7-9 years not gonna happen support wise.
That is almost guaranteed.
I would wait another 24 months in this case and get gen 2. Worst case scenario gen 1 but with apple care for sure.
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Don't buy intel mbp now ?
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7-9 years not gonna happen support wise.
That is almost guaranteed.
I would wait another 24 months in this case and get gen 2. Worst case scenario gen 1 but with apple care for sure.
Buy what you need for today but with an eye on the future. Is ARM going to be something you really want to jump on right away? If so, why? Otherwise, nothing is going to change significantly in the next couple of years.
If you do decide to buy a new device today you need to accept that if all goes to plan with ARM and you do find yourself wanting to switch, by that time intel based Apples devices are going to be hard to offload, the secondary market for them will weaken significantly as there will be so many of them out there as people favour the newer ARM devices.
Wow… You are using a 2011 MacBook Air?
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I predict they are going to hit a homerun with these in-house designed chips and people are going to absolutely want to switch over as soon as possible, particularly in the laptops.
If one has the flexibility I would sure want to have my money on the sideline for this transition
Me too. I have a late-2013 MBP and was going to get a 2020 13" MBP before summer ended but there is so much uncertainty in regards to support from Apple and third parties.
I also kind of don't want the first ARM Macbook Pro/Air because it'll be a major first-gen product, so the next possible upgrade would be the 2022 ARM Macbook. That's 2 years away!!! I've been thinking of just biting the bullet and getting the 2020 13" Pro.
Pretty much in the same boat here. No idea what to do. Was all set to buy a 2020 13” and now not so sure.
Thinking of getting a 12.9 iPad Pro instead and just see how long my 2012 MBP can last for the odd task I can’t do on an iPad.
But there’s also part of me thinking wait till end of year and see what they release whether it be ARM MacBook or the miniLED iPad Pro etc and buy then.
I understand the first gen sentiment somewhat…
But do you think it’s that applicable in this case?
They’ve been building and running ARM macOS in the background simultaneously for years and we already know that the hardware they are putting out is essentially amazing as we’ve seen it in iPads for years.
I won’t be surprised at all if the form factors don’t change one single bit and they simply pop in Apple Silicon right into the existing chassis for something like a MacBook Pro.
I feel very comfortable with this particular first generation product
I think there are people who will want an intel based Mac so they can run windows and mac together. When I was working I had an iMac with parallels running windows and mac os together because some of the software I needed to use only ran on windows. I was copy and paste between the two vers having windows laptop beside my iMac. Also some network engineers used the mac run window, linux, SunOS,etc so they could network stuff with different OS's on the same machine. It is a niche need but it is out there
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Me too I have mid 2012 rMBP 15in. I was already to pull the trigger on a 16". Now I am just treading water. I do not think I can wait two more years but do not want a 1st gen computer
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You pretty much have to expect that there will be bumps in the road in this transition. I for one am not jumping on this bandwagon from day one. I don't want to run into a scenario where some of the software I want to run hasn't yet been updated for ARM Macs. I suppose maybe this won't necessarily be that big of an issue, but I'd just rather not have to deal with those sorts of headaches for something that's my main machine.
This reminds me somewhat of back in the day when Apple decided not to support Flash. Completely different scenario of course, but I do still remember a period where videos on many websites wouldn't work because they used flash. It probably took a good two years before I stopped experiencing any issues, but there was definitely a point in time when it was a little bit irritating.
This reminds me somewhat of back in the day when Apple decided not to support Flash. Completely different scenario of course, but I do still remember a period where videos on many websites wouldn't work because they used flash. It probably took a good two years before I stopped experiencing any issues, but there was definitely a point in time when it was a little bit irritating.
Lots of people need to buy a MacBook now. There is total compatibility and Tim Cook stated that they would support Intel for years to come so macOS updates will happen. Apple expect to transition to their own silicone in two years.
Most people keep their Mac for several years. macOS will still run on Intel within the time that matters to most of us. What we will probably see is that some feature will come out that's ARM only to wean the last few off of their intel machines in a handful of years.
The only reasons to wait are if you don't need to upgrade or you are desperate to have the latest thing which probably performs faster pound for pound than Intel but otherwise looks and acts the same.
