Apple makes it obsolete 5 years from the day they stop selling. So it has 4:5 years left, anything after is at mercy of Apple. It’s not about CPU, storage or specs. It’s about how long you will get updates with out tinkering with firmware.
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M1 Max MacBook Pro still good?
- Thread starter tennisboygr
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Hardware support (where Apple will fix the computers) is different then software support, where Apple will provide updates to the operating system. Most people are concerned about losing software support before losing hardware support.
Apple is still selling the M1 iPad Air, M1 MacBook Air and up until literally two months ago the M1 iMac.
Apple isn’t going to discontinue software support for the M1max before the regular M1.
When it comes to software, Apple is usually a lot more lenient.
The 2007 iMac was made “vintage” in 2013, yet it continued receiving software updates all the way until 2016, and security updates into 2018.
Apple isn’t going to discontinue software support for the M1max before the regular M1.
That’s in regards to hardware support.
When it comes to software, Apple is usually a lot more lenient.
The 2007 iMac was made “vintage” in 2013, yet it continued receiving software updates all the way until 2016, and security updates into 2018.
My opinion: The M1 Max is way overkill for your needs processor wise. The screen size is perfect for you though, and it sounds ilke you're getting a good price.
My opinion: Software support (including Operating System updates, and security updates, and hacks to install the latest operating system) should run out sometime in the late 2020's.
I wasn’t referring to just the hardware support.
Apple policy is vintage after 5 years since selling directly. There is no guarantee it will receive software support, If I am spending 2500 bucks, I personally wouldn’t want to be at mercy of Apple. Imagine buying a 2007 iMac in 2010, and losing support.
Not to mention who knows how long the MBP was sitting in the warehouse.
Ok, let's review software support history of new products:
68000 processor. The first Mac released was the Macintosh 128K. It was sold from January 1984 to October 1985. The last Operating System it could run was System Software 1.1 (System 3.2, Finder 5.3). That was released in June, 1986. Total support: 7 months.
PowerPC 603 processor (the first PowerPC processor). The first Mac released with this processor was the Power Macintosh 5200 in April, 1995. This was sold until April, 1996. The maximum operating system was Mac OS 9.1, released in January, 2001. Total support: 5 years, 5 months.
Intel Core Duo (the first Intel processor). The first Mac released with this class of processor was the iMac Early 2006, released in January, 2006. This was sold until September, 2006. The maximum OS was Mac OS X 10.6.8. This was released on January 25, 2011. Total support: 5 years.
I'm expecting AT LEAST five years of support after the last M1 processor computer was sold. The MacBook Air M1 is still being sold. Assuming it gets pulled from the shelves on June, 2024, and prior history is correct, the MacBook Pro M1 Max will be supported until around 2029 officially.
If you bought a 2007 iMac in 2010, you’d still have three years of hardware support, six years of the latest software update and an additional two years on top of that of security updates.
Wouldn’t really call that a bad deal.
can’t forget about the M1 iPad Air still being sold as well, plus it’s not even the oldest processor in their current lineup.
My old 2016 MBP is still working fine with Catalina installed. It recently got a security update! I've still got a 2014 Mac Mini chugging along with High Sierra, too.
LOL. Please stop with the doomsday hyperbole. You’re acting as if the laptop suddenly stops working after software updates are no longer released. Your machine is not going to self-destruct once Apple stops supporting it.
There are millions of units out there that haven’t had releases in a long, long time that are still working perfectly well. The “software and security updates” thing is a factor for some….but by and large, you can easily continue to utilize a legacy computer without any problems at all.
1) That 2007 iMac bought in 2010 still functions. No secret switch was flipped inside the machine when Apple moved on to the later models.
2) If the buyer is purchasing AppleCare for the new machine, then it doesn’t matter how long it was sitting in a warehouse. It’s covered if it was there for a day…or months or years.
Like I said I personally won’t waste 2500 bucks on something that stops getting updates and security patches sooner than later. I value security, coz I am not couch browsing on my M1 Max, it has valuable info. I would totally get an M1 Max with AC if it was selling on Craig’s list or FB market place for 1000-1200 bucks. And I personally wouldn’t want to run third party firmware upgrades for something I paid lot of money.
If you don’t keep your laptops longer than 5 years it doesn’t matter. I keep mine longer.
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Yes, 32 GPU core on M1 Max performs better than 18 core M3 Pro:
Graphics Card Comparison - Head 2 Head
Apple M1 Max 32-Core GPU vs Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU - Benchmarks, Tests and Comparisons
Of course you can go with higher core M3 Pro to narrow the gap, but it will cost more than $2500.
Catalina hasn’t gotten security updates in a couple of years now.
