Good night, Intel Macs

[mlayer]

News is coming out that the unnamed Mac OS 27 will drop support for the final Intel Macs that still officially support Tahoe:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (2020)
Mac Pro (2019)

If I didn't already have a recently acquired iMac Pro, I might check for a nice deal on one of these. The Mac Pro, which is still in the depreciation stage, is still interesting architecturally if not functionally. The 2020 13" MBP or 2019 16" MBP might catch my eye as I don't have any touchbar Macs in my stable and these models at least have good keyboards.

One other thing that could be considered as a factor is Windows 11 support. There's a process to make that work. Is it worth it? I haven't tried, though my work PC experience with Win 11 makes me think it's not worth my time or effort.

 

[BSDnostalgia]

The Mac Pro, which is still in the depreciation stage, is still interesting architecturally if not functionally.

I feel that it would be a bad precedent to drop distributing security patches so soon. There are plenty of people who still use those boxes functionally.

Except for the security aspect for people still needing that functionality, I'm glad to see x86 go. Apple Silicon has so much more performance at any given level of power consumption/heat.

 

[mcnallym]

News is coming out that the unnamed Mac OS 27 will drop support for the final Intel Macs that still officially support Tahoe:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (2020)
Mac Pro (2019)

If I didn't already have a recently acquired iMac Pro, I might check for a nice deal on one of these. The Mac Pro, which is still in the depreciation stage, is still interesting architecturally if not functionally. The 2020 13" MBP or 2019 16" MBP might catch my eye as I don't have any touchbar Macs in my stable and these models at least have good keyboards.

One other thing that could be considered as a factor is Windows 11 support. There's a process to make that work. Is it worth it? I haven't tried, though my work PC experience with Win 11 makes me think it's not worth my time or effort.

Not really sure why this is “news is coming out” as Apple announced even before Mac OS 26 was out 26 would be the last Intel release.

Was confirmed at WWDC 2025 that Mac OS 26 would be last Intel Support version.

There was also quite a bit about how quickly effectively the Mac Pro 2019 was getting dropped in terms of new OS support in the forums.

 

[StellarVixen]

macOS support for Intel Macs has been unofficially dropped since Ventura. Through some testing, I have found out that the Monterey was the last version that performed absolutely amazing on Intel Macs. Since Ventura through Sequoia things were still mostly fine, but it started getting worse. And Tahoe is just horrible.

Now it's just being made official. Oh well. It was meant to happen, and we knew it would come.

 

[KenSM]

I have a 2019 Intel MBP which I recently moved from Sequoia to Tahoe. It seemed a good idea from a security point of view as I use the MBP as my general internet access machine. I have other Macs which are M1, and I have been running one of these on Tahoe, and it seems fine. My impression is that Tahoe is OK on the M1 machines, but I very much wish I hadn't put it on the Intel machine. It is clear from other forums that moving the Intel machine back to an earlier OS than Tahoe is very problematic – so it's effectively a one-way process. My recommendation would be that owners of Intel Macs should think at least twice before upgrading beyond Sequoia. By all means try it out by installing Tahoe on an external bootable drive, but be very sure before you install it on your internal drive.

 

[Mega ST]

I have an intel MBP 2018 that runs well. Hope to keep it going as a secondary device.

 

[MacPowerLvr]

I have the last 27" iMac from 2022, Refurbished by Apple, and it is the only one that I would have bought in 2022. It has the i9 Chip, T2 Chip, 8TB SSD, Nano-Texture Screen, 5700XT graphics card with/16GB of Video Ram, and of course, user upgradeable RAM. It has an Awesome 5K Screen with Gorgeous Video, is very fast and silent, and because of the T2 Chip, I have most of the features of Tahoe, although this is the last year that I can upgrade the OS. I don't care if I can't go past Tahoe 26, it is Fantastic, and is under Apple's Extended warranties. I will upgrade my MBPro M1 Max.

 

[SoYoung]

My main computer is stil the 27' iMac 2020 (see my signature for specs) and it's still a very capable and fast computer overall. I particularly like it because of bootcamp and the large internal SSD. I have a secondary M4 Mac mini on my bedroom that I also use daily. The M4 is clearly snappier and faster, but when I go back to my 2020 iMac its not a night and day difference.

I'll probably wait until the end of the 2 extra years of security updates before I change for another Mac. Anyway, Mac studios and minis are out of stock right now and I have the impression it will be like that for a while. Its not a great period for buying new tech.

 

[Yebubbleman]

News is coming out that the unnamed Mac OS 27 will drop support for the final Intel Macs that still officially support Tahoe:

You say "News is coming out" like (a) this wasn't announced as far back as June of last year and (b) like MacRumors.com, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider haven't been plastering this story on slow news days all over the damn place.

