“Apple plans to add select 2009 to 2011 model Macs to its vintage and obsolete products list on December 31, 2016, according to an internal memo seen by MacRumors,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors.
“Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured by Apple for between five and seven years,” Rossignol reports. “Obsolete products are those that were discontinued by Apple more than seven years ago. Apple and Authorized Service Providers make no distinction between obsolete and vintage products outside of Turkey and California.”
Macs will be classified as either vintage or obsolete in the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region include certain MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and MacBooks models.
More details in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Time for a new Mac?
Hmmm, if only there were truly new Macs (Mac Pro in particular and new iMacs) to buy. Only my 2014 MBP will be left as Apple un-obsolete.
That’s me! They’re playing my song…
NFW to purchasing a new mac from the current crop of offerings.
It’s a good thing my 2009 & 2010 Mac Pros aren’t on the list, including the two I just added to the stable, which brings the grand total to 7.
Your 2009 Mac Pros, for all practical purposes, already have been put into the “vintage” category by Apple. You can’t load Sierra onto them and nothing that requires Sierra will run on them.
However…
It is possible to flash them with an update to have them report and act like 2010 Mac Pros. This allows you to put Sierra onto them. It allows you to upgrade the processors to newer/faster variants. It allows you to put into them the latest and greatest GPU cards, etc. You can then effectively turn those 2009 Mac Pros into machines that rival (and in some uses surpass) the highest end 2013 Mac Pros. And you can do things you can’t practically do with the 2013 Mac Pros, e.g., put two 100 GB Blu-ray read/write drives into them.
Amen
Oh yes, all my 2009 MPs have the firmware of which you speak, and I installed faster 3.46Ghz Intel X5690 CPUs, faster RAM, RAIDed or PCIe-based SSD drives, and–unlike the “current” Mac Pro–I’ve installed a wide variety of AMD and Nvidia GPUs. The total material cost (even after finding a low-end 2009 for $300 and a Titan X GPU) is just over $3K. They all perform like champs and I’ll keep using them until they can’t provide the performance I demand.
Can you recommend a source for the flashing?
Thanks.
The firmware and instructions can be found here:
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.0.html
Because more recent versions of the macOS (specifically, the SIP [System Integrity Protection]) has changed the way the Firmware Update Tool operates, make sure to read the posts much later in the thread to learn how to ensure a successful update.
The other option is to install an older version of the Mac OS X (one that doesn’t have SIP like Mavericks [10.9.5]) on a temporary hard drive or flash drive, then boot from that disk/drive and run the Firmware Update Tool. When complete, boot from your normal macOS disk/drive.
Cool. Thanks!
I guess that means my 2008 iMac is already obsolete. OK, it’s much older than my sister’s iMac, her first entry into the Apple world (she and hubby now own iPhones and a new iPad mini4). But it still serves me (now upgraded to 4 GB), though I spend more time on my 4th gen’ iPad.
They will be soon. 6 Years. Then they get dumped.
While obsolesence is part of life’s flow, Apple’s continued dumbing down of OS X user customization and overall OS functionality, as well as lack of upgradable pro machines, remain concerns.
The Mac Pro will be obsolete before a new one is released.
Since obsoleting is done after 5 to 7 years, if we don’t have a new Mac Pro until December 2018 (or December 2020) there will be absolutely no Mac Professionals left to buy them. We will all have moved reluctantly to other platforms by then.
My previous comment was to be directed to Shadowself.
Since I bought my first Mac the day there were launched in ’84, I have purchased more than a 100 since.
Some of which are still functioning, like the 2004 Mac Pro under and three iPads on my desk right now. The first and third generations I use as external screens for testing and developing iOS apps, as well for illustrating.
I have as yet to get the newest Macbook Pro, simply because I haven’t seen it personally. The price doesn’t bother me. Christmas is coming and everyone that is on my gifts’ lists knows that an Apple Gift Card is all that I ever ask for. That and forsaking a stop at Starbucks for a month or two will more than offset any difference.
Overall, I have to laugh at some of the negs floating around. In particular, by guys that dis virtually every new Apple product that comes about and then you find out that they haven’t bought a new Mac in years, some in decades and the best yet, NEVER.
My previous links are just a smidgeon of the number PROs like myself that make a living working with Apple products. And if you look very closely, like myself, do we rarely alter their configurations. But then, I am not an IT PRO that many contend to be.
Time for a new Mac?
Um, no.
My early 2011 MacBook Pro (with upgraded 1TB SSD drive) is a screaming Photoshop machine.
. . . and it has all the ports I need.
Agreed; my early 2011 13″ MacBook Pro has been maxed with RAM and has two SSDs and it runs rings around its’ performance when brand new. I will run it as long as feasible.
Ummmm. Should I throw out my 2006 Macbook? (Should other members of my family who use one too?) I mean, they’re still working, but boy they must be *really* obsolete now then… Huh.
Useless really … except…
Or, maybe I should throw out my early 2011 17″ Macbook Pro that’s doing great work running a music studio rig (and has compatible ports with existing studio gear).
I guess the late 2011 15″ will be next middle of next year. Only just recenlty bought that…
And, then, I was eyeing a 2012 15″ MB Pro to replace a Windoze studio machine because it had, you know, *ports* and things in it that work with *current* (read that again, current 😉 not “legacy” ) gear, like USB 2.0, 3.0 and Firewire (yes, I just recently bought new Firewire gear too – audio professionals use that kind of thing still).
And, I can plug it in to my local Ethernet network too. All out of the box! BUT *That* will be obsolete this time next year I guess. Oh well.
Has magsafe too…
Well, back under my rock of contentment with existing Pro Macbooks I guess…
Yippee!! My 27′ iMac (mid-2011) lives to fight another year!
Er, make that 27″. No big-ass tables here…