Following the pattern that Apple has used for years, Catalina will get 2 more years of security updates, and that's it. Apple doesn't publish a support roadmap.
There’s been a problem with the 13” models- the 15s seem to be unaffected. Currently, the 11.0.1 and 11.1 beta 2 installers are blocked on the late 2013 and mid 2014 13” MBPs. Some of these were left unresponsive with a black screen after the first Big Sur release.Not sure what eventually is meant to mean here - The 2014 15" MBP I have works perfectly fine with Big Sur already. If it is a reference to the reports of bricked machines though I get the concern and perhaps waiting a bit is wise, but it should already work perfectly fine if one is not terribly unlucky. I don't know how widespread that bricking issue was, but I've had my 2014 on Big Sur for the duration of the beta program and still have it that way - don't know if that spared me or put me in higher risk but all good here
You'd think the Big Sur debacle would emphasize people not installing a .0 release. This is not new, this has always been a bad idea, Apple or any other vendor.
Uh, no, Catalina has had and continues to have significant problems with USB devices. If I could be running Mojave, I would be, but I have a 2020 13" MBP that isn't supported by Mojave.
They meant the apps, not the operating systems. That you can't download an older version of GarageBand on the App Store compatible with an older version of the OS
Right. That's what I meant. For Xcode you can get an older copy from Apple Developer. But other Apple apps, and especially paid apps like Final Cut or Logic, you can only get the latest version from the AppStore.
only iOS software. macs are dropped very quickly (2013 or later) and the unsupported threads on here repeatedly show the older macs are perfectly capable of running the latest OS.
You have another year. If Apple follows the same "unofficial" plan that they have been following, Catalina support will end sometime after WWDC 2022.
Somehow for whatever reason my thought is that they might extend Catalina's EOL since it was the last one shipped as the "final" Intel processor release. Big Sur seems fine on M1 mini hardware for me (to do more development related work stuff). Not holding my breath either way- I have zero desire to run "BS" (haha) on any of the systems I use for personal stuff.
It wasn't, though. Big Sur is (at this time), although it continues Catalina's downward slide. And no one knows whether or not the successor to Big Sur will be ARM-only or not at this point.