I will probably shave a year off my replacement timescale and get a new MacBook around 2024 having just bought a 2020 MBA.
Most people keep their Mac for several years. macOS will still run on Intel within the time that matters to most of us. What we will probably see is that some feature will come out that's ARM only to wean the last few off of their intel machines in a handful of years.
The only reasons to wait are if you don't need to upgrade or you are desperate to have the latest thing which probably performs faster pound for pound than Intel but otherwise looks and acts the same.
I will probably shave a year off my replacement timescale and get a new MacBook around 2024 having just bought a 2020 MBA.
But „you“ can't blame Intel alone for this, as Apple almost provokes heat problems due to the increasingly flat design. I would prefer a few millimeters more in case thickness than panting fans. Apple won't get away from this even with ARM. Although the processors are probably a good match for the design.
Last version of Leopard (10.5.8) for both Intel and PowerPC was released in summer 2009.
From then on Leopard got security updates for both Intel and PowerPC until summer 2011 when Leopard (and therefore PowerPC-Macs) went to the status of "obsolete".
Because of severe security problems, Apple released three security updates despite the "obsolete" status in beginning of 2012.
Like when Apple transitioned from PowerPC to Intel, Apple says they plan to complete this transition to macs with Apple Silicon in two years. However, in the PowerPC to Intel transition, it only took a little over a year to completely phase out PowerPC macs. I do not think they are going to waste any time. Apple does not want a prolonged period where consumers are confused about what to buy when.
Apple says 2 years, but highly credible supply chain analysts like Kuo predict 12-18 months for a full transition.
Apple has first mover advantage due to technological leadership. Apple wouldn't be rocking the processor boat if they weren't 100% confident and ready.
At most, I would expect 2 years of annual (major) Intel macOS updates. After that, Intel macOS will likely continue to get security fixes, similar to the way iOS 12 continues to get them. These will not be feature updates that most consumers have come to expect.
That really sucks for Intel users. Apple should be working on longer and longer support cycles.
I'm pretty annoyed. My MacBook Pro won't get Bir Sir (even though it is fully capable of running Big Sir) and it is a terrible time to buy a Mac now and will be for the next few years.
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A good idea since first crop of Intel Machines weren't great in terms of support and longevity, and I suspect the ARM machines will be the same.
That's not correct. Cook said in his presentation that Intel-Macs will get several of the upcoming versions.
"Several" could mean only 2-3 years. That isn't very long. I keep my Macs for 8 plus years so 'Several' upcoming versions doesn't cut it.
Yes, it does. It takes an additional year until a version gets its last update, and then you get at least 2 years of security updates.
Apple's rule is that a machine is supported till 5 years after the very last device of that series has been sold. So when the last Intel MacBook Pro 16 inch will be sold, you can add 5 years, and from then your device will be obsolete (but still fully functional).
I'm not sure I can wait another 2 years. This 2011 MBA 11" with 4GB RAM is chugging. Big time. I reckon I could wait one more year at a push. I know there's an Arm product coming in Q4, and if it's a laptop, it could be an option for me, but unsure if I should buy a first-gen product. I do have an iPad Pro, but I don't think I'll ever be able to reconcile with using it as a productivity machine for work.
i appreciate this sentiment - buy what you need for today. It's not that Arm is something I need to jump on right away. It's more that I spend a significant amount on my laptops and I like them to last a long time (usually more than Apple's obsoletion period (4 years?). I bought the maxed out PowerBook 12" in the early 2000s, then the maxed out i7 MBA 11" in 2011. Whatever I get now, I plan to choose at least 16GB RAM (maybe 32GB is MBP) and i7. The other benefit with Intel now I guess is getting a machine that can use Bootcamp. Unsure what the case will be here for Arm machines.
Yep, 2011 11" MBA with a measly 4GB RAM. It has done me well to last this long! There's a small part of me which regrets not buying the 12" MBP at the time, which still had a SuperDrive. I bet that would still be going today too, but I would've had the option of 8GB RAM. I think the 4GB in my current machine gives me issues.
