When will they cut it off?

[comda]

Greetings fellow macRumors fans!

I recently recieved a used Macbook pro. its a 5,5 to be exact. I was able to get some free memory for it, so its got 8Gb and my SSD from RMA is returning tomorrow for it. So it will be a nice machine within the week. However, is there a possible way to determine when apple drops support for a machine like this?

My previous mac was just retired a month ago, when the SSD died and i got this machine free. And its nice, its able to run El cap, but how do i know how much longer it will have? like will it run 10.12?

Reason im asking is because I bought my Macbook 3,1 in late 07. I ran leopard on it until apple pulled the plug on 10.5 Then about a month later, i think it was 2010, i purchased snow leopard and then my university gave me a copy of Lion last year. But i purchased a battery for essentially an end of life product.

So if you havnt figured it out, this machine needs a battery. And apple wont sell me one (they dont support machines after 5 years) yet i bought the one for my 3,1 off the shelf in an actual apple store. Anyways, ive turned to a nuPower battery from OWC. its $99 and it looks like i might pay shipping due to my location. So im worried ill buy it, and then apple will pull the plug..

What do you think?

Its a Macbook Pro 5,5
13'3 display
Nvidia 9400M 256mb
160Gb Hard drive
4Gb ram soon to be 8
running el cap no problem. Stuck at windows 7 bootcamp, running 10 with minimal driver issues.

 

[T5BRICK]

They'll most likely be dropping support soon.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

You may get another year of upgrades but if it can run El capitan it should be fine for another 2 years or so on that OS at least. At that age I'd be more worried about GPU or motherboard failure myself.

 

[comda]

why the GPU or motherboard failure? There are macbook pros from 07 still running el cap. so i waas wondering

 

[Samuelsan2001]

why the GPU or motherboard failure? There are macbook pros from 07 still running el cap. so i waas wondering

Because at 7 years oldish then it is in that territory, at some point it will break down, all electronics do, and those are the parts most likely to go that can't be replaced in a cost effective way. Of course it may last another 5-10 years you just can't tell but I always start thinking about how far I can trust a laptop after 6-7 years, the small form factor, enclosed heat, moving about and general abuse etc means that any more than 7 years is always a bonus for me not an expectation.

 

[comda]

well hopefully it can keep going another 3-4 years. Becasue my 07 Macbook is still going great, just cant run anything past lion aside from ML hacked. And i need a new battery for this one. PLus i only have one adapter between the two..