How much longer do I have - Update: Bought a new MBA M1 :)

[emac82]

It's been awhile since I've posted on this site...and I'm a little rusty on Mac products...

I have a late-2011 MBP - over the years I've upgraded it to 8GB of ram, and 500GB SSD...It runs fine..I don't use it for much...

I'm still running Sierra, and having issues trying to upgrade my OS (to High Sierra)...

How much longer will this laptop be supported, also if I upgrade to Catalina, will I have issues? Just trying to plan ahead and see if I should sell this and maybe invest in a new one...I really just use it now for email, taxes, and Word applications, Photo backup, iTunes......

 

[TiggrToo]

You're already done. No 2011 devices can officially run Catalina.

Not read this thread myself, so I dunno if it's going to be of any help, but still...

macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

How to update Catalina Machine Support Video Card Support Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.) Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older without acceleration, GeForce 3xx...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Fishrrman]

"How much longer do I have...?"

That's the question we ALL wish we had the answer to !

Re the 2011 MBP:
You said that "it runs fine".
There's your answer.
It is what it is, even if the OS is no longer "upgradeable".

If it was me, I'd just continue to use it, as long as it continues to run fine.
Don't worry that the "OS is older". I still have 10.6.8 on my 2010 MBP.

The only problem I foresee is that (at some point) Safari may become unable to connect to some sites. Apple is like that.
If that happens to you, try a different browser, such as a "Firefox extended release" version for Low Sierra.

One other thing:
DON'T buy a 2019 13" MBP.
These still have the disastrous "butterfly" keyboards.
Apple will release a new MBP mid-year that will have the improved "scissors" keyboard.
If you're thinking of "something new", wait for that !

 

[Scepticalscribe]

"How much longer do I have...?"

That's the question we ALL wish we had the answer to !

Re the 2011 MBP:
You said that "it runs fine".
There's your answer.
It is what it is, even if the OS is no longer "upgradeable".

If it was me, I'd just continue to use it, as long as it continues to run fine.
Don't worry that the "OS is older". I still have 10.6.8 on my 2010 MBP.

The only problem I foresee is that (at some point) Safari may become unable to connect to some sites. Apple is like that.
If that happens to you, try a different browser, such as a "Firefox extended release" version for Low Sierra.

One other thing:
DON'T buy a 2019 13" MBP.
These still have the disastrous "butterfly" keyboards.
Apple will release a new MBP mid-year that will have the improved "scissors" keyboard.
If you're thinking of "something new", wait for that !

Very good advice, and well worth heeding.

To the OP: Should you really wish to have your laptop compatible with current software, it might be worth your while contemplating purchasing a refurb MBP, from a few years ago, from before the time when they introduced that butterfly keyboard to the MBP line up.

A refurb (refurbished) computer will have been individually examined closely and any problems repaired or replaced; it also comes with the guarantees and warranties of a brand new computer, and you will be able to buy Apple Care for it.

 

[emac82]

Thanks everyone! I was able to finally upgrade to High Sierra this morning. I think my next upgrade will be to an iMac - for the cost, and storage, and since I barely use it, it'll be a good investment. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[emac82]

So I'm back to this again.

Again, my computer seems to be fine, but I don't want to wait too long to upgrade. I'm thinking of a refurb MacBook Air - I can get one with a 512SSD (March 2020 model) for $1269 CAD plus tax. Is there any reason I should consider the new M1 version for $300 more?

Right now, my backup HardDrive/Time Machine uses FW800 and USB-C...so I'm assuming I'd need an adapter to connect to the March 2020 MBA, but prob a new one for the M1 version? Perhaps I'm mistaken..I'm a bit rusty.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

I use an early 2011 MB Pro, as a secondary laptop, and it has already reached the limit of what OS it can run (High Sierra). Of more concern to me is when will Apple stop doing security updates for that OS. Does anyone know? Will I be notified in some way? Thanks.

 

[Plutonius]

I use an early 2011 MB Pro, as a secondary laptop, and it has already reached the limit of what OS it can run (High Sierra). Of more concern to me is when will Apple stop doing security updates for that OS. Does anyone know? Will I be notified in some way? Thanks.

From what I read, Apple will probably end the security updates for High Sierra in January 2021.

I have never received notifications in the past from Apple when the security updates ended.

I'm sure that when the security updates end for High Sierra, it will be a headline on MacRumors.

 

[hobowankenobi]

As long as your browsers are up to date enough to do what you need, and get security patches, keep on truckin'. The end of secure web use (due to unsupported or obsolete browsers) is usually the death knell these days, for general computing use.

If you can hold on until the M1 Mac line gets built out to include more models, it would great time to get a new Mac. Should be 3-9 months until we see iMacs and more MBP M1 options.

 

[emac82]

As long as your browsers are up to date enough to do what you need, and get security patches, keep on truckin'. The end of secure web use (due to unsupported or obsolete browsers) is usually the death knell these days, for general computing use.

If you can hold on until the M1 Mac line gets built out to include more models, it would great time to get a new Mac. Should be 3-9 months until we see iMacs and more MBP M1 options.

