Apple Adding Late 2012 iMacs to Vintage and Obsolete Products Pilot Program at End of January

[Kanyay]

What does that even mean?
A private company is still legally required to follow the law.
If there is a law that would require companies to support their products for 10 years, then they are legally required to do so.
What we are suggesting is that we need such law to exist.

erm... this feels silly to reply to... but...
do you understand how capitalism works? a company can do whatever they want with their products. they are a private entity.
companies do not need govt to legislate how long they service their own products.

if you dont like how they do it, buy from another company.

this is very basic.

 

[keysofanxiety]

What does that even mean?
A private company is still legally required to follow the law.
If there is a law that would require companies to support their products for 10 years, then they are legally required to do so.
What we are suggesting is that we need such law to exist.

If you want that law to exist, why not moan about the companies most guilty about EOL'ing their products. Apple support their machines with hardware longer than any other consumer computer company in the industry.

HP, Lenovo, ASUS - all of their consumer laptops stop having parts manufactured for them in no time at all, some within a year of release. This is because they throw so many different models at the wall, constantly chasing the bottom-end. You've got loads of different laptops with very slight chassis differences, a different trackpad manufacturer - the list is absolutely endless.

I've got a lot of complaints about Apple but their 6-year support for hardware (from the date last sold, not first manufactured) is not one of them. The 2012 cMBP 13" was only discontinued recently, so that is likely to be supported until 2021-2022.

 

[now i see it]

Mac Obituary here. Life span of a hummingbird.

 

[shaunp]

At this rate the 2013 Mac Pro will be 'vintage' yet still on sale....

 

[wwooden]

I think my classic 2012 MBP is going to see its last OS update

Yeah.....I'm in the same boat. I'm hoping for one more system update.

 

[Justanotherfanboy]

This should be illegal. Products should be supported for repair up to 10 years, no less. 7 years is simply unacceptable. This especially is important since Apple suggests its business is “environmental”. More repairs will ensure a more sustainable outcome for the environment.

“Illegal”? Lol.
So Acer should still carry every single part for all of their 10 year old $100 netbooks, to be fair?

Your comment is beyond ridiculous.
I can’t imagine the enormous spikes in cost of computers if each company was LEGALLY required to keep warehouses full of every single part for every computer they manufactured in the last full decade.

 

[cliffster82]

Getting all I can out of my 2011 iMac with optical CD drive.

 

[Xowi]

Too bad but expected, once again forcing customers to upgrade in effort to raise company share price.

It would be more digestable if their current product lines we’re built as well as the older models.

 

[ChrisMoBro]

They should add the current iMacs too

 

[truthertech]

Yet on our Dell laptops at work we can buy 5 years of ProSupport, and our account manager is normally happy to extend that for a further 2 if we need to.

I really don't understand why they have this 5 year cut off.

Well thats 2 of my devices going Vintage this year then. Shame they will not be offically supported hardware wise still for repair as they both don't miss a beat and perform as good as the day i bought them.

Come on folks, you need to read more closely. These products are being supported for 10 years, until 2021.

" Late 2012 model iMacs will be eligible for Apple's pilot program that will permit extended service through January 30, 2021 worldwide, subject to parts availability."

The media has mainly missed this, but Apple is moving to a 10 year support period for most products, including your beloved 2012 iMac (I just missed with my steady Eddy 2011 iMac ) but is proceeding cautiously by labeling it a "pilot program" which enables them to decide on a case by case basis if there are any models that it would be impractical or unwise to keep supporting for a decade with parts, etc.

 

[joonyaboy]

I was just telling someone yesterday how my 2013 MBPr was still as awesome as ever and I’m in no need for an upgrade. Wish I could upgrade to 16GB ram tho. Hope I don’t need any repairs soon

 

[stillcrazyman]

I just sold my 27" Late 2012 iMac to Mac Of All Trades for a very good price. It was time to upgrade - new mini and 32" display.

The iMac was a steady and still powerful machine even up to the day I sold it.

As for the longevity and parts availability - I have been a ACMT working on and with Macs for almost 20 years now. The Vintage to Obsolete status has been a standard procedure for at least that long. Apple doesn't keep a lot of parts on hand for repairs to older machines. Most companies in the industry don't either. It's the way it is and won't likely change at Apple or any other computer manufacturer.

 

[justperry]

erm... this feels silly to reply to... but...
do you understand how capitalism works? a company can do whatever they want with their products. they are a private entity.
companies do not need govt to legislate how long they service their own products.

if you dont like how they do it, buy from another company.

this is very basic.

Maybe the post I now reply to should be called a silly post because in Europe there are laws just like this.
Some even up to 5 or more years dependable on the price of the bought item.
It's called warranty and companies/shops/anyone selling have to abide by these laws.

 

[MoreRumors?]

Considering Apple is suppose to be environmental friendly, I think it would be reasonable to extend it to about 7 years before classifying as Vintage.

