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Some MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini Models Will Become Obsolete Next Month, Lose Apple Repair Support (9to5mac.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple will add certain MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models to its list of vintage and obsolete products starting next month, which means the products will lose official Apple repair support through the company's retail stores and authorized resellers. Kicking in on December 31, 2016, the MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) will become vintage and obsolete in all markets where applicable, while the Mac mini (Early 2009) and MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009) will become obsolete worldwide on the same date.
Products go EOL all the time, 2009 isn't a bad cut off year. It is 2016, and those computers would be cheaper to replace than to fix.
Is someone going to complain that the Apple ][ is no longer supported? No one in their right mind is going to say yes. On a small scale it would be OK due to old infrastructure that will not change for another 30 years because the systems have to meet a set of requirements that are not standard.
It doesn't make good business sense to support products at a mass scale for long periods of time. These are not craftsman tools with lifetime warranties.
A few may promise lifetime warranties, with a big ole asterix next to their statements.
Despite what you may think, computers are consumable items. And most items will no longer be used after 5 years, and by 10 they are almost gone with the exception of a few. The risk is low if the company makes a decent product.
Maybe they'll be kind and throw $5 at you for your smashed powerbook.....
I'd say, keep the "MacBook Pro" line, but rename it, and then produce a true "pro" line of machines designed for photographers, musicians, and others who will pay the cash for a machine that has the reasonable ports for the job, so one doesn't have to carry a backpack full of dongles and hubs with them everywhere.
Why should they bother doing this? It'll just cost them more money to have more machines in their line-up. They can just do what they're doing now, keep the number of options very small, to increase profit, because all those people you mention will just buy the port-less machines anyway, plus the overpriced adapters to go with it. Sure, they might complain, but so what? They're not going to forgo buying a Mac.
I would say the Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15 are becoming more "MacBook Pros" than what Apple offers.
Nope, because they aren't Macs, so all those Mac buyers aren't going to even look at them.
Maybe Apple could at least fix the MBPs, so if one uses by accident more than one USB-C device that charges, some e-fuse doesn't blow, preventing anything from charging the battery (as per a YouTube vid showing someone using multiple chargers... result, the MBP just stopped charging for good.)
Why should they bother fixing this? Are they losing any sales due to this? Of course not. So there's no point in lifting a finger to fix it. I really don't see the problem here. If some people manage to mess up their MBPs this way, then they'll just have to buy new MBPs (or pay $$$ to get Apple to repair them), which simply increases Apple's profits even more.
I would say the Dell XPS 13 and XPS 15 are becoming more "MacBook Pros" than what Apple offers.
People buy macs because of OSX. This is because Windows, even today, is still horrible.