The £1,000 Walled Garden
Why We Are Addicted to the “Blue Bubble” Life
There is a specific psychological pull to Apple products that goes beyond just hardware specs. It is about the “Walled Garden”—a term used to describe how seamlessly Apple devices talk to each other. Imagine an orchestra where every musician knows exactly what the others are doing without speaking; that is the Apple ecosystem. You copy text on your phone and paste it on your Mac. You start a podcast in the car and finish it on your iPad.
For many users, the barrier to entry is the high price tag, often costing £3,000 or more for a full setup. This creates a massive desire to find a “backdoor” into this garden using older, cheaper tech. But as we start this experiment, we have to ask: if you buy the cheapest ticket to the show, do you still get to hear the music, or are you just sitting in the obstructed view seats?
Budget Math
The Art of Slicing a Small Pie into Five Pieces
Spending £1,000 sounds like a lot of money until you try to buy five distinct categories of Apple technology: a smartphone, a computer, a tablet, a watch, and headphones. To make this work, you cannot just buy the cheapest version of everything, or you will end up with electronic junk. You have to perform “strategic sacrifice.”
Think of this budget like a role-playing game where you have limited skill points. If you put all your points (money) into a powerful computer, your phone will be ancient. If you buy a flashy Apple Watch, you might be stuck with a computer that can’t edit a video. For this experiment, the budget was allocated heavily toward the computer (the workstation) and the phone (the daily driver), leaving scraps for the accessories. This math reveals the harsh reality: to get a “full” ecosystem for £1,000, you are forced to buy technology that is nearly half a decade old.
The iPhone 11 Pro in 2025
Is Six-Year-Old “Pro” Better Than Modern “Budget”?
The iPhone 11 Pro launched in 2019 with the A13 Bionic chip. In the fast-moving world of tech, six years is usually a death sentence. However, the reality of using this phone today beats the expectation of sluggishness. When opening maps, browsing the web, or scrolling social media, it feels surprisingly snappy—almost indistinguishable from a modern iPhone 17 for basic tasks.
This reveals a hidden truth about smartphone innovation: we reached “peak speed” for daily tasks years ago. The A13 chip was so over-engineered at launch that it still handles modern software comfortably. While you miss out on 5G and high-refresh-rate screens, the core experience—the fluidity of iOS—remains intact. It proves that a former flagship device often retains its dignity longer than a cheap budget phone ever could.
Refurbished Roulette
The Risk of Buying “Good Condition” Unseen
Buying refurbished tech is not like buying new; it is a gamble. In the video, the “Good Condition” iPad arrived looking like a banana. It was severely bent along the chassis, a defect that photos on a website won’t always convey. This is the “Refurbished Roulette.”
When retailers grade items as “Good,” “Very Good,” or “Pristine,” these are subjective human decisions, often made in a rush. A bent frame on an iPad isn’t just a cosmetic issue; it puts stress on the battery and the glass screen, making them ticking time bombs for failure. This moment in the experiment serves as a crucial warning: the lower the price, the higher the risk that you are inheriting someone else’s accident. Always assume “Good” means “Heavily Used” until proven otherwise.
The “Music Magpie” Mystery
Quantity Over Quality in Mass Refurbishment
When you buy from giant refurbishing warehouses like Music Magpie (or similar services in other countries), you are dealing with a volume business. They process thousands of devices a day. They check if the device turns on, if the screen lights up, and if the data is wiped. They often miss the nuance.
The “dots” seen on the back of the iPhone in the experiment suggest a history that wasn’t disclosed—perhaps a reaction from a case, heat damage, or a sloppy previous repair. These mass refurbishers rely on the law of averages: most people won’t complain about minor cosmetic damage if the phone works. But for a user expecting Apple quality, this lack of rigorous quality control can be a jarring “A-ha” moment. You aren’t getting a refreshed product; you are getting a used product that has been briefly glanced at by a technician.
Physical Inspection 101
Learning to Read the Scars on Your Tech
If you are buying used Apple gear, you need to become a detective. The transcript highlights two major red flags: “acne” on the glass and battery warnings. To spot water damage or poor repairs, look at the seams where the glass meets the metal. Are they uneven? Is there glue residue?