I use my laptop so little, that I might wait a few months until there are some M1 refurbs...but I can get the M1 with 512GB for $1550 CAD plus tax...

Right now, I can't do a backup of my iPhone with iTunes. When I connect to iTunes, my phone doesn't appear. I'm using iTunes 12.8.2.3, not sure if there's a newer version and maybe that's why it isn't syncing. It backed up fine 6 months ago..

What are your thoughts on a refurb Intel MBA 2020? I'd like to get a new laptop the cheapest way possible, but the best choice too..Not sure if I'd be able to use Office 2016 on Big Sur either.

 

[hobowankenobi]

I use my laptop so little, that I might wait a few months until there are some M1 refurbs...but I can get the M1 with 512GB for $1550 CAD plus tax...

Right now, I can't do a backup of my iPhone with iTunes. When I connect to iTunes, my phone doesn't appear. I'm using iTunes 12.8.2.3, not sure if there's a newer version and maybe that's why it isn't syncing. It backed up fine 6 months ago..

What are your thoughts on a refurb Intel MBA 2020? I'd like to get a new laptop the cheapest way possible, but the best choice too..Not sure if I'd be able to use Office 2016 on Big Sur either.

If you want it to last more than a few years, don't go intel. If you found great deal on a used machine to transition with for 2-4 years, OK. But sooner than later, Intel Macs will obsolete.

Are you married to Office 2016? Lots of good alternatives out there. It may run just fine under Rosetta 2. Might be worth investigating. In a couple of years, you may have to update regardless.

 

[clueless88]

I use my laptop so little, that I might wait a few months until there are some M1 refurbs...but I can get the M1 with 512GB for $1550 CAD plus tax...

Right now, I can't do a backup of my iPhone with iTunes. When I connect to iTunes, my phone doesn't appear. I'm using iTunes 12.8.2.3, not sure if there's a newer version and maybe that's why it isn't syncing. It backed up fine 6 months ago..

What are your thoughts on a refurb Intel MBA 2020? I'd like to get a new laptop the cheapest way possible, but the best choice too..Not sure if I'd be able to use Office 2016 on Big Sur either.

Do you think you will use your laptop more in the future if you purchased a newer one? If the answer is no, I would think it prudent just to keep using your 2011 MBP until it no longer meets your needs. Sounds like it meets those needs fine presently.

Not sure what is going on with your phone not being recognized with itunes--it seems that should be able to be sorted our without buying a new computer.

In your original post you wondered if you should "invest in a new one"--purchasing depreciating assets like computers and vehicles should not be viewed as "investments" since the value decreases from the moment it becomes yours. They should be considered expenditures. Mr. Madoff and Mr. Ponzi made a fortune promoting "investments" that had negative rates of returns.

What are the potential ramifications on running an OS that Apple no longer provides security updates for?

 

[ght56]

I would keep your current system for another year or two until the second or third generation Apple Silicon devices are available. You'll have more options and you might get some new features as well that you will really like.

 

[emac82]

I would keep your current system for another year or two until the second or third generation Apple Silicon devices are available. You'll have more options and you might get some new features as well that you will really like.

Yeah, I'd like to, I'm not concerned about new features but at least there would be more refurbished M1's out then lol..

 

[emac82]

Do you think you will use your laptop more in the future if you purchased a newer one? If the answer is no, I would think it prudent just to keep using your 2011 MBP until it no longer meets your needs. Sounds like it meets those needs fine presently.

Not sure what is going on with your phone not being recognized with itunes--it seems that should be able to be sorted our without buying a new computer.

In your original post you wondered if you should "invest in a new one"--purchasing depreciating assets like computers and vehicles should not be viewed as "investments" since the value decreases from the moment it becomes yours. They should be considered expenditures. Mr. Madoff and Mr. Ponzi made a fortune promoting "investments" that had negative rates of returns.

What are the potential ramifications on running an OS that Apple no longer provides security updates for?

My beef right now is I can't use iTunes to backup my iPhone. I did a backup 6 months ago and it worked fine, but now it won't recognize my iPhone (and I did all the usual fixes, and reset Location etc to re-prompt the "Trust" button...but not sure if that's word spending $2k on a new laptop lol.

 

[Boyd01]

IIRC, new(er) versions of iOS require you to update iTunes on your Mac. I have iTunes 12.9.x on my Mac that runs Mojave. Pretty sure this is your problem, and you won't be able to use newer versions of iTunes on Sierra. Catalina does not support iTunes at all and your phone will just appear as a "device" in the sidebar of Finder windows.

If you have an old Firewire hard disk, it's very unlikely that it has a USB-C interface. USB-C is what the new Macs have, guessing that your disk has USB-A. Adapters are cheap, but there are some threads about problems with old disks on the M1 Macs. But seriously, a Firewire disk must be very old. I would not be comfortable using that for backups. I have (literally) two milk crates full of old firewire drives. A few years ago I transferred all the data to a pair of new 5tb disks. Those old firewire disks were dying on me even as I did that. There's not much point in doing backups if you can't trust the media.

