MacBook Quotient

As of late 2024, the lowest-cost MacBook sold by Apple has an M2 processor, 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, and costs $999.

The MacBook Quotient is the cost of a computer with a comparable processor (M2 is comparable to recent-but-not-current generation i7/ core ultra 7 processors), twice the RAM and four times the storage of the MacBook divided by the price of the MacBook and rounded to the nearest 10th. This is an easy number to calculate at a glance because the lowest-cost MacBook is always right around a thousand dollars.

So, for instance, an Acer Aspire with a 13th gen i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD for the sticker price of $896 would have a MacBook Quotient of .9

The lower the MacBook quotient, the better the deal. If you are considering purchasing a MacBook, you should look for a computer with the specs listed here and see what its MacBook quotient is and if it is less than 1 you should buy the other computer. If it's less than .5 you should buy two OR max the specs further (get a newer processor, more storage, and something with a nice graphics card). Actually I'm just kidding you shouldn't buy two computers, but you also definitely shouldn't buy a Mac.