Check the camera lenses for dust inside the glass, which indicates the phone was opened in a dirty environment. Most importantly, look at the software. Apple now alerts you if a “Non-Genuine Part” is installed. In the experiment, the iPhone 11 Pro flagged a third-party battery. This isn’t necessarily bad—it means you have a fresh battery—but third-party batteries often lack the optimization of the originals, leading to unpredictable shutdowns. Knowing how to spot these clues prevents you from paying full price for a “Frankenstein” phone.
The Storage Trap
Why 32GB is a Digital Straitjacket
The iPad in this budget came with 32GB of storage. In 2019, that was manageable. In 2025, it is a digital death sentence. Here is the math: the operating system (iPadOS) and essential system data can take up 10GB to 15GB right out of the box. That leaves you with roughly 17GB for yourself.
A single modern graphical game like Genshin Impact or Call of Duty can easily exceed 20GB. A few HD movies downloaded for a flight will fill the rest. You will hit the “Storage Full” notification within 24 hours of owning the device. This turns a capable tablet into a glorified web browser because you literally cannot install anything on it. Buying the lowest storage tier is the single biggest mistake budget hunters make—it saves money now but ruins the experience later.
Lightning vs. USB-C
The Mental Load of carrying “Dead” Cables
The transition from Apple’s proprietary Lightning cable to the universal USB-C standard is complete in new devices, but buying older tech drags you back into “Dongle Hell.” In this £1,000 ecosystem, the phone, the iPad, and the AirPods all require Lightning cables, while modern Macs and new gadgets use USB-C.
This might seem minor, but in daily life, it adds a layer of friction. You cannot borrow a charger from a friend with an iPhone 16. You have to carry specific cables for specific devices. It breaks the “seamless” promise of the ecosystem. You are essentially buying into a dead infrastructure. It is like buying a car that runs on a fuel type that gas stations are slowly phasing out—eventually, keeping it powered becomes a chore.
First Impressions
The Tactile Luxury of Old Flagships
Picking up the iPhone 11 Pro creates an immediate sensory surprise. Despite being years old, the stainless steel rails and heavy glass feel significantly more premium than the aluminum used on modern standard iPhones. This is the “Flagship Effect.”
Apple’s “Pro” line devices are built like jewelry. Even after six years, if the glass isn’t cracked, that density and polish convey a sense of quality that cheap plastic or light aluminum cannot match. It is a reminder that good industrial design doesn’t age. However, this tactile joy is quickly tempered by the camera bump comparison—the 11 Pro’s cameras look tiny and almost cute compared to the massive lenses on the iPhone 17, visually dating the device instantly.
The Screen Protector Upsell
Can a Sticker Fix a Broken Experience?
The transcript mentions installing a “Paperlike” screen protector on the bent iPad. For visual learners, think of this like putting a fresh coat of paint on a car with a dented bumper. It looks better from a distance, and it feels nicer to touch, but the underlying structural problem remains.
Accessories like matte screen protectors are excellent for artists because they provide friction, making glass feel like paper. On a budget refurbishment project, they serve a double purpose: hiding micro-scratches. A textured protector can mask years of wear and tear on an old screen. It is a clever $40 hack to make a $100 beat-up tablet feel premium, but users should be aware that it’s a cosmetic fix, not a repair.
Part 2: The Core Principles (Architecture & Performance)
The Trash Can Tragedy
A Case Study in Form Over Function
The 2013 Mac Pro, affectionately known as the “Trash Can,” is one of the most controversial computers Apple ever made. It is a stunning cylinder, glossy and compact, designed to sit on a desk like a piece of modern art. But this design was its downfall.
Apple bet that computing would rely on two graphics cards sharing the load. The industry moved in a different direction (single, powerful cards), and the Mac Pro’s thermal core—a triangular heat sink in the middle—couldn’t handle upgrades. It looks cool, but it is a “thermal corner.” It trapped Apple in a design they couldn’t update for years. owning one today is like owning a DeLorean: it turns heads and looks futuristic, but as a daily driver, it is fundamentally flawed.
Xeon vs. M-Series
The Moment the World Changed
The Mac Pro uses an Intel Xeon processor, a chip designed for servers and heavy workstations. It generates massive heat and sucks electricity. The video compares this to a modern MacBook Air with an M1 chip. The result is shocking: a budget laptop with no fan destroys the £10,000 supercomputer.
