How Long Can You Keep Using an Intel Mac?

Maybe it's frugality that's driving you to use your old Apple MacBook or iMac for as long as it keeps booting up. Possibly it's retro-tech nostalgia pushing you to keep that Mac mini from 2014 or your old Mac Pro chugging along. Or perhaps you aren't thrilled about the move to the Apple Silicon M1 and M2 series processors, along with the idea of updating software to versions better suited for the new chips. Whether it's three years old or celebrating a decade in service, the Intel Mac's days are numbered. It's been a while since we recommended anybody buy one, mainly because Apple's newer house-brand processors have proven to be fantastic performers, delivering better speeds—not to mention, great battery life on the latest Mac laptops.

Apple Silicon is now into its second generation, and the company is selling only one Intel-powered model at this writing: the now-outdated Mac Pro. Apple Silicon has been a huge winner for Apple, but if you're not yet ready to upgrade, how long do you have until it's time to switch? While we can't give a definitive answer for every specific machine and situation, we'll point out some waypoints on your journey, identify problems that are likely to come up, and present your opportunities for moving to a new system.

What Will Take Down Your Old Mac First?

Whether it's a 5-year-old iMac Pro or a 40-year-old Amiga you've kept running in a back room as a hobbyhorse, you'll encounter a number of common problems that any aging computer is prone to. Some, like the end of warranty coverage and customer service support, are unavoidable. Others are less certain, like guessing which component might fail first. Some of these issues can be held off by preventative care; others can only be met with acceptance. You'll also discover some issues unique to certain Apple models that can severely limit their long-term viability.

Don't worry: the 2020 iMac has a few years left in it.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)

While any of these milestones can be a smart exit point for a Mac nearing the end of its lifespan, your decision ultimately depends on your specific needs and your tolerance for the complications of old age. If you find that your older Mac is no longer meeting your needs or becoming too slow to use, it's likely time to consider purchasing a newer model.

No More Apple Help: The End of Warranty and Support

The first usability windows that will close are a computer's initial warranty period, followed by the termination of service from Apple customer support. Generally speaking, Apple provides a one-year warranty on any new product, with the option to extend coverage up to three years with AppleCare+. You can check your device warranty status on Apple's website(Opens in a new window) via the serial number.

Apple itself classifies older products as either “Vintage” or “Obsolete.” Laptops and desktops in the former group are still eligible for service and repair, but products classed Obsolete are cut off from all support services.

As for the 2018 Mac mini, that one has fewer years left.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)

How long will Apple support your old laptop with updates and repairs? The company usually applies the Vintage tag to Macs between three and seven years old, though a few exceptions exist. (See the Vintage list on Apple's support site(Opens in a new window).) Anything older than seven years is usually moved to the Obsolete list(Opens in a new window)—so that old iBook or Power Mac G4 won't be getting any love from Apple ever again.

It's not the end of the world if Apple moves your Mac to the Obsolete list, but it does mean you'll have to turn to third-party services for repairs. For many users, that's reason enough to upgrade, but it's just one point on the long road of using older hardware.

macOS and More: Software and Feature Drop-Off

Arguably more important than calendar age is the growing divide between Apple's latest features and those supported by your older machine. Major versions of macOS are generally supported for three years, so a Mac running macOS 10.15 (Catalina, released in 2019) will no longer get updates, while newer platforms like macOS 11 (Big Sur), macOS 12 (Monterey), and macOS 13 (Ventura) will continue to get maintenance updates for a while yet.

As you'd expect, the 2017 MacBook Air is about at its end-of-life stage.
(Credit: PCMag)

With every iteration of its products, Apple introduces new software, new device integrations, and improved capabilities, but Intel-based Macs that predate 2020's introduction of Apple Silicon can leave you feeling left out. To begin with, your aged Mac won't work as closely with your iPhone, and your iPad won't work as smoothly with your MacBook. Plus, your Apple Watch may not be able to do every cool trick that it's capable of. If you're heavily invested in Apple's ecosystem, Intel Macs are showing their age even more than they might for casual Apple users.

