At some point I’ll just take a brand new car into the local chop shop and have them make something more useful out of it. Or i’ll ride just my bike.
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Why are so many people using out of date Macbooks?
- Thread starter tonyr6
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I’m not the one making accusations and hypotheticals. I literally just corrected accusations and hypotheticals with facts. I’m aware of all the issues people have had. That still doesn’t make the statement of Apple losing market share because of it more factual. Is still false.
Search for "OCLP" on GitHub. You'll find the tools needed to install and patch Sonoma (and previous) macOS on older hardware that Apple dropped support for.
I personally know several people who jumped off the apple wagon for these exact reasons. Seems like after 2015, the MacBooks became worse year after year. People will eventually refuse to pay a premium for sub par equipment. Apple had the ability to produce impressive laptops during this time but their greed got in the way and some folks simply moved on. You could still squeeze a Macbook in an envelope though!
You might actually be surprised. I work in IT and I am mostly communicating using Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Microsoft Edge on my iPhone. Also, I am sure most people outside of work hours are using their phone more than a traditional Mac or PC. That 2 hour commute to and from work, the hours up to bedtime, throughout the night when you grab it from the nightstand, the weekends. I'm sure it's more than 40 hours week. We don't even account for how much its being used during work hours, so count those together I am sure most people use their mobile devices more than 8 hours. Ironically, I am typing this on my M1 MacBook Pro but that's rare for most people.
Absolutely, partly on some misguided quest to make the laptops thinner.
Some portion of the user base permanently moved on. As a developer, I used to be 100% Mac, because I liked the familiar Unix-like command line environment.
When it came time to upgrade my late-2013 Retina MBP in ~2019, the only options were MacBooks with no physical escape key, awful keyboards, and an annoying touch bar that it was impossible to completely turn off. I tried to make them work, even owned a 2019 16" MBP for a few weeks but ended up returning it. Needless to say, I ended up buying a PC instead, which was also vastly cheaper for the config I needed.
Now I do the majority of my development on Windows under WSL, and I'm unlikely to ever go back to Mac, because I'm fully set up in that environment now, and I can run exactly the same Linux distro I use on my production systems. The only reason I still need a Mac on occasion is because unlike Android / Google, Apple forces developers who target iOS to use one.
If Apple hadn't screwed up their laptop hardware for so many years, I'd still be 100% Mac today.
I myself still use a 2012 13" MacBook Pro on a daily basis and it gets taken everywhere with me. It just works, it has Catalina on it and a subscription of Office 365 too. It gets bashed around and abused, but just continues to work.
I think most non-techy people just keep using their computers until they either die or no longer do what they want them to do. My wife for example also has a 2012 MBP and still uses hers a lot.
I also have an M1 MBA too, that similarly gets taken to places, albeit not as many.
I think most non-techy people just keep using their computers until they either die or no longer do what they want them to do. My wife for example also has a 2012 MBP and still uses hers a lot.
I also have an M1 MBA too, that similarly gets taken to places, albeit not as many.
It is already starting to happen. If you want heated seats in a new BMW you have to pay a yearly subscription. Fortunately its not wide spread [yet], and provides yet another reason to avoid BMW
That idea proved to be very unpopular and BMW abandoned the whole subscription idea as a result.
It’s just heated seat. There is no news article about car manufacturer like Tesla introducing subscription to even drive the car yet. By that I mean you cannot even drive yourself, not talking about unable to use autodrive.
Office 365/Word is a slow moving pig on my 7 year old laptop. I feel your pain. 7 years old but with 16GB of ram. That 16GB of ram helps, but it's still not fast when I have after effects, teams, outlook, photoshop or illustrator open at once.
LibreOffice, used it for years with no interoperability issues even with fiendishly complex spreadsheet's. Office 365 runs slow as it's hampered by Microsoft's excessive bloat...
It's free, so you have nothing to loose
If using in a professional role best to opt for the older version served on the website as it's tried & proven over time. Lightening fast in comparison...Q-6
Because planned obsolescence is *********?
I really enjoy the things tech can do and I’m fascinated by shifts like Apple moving to ARM based Macs. But not everybody cares about that. While Apple’s roughly seven year window of support (generally five or six major macOS versions and then a couple years of security updates) is more than some manufacturers offer, the fact remains that the machines appear very solidly built, which is why you see so many old Macs out there doing the day to day grind.
Despite Apple’s attempts to shift users into a new machine, two things have come about that throw a wrench in their plan. One is that the horsepower war of the 1990s and 2000s computer era just doesn’t matter much anymore. If you can take a 10 year old Mac online and do everything you need to, with decent performance, there’s no need for a new one. Contrast that with the 1990s when PC power was doubling every couple years and so software was getting more complex to match, and a 5 year old computer was a doorstop. Not so much anymore.
The second thing is there are dedicated communities who want to see these old Macs continue working, whether because of money, because of time, or because of the environment. Projects like OCLP exist that extend the lives of your typical Mac far beyond what Apple officially supports. One of my Macs, a 2014 iMac, runs Sonoma this way and runs an Emby media server. Despite its age and specs it’s more than enough for that simple ask, even when transcoding is required.