This is the difference between “Complex Instruction Set Computing” (Intel) and “Reduced Instruction Set Computing” (Apple Silicon). Imagine the Intel chip as a genius mathematician who is exhausted and overheating. Imagine the M1 chip as a sprinter who solves the puzzle instantly without breaking a sweat. This comparison isn’t just about speed; it is the death knell of the Intel era for creative professionals.
Benchmark Reality Check
When Numbers Don’t Lie
Data-driven insights cut through nostalgia. The transcript reveals a “Geekbench” Single Core score of 720 for the Mac Pro and over 3,600 for a modern M4 chip. To put this in perspective for a beginner: the “Single Core” score determines how snappy the computer feels when opening apps, browsing the web, or doing basic tasks.
A score of 720 is incredibly low by modern standards. It means that clicking a folder or opening a document on this “Professional” machine feels five times slower than on a new iPad. It completely beats the expectation that “Professional” gear stays powerful forever. In computing, efficiency compounds so fast that a budget toy from 2025 is a supercomputer compared to a workstation from 2013.
Thermal Throttling & Power
Turning Electricity into Noise
Old computers like the Mac Pro are inefficient. They take a lot of power from the wall and turn a large percentage of it into heat, not processing power. To get rid of that heat, they need fans.
When you use the 2013 Mac Pro, you are effectively running a space heater. If the computer gets too hot, it does something called “thermal throttling”—it deliberately slows down to prevent melting. Modern Apple Silicon chips (M1/M2/M3) are so efficient they often don’t even need fans. The “cost” of the old ecosystem isn’t just the purchase price; it’s the heat in your room and the noise in your ears, compared to the silent, cool operation of modern gear.
The Refresh Rate Jar
60Hz vs. 120Hz ProMotion
The transcript notes the “sluggish” feel of the iPhone 11 Pro compared to a newer device. This is largely due to the screen’s refresh rate. The iPhone 11 refreshes the image 60 times a second (60Hz). New Pro phones do it 120 times a second (ProMotion).
For a visual learner, imagine a flipbook. If you flip the pages slowly, the animation looks jerky. If you flip them fast, it looks like real life. Once your eyes get used to the “fast flip” of 120Hz, going back to 60Hz looks broken or laggy. It’s a sensory trap—you don’t know you need it until you have it, and then you can’t live without it. This is one of the biggest hidden downgrades of buying older budget hardware.
Boot Camp Partitioning
The One Trick the Old Dog Still Knows
There is one specific area where the old Intel Mac Pro beats the modern Macs: Boot Camp. This is a feature that allows you to install Microsoft Windows natively on the Mac. The transcript mentions the hard drive was split for this reason.
Modern Apple Silicon Macs cannot easily run standard Windows because they speak a different “language” (ARM architecture). For a specific type of user—someone who loves Mac hardware but needs to run one specific Windows program for engineering or gaming—these old Intel Macs are still valuable. It is a lost art, a bridge between two worlds that Apple has now burned down.
Connectivity Bottlenecks
Fast Ports, Obsolete Plugs
The Mac Pro has “Thunderbolt 2” ports. These were blazing fast in 2013, but today, they are a nightmare. The physical shape of the plug is different from the USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 & 4 ports we use now.
This means to plug in a modern hard drive, monitor, or card reader, you need adapters. Expensive, easy-to-lose adapters. It creates a “bottleneck.” Even if you buy a super-fast modern external SSD, if you plug it into this old Mac, it slows down to the speed of the old port. You are limited by the weakest link in the chain. It teaches a valuable lesson: computer speed isn’t just about the processor; it’s about how fast data can get in and out.
The 4G vs. 5G Debate
Why 35Mbps is Actually Fine
The speed test in the video showed the iPhone 11 (4G) getting 35Mbps, while the iPhone 17 (5G) was actually slower in that specific spot. This highlights a massive marketing misconception. While 5G can be incredibly fast (1000Mbps+), in the real world, signal strength matters more than technology generation.
For streaming 4K video, you only need about 25Mbps. This means the old 4G phone is still perfectly capable of doing everything a modern user wants—YouTube, Spotify, FaceTime. The lack of 5G is not the dealbreaker marketing teams want you to believe it is. Do not upgrade just for the “5G” icon in the status bar; often, 4G is more stable and battery-efficient.
Camera Evolution
Why 12 Megapixels Lasted a Decade
The iPhone 11 Pro uses 12-megapixel cameras. Surprisingly, so does the base iPhone 14. Apple stuck with this resolution for a long time. Why? Because the size of the sensor (the bucket that catches light) matters more than the pixel count (the number of buckets).
