Apple is officially adding three of its older 2014 Mac notebooks to the list of “obsolete” products: the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The three models, which were initially released back in 2014, will officially be added to Apple’s “obsolete products list.” As per Apple’s support page, however, this means that users won’t be getting any more hardware service when they are using products considered “obsolete.”
The page, however, notes that Mac notebooks are still “eligible for an additional battery-only repair,” saying service providers won’t be able to order parts for products that are considered obsolete by Apple…
Obsolete Apple products… are products that were manufactured over seven years ago. With that, a good rule of thumb to know how long an Apple product has is to know the release date and add five years for vintage status and seven years for obsolete status.
With Apple support diminishing over time, it would be more strategic for buyers to make sure they get models that were recently released if they want to experience Apple’s support for a longer time.
MacDailyNews Take: We loved our 11-inch MacBook Air models. They were one of the best “road” Macs ever made!
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s list of Vintage and Obsolete products is here.
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This design, with wide silver screen border, MagSafe, nice keyboard, and useful ports, was around for many years with many iterations. It has a great classic look. The 2015 models (the ones after these now “obsolete” 2014 models) are still supported by latest MacOS. My 13-inch 2017 version, the last release of this design, is mostly the same as the ones from 2014 and 2015, just with updated processor. I’ve upgraded storage to 1TB.
My 11-inch iPad Pro is finally growing on me after two years, but it’s still not the versatile machine that the 11-inch MacBook Air was nearly a decade ago. To paraphrase James Carville “It’s the software, stupid.”
We bought a maxed-out 11-inch MBA for our daughter in 2013. It served her well for nearly 9 years taking her through high school, a gap year, and university before a troublesome motherboard made it impossible to run without being plugged in. Even with that, it still works, but I’m taking it in to be recycled because a fix would cost much more than it is worth.
PS – We replaced it with a new M1 MBA.
I am, apparently, using an obsolete iMac 27″ ( late 2012 edition ), but I have absolutely no reason to get a new one! This beast has been running almost every single day ( besides vacations and the occasional power outage ) I work on it daily writing and drawing children’s books. Maybe one day I’ll get a new one, but this machine is quite awesome… 🙂
I have a 2013 and a 2014 11″ MacBook Airs running Catalina in the house being used by my 2 high schoolers. They use Safari and Chrome for all their docs on Google Drive, along with Mail, Spotify and using the old web cam on group projects. These Macs are still snappy on everything web-based. The batteries are showing their age, and will need replacements soon. When they upgrade to a new Air, I’ll keep at least one of these 11’s for myself.
One of the biggest complaints with Apple’s designs are the intentional difficulties they incorporate to prevent easy user battery replacement. Or any user repair, frankly. The buyer should have some indication what costs are for common maintenance stuff, especially battery replacement.
It didn’t used to be this way. The brilliant G4 TiBook, for example, had an externally accessible battery compartment. By plugging into a power outlet momentarily, one could hot-swap batteries and use the laptop like a power tool all day and night. As battery tech improved, 3rd party battery packs were sold that outperformed the original. Then came the iPod, and from then on Apple decided that the best way to force new sales is to make sure the user couldn’t ever replace a battery economically.
Right to Repair legislation may be the only way to ensure this. It doesn’t have to be onerous. A modest rule could simply require the manufacturer before the sale to disclose what repairs are & are not designed for 3rd party access, and which of those require special tools or training. Nobody is asking big rich companies like Apple to cover under warranty what some 3rd party might screw up on their workbench. The buyer should know how much to expect to pay for a future battery replacement.
I’ve been using Macbook 2011 in High Sierra and the only problem I encounter is dealing with “not supported” apps from the Appstore. Other than that, everything else works really well considering everything can be googled and downloaded. If you have no other use of it apart from doing office works, then it’s still a good device to hold on to.