It’s refreshing to see a laptop question on a hardware forum met with proper advice and people sharing their experiences. Even the Mac vs pc argument was balanced without the usual macs are for fanboys nonsense.
Well done to one and all 
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@Fin25 one more thing (last one, I promise)…
I spent years and years using Windows for school/university/work and then I switched to a Mac because my employer (at the time) wanted me to. There was definitely a little learning curve but try not to get stressed, it’s no different than the learning curve with some new synth or whatever. It’s just a piece of equipment and it might take time to fully understand it. If you’re “just” using music software with it and not installing development tools or trying to mess about too much then you should be fine.
I also agree with @muzka and I applaud the lack of fanboy crap here, it’s mostly been honest feedback about real-world experience.
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MBA purchased.
I hate all of you.
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I’ve read your first post and thought…get a Mac
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I’m going to make sure I hate every second of owning one though.
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What a thriller this has been. 🫠
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The worst thing about all this is how smug all of you (already unbelievably smug) Apple wankers are going to be about how this has gone.
This whole thing isn’t really about how macs are better or how they just work (vomitting in mouth sound). It’s about my weakness of character and inability to resist peer pressure.
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Hey, don’t overthink it. It’s just that at this moment in time this particular company is doing something different than all the rest and made a really cool computer with their custom-made processor. it stands out from the rest.
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Welcome to the club 
Mac is just marketing shit. Seriously get a PC laptop with intel CPU and just install a vanilla windows 11. It work flawless.
PC are easy upgradable and way cheaper for better power.
About software, I think it’s the best to use computer for FX / Mix / Mastering but hardware instruments are more fun to play, unless you get a very good midi controller.
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Just yanked out of the storage closet and turned on my 15+ year old Mac all-in-one, fired up Ableton 8 and had a little jammy-jam.
It just worked. Just like the day I bought it.
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congrats and relax, you’ve made the right choice, unless for some reason you’ve got a faulty unit this mba is going to serve you for long time, just get over the first couple weeks of transitioning to macos and replace the old habits of how things done in windows, after that it’s going to be very easy and productive to get things done.
there’s a good reason for this majority echo to get a mac and hopefully you will get it too
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Did you get the matching Apple logo coffee tumbler?
Where are you going to put the Apple stickers they give you?
Fixed it… @Fin25 banging out his next tune at the local coffee shop before his hot yoga class…
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Feel free to check out stuff like videos from Snazzy Labs about mac utilities. One of my favorite part of using a Mac are the small but life changing free apps that allow you to make you fly around the computer.
Also, it may sound dumb butin case you are low on plugins, check out Spitfire Audio Labs for tons of free sample based instruments. They can be inspiring to play and even more so to resample and mess with.
I’m sorry if all of that is obvious.
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I decided to surrender too. I have been looking for a PC but this thread made me reconsider.
But, I am absolutely adamant about buying used and not giving any money to corporates.
So, how safe it is to buy a second-hand Mac without going through Apple refurbished or Amazon?
My plan is to get the cheapest M1 Mac I can find, get Max/MSP, sit down and learn.
Not going to get a DAW for now.
just check the battery statistics if buying m1 laptop. anything over 90% battery capacity should be no problem. something like around 50 charge cycles and 95-99% battery capacity is a great starting point - very little use., but even around 120 cycles and 90% should be not bad but should be priced accordingly
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generally speaking m1 models are relatively new machines so if everything works it should be ok, look for signs if the machine been opened / attempted to open, things like bulky battery (should not be happening to such new machines but you never know), screen cracks, all keys are working, trackpad multitouch working, all usb ports working.
if you have a local shop or something that can give you some sort of guarantee it would be the best because shit happens and you can miss something during checkup.
there’s one thing that I’ve heard on reddit that some people try selling company macs and they are being controlled by the company, so this is also important to check that the one you’re getting is from a private person that got his from apple and not from work.
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There are other places that do refurbished so worth looking around and researching online. In reality most people look after them (considering the price point and context) so even if you bought of eBay you should be fine (if the seller has decent feedback) but there’s ALWAYS that risk so seriously if it was me I’d try and buy refurbished thou as you will get some sort of warranty and buyer protection.