The photos from the iPhone 11 Pro still look excellent for Instagram or family albums. The “A-ha” moment here is realizing that unless you are printing billboard-sized posters, you don’t need 48 megapixels. The limitation isn’t the resolution; it’s the lack of modern “computational photography” features like Cinematic Mode or advanced night processing. The hardware holds up; the software features are what you miss.
Shutter Lag & Processing
The “Android Feel” of Old iPhones
The reviewer noted a delay between pressing the button and the photo being taken on the iPhone 11 Pro. This is called shutter lag. It happens because the A13 chip, while fast, is struggling to process the complex algorithms of the latest iOS camera software.
Modern iOS is heavy. It tries to take multiple frames, combine them for HDR, and analyze the scene instantly. The old chip gasps for air under this load. It feels like using an old, laggy Android phone. This is a crucial insight: putting new software on old hardware often degrades the experience. The camera is good, but the act of taking a photo becomes frustratingly slow.
Part 3: The Real-World Connection (Scams, Software, & Daily Use)
The Counterfeit Crisis
Anatomy of a £60 “AirPods 4” Scam
In the quest for a budget ecosystem, the reviewer bought “AirPods 4” for £60—less than half the retail price. This is the most dangerous trap in the Apple market. The market is flooded with “Superfakes” that look 99% identical to the real thing.
These aren’t just plastic shells; they have pirated chips inside that trick your iPhone. When you open the lid, the iPhone actually displays the official “Connect” animation. This tricks the user into thinking they snagged a bargain. But the reality is you bought e-waste. This segment serves as a vital consumer warning: in the Apple world, if a price seems too good to be true, it is always a scam. There are no magical discounts on current-gen tech.
Forensics of a Fake
Paper, Plastic, and Perfection
How do you spot a fake without opening the box? Apple is a packaging company as much as a tech company. The video highlights that the fake box used flimsy paper that tore easily. Real Apple boxes use high-density cardboard and complex folding mechanisms that create a “suction” feeling when opened.
Furthermore, look at the text on the back. Fakes often have typos, inconsistent spacing, or too much legal text crammed into small spaces. The serial number might even look real when checked online (because scammers clone real serial numbers), but the physical quality of the materials never lies. If the plastic wrap feels cheap or the lid clicks loudly, walk away.
Audio Fidelity Test
Why Fake Noise Cancellation is Dangerous
The fake AirPods had “Noise Cancellation” controls, but they did nothing. The audio quality was described as “trash” with muddy bass. This is the difference between hardware and software.
Scammers can copy the shape of the speaker, but they cannot copy the complex acoustic engineering and microphones required for Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Real ANC uses microphones to listen to the world and generate “anti-noise” to cancel it out. Fakes just play music louder. Using these can actually be harmful to your hearing because you end up cranking the volume to 100% to drown out the environment, whereas real AirPods let you listen at lower volumes safely.
Watch Series 6 vs. Series 11
The Stagnation of Wrist Computers
Comparing the Series 6 (2020) to the Series 11 (2025) reveals a shocking lack of progress. Aside from slightly thinner bezels and a few niche health sensors (like sleep apnea detection), the core experience is identical. You get notifications, you track runs, you pay for coffee.
This proves that the Apple Watch is a mature product. Unlike phones, which get faster, watches hit a utility ceiling years ago. For a budget buyer, this is great news. A £89 Series 6 does 95% of what a £400 Series 11 does. The “real-world” value lies in buying older watches, as the upgrades are largely invisible in daily use.
Battery Health Anxiety
The Ticking Clock on Your Wrist
The real enemy of buying a used Apple Watch isn’t features; it’s chemistry. The Series 6 in the video had 84% battery health. Lithium-ion batteries degrade over time. On a phone, 80% is annoying. On a watch, it is critical.
An Apple Watch is rated for “all-day battery” (18 hours). If you lose 20% of that capacity, you are down to 14 hours. That means the watch dies before you go to bed. You lose sleep tracking. You lose the ability to use it as an alarm. Buying a used watch with a degraded battery changes your lifestyle—you become a slave to the charger, looking for a plug by 6:00 PM every day.