I think there are some security concerns with running Sierra today. I was using it myself until last summer, but I just wasn't comfortable doing a lot of online shopping with a version of Safari and MacOS that no longer receive security updates. My primary Mac and my file server run Catalina now. I kept Mojave on my media server, because I want to continue using iTunes on that Mac.

 

[emac82]

IIRC, new(er) versions of iOS require you to update iTunes on your Mac. I have iTunes 12.9.x on my Mac that runs Mojave. Pretty sure this is your problem, and you won't be able to use newer versions of iTunes on Sierra. Catalina does not support iTunes at all and your phone will just appear as a "device" in the sidebar of Finder windows.

If you have an old Firewire hard disk, it's very unlikely that it has a USB-C interface. USB-C is what the new Macs have, guessing that your disk has USB-A. Adapters are cheap, but there are some threads about problems with old disks on the M1 Macs. But seriously, a Firewire disk must be very old. I would not be comfortable using that for backups. I have (literally) two milk crates full of old firewire drives. A few years ago I transferred all the data to a pair of new 5tb disks. Those old firewire disks were dying on me even as I did that. There's not much point in doing backups if you can't trust the media.

I think there are some security concerns with running Sierra today. I was using it myself until last summer, but I just wasn't comfortable doing a lot of online shopping with a version of Safari and MacOS that no longer receive security updates. My primary Mac and my file server run Catalina now. I kept Mojave on my media server, because I want to continue using iTunes on that Mac.

Sorry, It's a FW800/USB3.0 ..not USB-C...It's probably 5 years old?

 

[Boyd01]

That might be a little better, my firewire disks are 10 to 20 years old. We all need to decide how much risk we can tolerate when it comes to backups. The fact that you talk about a "backup drive" in the singular implies that you only have one. IMO, that just isn't enough. I have continuous time machine backups to a network drive (which is also backed up itself). I also do periodic bootable clones to an external SSD. And I have continuous backups to the cloud with BackBlaze, plus a bunch of archived old disks from old computers and operating systems. Have been using Macs since 1985 with data going back that far. Would not want to lose all of that.

 

[emac82]

That might be a little better, my firewire disks are 10 to 20 years old. We all need to decide how much risk we can tolerate when it comes to backups. The fact that you talk about a "backup drive" in the singular implies that you only have one. IMO, that just isn't enough. I have continuous time machine backups to a network drive (which is also backed up itself). I also do periodic bootable clones to an external SSD. And I have continuous backups to the cloud with BackBlaze, plus a bunch of archived old disks from old computers and operating systems. Have been using Macs since 1985 with data going back that far. Would not want to lose all of that.

I hear ya! Yes I do only have 1 backup, but I'll be getting another soon.

I was able to fix my iTunes issue, so I will hold off getting a new laptop for awhile (not that I would have bought one just for iTunes, but I have some hope that my laptop will be alright for the next bit, and I'll wait for the 2nd versions of the M1 to come out before I buy one.

 

[s66]

If it were me:

• Only put money into an M1 laptop - Intel macs are a dead-end unless you need bootcamp or parallels or so to use windows applications.
• I'd NOT use an OS that's not receiving security updates anymore - too dangerous IMHO.
• FW800 adapters do exist. Your newer mac will come with Thunderbolt 3 / usb-c interfaces only.
  But that said FW800 is so old that You'd need to stack 2 of them if you want to source them from Apple (it does work - I've used them like that)
  • TB3 to TB2:
    
    

    Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter

    Effortlessly connect your Mac to a Thunderbolt 2 device with the Apple Thunderbolt 3 Adapter. Buy now at apple.com

    www.apple.com
  • TB2 to FW800:
    
    

    Power & Cables - Mac Accessories

    Find cables, charging docks and battery cases for Mac. Charge and sync up your Mac. Buy online with fast, free shipping

    www.apple.com

That said: I'd retire 10+ year old drives to be honest. Too many things can go wrong with (old) spinning drives.​

Or at least consider to check if there are normal SATA drives inside and replace the casing to a usb-c housing instead of buying adapters.​

• There are independent packages to make backups of iPhones/iPads. Something like iMazing comes to mind https://imazing.com/ .
  But just getting iTunes up to the last version/just using a Catalina or Big Sur should be enough to get it working again.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Drives are crazy cheap now. If your data is worth anything, get at least one new drive.

With old drives, I hold them as a secondary disaster recovery option...but if one should die, it is just one of a few redundant options. No big deal, just pitch it. One comes in, one goes out. A new drive every couple of years.

 

[emac82]

Yeah. So...I went out today to the local Apple Retailer (Jump+) and bought the MBA M1 512GB...I get discounts through my work and they price matched. And I got a new external HDD too.

I figured I'd be buying one within a year anyways, so may as well just do it now LOL...Seems like a slick machine so far, I got the Slate Grey as it was the only colour they had in stock, and a nice change from my Silver unibody...

Thanks everyone for the advice. I ordered a 3.5" IDE/SATA USB adapter today too, so I can connect a few older HDD's too where the enclosures died.