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How long will M1 MBA 2020 will be supported?

iHorseHead

iHorseHead

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 1, 2021
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Hey!
Just a speculation, how long do you think the M1 MacBook Air will be supported?
I'm coming from MacBook Pro mid 2010 and even on High Sierra it's kind of pain to use. Before that I had Early 2008 MacBook (4,1) and I remember how disappointed I was with the fact that it only received 3 OS upgrades.
With MacBook Pro mid 2010 I was pleasantly surprised that it was officially supported till High Sierra. If you had a guess, how many major upgrades MBA 2020 will receive?
 
I reckon about 7-years based on how long Apple have been supporting their Macs recently. Remember that back in early 2008 when you had your first MacBook Apple's OS updates used to be more spread out than they are now, which is perhaps why it only saw 3 updates.
 
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The 2008 Macbook was an oddball. It had to do with it having a 32bit EFI while Apple moved to full 64 bit. Although it's a weak excuse. As people got the 32 bit EFI models hacked the installer to work on later macOS versions. Which seems to indicate they'd have been fine with a driver update.

Anyways, I'd expect the normal seven years of OS support and two years of security updates. Plus two years of third party software support, before major software manufacturers start dumping it. Basically, long after the base 8GB RAM becomes woefully inadequate.
 
I had a 2011 Air which was supported OS-upgrade-wise until the Fall of 2017 (then bought a 2017 Air before Apple got rid off all the ports, offered a 'problematic' keyboard and made the OS incompatible with my 11"). So 6 - 7 years as noted above seems like a reasonable bet.

I mean, in the last few years, they got rid of traditional ports - forcing us to rethink connectivity (or at least revisit dongles), gone to a completely different file structure, created a 'new' OS in MacOS 11, and recently, a completely different processor - so maybe the major tinkering is done for a bit and planned obsolescence is off the table for the M1 for a few years? We might expect the OS, their apps and 3rd Party app providers to support the current model for that 6 - 7 years.

Or not. It's Apple after all.
 
I agree with the posts above. One more point, even after Apple has stopped officially supporting, you can expect it to be usable for a few more years. I still have 2021 MBP (I replaced its HD with a 2TB SSD and keeps a copy of my backup, and use it if I want to read a DVD or CD) and 2020(?) MBA - replaced the battery and is kept for guests' use.
 
cr2 said:
even after Apple has stopped officially supporting, you can expect it to be usable for a few more years.
Click to expand...
Long then that even, look at all the guys still running PowerPC Mac's. Ten-Four Fox just stopped getting support AFAIK.

I wouldn't even worry OP, it will last longer than you will want to use it for.
 
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Bazza1 said:
We might expect the OS, their apps and 3rd Party app providers to support the current model for that 6 - 7 years.

Or not. It's Apple after all.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I would not be surprised to see apple blocking software updates after mere three years if M3 or M4 (whatever they call) is a massive leap of M1 (which is totally possible).
 
Agreeing with all said above, just want to add another thought that fits.
Apple also looks at the period since the last sale of the machine, defining "vintage" (5 yrs) and "obsolete" (7 yrs).
Interesting in that regard is the mid-2012 non-retina MBP with integrated optical drive :) That had been discontinued as late as October 2016, so it's still "vintage". It can run Catalina but not Big Sur (officially).
If Apple sticks to its timeline (but who knows), Catalina will be supported until the end of 2022. This is AFAIK the shortest lifespan - 6 years - from the last sale to end of support that has been seen recently.
Given that the 2020 MBA is still sold in 2021, OP should at least get a supported OS until 2027. My prediction, however, is 2028 as it is M1. The Intel ones could maybe end 2027 but here, I also bet on 2028 (2022: Last year of sale of Intel macs, plus 6 years until Apple abandons Intel support).
 
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My 2012 Air keeps rolling along as my main household media server. I'm sure my M1 that I use for road photo work will last many many years. And let's face it, if it lasts 5 years it's still vastly cheaper than my daily double shot of espresso.
 
iHorseHead said:
Hey!
Just a speculation, how long do you think the M1 MacBook Air will be supported?
I'm coming from MacBook Pro mid 2010 and even on High Sierra it's kind of pain to use. Before that I had Early 2008 MacBook (4,1) and I remember how disappointed I was with the fact that it only received 3 OS upgrades.
With MacBook Pro mid 2010 I was pleasantly surprised that it was officially supported till High Sierra. If you had a guess, how many major upgrades MBA 2020 will receive?
Click to expand...
I'll add something that isn't fully addressed. And that is, current and future M1 macs have no user replaceable parts, meaning that if your M1 mac dies for some reasons past the 3rd year, assuming you also got Apple Care +, then you're pretty much SOL irregardless of how long the M1 macs will get the update support. If the SSD dies, your SOL. If the memory in the SOC unit dies, you're SOL. And last but not least, a good battery will last at most 3 to 5 years if you cycle it wisely. Once the battery needs to be replaced, then you have to either put up with the AC adapter or buy a new Macbook. I reckon that's what most Macbook users will likely do as most of us all do with our iPhones as most phones are traded in within the 2-3 year mark for a new one anyhow.

