[phony-account]

> Obsolescence for Macs comes when Apple decides not to allow your mac update the OS to the latest one.

That doesn’t make it obsolete, at all.

[badc0ffee]

When they stop releasing security patches for that OS version 2 years later, it becomes more risky to connect the thing to a network. Or take in any data from the outside, really, whether it's via Bluetooth, or USB drive.

And then there's 3rd party software that will stop supporting that old OS version, in part because Apple's dev tools make that difficult.

Eventually, Apple's own services will stop supporting that OS - no convenient iCloud support.

Finally, the root CA certs bundled with the OS will become too out of date to use.

I'm planning on putting Linux on my Intel Mac Mini soon. But when a M3+ Mini goes out of support, will we have that option?

[illusive4080]

Even my 2017 MBP on macOS 13 still gets security updates. Heck iPhone 6 got a security update recently.

Your points are valid but it’s not 2 years, it’s more than that for big vulnerabilities.

[unilynx]

Don't forget about Bootcamp for the (soon) obsolete Intels .

With a debloated Windows 10 (which we're not going to connect to the internet anyway) they can live on for older games.

[jkestner]

I’ve got a 2010 MBP that’s still perfectly suitable, but without OS updates, I can’t get a browser that websites will load cleanly on, can’t use Xcode, bunch of the Apple services the company hooks you on don’t work, etc. Used OpenCore bootloader to extend its life into newer macOSes, but that’s getting hard to keep up with. What a (e)waste.

[davidkwast]

You can use Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu on a 2009 MBP and on a 2010 too.

[snowwrestler]

I’ve got a “late 2008” MacBook Pro that connects to sites ok in Firefox. That seems to be the browser that does the best at long-term support for old Macs.

[holoduke]

My old macbook Air from 2010 is already running 6 years home assistant on Ubuntu. It's in my fuse/meter room running 24 hours.

[NetMageSCW]

It is 15 years old - I think it is past eWaste into antique.

[zahirbmirza]

Depends if you use xcode or not...I still have my macbook 12inch, for work use, it is amazing, but I can't run the latest xcode, making it defunct for some of my uses. It would be fine running xcode weak as it is; i am sure. Liquid glass might have killed it tho.

[skor]

I use one from around that time to teach my kid basic stuff, you can run linux on it as well.

[manmal]

Patches for old OS versions are unfortunately not 100% covering all security issues. Apple is often arguing that vulns can only be fixed in actively supported versions.

[zahirbmirza]

Also, would love to hear any tips you have for eeking out use...Sounds like you may have some...