Apple Obsoletes Select Early 2008 to Late 2009 Macs

[Guy Clark]

These old Macs and others like them may have been deemed obsolete by Apple but they remain perfectly good machines. I have a 2006 Intel Core Duo Black MacBook. Was obsolete a long way back. Running Snow Leopard on it and its still a great machine.
Hopefully my main machine mid 2011 iMac has got at least another 3 years before Apple deem it obsolete.

This move from Apple would indicate that the system requirements for OS X 10.12 are set to change.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Thanks for the info, I have a 2010 MBP that needs a new battery. What third party did they recommend ?

Try an AASP, Certified Mac Technician or Apple Premium Reseller.

They might still be able to help you out.

These old Macs and others like them may have been deemed obsolete by Apple but they remain perfectly good machines. I have a 2006 Intel Core Duo Black MacBook. Was obsolete a long way back. Running Snow Leopard on it and its still a great machine.
Hopefully my main machine mid 2011 iMac has got at least another 3 years before Apple deem it obsolete.

This move from Apple would indicate that the system requirements for OS X 10.12 are set to change.

Hah, I have the same Mac, but I'm just mildly worried, because this Mac is probably not seeing too many updates anymore anyways due to Aperture still being a necessity to me and the first OS version to break it will be my last OS X on this machine.

And I'm not rushing a new Mac purchase either.
The changes are meh to me personally and for beefiness I'll get a Windows desktop.
Apple's desktop offerings aren't a fair offer to me anymore, so I'm moving on for performance and moving to mid-budget bracket once I need a new Mac inevitably in a few years.

Glassed Silver:ios

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Well, if they'd get with 2015 and come out with skylake MBP's already, we wouldn't be sitting here on a pile of vintage machinery. ...extremely well made machinery of metals and glass that could last centuries, but is worthless junk in 5 years due to its intentional inability to be upgraded. Brooks Stevens be proud.

 

[talmy]

It's irritating that Apple calls "Obsolete" computers that aren't. They should support them longer than 5 years. (Yes, I know that those from 5-7 years are just "Vintage" but the effect is the same.) Technology is advancing slowly these days and there are top end Macs that are "Obsolete" but are faster than the entry systems of today.

 

[RMo]

Don't despair if you're new to the obsolete list. My iMac (my main computer) has been labeled "Obsolete" by Apple for nearly a year now and it still runs current software acceptably well. [...]

Indeed--"obsolete" (and "vintage") refer only to Apple's willingness to provide parts and service on their devices (and to allow authorized third parties to do officially do the same). It does not reflect that device's ability to function properly with current software, nor is having a "non-obsolete/vintage" item a guarantee that it will run current software, even from Apple. For example, none of the iPad models are even "vintage" yet, but not all of them support the current version of iOS (or even bug fixes for older iOS versions). On the other hand, some of the Macs that are now "vintage" or even "obsolete" still do support the latest Mac OS.

I wonder if that means the next major OS X release will have higher system requirements? They haven't raised requirements since Mountain Lion.

The "obsolete"/"vintage" designation is based entirely on when the product was last manufactured (and whether Apple wants to keep providing official parts and service for it). This doesn't mean that the next OS X release won't have higher system requirements, but this designation doesn't actually factor in to that.

 

[garirry]

****, the iMac Late 2009? I wanted to bring it to Apple to see if they could repair it, but it seems my procrastination has caused this. Although, they probably wouldn't do much or it would cost way too much to repair.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

****, the iMac Late 2009? I wanted to bring it to Apple to see if they could repair it, but it seems my procrastination has caused this. Although, they probably wouldn't do much or it would cost way too much to repair.

Take it in anyways. I brought my 2008 MacBook Air in when it was classified as vintage and they still were able to fix a broken hinge on it. Might get lucky like I did.

 

[Norcal.]

I think it is interesting that the iPod with 32GB of storage is being listed as obsolete but here we are, still getting 16GB storage from brand new devices. I know it has been beat to death but therein lies another rub, why is this something that can even be mentioned? 5400rpm platter drives. etc.

Not only that, but the things we're saving on our phones take many times more storage space. Hello massive games/apps, live photos, 4k video recording, larger resolution photos. But wait... You can purchase our cloud storage for a monthly subscription rather than us taking a tiny percentage less profit. Innovation!

 

[mbc2237]

It's irritating that Apple calls "Obsolete" computers that aren't. They should support them longer than 5 years. (Yes, I know that those from 5-7 years are just "Vintage" but the effect is the same.) Technology is advancing slowly these days and there are top end Macs that are "Obsolete" but are faster than the entry systems of today.

This exactly. I fall into that category right now. Was thinking about upgrading but i get next to nothing for the $3k purchase over what i currently have.

 

[garirry]

Take it in anyways. I brought my 2008 MacBook Air in when it was classified as vintage and they still were able to fix a broken hinge on it. Might get lucky like I did.

Yeah, I think I will do that.

 

[Kissaragi]

Aww, my poor Mac Pro. Its stills going so strong!

 

[0003462]

Ah, MacBook (early 2008), my first computer and second Apple product (after an iPod classic).

 

[Crzyrio]

No it's not. If you look at what's on there now, most of it was made either in 2009 or earlier. Your machine is awesome and you should keep that for as long as possible. So upgrade the RAM, if you haven't already done so, and get a SSD in there at some point as well. PLUS, if you update the EFI, that machine should accept and run 16GB RAM. Amazing.

Sweet, I wasnt sure it it was 2009 or 2010.

