When they stop releasing security patches for that OS version 2 years later, it becomes more risky to connect the thing to a network. Or take in any data from the outside, really, whether it's via Bluetooth, or USB drive.

And then there's 3rd party software that will stop supporting that old OS version, in part because Apple's dev tools make that difficult.

Eventually, Apple's own services will stop supporting that OS - no convenient iCloud support.

Finally, the root CA certs bundled with the OS will become too out of date to use.

I'm planning on putting Linux on my Intel Mac Mini soon. But when a M3+ Mini goes out of support, will we have that option?

Even my 2017 MBP on macOS 13 still gets security updates. Heck iPhone 6 got a security update recently.

Your points are valid but it’s not 2 years, it’s more than that for big vulnerabilities.

> Even my 2017 MBP on macOS 13 still gets security updates.

Has it had one since macOS 26 came out? They usually do 2 versions behind - in the summer, that was macOS 13, but now it's macOS 14.

macOS 13 stopped getting any updates on September 15. Insert coin to continue.

https://endoflife.date/macos

Don't forget about Bootcamp for the (soon) obsolete Intels .

With a debloated Windows 10 (which we're not going to connect to the internet anyway) they can live on for older games.

I’ve got a 2010 MBP that’s still perfectly suitable, but without OS updates, I can’t get a browser that websites will load cleanly on, can’t use Xcode, bunch of the Apple services the company hooks you on don’t work, etc. Used OpenCore bootloader to extend its life into newer macOSes, but that’s getting hard to keep up with. What a (e)waste.

You can use Ubuntu. I use Ubuntu on a 2009 MBP and on a 2010 too.

Hadn't thought of doing that - I'm not a natural Linux person myself and I'm repurposing it for an 11yo. But maybe it's not so different from their school Chromebook for what they need. Just removes some of the nice Apple family features and the apps they'd be inheriting, but that's what I get for not paying the tax with new hardware purchases.

11 is a great age to start learning Unix.

Edit: I know Mac OS X is a Unix and Linux is technically a clone, however, of the two, Linux & GNU is a much better environment to learn in.

I’ve got a “late 2008” MacBook Pro that connects to sites ok in Firefox. That seems to be the browser that does the best at long-term support for old Macs.

Both those machines will run the latest Ubuntu just fine, and the latest Chrome (or Firefox) on it.

Just copy the LiveCD image onto a USB stick, insert, boot holding down the Option key, and you can try it without actually installing it (i.e. leaving your MacOS untouched).

Good point. I remembered not getting Firefox to work but that was an even older Mac I was dusting off to run a birdcam installation.

My old macbook Air from 2010 is already running 6 years home assistant on Ubuntu. It's in my fuse/meter room running 24 hours.

It is 15 years old - I think it is past eWaste into antique.

You're talking to someone who's fixed their microwave several times to keep it going 20 years.

Nah, antiques are stuff like the apple 2 or the amiga, it was a different world back then

15 years old is just old and has too little ram

Sure. But my needs haven't exceeded that RAM. I just want to keep doing the things I was doing for years on it happily, but security updates, broken services and website bloat have intervened.

Just switch to linux and it should just work. There are distros that use very little ram and it stays updated. Noscript can help you block javascript on websites

A 15 year old device can be still as capable as a raspberry pi and those work fine now for modern computing

"the things I was doing for years" unfortunately involves several native apps. There's a reason I got a Mac, after all.

Depends if you use xcode or not...I still have my macbook 12inch, for work use, it is amazing, but I can't run the latest xcode, making it defunct for some of my uses. It would be fine running xcode weak as it is; i am sure. Liquid glass might have killed it tho.

I use one from around that time to teach my kid basic stuff, you can run linux on it as well.

Patches for old OS versions are unfortunately not 100% covering all security issues. Apple is often arguing that vulns can only be fixed in actively supported versions.

Also, would love to hear any tips you have for eeking out use...Sounds like you may have some...