[chongli]

given their bungling of the MacBook lineup over the last 5 years

Wouldn't this stand as a reason to not be skeptical of the big move? Switching to ARM (badly) and breaking everything seems like it'd be exactly in line with all of this bungling.

I ordered a new MacBook Air just over a week ago, right when it was announced. If it turns out to be the last Intel-based MBA before years of pain and suffering with the ARM transition then I expect to be hanging on to it for a long time.

Having said all that, Apple is well known for having successfully navigated multiple CPU architecture transitions over the life of their operating system (s). If anyone can do it again successfully, I would expect Apple to do so.

[specialist]

I timed my purchase of my last PowerBook G4 (the last PowerPC-based model) based on similar thinking.

IIRC, It took a while for all the "pro" tools I used to get refreshed for x86.