Charging Speeds
The Lifestyle Impact of Losing Fast Charge
One subtle but massive difference mentioned is charging speed. The Series 6 takes about an hour and a half to charge. The Series 11 takes 45 minutes.
This sounds minor, but it changes how you wear the device. With fast charging, you can pop the watch on the charger while you shower and it’s full. With slow charging, you have to take it off for long periods, leading to gaps in your fitness data or forgetting to put it back on. Fast charging is the “quality of life” feature that makes the modern device livable 24/7. The older device forces you to plan your day around its battery.
Apple TV 4K Gen 1
The Unsung Hero of Longevity
The first-generation Apple TV 4K came out in 2017. In the video, it was the standout performer. Despite being ancient in tech years, it still runs the latest tvOS smoothly. This is a testament to the A10X chip inside it.
Because streaming video (even 4K HDR) is not computationally difficult for an Apple chip, this box has immense longevity. It proves that you do not need the latest 2025 model. As long as it supports 4K, the experience is identical. It is the safest bet in the used market—a device that sits on a shelf, never gets dropped, has no battery to degrade, and works perfectly for a decade.
Smart TV OS vs. Apple TV
Why a 2017 Box Beats a 2025 TV
Why buy an Apple TV box when your TV has “Smart” apps built-in? Because TV manufacturers are data companies. They sell TVs with slow processors and subsidize the cost by showing you ads in the interface. This makes navigating a Samsung or LG TV feel laggy and cluttered.
The Apple TV, even the old one, focuses purely on the user interface. It is fluid, ad-free (mostly), and respectful of your time. Connecting a £50 used Apple TV to a brand new TV is the best upgrade you can make. It bypasses the TV’s terrible software and gives you a premium experience. It beats the expectation that “built-in” features are better than external dongles.
The Continuity Test
Magic Across the Generations
One of the biggest questions was: “Will these old devices talk to each other?” The answer is a resounding yes. AirDrop, Handoff, and Universal Clipboard worked seamlessly between the 2019 iPhone, the 2013 Mac, and the 2019 iPad.
This is the power of the Apple ecosystem software stack. It doesn’t discriminate based on age. You can copy a photo on your cheap refurbished iPhone and paste it onto your ancient Mac Pro instantly. This validates the entire experiment: you can get the ecosystem magic for £1,000. You don’t need the newest chips to get the workflow benefits that make Apple users so loyal.
iPad as a Computer
The Limits of the A10 Chip
While the iPad worked for video, the transcript notes it struggled with productivity. The A10 Fusion chip inside the 7th Gen iPad is the bottleneck. When you try to use “Split View” to run two apps at once (like Word and Safari), the system chokes.
This shatters the marketing myth that “Your next computer is an iPad.” Maybe a Pro iPad is a computer, but a base model refurbished iPad is a media consumption device. If you try to use it for homework or work, the lag will frustrate you. It highlights a clear dividing line: buy old iPads for watching movies, buy newer iPads if you actually want to create content.
Part 4: The Frontier & Deep Questions (Value, Waste, & The M1 Pivot)
The M1 Threshold
The Line in the Sand
Technology history is usually a smooth slope of improvement. But in 2020, Apple created a cliff: the M1 chip. This video proves that any computer bought before the M1 transition is essentially obsolete, and any computer bought after is incredibly capable.
The M1 MacBook Air mentioned in the video serves as the “Control Group.” It runs circles around the expensive Mac Pro. This leads to a definitive rule for budget buyers: Never buy an Intel Mac. No matter how cheap it is, it is on the wrong side of history. The M1 is the baseline for the modern era. It is better to save longer for an M1 than to waste money on an i7 or i9 Intel chip today.
Quantity vs. Quality
The £1,000 Dilemma
The central philosophical question of this experiment is: “Is it better to have everything mediocre, or one thing perfect?” The reviewer spent £1,000 to fill a desk with gadgets. Most of them (the bent iPad, the loud Mac Pro, the fake AirPods) were flawed.
For the same £1,000, you could buy a brand new M2 MacBook Air. That single device would offer a flawless, fast, battery-rich experience for 5-7 years. The experiment proves that “Ecosystem” is overrated if the individual components are junk. A user is happier with one incredible laptop than with five frustrating, slow devices that talk to each other.
The Software Cliff
The Invisible Expiration Date
The iPhone 11 Pro supports iOS 26 (in the video’s timeline), but for how long? Every Apple product has a “Vintage” and “Obsolete” date. Once a device stops receiving security updates, it becomes dangerous to use for banking or private data.
