Apple Adds 2013 Mac Pro, 2019 MacBook Air, AirPorts To Vintage List (macrumors.com) 21
Apple added the 2013 "Trash Can" Mac Pro to its vintage products list alongside the 2019 13-inch MacBook Air, 2019 iMac, 2018 iPad Pro models, and the 128GB iPhone 8. The cylindrical Mac Pro remained on sale until December 2019, when Apple replaced it with the redesigned "Cheese Grater" model.
Products typically reach vintage status five years after their last distribution date. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design prevented internal component upgrades and created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017. "I think we designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner," Apple hardware chief Craig Federighi said at the time.
Apple also moved several AirPort devices to its obsolete list, including the second-generation AirPort Express and AirPort Time Capsules. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical design created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017.
Products typically reach vintage status five years after their last distribution date. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical cylindrical design prevented internal component upgrades and created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017. "I think we designed ourselves into a bit of a thermal corner," Apple hardware chief Craig Federighi said at the time.
Apple also moved several AirPort devices to its obsolete list, including the second-generation AirPort Express and AirPort Time Capsules. The 2013 Mac Pro's radical design created thermal limitations that Apple acknowledged in 2017.
Getting 7-8 years before installing Linux (Score:3)
Remember: You're never buying an Apple product; you're just renting it for few years at a time before they ask you to throw it out arbitrarily even though it's working fine.
I'm on my third iteration. The last two each got 7-8 years before they no longer received software updates. My 2013 MacBook Pro is running Linux, its reuse saved having to buy a PC laptop for Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
How do I get started with converting them to Linux? What Distros are supported?
Ubuntu. I downloaded and flashed their installer (LTS I think) and it installed as easily as PCs I've installed Ubuntu on.
Re: (Score:2)
What Distros are supported?
Nearly everything is supported on those modern macs.
I still have Ubuntu 4.10 (warty) installed on my PowerMac G3 B&W (1999). A 20 year old Linux distro running on a 25+ year old Mac, that's vintage.
Re: Getting 7-8 years before installing Linux (Score:2)
Do you have a Gen 2 board, did you get lucky with your storage devices, or did you use an addin host adapter?
Re: (Score:2)
I've got a PCI SATA/IDE card for Macs so I don't have to wrestle the LBA size limitations on the old Mac. ... talking to 100 MHz RAM, so not quite as fast as you might think.
I also have a 1 GHz G3 CPU upgrade
Re: (Score:2)
In my experience, Fedora plays the nicest with Mac hardware without requiring you to start hacking away at the command line. If you want something in the Debian family I would go with Mint. Pop! is also nice (especially because its GUI is similar to macOS), but I had to manually install my wifi driver last time I put it on a Mac.
If you choose Fedora, the easiest way to get a Mac-like experience is to go with Gnome (the default) and the first thing you need to do is install "Dash to Dock." That extension tra
Re: Getting 7-8 years before installing Linux (Score:1)
Has Fedora started allowing non-free drivers? Macs normally need non-free Broadcom firmware for wifi.
Re: (Score:2)
Remember: You're never buying an Apple product; you're just renting it for few years at a time before they ask you to throw it out arbitrarily even though it's working fine.
I'm on my third iteration. The last two each got 7-8 years before they no longer received software updates. My 2013 MacBook Pro is running Linux, its reuse saved having to buy a PC laptop for Linux.
My 2012 MacBook Pro is my Daily Driver, running macOS Ventura
Re: Getting 7-8 years before installing Linux (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m running Monterey on my 2015 MBP via OCLP. This was mostly so I could run a newer version Lightroom. I also have an external boot drive that I move between this MBP and an 2013 Mac Pro. The Mac Pro natively supports Monterey. I wasnâ(TM)t sure if OCLP would be happy with Ventura or newer in this configuration. Howâ(TM)s the performance of Ventura on your system?
Re: (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m running Monterey on my 2015 MBP via OCLP. This was mostly so I could run a newer version Lightroom. I also have an external boot drive that I move between this MBP and an 2013 Mac Pro. The Mac Pro natively supports Monterey. I wasnâ(TM)t sure if OCLP would be happy with Ventura or newer in this configuration. Howâ(TM)s the performance of Ventura on your system?
Yes, obviously with the help of OCLP. I first jumped from Catalina (which was supported) to Monterey; and when that went well, decided to try Ventura. I think this is it, though.
Performance is not bad; but I don’t do much to stress it. Maxing the RAM to 16 GB and putting in a 2 TB Samsung SSD helped.
But I think I’m going to get an M4 mini; they’re just too cool for too cheap!
2013 Mac Pro's radical design created thermal limi (Score:2)
Does this mean macOS 25 is now Intel only? (Score:3)
Re:Does this mean macOS 25 is now Intel only? (Score:5, Informative)
If you mean "Does this mean mac OS 26 is now Apple Silicon only?", the answer is "no", but mac OS 27 will only support Apple Silicon: https://9to5mac.com/2025/06/09... [9to5mac.com]
Craig Federighi runs Apple software (Score:2)
My 2011 mac mini is now running Ubuntu (Score:2)
Re: My 2011 mac mini is now running Ubuntu (Score:2)
Yes, for that purpose there are any number of Chinese mini PCs you could use that would do the job at least as well. I just ordered a slightly older machine with a 5825U, 32GB of dual channel memory, and a 1TB nVME SSD for under $300. It has the same architecture as my primary desktop (Zen 3) so it will be convenient, I can reuse binaries even if I build them for this architecture specifically, and only need one set of compilers for distcc. The SoC TDP is 15W. It's under $600 for a more modern system but po
not really exciting news (Score:3)
Apple has been steadily moving their hardware into Vintage and Obsolete over the last SEVERAL decades. When a device hits 5 years old, it turns Vintage, which basically means they don't promise to have all parts available anymore, and some may be restricted to "repairs only, not stocking". At 7 years they turn Obsolete, and Apple sells off their entire inventory of parts. In both cases, Apple retains a small number of parts for repairs in places like California, where manufacturers are legally required to carry parts for longer. (10 years in cali?)
So I don't know if I'd classify this as "news", more like a minor update in an ongoing process. "City fixes another pothole, news at 10." I assume most manufacturers have similar policies, but a lot of them are either secretive or aren't so consistently applied. If anything, Apple's doing a much better job for the consumer, with their very public and consistent policy. Now go and try to find out how long Whirlpool is going to carry parts for your dish washer.
Sidenote: I recall a few rare cases where someone REALLY wanted their old mac repaired, and I asked "do you know anyone in California?" I suggested they ship it to their friend and have them take it to a local apple store to get it fixed. AFAIK that plan worked.
I was also known to, from time to time, order a bunch of a part that was prone to failure just before it crossed into Vintage territory. That way we had parts on-hand to repair a common issue when nobody else did. There were a few parts we never ended up selling, but there were also a few that were like gold, with people driving klong distances to come pick up a part not even Apple had anymore. It was a bit of a guessing game. My manager questioned my stocking the last 23 iMac G5 power supplies Apple was willing to sell us, and it took several years, but we sold our last two to an APPLE STORE 100 miles south of here. We probably should have started marking them up, but we never did.