There was a time, not too long ago, when the lifespan of a computer seemed predictable and pretty short.
This was partly due to performance gains year-over-year. Checking the minimum system requirements was standard routine for new software, and you could safely assume meeting those requirements would barely guarantee an acceptable experience. But computers would just get faster. Editing high definition video required a high-end computer and then, not too long after, it was something you could do on a consumer laptop. The same was true for all kinds of tasks.
Those rapid advancements were somewhat balanced by a slower pace of operating system releases. New major versions of Mac OS came out every couple-to-few years; the early days of Mac OS X were a flurry of successive updates, b…
There was a time, not too long ago, when the lifespan of a computer seemed predictable and pretty short.
This was partly due to performance gains year-over-year. Checking the minimum system requirements was standard routine for new software, and you could safely assume meeting those requirements would barely guarantee an acceptable experience. But computers would just get faster. Editing high definition video required a high-end computer and then, not too long after, it was something you could do on a consumer laptop. The same was true for all kinds of tasks.
Those rapid advancements were somewhat balanced by a slower pace of operating system releases. New major versions of Mac OS came out every couple-to-few years; the early days of Mac OS X were a flurry of successive updates, but they mellowed out to a pace more like once every two years. It was similar on the Windows side.
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. 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”.
I have begun feeling the consequences of rampant progress when I use my 27-inch iMac, stuck on MacOS Ventura. It is not slow and it is still very capable, but there are new apps that do not support its maximum operating system version. The prospect of upgrading has never felt less necessary based solely on its performance, yet more urgent.
My MacBook Pro supports all the new stuff. It is running the latest version of MacOS, and Apple Intelligence works just fine on it — or, at least, as fine as Apple Intelligence can run anywhere. Perhaps the requirements of advanced A.I. models have created the motivation for users to upgrade their hardware. That might be a tough sell in the current state of Apple’s first-party option, however.
Apple created this problem for itself, in a way. This MacBook Pro is so good I simply cannot think of a reason I would want to replace it. But Apple will, one day, end support for it, and it probably still will not feel slow or incapable. The churn will happen — I know it will. But the solution to this problem is also, of course, to Apple’s benefit; I will probably buy another one of these things. I hope to avoid it for a long time. I first need to replace that iMac.