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Apple has updated its vintage and obsolete products list with various older products that have not been manufactured for at least five years, including select Macs manufactured between early 2008 and late 2009, the second-generation Time Capsule and the 32GB original iPod touch.
Apple products on the vintage and obsolete list are no longer eligible for hardware service, with a few exceptions. Apple defines vintage products as those that have not been manufactured for more than five and less than seven years ago, while obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than seven years ago.
Only the new additions are reflected below.
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009)
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
MacBook Air (Mid 2009)
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Time Capsule 802.11n (2nd generation)
Macintosh products obsolete in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Latin America
Apple Cinema Display (23-inch, DVI, Early 2007)
Apple Cinema Display (30-inch DVI)
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008)
Time Capsule 802.11n (1st generation)
iPod products obsolete in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Latin America
iPod touch with Jan SW UPG 32GB
Top Rated Comments
Your devices. They're just done making old stuff because they have lots of other products to maintain.
Don't despair if you're new to the obsolete list. My iMac (my main computer) has been labeled "Obsolete" by Apple for nearly a year now and it still runs current software acceptably well. [...]
Indeed--"obsolete" (and "vintage") refer only to Apple's willingness to provide parts and service on their devices (and to allow authorized third parties to do officially do the same). It does not reflect that device's ability to function properly with current software, nor is having a "non-obsolete/vintage" item a guarantee that it will run current software, even from Apple. For example, none of the iPad models are even "vintage" yet, but not all of them support the current version of iOS (or even bug fixes for older iOS versions). On the other hand, some of the Macs that are now "vintage" or even "obsolete" still do support the latest Mac OS.I wonder if that means the next major OS X release will have higher system requirements? They haven't raised requirements since Mountain Lion.
The "obsolete"/"vintage" designation is based entirely on when the product was last manufactured (and whether Apple wants to keep providing official parts and service for it). This doesn't mean that the next OS X release won't have higher system requirements, but this designation doesn't actually factor in to that.Do you just like living 7 years in the past or are you extremely tight with your money?
You would have to define "living in the past."It does have a lot to do with me being tight on money, but I also know Macs really well and prefer the build of earlier machines.
My ideal laptop right now is the 2012 15" MBP due to what it can do on its own and what I can make it do with upgrades as far as RAIDs go. The same goes for the 2012 13" non-retina MBP
My PowerMac so far only has one issue as far a limiting me (and that's only due to me not being able to open wire files with Blender). But I can contact the support desk for Autodesk and get a copy of Maya 2008 and then open my Alias Automotive files and then be fine.
None of my devices connect over 802.11ac, so my AEBS still works perfectly.
So it's not so much "living in the past" or being limited by finances as much as it has become more of not upgrading if it's unnecessary.