I want to discuss computing requirements to understand which apple products match my needs

Pretty much any current Mac will fulfill those needs with a lot of room to spare.

Those are pretty basic computing needs in general.

You could probably even get away with most iPads for most if that, except for the part about cutting and pasting news feeds into a spreadsheet. Not sure what kind of news feeds would fit in a spreadsheet, but the process may be a bit more involved on an iPad.

I’d say an iPad Air if you want mobility, otherwise, consider your budget, and work of off that.

Try to go for at least 16GB of RAM, and maybe 512GB of storage if you don’t want to use external drives to move files and data off to, too frequently.

My recommendation is to get the highest spec computer you can comfortably afford. Your computing requirements may change in the future and I would want my computer to be able to meet those future needs. And I agree that the minimum should be at least 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Personally I would not buy a computer today with less than 32GB RAM and 1TB storage regardless of use requirements.

Phil0124 wrote:

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I’d say an iPad Air if you want mobility, otherwise, consider your budget, and work of off that.

Try to go for at least 16GB of RAM, and maybe 512GB of storage if you don’t want to use external drives to move files and data off to, too frequently.

I meant MacBook Air. Sorry.

As you're already been made aware of most any current new Mac should do the job.

That being said for a desktop I would get the 24" iMac (any color will do) with 16 GB of RAM and a 1TB drive and 8 core GPU and 8 core CPU (it has more ports for externals). If you do a lot of number entering get the Magic Keyboard with the number pad. It's only $30 more.

Boy, I love spending other people's money!😉

Sounds like your computing requirements are pretty basic. As a rule, I would recommend at least 16 GB of RAM – but you might be able to get away with 8 GB.

You might enjoy a 27" 4K screen (set to run in Retina "like 2560x1440" mode). After I got used to the space that a 27" monitor offered, at home, I did not want to go back to a smaller screen.

Also, you probably want a keyboard that has a numeric keypad.

I completely agree with Old Toads assessment of the computer you need. Your needs are really very basic and not demanding on current computers so why spend lots of money on something you don't really need?