So, in short, there’s a lot of reasons. I love new tech but I’m far from rich, so while a new phone every couple years is my treat to myself, I expect my Mac, iPad, and other machines to last a good deal longer. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
I really enjoy the things tech can do and I’m fascinated by shifts like Apple moving to ARM based Macs. But not everybody cares about that. While Apple’s roughly seven year window of support (generally five or six major macOS versions and then a couple years of security updates) is more than some manufacturers offer, the fact remains that the machines appear very solidly built, which is why you see so many old Macs out there doing the day to day grind.
Despite Apple’s attempts to shift users into a new machine, two things have come about that throw a wrench in their plan. One is that the horsepower war of the 1990s and 2000s computer era just doesn’t matter much anymore. If you can take a 10 year old Mac online and do everything you need to, with decent performance, there’s no need for a new one. Contrast that with the 1990s when PC power was doubling every couple years and so software was getting more complex to match, and a 5 year old computer was a doorstop. Not so much anymore.
The second thing is there are dedicated communities who want to see these old Macs continue working, whether because of money, because of time, or because of the environment. Projects like OCLP exist that extend the lives of your typical Mac far beyond what Apple officially supports. One of my Macs, a 2014 iMac, runs Sonoma this way and runs an Emby media server. Despite its age and specs it’s more than enough for that simple ask, even when transcoding is required.
So, in short, there’s a lot of reasons. I love new tech but I’m far from rich, so while a new phone every couple years is my treat to myself, I expect my Mac, iPad, and other machines to last a good deal longer. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.
A lot of the unibody Macs were just very well made for their time. The 1280x800 screen resolution isn't particularly great, but everything else about these machines is probably much better than you could have gotten from similar PC laptops in that time period. They've just stood the test of time really well.
My 2012 still gets used as a music player near the drumkit. I could use something newer, but there's really no reason to. This thing will get the job done as long as it can still install a web browser.
My 2012 still gets used as a music player near the drumkit. I could use something newer, but there's really no reason to. This thing will get the job done as long as it can still install a web browser.
Really tried resisting the urge to reply to this, but the irony implied by your rotary phone avatar bumped me over the edge
I can't wait for you to report-back after becoming aware of all the people out there actively using phones from ten years ago....
While off topic is pertinent in this thread. While I recognise that some services can only be provided via subscription the vast majority do not. Companies that try that I just walk away from and have always found better solutions...
For the most part they just want to jump on the "Gravy Train" with little to no benefit to the customer all they want is the consumer to consume more, not playing that game.
L&G vote with your money and you'll see just how fast these companies turn around, equally if you keep forking over the cash they will look for ever more ways to empty your wallet...
Q-6
For the most part they just want to jump on the "Gravy Train" with little to no benefit to the customer all they want is the consumer to consume more, not playing that game.
L&G vote with your money and you'll see just how fast these companies turn around, equally if you keep forking over the cash they will look for ever more ways to empty your wallet...
Q-6
You’ve clearly never had to deal with compliance documents, that many people need to see and edit, all tracked, within a corporate ecosystem. Libreoffice doesnt even come close to what O365 and word handles for our needs.LibreOffice, used it for years with no interoperability issues even with fiendishly complex spreadsheet's. Office 365 runs slow as it's hampered by Microsoft's excessive bloat...
It's free, so you have nothing to loose
Q-6
Yeah :/
At least I only have to deal with a couple major documents that bog down like that but ugh
Mind reading isn't one of my stronger points. Written more than my fair share of technical documents, including compliance for the oil & gas industry, with collaboration. Never seen any HW much past 4 years in a corporate environment, at 7 years you need to change the deal...
Q-6
I daily drove a 2010 MacBook unibody for two years when I was really strapped for cash. Slapped an SSD and 8GB of memory in it and it wasn’t that bad an experience at all. Sold it in 2022, got $150 for it. It’s probably still out there somewhere.
Ditto @mslilyelise
for about 10 years I did the same to a late 2008 MB Pro. Gave it to my sister to use which she did until one day it didn't power up. All in all, it was used almost 14 years. Doubt that could ever happen with a PC and will never happen with the trash Tim Crook is putting out today.
~It ~That
MB Pro late 2016 limping along on a 2nd motherboard grats Apple
for about 10 years I did the same to a late 2008 MB Pro. Gave it to my sister to use which she did until one day it didn't power up. All in all, it was used almost 14 years. Doubt that could ever happen with a PC and will never happen with the trash Tim Crook is putting out today.
~It ~That
MB Pro late 2016 limping along on a 2nd motherboard grats Apple
Hate to say it but think your right. Once Apple designed & produced the very best hardware it could, today Apple produces hardware that affords the best possible margin and is designed for obsolescence.
Apple could easily support older Mac's, it doesn't as a function of greed. Thankfully the community stepped in...
Q-6
Why are forum posts like this promoted to the front page ? I'm not looking to be mean towards the OP but I would've thought that the answer to this could have been found with about 20 seconds of reflection in the head of the OP instead of the need to pose an entirely rhetorical, unanswerable question here. Oh, and J3sus, its at 14 pages already...
The title for this post could have as easily been: "Why do people do things ?"
The title for this post could have as easily been: "Why do people do things ?"