(2025 Edition) 2018 Intel Mac Mini - How much longer left before upgrade is a must ?

[gumbaloom]

Hi all,

I've got a 2018 Mac Mini (last of the interl's) the 3ghz 6 Core Duo.

It's currently covered under Apple Care till July of this year. I've self upgraded the memory and the hard drive in it to 32gb etc.

Trying to work out how much longer I've got of useful lifetime on the basis that I need a machine that is
a) covered with security updates (due to my job)
b) has hardware service available if it breaks

I think my questions are :

1) What do you thik the chances are of this years OSX dropping support for Intel Mac's - people were saying 2024 would be the last year but it wasn't.

Do we think this year is going to be the year that OSX support gets dropped ?

2) Apple's policy is (usually) to make a product vintage 5 years from the last sale date- 2018 Mac mini's were discontinued Jan 17 2023 - does this mean we expect hard ware service up to 2028 or will they get dropped sooner ?

I know they are used in server farms etc so wonder how this is gonna roll.

My mini is on Apple care so if it gets "vintage'd" does this mean my apple care will uniaterally get cancelled / refunded at the point it's made vintage ?


gumbaloom

 

[Fishrrman]

I have a 2018 Mini (using it right now), still running Mojave as I type this. It's reaching the point where (with Mojave) certain things (such as Safari) are getting a bit "outdated", but if I boot up using my external SSD (with Sequoia), it still does fine.

If you want to "stay with a desktop", you could either consider the 2024 Mini, OR, wait for the m4xx Studio that is probably coming out 2nd quarter of this year.

 

[bzgnyc2]

Hi all,

I've got a 2018 Mac Mini (last of the interl's) the 3ghz 6 Core Duo.

It's currently covered under Apple Care till July of this year. I've self upgraded the memory and the hard drive in it to 32gb etc.

Trying to work out how much longer I've got of useful lifetime on the basis that I need a machine that is
a) covered with security updates (due to my job)
b) has hardware service available if it breaks

I think my questions are :

1) What do you thik the chances are of this years OSX dropping support for Intel Mac's - people were saying 2024 would be the last year but it wasn't.

Do we think this year is going to be the year that OSX support gets dropped ?

2) Apple's policy is (usually) to make a product vintage 5 years from the last sale date- 2018 Mac mini's were discontinued Jan 17 2023 - does this mean we expect hard ware service up to 2028 or will they get dropped sooner ?

I know they are used in server farms etc so wonder how this is gonna roll.

My mini is on Apple care so if it gets "vintage'd" does this mean my apple care will uniaterally get cancelled / refunded at the point it's made vintage ?


gumbaloom

If I had to put money on it, Apple will drop all Intel support from the macOS released in Fall 2026 and security updates will continue up until Fall 2028. One extra year on that timeline would be nice but I wouldn't count on it.

Apple actually dropped a new batch of 2018 Mac Mini on their refurb site a week or so ago:

Refurbished Mac - Mac mini

Save up to 15% on a refurbished Mac mini. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.

www.apple.com

As such, I would be surprised if they dropped support for it from the Fall 2025 release of macOS.

Or maybe their decision depends on how many they sell. If 0 people buy one of those refurb 2018 Mac Mini, they drop support next release. But if they sell 1000, that pays for a few FTE to keep it going another year...

I would really like to see the Fall 2026 release of macOS retain Intel support as many software vendors are now following Apple's lead as far as which OS (and therefore hardware tied it) to support. Meaning many applications will likely drop their Intel support Fall 2028/Spring 2029 if Apple drops Intel support from the Fall 2026 macOS release.

I like my Mac Mini 2018 very much and loathe to give it up. The M4 is tempting but I need to see committment from Apple that they won't try to turn macOS into iPadOS++. In the meantime I'll use their products as long I don't feel like I am being cornered into their ecosystem. With their Intel-based products I know I always have an escape.

P.S.I wouldn't worry about hardware support -- I very much doubt they will cancel your AppleCare mid-contract. Then even older Macs can still be repaired 3rd-party. If something does go wrong after your AppleCare expires and Apple won't fix it, worst case you buy a used replacement on eBay for likely less than the cost of 1 year of AppleCare.

 

[bapegg]

I bought my 2018 Mini shortly after it was released and was worried about OS upgrades after Sequoia so I went ahead and bought a new M4 mini. I'm glad I went ahead and upgraded since there is such a big difference in performance between the two. Both have 512GB drives. The M4 has 24GM of memory.

I did upgrade the 2018 to the maximum 64GB of memory which helped speed things up. But it still gets pretty warm, where as the M4 stays cool under the same load.

I decided to get a multi bay direct attached storage case so I can turn the 2018 into a dedicated file server. I also installed VMware Fusion and am currently y running the latest version of Lubuntu in a virtual machine. Though it isn't under much of a load running HamClock and a couple of other amateur radio programs.

 

[Boyd01]

I have the max configuration 2018 Mini and will stick with it for awhile, maybe two more years? I use it very heavily with a 32gb Windows VM in Parallels and the integration with MacOS is a big advantage compared to the separate Macs and Windows systems I used to run. Basically, it still does everything I need and while the performance may not be optimal, it's good enough. Besides that, I just can't afford to chase the latest and greatest new Macs.

