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I brought it to the local Apple store (The brick and mortar type) after my display went haywire.
But I don't think or remember I have upgraded display card (It had been too long since I bought her from 2009). It has the ATI Radeon HD 4850.
My Late 2009 Mac Mini isnt on that list....guess it's still not "obsolete" yet :)

It still works, but it's getting pretty slow.

That's odd. The same year more powerful iMac is on the list. What did the Mac Mini have that the iMac didn't?
 
I brought it to the local Apple store (The brick and mortar type) after my display went haywire.
But I don't think or remember I have upgraded display card (It had been too long since I bought her from 2009). It has the ATI Radeon HD 4850.

I guess I recalled it wrong. It was an upgrade compared to the Core 2 Duo, EveryMac says the i7 had the 4850 stock. Still, when did you get it replaced? I tried my Apple Store, SimplyMac, and OWC this summer and none of them had one.
 
I think it's slightly disingenuous to obsolete the 30" ACD when it's only two generations back. It may be old age-wise but it's been over 1,500 days since the last display update and with display port 1.3 on the newest skylake chips unable to push 5k displays, who knows when Apple will release a new one. I've said for years that I'd update my display if Apple would just make a higher resolution display in a 16:10 format that's anti-glare.
 
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Sad to see one of my old systems in that list.

Oh! I'm still using a 2004 12" PowerBook. The battery was replaced during a recall years ago but it still runs perfectly. Even the HDD is working just fine! Should it ever go I'll happily replace it, there's nothing like typing on that keyboard.
 
which top end obsolete macs are faster?

2009 27" iMac with i7 (high end) will be faster than a 2015 21.5" iMac (entry level) but admittedly it is a stretch! If you compare like models, the current models tend to be about twice as fast, and that even applies for the much maligned Mac mini.
 
The amount of people talking about how well their old tech works in this thread is astounding. Of course it works. It's not like Apple is flipping a switch to power off
Your devices. They're just done making old stuff because they have lots of other products to maintain.

Well, some are irritated at Apple's misuse of the term "obsolete". It implies that the devices are no longer used or useful, which is clearly false and naturally generates comments from people still using them. Apple could just say "no longer receiving hardware support" or something like that if that is what they mean and I'm sure fewer would feel the need to speak up.

(posted from my main laptop --a 2004 T42, for whatever it's worth)
 
I guess I recalled it wrong. It was an upgrade compared to the Core 2 Duo, EveryMac says the i7 had the 4850 stock. Still, when did you get it replaced? I tried my Apple Store, SimplyMac, and OWC this summer and none of them had one.
Right, I got the iMac upgraded to Core i7 instead of Core 2 Duo.
I had mine replaced at this Apple Store by hauling her into the store physically even it was completely out of warranty.
Guess I was lucky that they had the parts but they were also telling me that my iMac is going to be vintage soon.
You might want to try another Apple Store and see if you get better luck.
 
Obsolescence is understandable, not a problem to me.

There's a problem with misleading modern Apple articles such as https://support.apple.com/HT204455 – in that example there is, by omission, an implication that firmware password protection can not apply to any pre-2010 Mac.

Truly: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352 "… Any Intel-based Mac …"; and so on.

(The protection is not unbreakable, but it's wrong to imply that the protection is inapplicable.)
 
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.
Yep our laptop is a late 2008 Macbook upgraded to 8gb RAM and 512gb SSD and its still relatively decent.
 
My first Mac (personally owned) was the early 2008 MBP. My grandpa is still using it to edit old family videos! It's going to be interesting to see what happens in a few years. My mid-2012 first-gen Retina MacBook Pro can hang with the current models pretty closely. It's almost like laptops have come to a standstill in performance over the past couple years (except maybe in graphics). By comparison, iOS devices have been increasing in speed rapidly over the last few years and devices like the iPhone 6s match the speed of some Macs from a few years ago and the iPad Pro is faster than some Macs shipping today! That begs the question: are we nearing the end of silicon? If so, when will the graphene stuff be ready, and is graphene only a stop-gap measure on our way to quantum computing? Thought I read something the other day about Google teaming up with NASA on a quantum computer. Mentioned having a smart phone that is around 100,000,000 times faster than current desktops. Insanity!
 
I guess I should take a hint and update my macbook '08. Being poor is tough, 7 years later still no money to buy a new macbook
 
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.

You do realise the 32gb iPod used a platter drive right?
 
I think this list is awesome because almost every Mac/Apple Device that I have is either vintage or obsolete!

My wife has a Late 2009 iMac (recently added as we all know), a 8GB iPhone 3GS, and an iPod video from 2004.

I have: PowerMac G5 Late 2005, PowerBook G4, iBook G3, 3rd generation Airport extreme, my 32GB iPhone 3GS, and my iPod video from 2004.

The only things that don't seem to be either are the iPad 1s that still work and my wife's iPad mini 2.

Awesome.

Do you just like living 7 years in the past or are you extremely tight with your money?
 
Do you just like living 7 years in the past or are you extremely tight with your money?

You would have to define "living in the past."
It does have a lot to do with me being tight on money, but I also know Macs really well and prefer the build of earlier machines.

