
The first stage is Vintage: you might be lucky enough to get parts for this Mac, the second is Obsolete: you are out on your own when it comes to any attempt to mend the Mac if it goes wrong. Apple has two standards that indicate hardware support is waining: Obsolete or Vintage.

It’s also a question of whether it will be possible to fix your Mac should something go wrong with the hardware. The successor to macOS Big Sur, it was announced at WWDC 2021 on June 7, 2021, 2 3 4 5 and released on October 25, 2021.
#MACOS VERSIONS BY YEAR SOFTWARE#
When do Macs become obsolete?īut it’s not just software updates that determine the lifespan of a Mac. macOS Monterey (version 12) is the eighteenth major release of macOS, Apple 's desktop operating system for Macintosh computers.
#MACOS VERSIONS BY YEAR UPDATE#
If you want to run fully supported software then you will need to update to a newer version of macOS – and that may mean that you need to update your Mac.Īpple supports Macs with operating system updates for approximately eight to ten years, after which time Apple will not support the software and it’s probably a good time to replace your Mac. If you are experiencing random shutdowns, for example, it could be due to problems with an app you are running – problems that will not be addressed by the developer because that version of the app is no longer supported. Apple and other companies stop supporting older versions of the applications they make, so there could be issues with the versions of the software you are running. You may also find that the software you need won’t run on your Mac. Unexpected shutdowns are becoming commonplace and you’ve tried everything to fix the problem to no avail.

