Apple adds 2008-2009 Macs & more to list of 'vintage and obsolete' products

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion
Apple on Tuesday updated its official list of "vintage and obsolete" products, used to determine whether or not the company will repair or otherwise support any hardware problems.




Under Apple definitions, "vintage" products have been out of production for more than five and less than seven years, meaning that limited support may be available in some regions. In California, for instance, Apple is legally required to provide support for Macs, iPhones, and iPods.

Newly vintage-labeled products include:

  • 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)


The above products have some support in the U.S. and Turkey, but are considered fully obsolete in Canada, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Apple, "obsolete" devices were last manufactured over seven years ago, and the company has discontinued hardware support for them without exception, for instance cutting off part supplies to third-party repair firms.

Products that are now globally unsupported include:

  • 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 touch with Jan SW UPG 32GB
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    It's interesting that my "vintage" late-2009 27" quad-core i7 iMac is considered "obsolete".  Only last week I finally had to replace a faulty CPU fan, other than that... it's still humming-away as my office desktop.  It's build like a tank, and unless something catastrophic occurs to it, it will continue to be my pride-and-joy...  until I get home and use my one-month-old i7 5K iMac. :)

    I hope future OSX releases will still be available for my machine.  I installed a 1TB SSD in a year ago and with that, it's still a speed-demon.
  • Reply 2 of 25
    davendaven Posts: 696member
    sflocal said:
    It's interesting that my "vintage" late-2009 27" quad-core i7 iMac is considered "obsolete".  Only last week I finally had to replace a faulty CPU fan, other than that... it's still humming-away as my office desktop.  It's build like a tank, and unless something catastrophic occurs to it, it will continue to be my pride-and-joy...  until I get home and use my one-month-old i7 5K iMac. :)

    I hope future OSX releases will still be available for my machine.  I installed a 1TB SSD in a year ago and with that, it's still a speed-demon.
    I'm happy with my 'early 2009' 20" iMac. Everything works fine with the exception I think that the hard drive may be starting to go. I may replace it with an SSD and I should be good for some time.
    World Free Stuff
  • Reply 3 of 25
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Early 2008 MacBook Pro 15 inch (with 6GB RAM) still in flawless condition and running El Capitan very nicely, while driving a 24 inch Sammy display (at 16:10 res, too.) 
    tallest skil
  • Reply 4 of 25
    21yr_mac_user21yr_mac_user Posts: 85member
    Early 2008 Mac Pro here - 8 core, upgraded with 16 GB RAM, USB 3 card, upgraded apple ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card running 2x 24" monitors,  1TB PCI SSD boot drive, 3x smaller SSDs (win 10 etc), 11 TB total large hard drives internal storage. It's still a relevant beast, and I don't want the un-upgradable new mac pro with no internal storage, and I don't want a laptop based iMac that I can't upgrade and have to junk the monitor after a few years. I just want a medium priced small form factor desktop i7. (analogous to a Dell Optiplex 9020 / XE2 small form factor which I support for another business). I'm sitting tight until it dies or apple releases something I want.
  • Reply 5 of 25
    pscooter63pscooter63 Posts: 1,080member
    I considered resurrecting my niece's early-2008 Macbook (dead HD), but it only supports 6gb, and can't be upgraded past Lion.  This news cinches it, I guess.  :-/

  • Reply 6 of 25
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    daven said:
    sflocal said:
    It's interesting that my "vintage" late-2009 27" quad-core i7 iMac is considered "obsolete".  Only last week I finally had to replace a faulty CPU fan, other than that... it's still humming-away as my office desktop.  It's build like a tank, and unless something catastrophic occurs to it, it will continue to be my pride-and-joy...  until I get home and use my one-month-old i7 5K iMac. :)

    I hope future OSX releases will still be available for my machine.  I installed a 1TB SSD in a year ago and with that, it's still a speed-demon.
    Yes, replace it now! You will only be pleased with the results (unless you botch the transfer and lose all of your data). I replaced the HD with an SSD in my 2009 MBP this year and it's like having a new Mac. I'm happy with my 'early 2009' 20" iMac. Everything works fine with the exception I think that the hard drive may be starting to go. I may replace it with an SSD and I should be good for some time.
  • Reply 7 of 25
    bdkennedy1002bdkennedy1002 Posts: 543member
    Finally! My 2008 MacBook Pro is obsolete. HOOORAY!!!  So I guess I won't be able to run OSX 10.12 on it.
  • Reply 8 of 25
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    bdkennedy said:
    Finally! My 2008 MacBook Pro is obsolete. HOOORAY!!!  So I guess I won't be able to run OSX 10.12 on it.
    Thats not really what that means. El Capitan is supposed all the way back through the Mid-2007 iMac. What it mostly means is that if something goes wrong, you can't get it fixed at the Apple Store anymore as they won't be carrying parts for it.
    nolamacguy
  • Reply 9 of 25
    waxxelwaxxel Posts: 24member
    21yr_mac_user said:
    Early 2008 Mac Pro here - 8 core, upgraded with 16 GB RAM, USB 3 card, upgraded apple ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card running 2x 24" monitors,  1TB PCI SSD boot drive, 3x smaller SSDs (win 10 etc), 11 TB total large hard drives internal storage. It's still a relevant beast, and I don't want the un-upgradable new mac pro with no internal storage, and I don't want a laptop based iMac that I can't upgrade and have to junk the monitor after a few years. I just want a medium priced small form factor desktop i7. (analogous to a Dell Optiplex 9020 / XE2 small form factor which I support for another business). I'm sitting tight until it dies or apple releases something I want.
    Almost my exact machine, except I have 12gb of RAM. I'm running 2x 27" monitors, one Samsung and the other is a Dell. I need to update my HD to a SSD, I just did it on my Macbook Pro and it made a huge difference. I can't believe this is a 7 year old machine and it's still fantastic.
  • Reply 10 of 25
    heaven or las vegasheaven or las vegas Posts: 138member
    Still using a mid-2007 24" iMac running El Capitan.  Is fast enough to chrome cast and work from home via Remotix.
  • Reply 11 of 25
    adybadyb Posts: 205member
    Installed a 480 GB SSD in my (wife's) mid 2007 20" iMac running El Capitan about a month ago which has provided a nice boost to performance, having maxed it out on 4 GB ram some years ago!!

