Will Apple Silicon Macs become slower with software updates like iOS devices? (Slower over time & lack of upgradability = more e-waste)

[satcomer]

What I do to use as free for a user called Onyx that run every three months to keep the System Cache stays like the first day I reviewed my M1 Mac Book Air!

 

[Pugly]

I don't think I've ever had a Mac start to feel unusable like some of the iOS devices on the ragged edge of the last supported OS. I don't think I've had an iOS device start to feel like this recently either.

I think that's an opinion formed from the older devices limited hardware. I doubt any current hardware will feel slow for a long time... they are generally over specced for everyday tasks now and you need to find some edge cases for them being slow. Also apple silicon vs intel has nothing to do with this, it's all on the software side of things.

All the M1 cpus have the same single core performance, so the 'everyday' feel of using these Macs will feel the same over the whole range of Macs sold. I doubt Apple's going to intentionally cripple someone's $4000 M1 Ultra.

I have no concerns about my M1 MacBook Air being slow beyond it's 7 year label of "vintage" by Apple.

 

[TinyMito]

Why would it get slower? Not like car engines. As long you keep the OS clean and stop installing junks. New apps will just be more demanding on hardwares in the future but it also come down to how optimized the apps are.

 

[Tagbert]

Why would it get slower? Not like car engines. As long you keep the OS clean and stop installing junks. New apps will just be more demanding on hardwares in the future but it also come down to how optimized the apps are.

Yes, this thread was all based on the assumption that all iPhones get much slower with each OS release and on the speculation that this was because of chip architecture and that that would apply to Mac computers.

Most of the commenters have pointed out that the slowndown that happens on some phones is mainly due to those models have too little RAM for later versions of the OS. That situation doesn’t really extend to Macs so the answer to the original question should just be “No”.

 

[ric22]

it's all on the software side of things.

Yep. In the past, software quickly became more demanding than the old mobile hardware could cope with. Luckily things have come a long long way in the last decade, when it comes to the performance of mobile devices. I think the current chips should age much more gracefully.