How long do you think the first gen Unibodies will be supported by Apple (OS)?

[mgartner0622]

I'm just wondering the general consensus for how long anyone thinks that the first generation of the Unibody MacBook Pros will be supported, the ones with the 9400m or 9600. I do understand that no one knows for sure, but maybe someone knows something I don't, and I would at least appreciate some opinions and input.
I personally own two, as well as a few other more recent machines. With Mountain Lion out for a few months now, I can't help but wonder how long these machines will be supported in terms of being able to upgrade to the "latest and greatest" operating system. Even the late and early '08 machines lost support with ML, about 4 years after they were released, due to the 32bit bootloader issue. Is there anything that is similar to this scenario with these newer models, or any major technical difference besides the graphics on the Late '08, Mid '09, and Mid '10 models that could be a reason for discontinuation of support? At this point in time, I'm beginning to think that the graphics card could be the next big limitation.

 

[afinch1992]

I'm just wondering the general consensus for how long anyone thinks that the first generation of the Unibody MacBook Pros will be supported, the ones with the 9400m or 9600. I do understand that no one knows for sure, but maybe someone knows something I don't, and I would at least appreciate some opinions and input.
I personally own two, as well as a few other more recent machines. With Mountain Lion out for a few months now, I can't help but wonder how long these machines will be supported in terms of being able to upgrade to the "latest and greatest" operating system. Even the late and early '08 machines lost support with ML, about 4 years after they were released, due to the 32bit bootloader issue. Is there anything that is similar to this scenario with these newer models, or any major technical difference besides the graphics on the Late '08, Mid '09, and Mid '10 models that could be a reason for discontinuation of support? At this point in time, I'm beginning to think that the graphics card could be the next big limitation.

only time will tell, but i would say that the video card is probably the next hurdle. I dont think it will affect anything for a few years though. Even then, you have to remember that just because its not on the "latest and greatest" doesnt mean its the end of the world. My 2006 mbp runs perfectly fine and on an arguably better lion. Depends on your use, but even with the terrible way I treated my 2006 it is a great machine still.

 

[shenfrey]

I was under the impression that the unibodies were all the same, as its just the structure of the laptop. The structure hasn't changed since 2008, so wouldn't that mean they are all still the same?

Surely just the hardware that the unibody conceals is what would change, GPU, CPU etc..

 

[mgartner0622]

I was under the impression that the unibodies were all the same, as its just the structure of the laptop. The structure hasn't changed since 2008, so wouldn't that mean they are all still the same?

Surely just the hardware that the unibody conceals is what would change, GPU, CPU etc..

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about, the hardware. The only reason I brought up the unibodies was because for Mountain Lion, that was the hardware cutoff to meet the minimum requirements.
So far, the unibodies have had 5 revisions, 2 of them being nearly the same with just a bump in processor speed (Late '08 - Mid '09, Mid '11 - Late '11). I'm just wondering if anyone thinks the early revisions, e.g. the Aluminum MacBooks and MacBook Pros with the 9400m and 9600 Nvidia cards are the next to lose support due to some hardware functionality of the newer models that they lack.

 

[Tankmaze]

The 9600m cards on the mbp 08 & 09 is comparable with intel hd 3000. So based on that I think its safe to say the mbp will be supported for at least couple of OS X updates.

The baseline 13 mbp 2012 has a geekbench score of 6600
And my late 2008 mbp 2.4 core 2 duo has about 3400

And the gpu performance is about 60% better on the mbp 13.

So the late 2008 mbp could probably last until 2014/15 ? For latest OS X. Cmiiw

 

[Dark Void]

There's not a real estimate that can be made but eventually it will happen of course. This is something I have heard about Apple during my time with OS X and on message boards - that they have a habit of leaving some people behind. I anticipate this for myself, not necessarily in the sense that I won't be able to run the "latest and greatest" OS (as I don't right now) but rather in the sense that I don't care for a thin design and I am not for the lack of certain ports or hardware that are deemed unnecessary (ethernet, optical drive), amongst other things such as the elimination of expandability due to soldered components.

 

[mgartner0622]

There's not a real estimate that can be made but eventually it will happen of course. This is something I have heard about Apple during my time with OS X and on message boards - that they have a habit of leaving some people behind. I anticipate this for myself, not necessarily in the sense that I won't be able to run the "latest and greatest" OS (as I don't right now) but rather in the sense that I don't care for a thin design and I am not for the lack of certain ports or hardware that are deemed unnecessary (ethernet, optical drive), amongst other things such as the elimination of expandability due to soldered components.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel. Not to mention the average Core 2 Duo is more than fast enough for the average consumer. The part that frustrates me however, is you can load Windows 7 on a 12 year old PC, while Macs usually last about 5 years before being unable to upgrade. I think the most life I ever got out of a computer was my G3 iMac, all the way from OS 9.1 to 10.4, about 7 years.

 

[Dark Void]

Yes, that's exactly how I feel. Not to mention the average Core 2 Duo is more than fast enough for the average consumer. The part that frustrates me however, is you can load Windows 7 on a 12 year old PC, while Macs usually last about 5 years before being unable to upgrade. I think the most life I ever got out of a computer was my G3 iMac, all the way from OS 9.1 to 10.4, about 7 years.

A lot of users wildly overestimate the hardware needed for specific tasks. Core 2 Duo is even a luxury for most. I have seen the Windows support argument brought up before as well - not to compare OS X to Windows in this thread, but I understand where you are coming from.

I can just see in a couple of years from now that Apple will have a bunch of Air-designed laptops as their only models. That's just speculation of course, but look at what they have done so far to the MBP line (15'' rMBP followed by the strong possibility of a 13'' rMBP). They still offer the 15'' cMBP at the moment but that has potential to change too.

 

[Interstella5555]

Overall you should be looking at around 5 years (basing this on my Rev 1 MBP being supported through SL), however you may run into random stuff like your phone not being supported under your current OS (iPhone 4 required Leopard).