This should be illegal. Products should be supported for repair up to 10 years, no less. 7 years is simply unacceptable. This especially is important since Apple suggests its business is “environmental”. More repairs will ensure a more sustainable outcome for the environment.

Even if Apple does support repairs close to the 10 year mark, they would stop providing OS updates well before. The only law, at least where I live, I know is you have to take your computer to your local stores like a Staples or Best Buy to recycle and not allowed to throw away with regular garbage.

 

[Escape_Artist]

Trust me Universities are their own worst enemies. If you are in a university its ALWASY better to ask for forgiveness than permission these days. It's a bureaucratic nightmare. But I digress.

Absolutely! There should be a balance between inventory/software/user control, but those policies need some wiggle room. Luckily, in my last role I had a corporate card, so once I was given approval to upgrade, I ordered the top line MBP, had it delivered to my home, and didn't let IT do any setup apart from adding it to uni inventory.

 

[Kanyay]

Maybe the post I now reply to should be called a silly post because in Europe there are laws just like this.
Some even up to 5 or more years dependable on the price of the bought item.
It's called warranty and companies/shops/anyone selling have to abide by these laws.

We aren't talking about warranty lmao this is about an obsolete device that's 7 years old. But enjoy europe. that's not how mafia works here in usa.

 

[panjandrum]

You can totally open those up. Just go to iFixit. I've replaced the spinning drives in 4 different 'thin' iMacs, both 21.5 and 27 inch.

Cutting the seal is not too hard, then there's only two connectors between the screen and the board. Once the screen is off, replacing the hard drive is simple. Then with replacement adhesive strips, which also are not to hard to put on, reconnect the screen, get it lined up right, and boom you're done.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+Hard+Drive+Replacement/16729

Yeah, it's not terrible. But be very, very careful with the glass as it is quite fragile along the edges. I managed to make a tiny chip / fracture just along the edge in the first unit I opened during the "twist the plastic card" step (luckily not something I had to pay for). Basically, be absolutely sure there is zero adhesion left from the double-backed tape as this fracture happened insanely easily. Just keep working with the "pizza cutter" tools until it is 100% free everywhere possible (top and sides). Overall, with the right tools, it isn't a bad job. I always replace the HDD with an SSD, even in machines that originally had a fusion drive.

 

[Doomtomb]

Planned obsoletion.

Mac computers should be treated the same as vintage cars;
Replacement parts and repairs should be performed for owners on all Macs whenever, wherever possible.

 

[konqerror]

This should be illegal. Products should be supported for repair up to 10 years, no less. 7 years is simply unacceptable. This especially is important since Apple suggests its business is “environmental”. More repairs will ensure a more sustainable outcome for the environment.

Wrong. The longer you guarantee product support, the more parts you have to store. The more parts you store, the more unused parts that end up going into the trash, wasting resources. EPEAT/IEEE 1680.1 specifies 5 years after end of production, which Apple follows.

Like anything in the environment it's about lifecycle cost and impact, not outward appearances.

 

[tipoo]

Funny it's still using that design. I hope there's a 2019 refresh with Radeon VII (since an Nvidia partnership seems beyond hope now) soon with a redesign! All it really is wanting for is to extend the screen into the bezels more. Hopefully gets the dual blower cooler and all flash architecture of the Pro.

 

[racerhomie]

2012 iMac was the worst Apple computer I have ever used. The hard drive was so slow to the point of being unusable. Being a university computer I couldn't rip it open and put in an SSD as much as I dearly wanted too. So slow and crappy it took 2-5min to load MS office. I just defaulted to my MBP. It became a paper weight on my desk. I dont know what they were thinking still shipping with 5600 rpm hard drives. Such a bottle neck.

That’s why I love the new Mac Mini! Default SSD!

 

[Costino1]

I didnt see any answer the question if this means no new OS updates.....correct. You cannot upgrade to the new OS in the fall.

 

[justperry]

We aren't talking about warranty lmao this is about an obsolete device that's 7 years old. But enjoy europe. that's not how mafia works here in usa.

First of, your reference to mafia Europe is rather insulting and unnecessary.
It's not only mandatory (in some countries) in the EU, Turkey as well has something similar, parts have to be available for 7 years, and I pretty sure at least one state (California) in the USA has one.

 

[Kanyay]

First of, your reference to mafia Europe is rather insulting and unnecessary.
It's not only mandatory (in some countries) in the EU, Turkey as well has something similar, parts have to be available for 7 years, and I pretty sure at least one state (California) in the USA has one.

1. "that's how mafia works" is a meme phrase. Google it. lmao
2. luckily, usa does not have a law mandating companies to "not obsolete" their products for a set number of years. and it will stay that way because that's how capitalism works.

 

[tennisproha]

What’s the point of vintage designation if they will continue to provide support? Why not just continue to provide support like usual. Seems unnecessary.