    I'm not surprised that the update to El Capitan will be my last but will keep running the iMac for as long as I can.
  • Reply 12 of 25
    BlasterBlaster Posts: 97member
    I wonder what the "obsolete" cutoff will be for the Apple Car.
  • Reply 13 of 25
    isteelersisteelers Posts: 738member
    21yr_mac_user said:
    Early 2008 Mac Pro here - 8 core, upgraded with 16 GB RAM, USB 3 card, upgraded apple ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card running 2x 24" monitors,  1TB PCI SSD boot drive, 3x smaller SSDs (win 10 etc), 11 TB total large hard drives internal storage. It's still a relevant beast, and I don't want the un-upgradable new mac pro with no internal storage, and I don't want a laptop based iMac that I can't upgrade and have to junk the monitor after a few years. I just want a medium priced small form factor desktop i7. (analogous to a Dell Optiplex 9020 / XE2 small form factor which I support for another business). I'm sitting tight until it dies or apple releases something I
    want.
    The only laptop based macs are the entry Mini and the entry iMac. I think you can upgrade the memory on the 27 inch iMacs easily.  And they last longer than a few years.
  • Reply 14 of 25
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    daven said:
    sflocal said:
    It's interesting that my "vintage" late-2009 27" quad-core i7 iMac is considered "obsolete".  Only last week I finally had to replace a faulty CPU fan, other than that... it's still humming-away as my office desktop.  It's build like a tank, and unless something catastrophic occurs to it, it will continue to be my pride-and-joy...  until I get home and use my one-month-old i7 5K iMac. :)

    I hope future OSX releases will still be available for my machine.  I installed a 1TB SSD in a year ago and with that, it's still a speed-demon.
    I'm happy with my 'early 2009' 20" iMac. Everything works fine with the exception I think that the hard drive may be starting to go. I may replace it with an SSD and I should be good for some time.
    It took me about 30 minutes from beginning to end to replace the iMac's hard drive to an SSD.  It made it an entirely new machine.  Just make sure to be methodical with cleaning the inside of the monitor glass, and the LCD screen.  Any trapped lint will drive you crazy!
  • Reply 15 of 25
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,302member
    I wonder what they'd label my 1984 Mac. Probably ancient.
  • Reply 16 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Newly vintage-labeled products include:
    • Mac Pro (Early 2009)

    Products that are now globally unsupported include:
    • MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008)
    I guess El Capitan is my last version of OS X, then. Crap.

    EDIT: This means that Apple will stop carrying batteries for pre-unibody laptops, doesn’t it? Except for the Late 2008 17” MacBook Pro, that is.
    edited December 2015
  • Reply 17 of 25
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    total shit show on MR, where they're losing emir minds over the term obsolete, indignant because their machines still run, etc... smh
  • Reply 18 of 25
    steviestevie Posts: 956member
    21yr_mac_user said:
    Early 2008 Mac Pro here - 8 core, upgraded with 16 GB RAM, USB 3 card, upgraded apple ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card running 2x 24" monitors,  1TB PCI SSD boot drive, 3x smaller SSDs (win 10 etc), 11 TB total large hard drives internal storage. It's still a relevant beast, and I don't want the un-upgradable new mac pro with no internal storage, and I don't want a laptop based iMac that I can't upgrade and have to junk the monitor after a few years. I just want a medium priced small form factor desktop i7. (analogous to a Dell Optiplex 9020 / XE2 small form factor which I support for another business). I'm sitting tight until it dies or apple releases something I want.
    Most people don't drive a honking big 18 wheeler to take their kids to soccer practice.  The iPad is more than enough for most of the profitable market segments in today's world.

    I trust Apple to know what products will have the highest demand and the highest margins.
  • Reply 19 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    stevie said:
    I trust Apple to know what products will have the highest demand and the highest margins.
    That’s what worries me.
  • Reply 20 of 25
    kibitzerkibitzer Posts: 1,114member
    Not to panic. Ford doesn't make or sell parts for the Pinto anymore, either, but there are plenty of third-party suppliers and repair shops that can still accommodate Pinto owners. Several factors as to older Apple machines: There's still a substantial installed base of Mac models from the latter part of the last decade. Many third-party repair businesses are happy to pick up support for those users where Apple left off. A lot of new parts are fungible among many different computer brands - internal disk and optical drives, for example. Other parts unique to Apple can be cannibalized from older hardware if they are still in working order. Before scrapping that older, malfunctioning machine, it's worth the time to check out local repair businesses or scrounge online. My late 2009 27-inch iMac just showed up on Apple's list. The internal optical drive crapped out a couple years ago, and I never bothered to replace it because I had other usable drives in my home network. A few weeks ago, however, I bought and hooked up an inexpensive external Blu-ray drive that also plays about every other disk format out there. So there are lots of incremental, lower-cost ways to get some more life out of obsolescent Macs. Now ... about those Pinto exploding gas tanks ...
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