That is not accurate. Apple currently maintains and supports the last 3 versions of Mac OS. This is at least another 3 years of maintenance and security support. Having said that, Apple has not stated any official EOL policy and we are using history as a predictor of future support. Keep in mind Apple is still supporting Intel silicon so it is very plausible that Apple silicon may have longer EOL timelines. Worst case scenario is M1 becomes EOL in 2029. This is 8 years from launch. However Monterey is still fully supported in 2023 which runs on MacBook Pros from 2015 so more recent history would indicate at least 2030 EOL M1.
That looks like a great choice. Over time RAM will be the primary limiter of M series Max chips. The folks who need to pay more to invest in M3 Max are those who intend 3D/shader apps like Maya, Blender or lots of gaming.
MBA is a much lesser box in most ways except price and it weighs less.
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Apple has official vintage policy. Anything after that time is at mercy of the Apple. Sure you may get more time, but it’s always a risk to spend large amount of $$$ on something Apple stopped selling. If it was 1200 bucks, I would buy one. Personally 2500 is too much for me.
Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support
Learn about your options for getting service and parts for Apple devices that are past their warranty period.
IMO functionally Apple vintage policies/details are moot.
Real world bottom line is simple. A high end MBP Max will age out in ~6 years (before any Apple-related limiting), except that lesser RAM will make that aging-out happen sooner. A M1 Max MBP with 64 GB RAM should be good for a solid 6+ years. And is good value at $2500 IMO.
Personally I waited for M2 Max MBP with WiFi 6E and put in 96 GB RAM, but it cost me a lot more to do that.
Real world bottom line is simple. A high end MBP Max will age out in ~6 years (before any Apple-related limiting), except that lesser RAM will make that aging-out happen sooner. A M1 Max MBP with 64 GB RAM should be good for a solid 6+ years. And is good value at $2500 IMO.
Personally I waited for M2 Max MBP with WiFi 6E and put in 96 GB RAM, but it cost me a lot more to do that.
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Depends on when you buy, if this was a year ago, it’s no brainer. And I use my Mac’s for 8 years with out worrying about support.
So have a similar spec of M1 Max 16 MBP only 32GB instead of 64 and have had it since launch basically. It's a dream still to this day.
With that said I have 1 reason to go for this and 1 reason not with both not being mentioned yet.
Reason for:
If you go for the monthly AppleCare+ route, which I'd recommend if you plan to keep this machine longer than the 3 years of the fully paid out AppleCare+ (I've never experienced this but have been told with monthly it lasts until the machine is considered obsolete by Apple if you pay the entire time) and since this is a custom config, they won't have it in stock in store so you might, emphasis on the might, be able to upgrade much easier in the future if it dies.
Reason against:
Battery life will be worse than an M3 Pro both due to efficiency improvements in the node shrinkage and that Pros are more efficient than Maxs even when doing the same thing.
With that said I have 1 reason to go for this and 1 reason not with both not being mentioned yet.
Reason for:
If you go for the monthly AppleCare+ route, which I'd recommend if you plan to keep this machine longer than the 3 years of the fully paid out AppleCare+ (I've never experienced this but have been told with monthly it lasts until the machine is considered obsolete by Apple if you pay the entire time) and since this is a custom config, they won't have it in stock in store so you might, emphasis on the might, be able to upgrade much easier in the future if it dies.
Reason against:
Battery life will be worse than an M3 Pro both due to efficiency improvements in the node shrinkage and that Pros are more efficient than Maxs even when doing the same thing.
My correction to your original post was in regards to software security updates. The link you provided addresses hardware service after warranty expires which does indeed say "up to" 7 years parts and 10 years for battery. However, there is a disclaimer that clearly states "subject to parts availability". Therefore you cannot conclusively say that an M1 MBP has a higher risk of not getting serviced than an M2. The teardown of an M2 MBP has shown nearly identical internals except for the SOC module. You are also assuming that something like an SOC failure is worth the repair cost.Apple has official vintage policy. Anything after that time is at mercy of the Apple. Sure you may get more time, but it’s always a risk to spend large amount of $$$ on something Apple stopped selling. If it was 1200 bucks, I would buy one. Personally 2500 is too much for me.
Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support
Learn about your options for getting service and parts for Apple devices that are past their warranty period.support.apple.com
The M3 Max also opens entirely new possibilities in generative AI/machine learning, and local large language models (LLMs).
The 128 GB M3 Max will run the largest open-source LLM currently available, Falcon 180B, with 180 billion parameters, and the redesigned GPU architecture of the M3 is optimized for AI/ML workloads.
That being said, I'm perfectly happy with my own 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD, and think it's still a great deal. I love the new Space Black on the M3 Pro, but it's not worth the $4500-5500 I'd have to pay to get equivalent or maxed-out RAM.
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Your light workload sounds like a better fit for 15" inch air. The 16" Pro is massive, are you sure you want to lug that around? Even the base M1 can breeze through those tasks without breaking a sweat (that's putting it lightly, they would barely use like 10-20% of a base M1).
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