Why are so many people using out of date Macbooks?

[jmonster]

Anytime I pick up an old iPhone (e.g. any generation SE -- the 3rd of which can be had new for $84 right now ) I wonder why the hell I waste money on a 15 Pro. Typically refreshing to remember how light it is and that almost everything is exactly the same. Sorry, I think my 15 Pro's camera is trash compared to a real one so it's sort of an irrelevant point.

I find it sort of shocking someone would think these people are anything but lucky to be satisfied with what they have. The rest of us are Apple whores. Oh well.

 

[sw1tcher]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with a out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

Apple made MacBooks with the light-up logo up until around 2016 or so which means the OS version on those MacBooks you're seeing aren't as "out of day" [sic] as you think they are. If they run macOS Monterey, Apple is still supporting it. The last update was version 12.7.1 on October 25, 2023. Others might be running Big Sur which was last updated on September 11, 2023 (version 11.7.10).

Just because they can't run Ventura or Sonoma doesn't mean they're "out of day" [sic]

 

[JPack]

People sitting in cafes and parks aren't likely doing productive work, in all likelihood. They have no need for an Apple Silicon device.

In the real world, nobody shows off their MacBook anyway, unlike an iPhone.

If you check a workplace, most will be using 2018 or newer models as the old ones don't cut it.

 

[MacProFCP]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with a out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

I drive down the road regularly and I see people driving cars that are often 5 to 10 years old and even 15 to 20 years old, I just don’t understand why for only a couple hundred dollars a month they could be driving something nice and new that’s much more fuel efficient and comfortable.

For most people, who are using their computer to watch Netflix, send email, and browse the web, A 10-year-old machine works just fine. I don’t own a single machine that is older than 2019, with my laptop being an M2, yet my wife uses a MacBook from 2012.

 

[GuyDouche]

Still rocking my maxed out early 2011 MBP. It literally does everything I need it to and have no reason to replace it until software vendors decide to no longer support High Sierra. Which is happening faster by the month. They force you to upgrade and replace. Makes their quarterly revenue look appealing to investors. The M3 Max looks appealing, but ima wait until I absolutely have no choice. Mind you, I used to upgrade every year when I was younger, now I care it it serves my purpose and lasts for as long as possible.

 

[EdwardC]

Anytime I pick up an old iPhone (e.g. any generation SE -- the 3rd of which can be had new for $84 right now ) I wonder why the hell I waste money on a 15 Pro. Typically refreshing to remember how light it is and that almost everything is exactly the same. Sorry, I think my 15 Pro's camera is trash compared to a real one so it's sort of an irrelevant point.

I find it sort of shocking someone would think these people are anything but lucky to be satisfied with what they have. The rest of us are Apple whores. Oh well.

I have had iPhones since the 4 which took the place of my beloved Blackberry, since then I have never owned a current iPhone. 4S,6,6S,7,Xr,11 and now a 13. I never felt the need as I use them as a tool to email, text and make calls. The new SE looks promising and may very well be my next phone in another year.

 

[Analog Kid]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with a out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

Because they still work and work well. Insecure? Maybe, but I'm not sure how many people are spending their time devising attacks on 10 year old hardware...

 

[Nermal]

This is as good a place as any to say this... I'm not sure whether I find it amusing or annoying, but people often say that Macs have great longevity, with lifespans of 5-7 frequently quoted. Meanwhile I've been accused of "still" being on Intel, with my 2020 iMac.

 

[mectojic]

Still rocking my maxed out early 2011 MBP. It literally does everything I need it to and have no reason to replace it until software vendors decide to no longer support High Sierra. Which is happening faster by the month. They force you to upgrade and replace. Makes their quarterly revenue look appealing to investors. The M3 Max looks appealing, but ima wait until I absolutely have no choice. Mind you, I used to upgrade every year when I was younger, now I care it it serves my purpose and lasts for as long as possible.

Why don't you upgrade beyond High Sierra? They run Catalina very well, patched, and Catalina has a lot more support. It's annoying High Sierra is getting dropped now.

 

[montuori]

Speaking only for myself: because I can program on it just as well as I can on any other functioning MacOS box; because there's a chance I'll break it (the motorcycle rattles things around a lot) or it'll get swiped; and because schlepping a Studio + ASD to a coffee shop is a drag.

 

[klasma]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with a out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

Probably the main reason is that MacBooks don’t come with a carrier subscription and upgrade program.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Interesting to find this "why are so many common people still using old laptops" thread in MR, where you more often find threads full of people upset that their device isn't the latest and greatest, that some model was updated "so soon" after the previous version was released, that base model Macs might be obsolete and nearly unusable in 2-3 years, etc.