My ideal laptop right now is the 2012 15" MBP due to what it can do on its own and what I can make it do with upgrades as far as RAIDs go. The same goes for the 2012 13" non-retina MBP

My PowerMac so far only has one issue as far a limiting me (and that's only due to me not being able to open wire files with Blender). But I can contact the support desk for Autodesk and get a copy of Maya 2008 and then open my Alias Automotive files and then be fine.

None of my devices connect over 802.11ac, so my AEBS still works perfectly.

So it's not so much "living in the past" or being limited by finances as much as it has become more of not upgrading if it's unnecessary.
 
I have a late 2009 iMac 27" w/i7 processor and I wouldn't call that thing vintage. It still performs very well on El Capitan, granted I did replace the hard drive in it this year. It had one of those junk recalled Seagate drives in it. Popped a WD black drive in it and it's running just like new again.

It's a little concerning to me that Apple is obsoleting computers that are 5-6 years old, especially as their newer machines become less and less repairable. Granted 5-6 years used to be about the time I would think about getting a new computer, the times have changed and computers have kind of reached a point where most won't need the upgrades anymore because you just don't see much slowdown on basic tasks anymore. Guess they've gotta do something to keep people coming back for their new products though.
 
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Still rocking a late 2008 MacBook aluminium. With an SSD and ram of at least 4 GB is still holds up. There are a couple of stutters here and there (I haven't done a clean install since Mountain Lion) but no issues. Battery replaced afer 3 years (under AppleCare) and I still get close to 3 hours from it. Flash makes the fans go crazy, but hopefully it should die off next year. I'm looking to pick up a new Mac when all the Skylake options are out (likely a 13"MBP or rMB depending on the specs/performance), but there's plenty of life left in it. It really shows that power requirements haven't really changed since 2007/8. When I do upgrade it will be for other things - SSD speed, retina display, weight, battery life and features like AirPlay mirroring, hand-off, continuity etc that need bluetooth 4+. The increased CPU power will almost come as a side bonus.
 
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Still rocking a late 2008 MacBook aluminium. With an SSD and ram of at least 4 GB is still holds up. There are a couple of stutters here and there (I haven't done a clean install since Mountain Lion) but no issues. Battery replaced afer 3 years (under AppleCare) and I still get close to 3 hours from it. Flash makes the fans go crazy, but hopefully it should die off next year. I'm looking to pick up a new Mac when all the Skylake options are out (likely a 13"MBP or rMB depending on the specs/performance), but there's plenty of life left in it. It really shows that power requirements haven't really changed since 2007/8. When I do upgrade it will be for other things - SSD speed, retina display, weight, battery life and features like AirPlay mirroring, hand-off, continuity etc that need bluetooth 4+. The increased CPU power will almost come as a side bonus.

Doesn't the 2008 Macbook accept 8GB RAM? That should help with battery life at the very least.

And the retina macbook is nice and light, but it's only a USB machine with only 5gbps through that bus (which I think is crazy considering what Apple has with TB). It also doesn't support TDM, and requires adapters for I/O connectivity.

Are there any rumors of PCIe 3.0 on the horizon? If not, then going with a retina for SSD speed can be matched with a SATA 3 SSD in the non-retina machines from 2012.

The mid-2012 models also handle: Hand-off, airplay mirroring, Metal, P2P AirPlay, AirDrop... Basically, the 2012 (as I'm sure you know) won't have the retina display, ac WiFi, or the PowerNap features.

Until Apple updates the Mac line with PCIe 3.0, the only reason (in my opinion) to upgrade is for the increased resolution offered by the retina display. Otherwise, the 2012 models are still fantastic and the better machines.
 
Guess I fall in the living in the past category as my 09 iMac 27" with the i7 and 32GB of RAM can totally run circles around the base iMac 21.5" now...:p
 
It doesn't matter.
There are "obsolete" Macs that can run 10.11 and also, I remember when my MacBook (early 2008) couldn't run Mountain Lion and it was still "Supported" when I checked.
 
The headline is misleading. My workhorse mid-2007 iMac is only 1 full year obsolete.
;):apple:;)

And I had to downgrade mine to Yosemite.

That shows, I guess, that it's what you do with it. It's time to get another job, or project, and get more Apple stuff...:):mad::eek:o_O

EDIT: I would work for Apple for free, just give me the latest hardware. I could live with that arrangement...
 
The amount of people talking about how well their old tech works in this thread is astounding. Of course it works. It's not like Apple is flipping a switch to power off
Your devices. They're just done making old stuff because they have lots of other products to maintain.

I don't think the number (not "amount") of people talking about their old tech is astounding at all -- the point isn't that older Macs are still functioning, it's that for many uses they're still quite usable on a daily basis, with current OS releases and modern software. We all get that there's no magic switch, thanks.
 
I hope it will have some sort of discrete GPU to handle all those displays.

Sadly... Apple probably won't deliver.
We were definitely burned last time around on the 2014 Mini, but I think (hope) we're getting to the point where everything is just going to be retina-capable or risk looking seriously underpowered. That's what I'm hoping anyway.
 
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