 

[Bazza1]

I have a 2017 Air I use for work / travel (a M2 Mini at home) - its running Monterey. Turns out I have a couple of applications that won't update to most recent because they need more current OS, and / or don't have a modern equivalent, but that still work fine otherwise. Also an Apple app or so (I'm thinking Photos and its editing here) that actually works better for me there. In some cases, I've actually Air-Drop'd a project over to the Air from my Mini to do the work, and then Air-Drop'd the completed work back.

Hardware support from Apple not something I'm overly concerned about - given it's trade-in value - though, say, built-in security patches extending to the 10 year anniversary of the device would be nice.

 

[carylee2002]

I have 2x2018 minis and 5,1 macpro that is working fine. No need to worry about the sky is falling as Apple moves on. There is really no need to get the latest and greatest unless you have GAS syndrome, then that is only on you. I prefer Intel Mac's for my needs.

 

[gumbaloom]

My problem is I use my Mac for work purposes with access to lots of senstivie customer data.

So I'm kinda duty bound to use a machine that has active security support / updates not just bare essential security updates for insurance / liability reasons.

I've still got a 2012 Mini thats running fine but its a file server but once OS support gets dropped for the 2018 Mini I'm duety bound to upgrade.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

I've still got a 2012 Mac mini that’s running fine, but it’s a file server - once OS support gets dropped for the 2018 Mac mini, I'm duty bound to upgrade.

I have a 2012 Mac mini that runs macOS Sonoma 14 using OCLP. You can always go that route to get it up to the last Intel macOS release before whatever the first Apple Silicon-only release is that comes out, presumably in late 2026.

 

[Bazza1]

My problem is I use my Mac for work purposes with access to lots of senstivie customer data.

So I'm kinda duty bound to use a machine that has active security support / updates not just bare essential security updates for insurance / liability reasons.

If you're relying entirely on Apple updates - even on new machines - that ship may have already sailed.

 

[gumbaloom]

If you're relying entirely on Apple updates - even on new machines - that ship may have already sailed.

IT Industry Liability insurance requires you to use machines that are properly secured with up to date OS etc. Nothing different from a Windows machine and windows 10.

Once OSX support is gone I have to upgrade no choice.

 

[Fishrrman]

I will GUESS that Mac OS 16 will still support the 2018 Mini.
I could be wrong.

Beyond that... just a little too early to speculate.
But since Apple is still selling 2018 Minis in the online refurbished store...
and
Since Apple will probably be committed to supporting them until at least 3 years after the last ones are sold (which would be subject to AppleCare)
then
I will also GUESS that the 2018 Mini might have as long as 3 years of "official Apple support" left in it.
Again, I could be wrong.

 

[bzgnyc2]

IT Industry Liability insurance requires you to use machines that are properly secured with up to date OS etc. Nothing different from a Windows machine and windows 10.

Once OSX support is gone I have to upgrade no choice.

What is your liability insurances definition of 'up-to-date'? I can argue Apple's latest .0 releases of macOS are better termed 'alpha' but the way you frame it that you have to jump to that version the minute Apple pushes them out.

As an example does your liability insurance allow you to remain on Ventura through the fall (~Sept)? Based on this page I don't see a difference in Apple's support for Ventura versus Sequoia as far as "active security support":

Apple security releases - Apple Support

This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.

support.apple.com

 

[Populus]

Regarding OP’s main question, regarding the 2018 Mac mini support, although nobody outside Apple knows, here’s what my guts tell me: this fall’s macOS 16 will still support Intel machines, but I feel it will be the last major release for Intel Macs. Sure, it will still receive security patches and updates during 2 years or maybe even longer.

I predict -à la Gurman- that macOS 17 will be the first Apple Silicon only operating system. And I really hope they get rid of a lot of old useless code, and use that version to refine the consistency across all the operating system interface, and improve even further the efficiency and snappiness of macOS. Maybe not a Snow Leopard, but definitely a Mavericks.

 

[weckart]

I predict -à la Gurman- that macOS 17 will be the first Apple Silicon only operating system. And I really hope they get rid of a lot of old useless code, and use that version to refine the consistency across all the operating system interface, and improve even further the efficiency and snappiness of macOS. Maybe not a Snow Leopard, but definitely a Mavericks.

I hope they don't. For a bit at least. Those of us who like to tinker will try to get the first AS only release running on Intel if enough of the codebase is still there. Dropping it will have no effect on snappiness etc except maybe save a bit on storage space but I dare say there will probably be some lipo like utility you could use to strip out redundant Intel code if you wanted, the way that was done with PPC code back in the day.

 

[bzgnyc2]

I hope they don't. For a bit at least. Those of us who like to tinker will try to get the first AS only release running on Intel if enough of the codebase is still there. Dropping it will have no effect on snappiness etc except maybe save a bit on storage space but I dare say there will probably be some lipo like utility you could use to strip out redundant Intel code if you wanted, the way that was done with PPC code back in the day.