Nothing wrong with either group - different use cases definitely figure into whether a device is right for different people.

But I think it does help to show that MR members are a very small subset of Mac users, and the stuff that concerns us doesn't at all matter to the vast number of people who happily use their Macs all the time.

 

[Prof.]

Most people don't care about having the latest and greatest like we do.

My Mom had a 2012 MacBook Pro until last year when I bought her a 14" M1 MacBook Pro. She'll probably have this one for another 10-12 years lol.

As much as I love technology, I must start to resist the urge to upgrade every 3 generations like I used to. The M series of Apple Silicon is just that good.

 

[dawnrazor]

My 2017 MBP took a back seat once I got the large iPad Pro and keyboard. It still works really well for what I need from it, which varies from week to week, but its not my go to in the same way the ipad pro is… my wife just got a M2 MBA and I’l get one of those one day when I need to replace the MBP… or I simply wont replace it…

 

[Prof.]

My 2017 MBP took a back seat once I got the large iPad Pro and keyboard. It still works really well for what I need from it, which varies from week to week, but its not my go to in the same way the ipad pro is… my wife just got a M2 MBA and I’l get one of those one day when I need to replace the MBP… or I simply wont replace it…

I take my 11" iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard everywhere I go. My 14" MacBook Pro stays home and I use it when I need a computer.

 

[DougiePhresh]

This is the most elitist, self-entitled, out-of-touch post in a sea of elitist, self-entitled, out-of-touch posts. Well done, OP … this is truly a masterclass in snobbery

 

[toobravetosave]

Most people don't care about having the latest and greatest like we do.

My Mom had a 2012 MacBook Pro until last year when I bought her a 14" M1 MacBook Pro. She'll probably have this one for another 10-12 years lol.

As much as I love technology, I must start to resist the urge to upgrade every 3 generations like I used to. The M series of Apple Silicon is just that good.

I used a ‘12 MacBook Air until 2020 and then got an M1 air. I did however sell the air a few months ago for a refurbished M1 Pro because I realized I’m older and need a bigger screen now

Another irony related to this thread: My M1 pro plays some games very well like divinity or bg3…but my 2012 MacBook Air plays age of empires 2 natively on bootcamp. Something to think about

 

[sw1tcher]

Thinking about this some more, maybe all those people you see running older Macs need to run a version of macOS that supports 32-bit apps. macOS 10.14 (Mojave) was the last version that supported 32-bit apps.

 

[layton]

I still use a 2012 13” (9,2) MacBook Pro with maxed out RAM and 2 SSDs. Those machines have to be one of the best laptops ever made. It actually died last month so I bought another one for $120 so I could just put the RAM and SSDs into the new one. The replacement is 2 years newer and works/looks much better too as my old one was getting dinged up and had a wonky trackpad/missing feet. I’ve been looking at getting a new MBP but haven’t decided on what to get yet.

 

[GuyDouche]

Why don't you upgrade beyond High Sierra? They run Catalina very well, patched, and Catalina has a lot more support. It's annoying High Sierra is getting dropped now.

Because my early 2011 MBP won’t support anything beyond High Sierra. I know OpenCore is an option but it doesn’t support the GPU switching

 

[Tozovac]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with a out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

This is funny. Are you 100% positive they have an iPhone 14/15 in all cases? I held onto my 2014 MBA running Mavericks as long as I could because I’m not rich, I detested Yosemite’s interfaces and others till Big Sur, and it worked for me.

 

[davidespinosa]

Because they spent all their money on the phone, and can't afford the laptop.

 

[Boeingfan]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with an out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

Same reason people drive cars older than 2012; they get them from A to B just fine thanks ☺️

 

[mectojic]

Because my early 2011 MBP won’t support anything beyond High Sierra. I know OpenCore is an option but it doesn’t support the GPU switching

I didn't say OpenCore. Just use DosDude's Catalina Patcher.

 

[thatguywill]

I walk the streets and see them in cafe's and the parks. I see so many people with MacBooks from 2012 that have the light in the back with an out of day OS yet they are using an iPhone 14 or newer. I just don't understand why they don't at least upgrade to a M1 MacBook Air for $800. If they can afford a new iPhone they can afford to update there out of date, insecure laptop.

Perhaps the most pretentious post I’ve seen here. ‘Insecure laptop’? Lol