MP 6,1 How long will a Mac Pro purchased in early 2018 be supported?

[eobet]

I'm just curious, since they dropped support for the 2012 Mac Pro in Catalina, so that's 8 years of updates.

A Mac Pro bought today, was effectively created in 2013, so will next year's MacOS update be the last for that machine?

I'm thinking that the CPU might be safe, because even the 7,1 Mac Pro wasn't ARM after all.

But 2 or 3gb of VRAM might perhaps become an issue to keep it alive. Does Apple sell any other Mac with so little VRAM?

 

[tsialex]

I'm just curious, since they dropped support for the 2012 Mac Pro in Catalina, so that's 8 years of updates.

A Mac Pro bought today, was effectively created in 2013, so will next year's MacOS update be the last for that machine?

Mac Pro late-2013 will probably see 10.16, but you never know.

I'm thinking that the CPU might be safe, because even the 7,1 Mac Pro wasn't ARM after all.

But 2 or 3gb of VRAM might perhaps become an issue to keep it alive. Does Apple sell any other Mac with so little VRAM?

Apple usually supports a Mac for seven years after the release date, this sometimes is shorter like with PowerMacs G5 that had 2 years of software support or Mac Pro 2006/2007 that only had 3 years of official support.

A lot of Macs don't have any VRAM whatsoever, anything with integrated graphics uses RAM as VRAM. It's not VRAM that defines a cut, Apple will probably stop MP6,1 support when Intel stops sending microcode updates, MP6,1 Xeons will probably be unsupported in the next year or so, Westmere Xeons become unsupported this year.

 

[padams35]

The 2019 entry 4K iMac has a Radeon Pro 555 with 2GB VRAM.

Apple has provided at least 5 years of security updates for every Intel mac sold. If Apple continues to only offer security updates for the three newest versions of MacOS and discontinues the 2013 in September just before Catalina is released to the public then the 2013 MP should be supported by all versions of MacOS released prior to Sep 2023... or 10.15, 10.16, 10.17, 10.18. These days Apple seems to try for 7-years, but given the 2013's relative age I wouldn't want to bet on more than 5.

Edit: Corrected claim. 32-bit EFI support was worse than I remember.

 

[tsialex]

The 2019 entry 4K iMac has a Radeon Pro 555 with 2GB VRAM.

Apple has provided at least six years of security updates for every Intel mac sold.

Let's see some of Macs on Mactracker and A useless analysis of macOS (OS X) release dates:

MP1,1 10.14.7 - 10.7.5 (20060627 - 20121004)
MP2,1 10.14.9 - 10.7.5 (20070313 - 20121004)
Xserve1,1 10.4.8 - 10.7.5 (20060910 - 20121004)
Xserve2,1 10.5.1 - 10.7.5 (20071215 - 20121004)
MacBook1,1 10.4.6 - 10.6.8 (20060306 - 20110623)
MacBook2,1 10.4.8 - 10.7.5 (20060910 - 20121004)
MacBook3,1 10.5 - 10.7.5 (20071026 - 20121004)
MacBook4,1 10.5.2 - 10.7.5 (20080211 - 20121004)
Macmini1,1 10.4.5 - 10.6.8 - (20060214 - 20110623)
Macmini2,1 10.4.7 - 10.6.8 - (20060627 - 20110623)
Macmini3,1 10.4.10 - 10.7.5 - (20070620 - 20121004)

It's usual 6 years of security support, but a lot of Intel Macs got less than 6.

 

[SvenSvenson]

As the Mac Pro (2013) 6,1 was still sold in 2019, I suspect that it will have support until at least 2024 (5 years).

but I might be a bit biased/hopeful, having received mine today (8-core 3.0Ghz, 64Gb/512Gb/dual D700).

 

[tsialex]

As the Mac Pro (2013) 6,1 was still sold in 2019, I suspect that it will have support until at least 2024 (5 years).

but I might be a bit biased/hopeful, having received mine today (8-core 3.0Ghz, 64Gb/512Gb/dual D700).

Don't bet on this. 2024 will be 11 years after release date and modern Apple software supported a Mac at best, 8 years after the release date and it's just because mid-2010 Mac Pro is essentially the same as mid-2012.

Usual Mac software support is 5 to 7 years after the release date.

 

[SvenSvenson]

Yeah, but this is hardware support. There will be a bit of an outcry if a machine is dropped 3 or 4 years after it was last sold - it's possible, but I doubt it.

For example they've only just dropped the 2010 Mac Pro - that's 8 years of support in the form of OS upgrades..

 

[tsialex]

Yeah, but this is hardware support. There will be a bit of an outcry if a machine is dropped 3 or 4 years after it was last sold - it's possible, but I doubt it.

For example they've only just dropped the 2010 Mac Pro - that's 8 years of support in the form of OS upgrades..

Open MacTracker and check modern Mac software support, no other Mac besides Mac Pro mid-2010 has more than 8 years of software updates from the date of the release. Some has 5 years, most have around 7 years.

You are betting that Apple will support a Mac for years after the last sold date, this is not a cannon and Apple recently sold iPod touch 6th gen until a week or so before showing that it won't get iOS 13.

 

[tsialex]

Yeah, but this is hardware support. There will be a bit of an outcry if a machine is dropped 3 or 4 years after it was last sold - it's possible, but I doubt it.

For example they've only just dropped the 2010 Mac Pro - that's 8 years of support in the form of OS upgrades..

For each macOS release, Apple supports one year of normal updates and two of Security Updates, so for a 2024 end of support, Mac Pro late-2013 will need to be supported for new macOS releases until 2021. Maybe with some luck…

 

[michaeljk]

As the Mac Pro (2013) 6,1 was still sold in 2019, I suspect that it will have support until at least 2024 (5 years).

but I might be a bit biased/hopeful, having received mine today (8-core 3.0Ghz, 64Gb/512Gb/dual D700).

Agreed. The assertions of others using "release date" as the determinant for when Apple drops support is absurd. No way is Apple going to discontinue support two years after offering a product for sale as new (not discontinued). I feel quite confident that Apple will continue to support the Can Mac Pro until at least 2023 and maybe even 2025. I bought mine in January 2014 and have to say it was money very well spent at this point. I am glad (for obviously selfish reasons) that Apple continued to offer this same Mac as their flagship product for nearly another 6 years. If they support it for even another three years, I will be very happy. Like I said, though, I strongly suspect they will support it for another 5.