Early Birthday Present

My purchase didn't help AAPL's stock today

It seems to be an ironclad law of the universe (which BTW strengthens the argument that we live in a simulation) that shortly after a person begins to brag he gets his comeuppance.

In my case I've been bragging how my 2014 MacBook Air is still going strong while other more recent computers have had to be junked.

A little over a month ago the Air's hard drive failed. It wasn't a simple battery replacement this time. True, it could have been fixed for about $500 including labor, but the MacBook Air's advancements in its retinal display and M2-processing speed over the past nine years strongly incentivized me to get a new one. Another factor was that Apple's days of supporting Intel-based Macs were numbered, and through sad experience I've found that it's wise to be in control of a conversion rather than have it forced upon me.

As an early birthday present to myself I bought a MacBook Air in September. It's functioning as advertised. I hope it lasts at least nine years.