100% Agree great machines, I passed it onto my parents with a SSD, 8GB RAM & a new batter and it looks like it will easily last a century.

 

[knownikko]

It's irritating that Apple calls "Obsolete" computers that aren't. They should support them longer than 5 years. (Yes, I know that those from 5-7 years are just "Vintage" but the effect is the same.) Technology is advancing slowly these days and there are top end Macs that are "Obsolete" but are faster than the entry systems of today.

IMO it's more about supply chain and availability of parts than any sort of opinion on the usefulness or capability of the systems. Many of these "obsolete" systems run the latest version of OSX just fine and will probably do so for quite some time to come. But if your 8 year old computer breaks, it's probably not realistic to expect Apple to fix it, and that's what this is about - discontinuing formal manufacturer support for the hardware. There's a finite supply of circa-2008 Core 2 Duo CPUs floating around out there and it's not realistic for Apple to maintain a 10+ year parts inventory for consumer-class systems.

 

[Lesser Evets]

When Apple "obsoletes" a device, that doesn't mean it stops working. You can still get many years out of these devices, in most cases.

I wish Apple would make a new monitor. The only non-obsolete monitor is the newest one. I think. It's sad. Where's the 4K or 5K???

 

[solipsism]

I think it is interesting that the iPod with 32GB of storage is being listed as obsolete but here we are, still getting 16GB storage from brand new devices. I know it has been beat to death but therein lies another rub, why is this something that can even be mentioned? 5400rpm platter drives. etc.

It hasn't been obsolesced because of the storage capacity; it's been obsolesced because of its computing power. To be clear: storage capacity ≠ processing capacity. They will move to 32GB at some point in the near future, but even though neither of use would fine 16GB suitable for our needs, there is a huge market for that capacity, from people that just want an easy-to-use device for email, messaging and web browsing in a phone, to corporations that will likely lock down apps so that's not even an option.

 

[talmy]

It's not realistic for Apple to maintain a 10+ year parts inventory for consumer-class systems.

I'd agree if we were talking about <$500 notebooks and desktops, but ≈$2500 systems shouldn't be considered "consumer class" and if you look at Steve Job's product matrix the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are business class systems.

 

[sza]

I think it is interesting that the iPod with 32GB of storage is being listed as obsolete but here we are, still getting 16GB storage from brand new devices. I know it has been beat to death but therein lies another rub, why is this something that can even be mentioned? 5400rpm platter drives. etc.

Yep, since there is really no better alternative so people would pay for the premium. I hope other companies can come up with more competitive products so that Apple would cut their margin and we as consumers will benefit from it.

 

[roland.g]

Apple probably did not recommend. I would recommend checking out Newertech.

Newertech for older tech. That's awesome. I love paradoxes.

 

[knownikko]

I'd agree if we were talking about <$500 notebooks and desktops, but ≈$2500 systems shouldn't be considered "consumer class" and if you look at Steve Job's product matrix the MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are business class systems.

By "consumer class" I mean "rapid refresh" compared to things like servers and mainframes that realistically have a lifetime expectancy of 10+ years in some cases.

The amount of money you pay for something does not necessarily correlate to the number of years you should expect it to be useful. 5-7 years of support for consumer/end-user machines is well within the standard for this industry.

 

[willybNL]

I feel like MacBook Pro late 2008 will be next.

Still, that's the best MacBook I've ever had. It's still fast with El Capitan, way faster than a iPad mini with iOS 9.

I just wish they just made the same package with newer hardware, as this was the last serie that allows you to just replace everything you needed like SSD, battery, memory.

 

[Morod]

Late 2007 24" iMac, 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM. Still running fine with El Cap!

 

[edenwaith]

Until a month ago, my two main Macs were both from 2007 (an iMac and a MBP). The MBP worked pretty well up to Mountain Lion, but it really began to drag once I used Mavericks. It had a difficult time running more than one or two apps at a time. Yet, go back to Snow Leopard, and it runs just fine.

I'm finding that Macs these days have a pretty good lifespan. Gone are the days of computers being useless after only 3 years. I'm hoping to get at least another 5-7 years out of my new iMac.

Don't despair if you're new to the obsolete list. My iMac (my main computer) has been labeled "Obsolete" by Apple for nearly a year now and it still runs current software acceptably well. It's running OS X 10.11 El Capitan without problems.

The 2008 MacBook Air started feeling pretty useless sometime around 2012... it's just not capable of running current software anymore. It still runs old software okay, but I'm using it less and less and my iPhone more with each passing year... probably going to replace it with a new rMBP once Apple refreshes it next year.



Here I thought I was the sole person still using a mid-2007 iMac as their main computer.

 

[ecphot]

Needed to update my Photoshop workstation and not wanting to pay $4K+ for a base 2013 spec'd Mac Pro (not including the necessary external storage SSDs I would need) - I just updated my 2009 Mac Pro for a fraction of the price.

Replaced the processor with 3.46 6-core, went from 4.1 to 5.1 firmware, added 32GB ram, NVIDIA GTX 2GB, Boot drive 3x 250GB SSD in RAID 0, image working volume is 4x 1TB SSD in RAID 0 and added a 4x USB3 card. Between newegg, OWC and ebay - getting all the parts and putting together was really easy. This should last for a number of years now. No thunderbolt but with thunderbolt 3 coming next year - really no point getting a TB2 machine now.

I'm really happy with my new vintage Mac Pro.

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

My MacPro 2009 (4,1>5,1) has a 6c 3,33 Ghz processor and is still fast enough, except the graphics card. I was going to upgrade the GPU of my "obsolete" machine. It's a shame, Apple!