My current MacBook Pro is three years old. That’s like having 125,000 miles on a car. You don’t drive it straight to the junkyard, but you proceed with the understanding that it’s entered its Zone of Obsolescence.

There’s always a faster CPU on the horizon. Tastes change, too. My 2008 MacBook has an ExpressCard slot. In theory, it’d open up a Disneyworld of hardware enhancements. In practice, I wish it were an SD card reader.

Plus, my MacBook is my daily-use computer. I pound on it for four to 18 hours a day, 7 days a week and I’ve carried it around the world. Wear and tear is starting to show. The trackpad button hasn’t worked since I splashed some of my drink on it during an Amtrak ride a year and a half ago, and I’m lucky if my battery lasts the 15 minutes it takes to carry my MacBook from my bedroom into my home office every morning.

I bought a new MacBook Pro.

It was obviously the right choice. If I’d upgraded last year, I would’ve had a slightly faster Mac, an SD slot, a working trackpad, and a 9-hour battery. Nice…but this year, I got a CPU whose architecture is a whole generation ahead. It’s clear that Apple’s investing heavily in this new ultra-high-speed, multi-channel Thunderbolt I/O port, too. If the standard takes off, my new MacBook will work with all of the great new high-performance hardware that’s going to be released in the coming years.