How long do Mac's last?

[chrischambers]

Hi,

 

We've got a suite of iMacs bought in 2013 for Music Dept use with Garageband and Sibelius.

Apart from a few mice they've been solid with no failures. How long have you guys had reliable service from iMacs? Looking at replacing them, but not too soon!

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[mthomas08]

We found they are incredibly reliable but thats not been the major issue.

 

Minus using hack/questionable means, our main problem has been the ability to update them to the latest software due to their age.

 

The machines need updating but are not compatible plus the server needs to be done first which again can't be updated any further. Can't remember the specifics around it...... Quite similar how my very old iPhone can't be updated any further.

[DJ-1701]

I would think it would be a better idea to look at how long they have updates for in this modern world of always connected equipment and base it on that.

[Arthur]

7 years.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201624

 

Vintage products are those that have not been sold for more than five and less than seven years ago. Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod and Apple TV vintage products continue to receive hardware service from Apple service providers, including Apple Retail Stores, subject to availability of inventory, or as required by law.

 

Obsolete products are those whose sales were discontinued more than seven years ago. Monster-branded Beats products are considered obsolete regardless of when they were purchased. Apple has discontinued all hardware service for obsolete products, with no exceptions. Service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

It's worth noting that 7 years is just for hardware. You get 5 years software support with Apple products as a rule.

[DalekSec]

I normally support them till Apple stop supporting them with their Latest OS. We have one iMac 2011 which just had to be replaced as it didn't support Catalina when the rest did. I'd say around 8 years is around the average lifespan of a Mac. My personal MBP is 5 years old and i'll still take it over most of the new windows laptops on the market!

[chrischambers]

That's fair enough - I suppose I'd have already replaced them if they were PC's in an IT room.

They seem to be ok - I guess we'll hope they hang on for another year (especially as it's all a bit up-in-the-air anyway) and do them next summer.

 

Thanks!

[dhicks]

They seem to be ok - I guess we'll hope they hang on for another year

 

Macs generally keep their resale value quite well - 2013 iMacs are currently going for around £300 - £400 on eBay. You might find someone to buy the full set off you, or possibly someone that will take existing equipment in part-exchange.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

If you haven't already, they'd definitely benefit from SSD upgrades, though it's a little tricky in the 2013 iMac.

[internetuser]

The only issues I found with macs was the lack of ssd’s hampered creative cloud massively. And the eol for os upgrades.

 

Apart from that they were rebust

[DrBeaker]

I've got some Macbooks (can't remember the exact models), but they're ones that don't support the 2x latest versions of MacOS.

 

I priced up some possible SSD upgrades and RAM upgrades but was something like over £2.5K just for upgrades. Then I read about issues with doing this on the Macs? These ones are about 7-8x years old (the Chunky macs).

 

I know Adobe Photoshop CC doesn't support the Mac OS version they have (even though we don't have Adobe CC) so for me in our situation, they're simply too old.

[3s-gtech]

I have 15 late 2009 iMacs that still work fine (upgraded to SSD and 4GB), along with a pair of 2009 Mac Minis, four 2012 Mac Minis, five 2012 Macbooks and a 2012 iMac - all working nicely.

 

I regard our 2014 Mac Minis as ‘new’ still, though they’ve all filled their SSDs and need rebuilding!

 

IME, the hardware is superb, even though our Nvidia 9400M equipped iMacs have a reputation for cooking the mainboards as they get so hot they can de-solder themselves. I guess that was some batches only.

[Mrpower]

The oldest Working apple product we have at the school is a working Newton eMate 300 from 1997, I replace the battery last year and found a new old stock power adapter to get it all up and running again. It's more of a fun note taking tool for myself than a day to day workhorse. The oldest being used Macs in the school are 2008 Mac Pros, but I am using them as back end servers for munki and printing.

The Rumour mill is that apple are moving to Apple Silicon by the end of the year, which will likely kill the second hand market for intel Macs, as it did with Motorola Macs (G3,G4,G5). In two years time all intel Macs will most likely be outdated.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Mrpower

[jimmy_2k]

The oldest Working apple product we have at the school is a working Newton eMate 300 from 1997, I replace the battery last year and found a new old stock power adapter to get it all up and running again. It's more of a fun note taking tool for myself than a day to day workhorse. The oldest being used Macs in the school are 2008 Mac Pros, but I am using them as back end servers for munki and printing.

The Rumour mill is that apple are moving to Apple Silicon by the end of the year, which will likely kill the second hand market for intel Macs, as it did with Motorola Macs (G3,G4,G5). In two years time all intel Macs will most likely be outdated.

 

I've still got one of these in the loft in its original box and owned it since I was 14. Maybe I should ebay it at some point..

[Mrpower]

There is one for sale here https://www.click4mac.com/product.php?products_id=14282 for £357.60 which is good for an unboxed example. But a boxed working with all extras, CD's , Cables, who know how much it's worth. I think they might have had more of them, as I have about 10 of the software discs, but it looks like this was the only eMate saved from the chop or the recycle bin.

Also, Completely off topic. I wonder if someone could get DOOM to run on a newton eMate 300. Now that would be interesting.

Edited July 29, 2020 by Mrpower