If your current one is still getting stuff done, I’d just wait. Define “pretty tough”. Is it literally unable to perform without overheating, crashes/freeze-ups, error messages all day, super out-of-date on OS or other software ability, hard drive acting flaky, etc.?
One man’s minor irritation is another’s crisis. It’s difficult to make recommendations/suggestions without knowing how rough the day-to-day is. I, for example, used an 11-year-old iMac with no complaints until the hard drive went belly-up last year. I’ll (obviously) put up with a bit of slowness and churning if I don’t absolutely
have to reach for my wallet.
YMMV
My big question/interest in all this is pricing. I don’t think it’ll be anything huge, either way, but what’s the general opinion on Apple bringing this part of the work in-house?
Do Macs come down a bit (over time, if not right away), or do they use the opportunity to justify a $100-200 hike (more as you get into the higher-end models) due to any performance/power management gains?
I’m not really worried about the performance, battery life, general specs/numbers (Apple wouldn’t be doing all this if the didn’t think they could make an impact and match, if not surpass, their current supplier).
I’m just hoping prices, at the very least, remain where they are. At least on the sub-$2,000 models a guy like me would ever plan on buying (iMacs or the 13” notebooks).
I don’t really see this particular subject covered/discussed much anywhere (which might be a good sign that things just stay as they are).