Nick Heer, writing about his M1 MacBook Pro:
I remember replacing my mid-2007 MacBook Pro after it was just five years old, already wheezing for at least a year prior while attempting even the simplest of things. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro I am using today was released four years ago and, keycaps aside, feels basically new. All the spec comparisons say it is far behind the latest generation, but those numbers are simply irrelevant to me. It is difficult for me to believe this computer already has several successive generations and is probably closer to obsolescence than it i…
Nick Heer, writing about his M1 MacBook Pro:
I remember replacing my mid-2007 MacBook Pro after it was just five years old, already wheezing for at least a year prior while attempting even the simplest of things. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro I am using today was released four years ago and, keycaps aside, feels basically new. All the spec comparisons say it is far behind the latest generation, but those numbers are simply irrelevant to me. It is difficult for me to believe this computer already has several successive generations and is probably closer to obsolescence than it is to launch.
Apple has generally issued about five years’ worth of operating system upgrades for its Macs, followed by another three-ish years of security updates. Thanks to U.K. regulations, it has recently documented (PDF) this previously implicit policy. It is possible MacOS 27 could be the last version supported by this Mac. After all, Apple recently noted in developer documentation that MacOS 26 Tahoe is the last version with any Intel Mac support. Furthermore, in its press release for the M5 MacBook Pro, there is an entire section specifically addressing “M1 and Intel-based upgraders”.
It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on five years since the first Apple silicon Macs shipped, and even harder to believe that we could be approaching a time when they aren’t supported by macOS.