This is old news.

Also, no, you can't officially have supported Windows 11 on any otherwise-compatible T2 chip because Apple has not enabled the TPM 2.0 that exists on the Intel processors of said T2 Intel Macs. You can bypass the TPM 2.0 requirement and install Windows 11 that way, but you're (a) limited to Apple's Boot Camp drivers and (b) at the mercy of Microsoft to not eventually disallow you from installing critical security updates to Windows 11.

I would stop looking at these old Intel Macs if what you want is a Mac that can run Windows. Better to get a newer Apple Silicon Mac and a decent Windows PC than to buy a Mac that will, from a performance perspective, be the worst of both worlds.

 

[MultiFinder17]

My main computer in my classroom is a 2020 iMac i5/32GB/512GB and it's a fantastic computer still on Tahoe, and will remain so for a few years still to come. I plan on getting another 2-3 years out of it before I finally retire it.

 

[AppleForeverandEver]

I love them because you could still run Windows on them. Now have no need for Windows so “good night”. The 27” was quite nice.

 

[Andy5Kimac]

News is coming out that the unnamed Mac OS 27 will drop support for the final Intel Macs that still officially support Tahoe:

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)
iMac (2020)
Mac Pro (2019)

If I didn't already have a recently acquired iMac Pro, I might check for a nice deal on one of these. The Mac Pro, which is still in the depreciation stage, is still interesting architecturally if not functionally. The 2020 13" MBP or 2019 16" MBP might catch my eye as I don't have any touchbar Macs in my stable and these models at least have good keyboards.

One other thing that could be considered as a factor is Windows 11 support. There's a process to make that work. Is it worth it? I haven't tried, though my work PC experience with Win 11 makes me think it's not worth my time or effort.

Upgrading to windows 11 pro is very easy to by pass the TPM 2.0 checks. Tons of YouTube videos on how to do it. I currently run windows 11 pro on my 2020 5k iMac with i9 and 6900XT EGPU set up and it’s very stable. Way more stable than windows 10. Also I custom fine tuned my iMac with windows custom hidden performance settings and 3rd party software.

After tinkering with the settings my i9 hits 5GHz max boost clock speeds in single threaded tasks and during long 4k gaming sessions it sustains 4.7ghz at 65 degrees C. Doesnt thermal throttle like in Mac OS down to 4.2 ghz during gaming or under heavy CPU loads. In Mac OS it can’t even hit pass 4.7ghz on single threaded tasks…

I also custom fine tuned my RX 6900XT and during 4k gaming core temps hit 60’s with hotspot junction temps hitting 70’s. I modified my Razer Core X Chroma with dual Noctua premium fans and undervolted my GPU with AMD software. I’m getting a solid 110 fps playing Diablo IV in 4k play on high settings. I also get great 4k fps in alot of other demanding titles.

After fine tuning my iMac in windows 11 pro my iMac is way more snappier and more responsive than running Mac OS sequoia. This is the reason why I stayed with my intel iMac because of Bootcamp and you can do so much customization performance tuning with it. In Mac OS can’t do any customizations with performance tuning… I’m rarely in Mac OS now unless I’m editing photos or videos. I’d say upgrading to windows 11 is totally worth it.

Now surely you can build a powerhouse pc that would destroy Intel Mac’s in gaming. However with the AI demands and the cost of building one today… make the most of what you currently have, and if anyone still own and run one today. They are still more than capable and are “far” from being obsolete.

 

[Padre_Pio]

I have the last 27" iMac from 2022, Refurbished by Apple, and it is the only one that I would have bought in 2022. It has the i9 Chip, T2 Chip, 8TB SSD, Nano-Texture Screen, 5700XT graphics card with/16GB of Video Ram, and of course, user upgradeable RAM. It has an Awesome 5K Screen with Gorgeous Video, is very fast and silent, and because of the T2 Chip, I have most of the features of Tahoe, although this is the last year that I can upgrade the OS. I don't care if I can't go past Tahoe 26, it is Fantastic, and is under Apple's Extended warranties. I will upgrade my MBPro M1 Max.

Were they selling 27 inch iMacs in 2022?

 

[theorist9]

Were they selling 27 inch iMacs in 2022?

Sounds like it's a 2020 iMac (the last year 27" iMacs were made) that was purchased in 2022 from the Apple refurb store.

 

[benholt]

The performance gap on Tahoe is real. My 2019 iMac Pro chewed through After Effects projects fine on Big Sur and Monterey, was noticeably slower on Sonoma, and on Tahoe even AE startup alone felt like a different machine. Hardware unchanged, the OS just got heavier each cycle. There's a real reason a lot of folks held off on the Tahoe upgrade — macOS 27 dropping Intel is the polite version of "we're done optimizing for x86."