Buying a 6-year-old phone means you are buying the tail end of its life. You might save money upfront, but you will be forced to upgrade again in 1-2 years when apps stop working. The “Cost Per Year” of a £250 phone that lasts 2 years (£125/year) is actually worse than a £800 phone that lasts 6 years (£133/year) because of the resale value and user experience.
E-Waste & Ethics
Saving the Planet or Buying Trash?
There is a moral argument that buying refurbished saves e-waste. This is true, but only if the device is usable. The fake AirPods and the bent iPad in this video are likely destined for the landfill anyway because they are poor quality.
True sustainability is buying a device you keep for a long time. If you buy a cheap, old device and get frustrated, you replace it quickly, generating more waste. The most sustainable choice is often buying a slightly newer, higher-quality refurbished product (like the M1 Air) that you will happily use for half a decade, rather than “rescuing” a 2013 Mac Pro that consumes massive amounts of electricity.
The Repairability Paradox
Losing Freedom to Gain Speed
The 2013 Mac Pro was the last of its kind: you could open it, change the RAM, and upgrade the storage. The video shows the host marveling at the internals. Modern Macs are sealed blocks of aluminum. You cannot change anything.
This is the trade-off we accepted. To get the incredible speed of the M-Series chips (where memory is soldered directly to the processor for speed), we gave up the right to repair and upgrade. We gained performance but lost ownership. Looking at the old Mac Pro is a nostalgic look back at a time when we truly owned our computers, even if they were slower.
Value Proposition
Calculating the Price of Frustration
When we look at the total spend, was it worth it? The iPhone and Apple TV were good buys. The rest were liabilities. The “Value Proposition” isn’t just the purchase price; it includes the cost of replacement batteries, the cost of specialized cables, and the “time cost” of waiting for slow apps to load.
Real value in tech is found in the “sweet spot”—usually 2-3 years old. 6-10 years old is too deep on the curve. You are paying for the brand name, not the utility. This experiment teaches us that “Cheap Apple” is often the most expensive way to compute because you pay twice: once in cash, and once in frustration.
The “Mom Test”
Who is This Actually For?
If you gave this £1,000 setup to a non-tech person (like your mom), they would hate it. The iPad is bent, the Mac requires weird adapters and makes fan noise, and the watch needs charging twice a day.
This setup is only for enthusiasts who enjoy tinkering. For the average user, consistency is king. This highlights that the “Apple Experience” regular people love is based on reliability. When you strip that away with old, damaged hardware, the magic evaporates. The brand logo is there, but the soul of the product is gone.
The “Cool” Factor
Why We Forgive Beautiful Flaws
Despite the poor performance, the host loved the Mac Pro. Why? Because it is cool. Tech is functional, but it is also emotional. We forgive the Trash Can Mac its flaws because it represents a daring era of design.
Sometimes, we buy things not because they are good tools, but because they make us smile. If you are buying a 2013 Mac Pro in 2025, you are collecting art, not buying a computer. And that is okay, as long as you know the difference. The dopamine rush comes from owning a piece of history, not from its Geekbench score.
The Verdict
The Only Survivors of the Island
Out of everything bought, only two items earn a recommendation: the iPhone 11 Pro and the Apple TV 4K. The iPhone proves that flagship quality lasts. The Apple TV proves that a good interface is timeless.
Everything else—the bent iPad, the scam AirPods, the Series 6 Watch, and the Intel Mac—should be avoided. They represent the “trap” of the ecosystem. They lure you in with low prices but fail to deliver the experience. This sharpens the buyer’s focus: don’t buy the whole ecosystem just to have it. Buy the specific parts that actually hold up.
The £1,000 Alternative
The Perfect Modern Budget Setup
If you have £1,000 today, do not replicate this video. Instead, buy this:
- MacBook Air M1 (Used): £400. It is a supercomputer compared to the Mac Pro.
- iPhone SE (3rd Gen) or iPhone 13 (Used): £300. 5G, fast chips, will last years.
- AirPods Pro 2 (New): £200. Do not mess with fakes. Audio is crucial.
- Save the rest.
This setup ignores the iPad and Watch, but it gives you a world-class laptop, a great phone, and incredible audio. That is a real ecosystem. Quality over quantity always wins.