Apple antique aficionados can boot to the future with OpenCore Legacy Patcher As Apple distances itself from older kit, the OpenCore Legacy Patcher tool should win new fans. These days, there are two types of people who want to install and run macOS on unauthorized hardware: Owners of generic PCs who fancy Apple's admittedly shiny OS on their cheap tin, plus a new category – owners of still highly …
I've upgraded both my old Macbook Pros. A 2012 model and a 2015 model.
As the article says, it will have a finite life. When the last Intel powered Mac reached EOL then that's it apart from the odd security upgrade.
Both of those laptops run Rocky Linux very well. Other FOSS distros are available.
Kudos to the team behind this operation.
Indeed, my 2009 iMac is currently running macOS 12/Monterey, though I haven't moved it up to Ventura as yet. After it became sluggish running High Sierra (officially the last available version for that model) I upgraded to an SSD and took OCLP for a spin at the same time. The detailed instructions provided by YouTuber Mr. Macintosh on how to successfully install and use OCLP should always be your first port of call.
Apple hasn't stated when it plans to drop support for x86, and we don't expect it to.
What don't y'all expect apple to? Because mean ol' me read it as "we don't expect (Apple) to state the drop of support until it's nearly upon us", but it can be read in a much less cynicalnicer light to say "we don't expect (Apple) to drop support for x86"
It's clearly the former. Apple doesn't give a support cutoff date in advance for any hardware; instead, when a new version of macOS comes out, it has a compatibility list and you can see whether your model has been left out.
They do continue to support the previous two versions of macOS though, so in effect you get 2 years notice, as long as you can live without the shiny features in the new version - which in general, I can. (Of course, sometimes a new version of macOS removes useful things, like running 32-bit applications)
Clearly, x86 versions of macOS will cease to be released at some point, just as PowerPC and 68k support were dropped previously.
[Author here]
> What don't y'all expect apple to?
The first verb in the sentence here is the default object for the last.
The last verb is "expect" and the first is "stated". We do not expect it to state. In other words: it won't say in advance, it will just do it.
TBH I think this is pretty clear, as the comment above mine says too.
I got a 2009 imac for a silly price on Ebay, got it working on El Capitan, used Open Core Patcher to install Ventura, works well but a little slow opening apps, will replace the spinning rust with an SSD soon, that should help.
There is a nice Youtube video that walks you the install, step by step... works well, but I thought my machine was stuck in a boot - reboot cycle... after about 40 minute if finally arrived at the bootscreen :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LOqHMo5WSQ
>"Apple have found innovative ways to force you to upgrade.
You say that like it is somehow unique to Apple. I swear they are all in bed together.
Microsoft pushes Win11. It is better at monetizing the user after the sale (ie: forced advertisements, required MSFT logins for user tracking, etc). Conveniently it requires the latest & greatest hardware, to which Dell, Lenovo, and others say 'aw shucks' as they sell new kit. Then enter the stalking horse of Google..."Your Chrome browser is vulnerable and we no long support that OS". Oh and that new version of Chrome just happens to kill off some pesky ad-blockers. Everyone wins!
This is the anti-trust that regulators should be looking in to. Convenient collusion where one company's "requirements" happen to help the other companies sell more stuff and vice versa.
I’ve got a Mac mini from 2012 which can run High Sierra and while I could upgrade it (in fact I have done on some of my older machines), the GPU is a problem leaving a number of issues. To avoid that (and because I needed a little Linux box) I installed Rocky Linux 8 (supported until 2029, upgrade path to Rocky Linux 9 which goes out to 2032) and it’s a very happy little box. Everything works once you get past the slightly tricky install process compared with generic PC hardware. Solid machine and will be far past when Intel is dropped from MacOS entirely.
> "...macOS 14,.. the oldest model it supports is the 2017 iMac Pro – at $5,000, too much for this impecunious hack."
Pre-owned buffed-up 2017 iMac Pros are ~~$1,500 at Back Market and eBay. https://www.backmarket.com/search?q=2017+iMac+pro
Couple years ago, that wudda been a screaming deal (but they were more then). Today it's on the steep side of depreciation.
I wouldn't touch an iMac Pro. You can't upgrade the internal drive and you have to take the screen off to upgrade the RAM. Plenty of other 2017 and later models around (apart from the 2020), and all 27-Inch models beyond 2013 have a PCI slot you can use for a standard NVMe drive with a £15 adapter. I've found WD Black go like stink but avoid Samsung.
You may need little more than a browser translation layer. You could put it in a physical box between your router and your device/PC/Mac/Spectrum, or you could run it as an app.
It translates website data into whatever mix of text/graphics and I/O your system can support. Smart Watch, 8-bit system or old Mac, makes no difference. It would skin any browser content so that your device could see it, and you could interact with it.
My buddy and I were just grousing on about this Apple issue, both of us being Art Directors and retired, but still keen to keep our hand in periodically and still have very well-running hardware.
I am a MacBook Air fan and currently use a 7,2 (SSD) from 2017-2019. The hardware is in minty-mint shape and it runs smooth as silk. No, I don't use Adobe stuff but Affinity Designer/Photo 1.x which I find easy on the resources. Today I'm on 10.13.6 (High Sierra) and can only move up to OS12 (Monterey) according to Apple. I wouldn't mind getting closer up yet—so I will be spending some time investigating how far up I can go, and how best to deal with it.
Let's face it—I just need the later OS ONLY to keep a reasonably current version of Firefox going. *rolls eyes* I hate that free stuff can sideline a perfectly good machine. (Sorry—I know I'm preaching to the converted)
I also thank those who posted some 'advisories' in this thread. Well noted.
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