My MB Air 2014 just recently received a SSD upgrade which is 3x faster and has 3x more storage than the stock 128GB that came with it. Soon with a replacement battery, I can push this baby to the 10 year mark before it looses all support from 3rd party apps, namely browser support. Sadly if I upgrade to the M1 Macbook Air with Apple Care + in 2024, I get 3 years of repair support from Apple plus maybe 2 more years before the battery dies, so I'll be ending up replacing the Macbook more often than my current 2014 Air.
 
iluvmacs99 said:
I'll add something that isn't fully addressed. And that is, current and future M1 macs have no user replaceable parts, meaning that if your M1 mac dies for some reasons past the 3rd year, assuming you also got Apple Care +, then you're pretty much SOL irregardless of how long the M1 macs will get the update support. If the SSD dies, your SOL. If the memory in the SOC unit dies, you're SOL. And last but not least, a good battery will last at most 3 to 5 years if you cycle it wisely. Once the battery needs to be replaced, then you have to either put up with the AC adapter or buy a new Macbook. I reckon that's what most Macbook users will likely do as most of us all do with our iPhones as most phones are traded in within the 2-3 year mark for a new one anyhow.

My MB Air 2014 just recently received a SSD upgrade which is 3x faster and has 3x more storage than the stock 128GB that came with it. Soon with a replacement battery, I can push this baby to the 10 year mark before it looses all support from 3rd party apps, namely browser support. Sadly if I upgrade to the M1 Macbook Air with Apple Care + in 2024, I get 3 years of repair support from Apple plus maybe 2 more years before the battery dies, so I'll be ending up replacing the Macbook more often than my current 2014 Air.
Click to expand...
Battery replacements are usually pretty inexpensive. Apple will repair your M1 computer until it is declared vintage or obsolete—usually for a minimum of 7 years after it is introduced. Unfortunately most repairs after your warranty expires are very expensive.
 
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jdb8167 said:
Battery replacements are usually pretty inexpensive. Apple will repair your M1 computer until it is declared vintage or obsolete—usually for a minimum of 7 years after it is introduced. Unfortunately most repairs after your warranty expires are very expensive.
Click to expand...
There's a place in my town that sells refurbed M1 MB Air with Apple Care + for a price cheaper than a new MB Air without AC+ and they're sold out very very quickly for obvious reasons. Within AC+ coverage, battery replacement is inexpensive and affordable which is done close to the end of AC+ coverage for most owners and then you can extend it for another 3 to 5 more years after 3 years of usage totalling 6-8 years before the 2nd replacement battery dies out. But you need AC+. Without AC+, most repairs after warranty expires are very expensive for Macbooks.
 
iluvmacs99 said:
There's a place in my town that sells refurbed M1 MB Air with Apple Care + for a price cheaper than a new MB Air without AC+ and they're sold out very very quickly for obvious reasons. Within AC+ coverage, battery replacement is inexpensive and affordable which is done close to the end of AC+ coverage for most owners and then you can extend it for another 3 to 5 more years after 3 years of usage totalling 6-8 years before the 2nd replacement battery dies out. But you need AC+. Without AC+, most repairs after warranty expires are very expensive for Macbooks.
Click to expand...
Nah. Even out of warranty Apple only charges $129 to replace the MBA battery.
 
jdb8167 said:
Nah. Even out of warranty Apple only charges $129 to replace the MBA battery.
Click to expand...
Not in my town especially with the MB Air with glued on battery to the case, which means having the case and everything replaced. When I was working for an Apple dealer, we quoted roughly $400 Canadian to replace a battery on a 2 year old Intel MB Air by needing to replace the case and keyboard to Apple, which is strange when iFixit quoted Canadian prices as $169 out of warranty. Everything is on Apple's repair discretion. Within AC+, it's $129 Canadian flat fee with other repairs being $379 flat fee. And you have to pay that upfront. Maybe not the case in the States?
 
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iluvmacs99 said:
Not in my town especially with the MB Air with glued on battery to the case, which means having the case and everything replaced. When I was working for an Apple dealer, we quoted roughly $400 Canadian to replace a battery on a 2 year old Intel MB Air by needing to replace the case and keyboard to Apple. And you have to pay that upfront. Maybe not the case in the States?
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The MBA battery isn’t glued in it has pull tabs. Perhaps you are thinking of a MacBook Pro? You can send it in to Apple and get the normal Canadian replacement cost. I don’t know what that is but it is likely to be less than CDN$400.
 
jdb8167 said:
The MBA battery isn’t glued in it has pull tabs. Perhaps you are thinking of a MacBook Pro? You can send it in to Apple and get the normal Canadian replacement cost. I don’t know what that is but it is likely to be less than CDN$400.
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Indeed it should be $169 Cad for the battery replacement cost and it should be replaceable like you said, but if Apple finds other things wrong with the Macbook, then they'll add additional repairs to the cost of the battery replacement out of warranty. If that customer had purchased AC+, then it's going to be $129 flat fee within the 3 year coverage or else anything else is going to be $379 flat fee. Perhaps my experience dealing with Apple Canada is that, they seemed to find "more" things wrong than what the customers brought in for the intended repairs. I can't say the same for Apple USA.
 
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iluvmacs99 said:
Indeed it should be $169 Cad for the battery replacement cost and it should be replaceable like you said, but if Apple finds other things wrong with the Macbook, then they'll add additional repairs to the cost of the battery replacement out of warranty. If that customer had purchased AC+, then it's going to be $129 flat fee within the 3 year coverage or else anything else is going to be $379 flat fee. Perhaps my experience dealing with Apple Canada is that, they seemed to find "more" things wrong than what the customers brought in for the intended repairs. I can't say the same for Apple USA.
Click to expand...
I can’t say for Canada but if you have AC+ there is no fee for battery replacement in the 3 year warranty in the US. If it is out of warranty it is a flat fee of $129.

https://support.apple.com/mac/repair/service#batteryservice

Scroll to Battery Service
 
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