Once again, I don't understand why people are against more software support. My step brother used his HP laptop from 2004 to 2016 as his main PC. It was able to run Windows 7, believe it or not but he's into Linux and it ran okay.
If you don't upgrade MacBook Pro from mid 2010 it'll be slow as well. This "What percentage of users keeps a computer for that long?" is reminds me of the times when I told Android fanboys that iPhone gets updates for longer. That was also their answer that no one uses their phone for that long. Such attitude is so weird. You could make your parents Vaio fast and usable and well, I used my MacBook Pro for ages and also my MacBook 4,1. Paid over a $1000 and it was supported from 2008 - 2011, which isn't that long time for a computer and to top it all off, it ran the unsupported Mountain Lion better than Lion. People on Apple Discussions keep asking about software support and as soon as you mention OpenCoreLegacyPatcher it gets deleted and the post that say: "You should upgrade your Mac to a newer one because Apple recommends that you run the latest release of macOS" stay. Your argument is exactly what I'm against for. Also, quite recently, a couple years ago MacBook Air (2017) was sold everywhere and even Apple sold it on Amazon for $700 and now it'll stop receiving software updates in the fall. An average person doesn't really do their research. I still don't see what's wrong with wanting Apple to support their Operating Systems a couple years longer, because Macs become absolutely unusable once they stop receiving updates and it's so weird that Apple drops the support for their apps so fast too. Can you run the latest version of pages on Monterey? Absolutely not.
The situation was a bit better with 2 year release cycle. Why make people throw away perfectly good hardware? I'm sure a trillion dollar company would be able to support their operating systems for a little longer, but it's not like Apple's going to read that and give us an explanation, but the point was that MacBooks are like Androids. Pretty much lack of the support. Android fanboys tell the same thing when you tell them that iPads are supported for longer and they're like: "Who's gonna use it for that long?", well, many people actually would if the systems were more up to date and people wouldn't keep telling them to buy a new Mac and yet Apple claiming that they care about the environment. I hardly think that they do. I have no idea why people are protecting such practices and the video I posted was right. You can get out of your PC so much more if you could upgrade it. I wanna see how long the 8GB MacBook Pro will be supported that costs now $3200 in my country. Let me remind you that over here I could pay 4 months of rent with that money or buy a used car or buy a PC that I know will most likely be supported for much longer and have much better specs in general.
I really don't understand why people take it personally. You will not be getting a discount for defending Apple's behaviour nor their products nor is Apple your friend. They have more or less of a predatory behaviour the way I see it.
I’m not saying you need to throw away the old computers, I literally collect old macs, but no one’s daily driver should be a 10+ year old laptop
I think we’re in a unique time right now with the transition to Apple silicon, and a similar thing occurred with the transition to intel where macs got fewer years of OS updates, but this is not Apple’s norm. They’re trying to shuffle people off intel machines so they can ditch any x86 code ASAP. My 2012 macbook air got 8 years of updates to new versions of macOS, and 10 years of security updates, and that’s more than I could have ever asked for. Anyone not doing their research and buying a 5+ year old computer (2017 air) that doesn’t even look like the current model, is… not smart? Idk what to tell ya on that. Most people know tech has a limited lifespan and that they should buy the newest they can.
Here’s why I
don’t want Apple to support their machines indefinitely:
1. Supporting old hardware limits the possibilities of what they can do with new software and slows progress
2. It takes resources away from polishing the OS for more current machines
3. Software development for old hardware compatibility would not be free, and that cost would be passed on to us in the form of hardware price increases. Software engineers are not cheap, and now that they don’t charge for OS updates anymore the cost of any and all updates are rolled into the price of the hardware
4. In the case of architecture transitions, it leaves bloat in the OS for the old architecture (see Leopard -> Snow Leopard for the difference this can make)
5. A good chunk of my retirement is in Apple stock and I want to see them grow and succeed and make a solid profit 🤷🏼♀️ I assume many of us here own some Apple stock right?
To your last point, anyone buying a macbook
pro ~should~ be using it to make money, in which case regularly updating hardware makes financial sense, and 7 years of updates is plenty. At that point tech capabilities have at least doubled and getting a newer machine will be justified by the increase in productivity. Anyone buying a
pro for casual use, that is basically a luxury, and hopefully no one is spending 4x their rent on a personal laptop for casual use. In this case 7 years of updates is also plenty because anyone with the expendable income for this luxury isn’t going to bat an eye about upgrading, and will have probably done so before then anyway.
Your argument really comes down to “macs are expensive for what you get”, which has always been the case and will continue to be the case because you’re paying for refinement and attention to detail in hardware and software. It’s like arguing that a corvette is “better” than a 911 because it’s faster and costs less. Some people appreciate craftsmanship, design, and quality materials over pure capability.