health number you should trust is the one reported by macOS.

It sounds like you downloaded a buggy app which some YouTuber was paid to promote.

Yup, I use my laptop ~90% of the time with an external monitor. The macOS “optimized battery charging” feature does a perfectly fine job of keeping my battery at 80% charge.

I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it works fine for me and I don’t have to worry about the issues that AlDente can cause if you avoid the “IMPORTANT” maintenance step.

It’s not just about how much storage you’re currently using, but also the rate that it’s increasing. I would look at the past few years and then come up with a “gigabytes per year” number for yourself, and then multiply that by 2 to account for growing resolutions.

Also: I hope that you’re keeping backups. Storing all of your data on your MacBook is risky because, if there’s an unrelated problem with your MacBook, you can’t exactly pull out the drive to get your data.

“Budget” means different things to different people, so it might help for you to provide a price range.

I have a Dell U2723QE that I’m pretty happy with. At $600, I consider it a budget monitor because it’s a lot less than the $1600 that Apple charges for a Studio Display.

(I would love a Studio Display but I can’t justify spending that much on a monitor. Plus, the U2723QE is nice because it essentially functions as a KVM switch, so it makes it easy to swap my webcam/keyboard/mouse with my PC.)

According to the directions, doing that a few times is supposed to fix the issue.

(This is why I don’t use AlDente, by the way. I don’t want to be inconvenienced by stuff like this and I haven’t seen any strong evidence that it actually helps with battery health vs. the stuff built into macOS.)

No. This is a limitation of Thunderbolt and the fact that macOS doesn’t support multi-stream transport. You need to use (at least) one other port to get 3 monitors working.

My guess is that AlDente caused this. Have you been following the “IMPORTANT” directions in the documentation?

IMPORTANT: Keeping your battery at a lower percentage, such as under 80%, over weeks without doing full cycles (100%-0%) can result in a disturbed battery calibration. When this happens, your Macbook might turn off with 40-50% left or your battery capacity will drop significantly. However, this is only due to a disturbed battery calibration and not because of a faulty or degraded battery. To avoid this issue, we recommend doing at least one full cycle (0%-100%) every two weeks. Even if your battery calibration gets disturbed, doing 4+ full cycles will recalibrate your battery and the capacity will go up again.

https://github.com/AppHouseKitchen/AlDente-Charge-Limiter