Hah, you and me both! I think whether you get a 2020 model or an Arm model, there are pros and cons to both. I'm worried if I get the 2020 Arm model later thisyear, a number of apps won't work. The thing is, I can probably not expect my Intel model to continue getting apps and app updates 4 years from now...and I like my laptops to last longer!
Obsolence: 5 years after the last device of a model has been sold, see: Vintage and obsolete products
I have a 2012 non-retina MBP with SSD and RAM upgrades. It was going fine until last week when I kept getting the spinning beachball. I deleted lots of stuff to free up SSD space to make it go away but it kept beach-balling all the time. I then did a Time Machine restore to a previous week when it wasn't beach-balling, but it kept happening anyway.
I need my MBP for my work and can't deal with the constant beach-balling, so last Saturday I got the 13 inch 2020 MBP, 2.0Ghz CPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and new Magic Keyboard. I got almost exactly 8 full years out of my 2012 MBP and that's a pretty good run. This new MBP is great and I am going to enjoy it while I have it.
Now that Apple has confirmed this move to ARM, I doubt I'll get another 8 years out of it like my 2012 MBP, but it's not the end of the world. Like other people have stated, the last PPC OSX Leopard was released 4 years after the announcement of the PPC to Intel transition, and got two more years of security updates, so that's 6 years.
The new OSes aren't always that much better. I was previously on 10.12 Sierra and skipped 10.13 High Sierra entirely and had waited until 10.14.5 or so to upgrade to Mojave. I wasn't really missing that much.
I have a good friend who pointed out that since there's millions of Intel Macs out there, he thinks they'll be supported for 5-7 years by Apple, which made sense and made me feel better. Plus Tim Cook said they'll support Intel Macs for years and years.
If I can get 6-7 good years of Apple support out of my new MBP, that's pretty good and I'll be happy enough with that. You can't expect everything to last 7+ years.
I need my MBP for my work and can't deal with the constant beach-balling, so last Saturday I got the 13 inch 2020 MBP, 2.0Ghz CPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD and new Magic Keyboard. I got almost exactly 8 full years out of my 2012 MBP and that's a pretty good run. This new MBP is great and I am going to enjoy it while I have it.
Now that Apple has confirmed this move to ARM, I doubt I'll get another 8 years out of it like my 2012 MBP, but it's not the end of the world. Like other people have stated, the last PPC OSX Leopard was released 4 years after the announcement of the PPC to Intel transition, and got two more years of security updates, so that's 6 years.
The new OSes aren't always that much better. I was previously on 10.12 Sierra and skipped 10.13 High Sierra entirely and had waited until 10.14.5 or so to upgrade to Mojave. I wasn't really missing that much.
I have a good friend who pointed out that since there's millions of Intel Macs out there, he thinks they'll be supported for 5-7 years by Apple, which made sense and made me feel better. Plus Tim Cook said they'll support Intel Macs for years and years.
If I can get 6-7 good years of Apple support out of my new MBP, that's pretty good and I'll be happy enough with that. You can't expect everything to last 7+ years.
No you are incorrect. Because if that was correct, the Mid 2012 MacBook Pro would be supported (as the last model was sold in September 2016).
The 5 year thing is about hardware support. Apple puts machines that have been discontinued for more than 5 years onto its vintage/obsolete list, which means that they no longer manufacture replacement parts for them.
The fact is that 'Several' years (2-3) of support for a device that costs upwards of $2000 is not good enough for me.
PowerPC got its last major OS release a little less than two and a half years after the transition announcment.
They announced the transition to Intel in June 2005.
The last major OS release for PowerPC (OS X Leopard) was in October 2007.
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The last release for PowerPC was Leopard 10.5.8 in summer 2009 with security patches up to summer 2011 (plus additional security patches in early 2012).
I understand it got minor updates, but the last major OS release for PowerPC (10.5) was in October 2007.
My issue is i need virtualization which isn’t happening so fast with arm and x86 clients. I think Apple may continue to offer intel machines for longer than we think. I’m going to pickup a refreshed intel MBP (hopefully with 10th gen i9) whenever they release them - then i’ll wait out the transition and figure things out from there.