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Don’t expect too much from the latest tech. It mostly disappoints.

After agreeing to donate a slightly older Mac Mini to a family member abroad, I decided to upgrade our daughter’s machine to one with the latest M3 chip, thinking it a future-proofed investment which would see her through sixth form and university.

I was therefore a little disappointed to see the spinning beach ball of death appear in the corner of her screen when I went to log off after performing some maintenance the other day. Really? A temporary system freeze at idle?

Don’t get me wrong. These devices are amazing when you consider all that came before. But they’re also extremely expensive, so you tend to expect more. Sadly, actual experience often doesn’t live up to the hype.

It’s funny that I invest in the latest tech for my family and others, while for myself I’m still eeking out value from decade-old computers. There, tech that doesn’t disappoint. No, it lives on, long past its official sell-by date.

I think these experiences will probably inform what comes next at work. No expensive upgrade on the horizon for me. I don’t want to be disappointed. I’ll moderate my expectations instead.