Agree, given how little of the system is Intel-specific and how much it seems the new code is already optimized for Apple Silicon, I would be surprised if dropping support for all remaining Intel platforms would have any material impact on the experience of Apple Silicon users. Assuming they don't drop Rosetta2 support at the same time, it wouldn't save any disk space either.

People point to Snow Leopard to justify but I don't think dropping PPC was the reason for that released offered such improved performance. Rather I would say the number one thing was that all their programmers were dedicated solely to optimizing the system -- either optimizing existing code or rewriting for the latest frameworks (e.g. Cocoa over Carbon, 64-bit, OpenCL, etc). What we've witnessed with a lot of recent releases is a rush to get features out the door, into release, etc. This invariable means code is not optimized and QA isn't extensive. Letting programmers go back and fix everything they told themselves they would fix in the next release would have the biggest bang.

However, once Apple does drop all Intel platforms from macOS, I think it will be pretty hard to restore. Probably requiring restoring Intel support into the latest open-source Darwin kernel and franksteining Intel-optimized frameworks from the previous macOS and any frameworks that retained Intel code (i.e. for Rosetta2) from the new version. Some people might get that working in the same vein that someone got Linux to run on an 8088 (spoiler alert, it took 2-3 days just to boot) but unlikely to be satisfactory and either way it would lose 3rd-party application support.

I'd say at that point resources would be better focused on developing a full open-source alternative -- perhaps PureDarwin or a Linux distribution -- if it could be promoted to software vendors as an easy target to gain additional customers/sales.

 

[weckart]

I'd say at that point resources would be better focused on developing a full open-source alternative -- perhaps PureDarwin or a Linux distribution -- if it could be promoted to software vendors as an easy target to gain additional customers/sales.

Not sure there is a huge market for targeting an obsolete hardware segment. Look at MorphOS on the G4/G5. Linux, or Windows, I suppose it is then.

 

[fricotin]

I have a 2012 mini 2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 with Fusion drive, I'll probably wait for the M5.

 

[bzgnyc2]

Not sure there is a huge market for targeting an obsolete hardware segment. Look at MorphOS on the G4/G5. Linux, or Windows, I suppose it is then.

Agree -- wouldn't just be obsolete hardware but inclusive of "obsolete" hardware while otherwise providing a more stable and accessible API/ABI. For people who want the Mac experience without feeling like they are on a gerbil wheel of application updates -> OS updates -> hardware updates -> OS updates -> application updates -> ...

 

[Fishrrman]

"I have a 2012 mini 2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 with Fusion drive, I'll probably wait for the M5."

I'm thinking that there may not BE an "m5" or "m5xx" version of the Mini, and that Apple will not upgrade it again until the m6 series of CPUs arrives, probably in 2026...

 

[rafark]

Regarding OP’s main question, regarding the 2018 Mac mini support, although nobody outside Apple knows, here’s what my guts tell me: this fall’s macOS 16 will still support Intel machines, but I feel it will be the last major release for Intel Macs. Sure, it will still receive security patches and updates during 2 years or maybe even longer.

I have a feeling this was the last year. Next fall will be m-only

 

[Populus]

I have a feeling this was the last year. Next fall will be m-only

It’s a possibility I considered, and it could be, but my feeling is that this year’s macOS 16 will be also available to some Intel Macs. Maybe even less than Sequoia, but still, at least the 2019 Mac Pro, the 2020 27” 5K iMac and the 2020 Intel MacBook Air should receive a last major update in my opinion.

In six months we’ll see.

 

[rezwits]

I have a mm2018 and a mmM4P, and time's up! I did testing with an hour of 4K video and the compression from FCP was like 3 minutes with the M4P and 30 minutes with the Intel (both 12-core). Now, that's a video test, but I am pretty sure this "halfOS stuff" is marking the days till the mm2018 DOES NOT get the next macOS so...

I mean don't get me wrong but I having been feeling some SERIOUS "what the hell is taking so long" when going from the new to the old, when just two months ago the mm2018 was FINE! And I did catch myself. I was like "Dude you got the newMac speed bug" and I said to myself "yeah that's not really that long (on the mm2018), it's just the mmM4P is too fast!"

Good Luck!

 

[Fishrrman]

I still have OS 10.14 "Mojave" on my 2018 Mini (so I can run some 32 bit apps if needed).
I care nothing for the "security" the latest OS upgrades might offer.
I use what I use, and that's it.

Having said that, the 2018 Mini still runs pretty good (the old version of Safari is now edging into obsolescence, requiring the use of 3rd party browsers). Although I'm leaning towards a new m4pro Mini (once they appear in the Apple refurbished store), I reckon this Mini could probably keep running "well enough" another 2-3 years...

 

[carylee2002]

I personally try not to use Safari anymore and use Mozilla's Firefox instead. I too use Mojave on my 5,1 and feel no need to upgrade up with any dosdude type mod, since it runs fine with what programs I use. Seeing what type of extra items are added to the higher OS, like Monterey on my previous used 2014 mini, made me just want to stay put.