Apple also develops new features with current users in mind, using the latest products and software. As time goes on, you'll increasingly find that features and functions that are common on newer Macs and recent versions of macOS just aren't showing up on your older device. At a certain point, living in the past loses its luster.

Apple Security Updates: Insecurity Through Antiquity

While you can get macOS updates for two or three years after buying a new Mac, security updates keep coming for a bit longer—one to two years after Apple stops sending full operating system updates. But even then, the security updates aren't as frequent or as prompt as they are for newer models, so your four-year-old MacBook Pro isn't as secure as a new model despite still getting security patches.

Yes, the same goes for the 2017 MacBook Pro.
(Credit: PCMag)

As for laptops older than five years, they won't even get security patches. At a certain point, your retro machine will become an ever-growing security hole that hackers can drive right through. That may be fine if you're keeping a vintage collector's piece out of nostalgia, but if it's still your daily driver, the four-to-five-year time frame is a smart time to upgrade.

Redefining Your Apple Space: Storage and Clutter

As new MacBooks and Mac desktops come with roomier storage (in faster, more reliable formats), the hard drives or solid-state drives in Macs from just a few years ago will start to feel progressively smaller. At a certain point, you'll feel cramped by a drive that's filled to the brim with your files and apps, leaving your Mac feeling like an overstuffed closet, where you have trouble finding items inside and have no room for anything new.

But it's not simply a problem of newer models having more storage. As drives get larger and faster, storage needs grow in parallel because of what's now made possible. Today's developers enjoy the freedom of writing bigger apps, while users are working with larger files—4K video takes far more drive space than the same clip in 720p resolution. And new software tends to be a storage hog. That's fine if you have 1TB of headroom, but if you're limited to the 256GB drive that came standard on your 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro, you'll feel the pinch pretty quickly.

The Latest Apple Silicon Desktops

Finally, older drives not only have less room to store your stuff, but they also fill up with accumulated updates, program files, and the digital detritus that comes with operating a computer year after year. Sure, there are ways to free up space on your Mac, but doing so won't make your old drive any larger or faster.

Things Fall Apart: Hardware Failure

The final nail in most older Macs' coffins is hardware reaching the end of its life. While you might be able to keep an older MacBook Pro or MacBook Air chugging along for years, you should be aware of several potential points of failure that can end that streak.

Reliability engineers graph component failures over the life of a product, creating what's called a bathtub curve. Product defects are most likely to show up in the first weeks and months of using a product, accounting for high failure rates at the start of the product's life cycle. Then things settle down for a while, usually giving you years of trouble-free service. But then comes the other end of the graph—the curve ramps back up, with hardware failures ending the life of even the most reliable laptop or desktop.

This 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2017 is getting to the outer limits for most demanding users.
(Credit: PCMag)

If you haven't faced it yet, it's not a matter of if your Mac will break down but a question of when. Basic components like batteries and screens can be replaced piecemeal, but eventually something will burn out or crack or just plain quit, then prove much harder to replace. Aside from the general, inescapable march of time, certain Macs have a few specific issues that you'll need to watch out for.

The Infamous Butterfly Keyboard

Sadly, we're not referring to the famous expanding “butterfly” keyboard of 1995's IBM ThinkPad 701C. Remember the 2015 Apple MacBook? Not a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, it was just called MacBook—a 12-inch ultraportable that debuted a keyboard made to be extra slim to match the rest of the design, Unfortunately, the keyboard's new butterfly switch design proved to be a real dud. Even worse, it eventually made its way to the MacBook Air and Pro models, which was a real shame.

The shallow keyboard was simply not up to the Apple standard: It was not especially comfortable to type on, and it was plagued with failures if dust or dirt would get under the keys. (They tended to stick down instead of popping back up.) Faced with irate customers and a class-action lawsuit, Apple ditched the butterfly design and and even offered free repairs. If you're using any model of MacBook from the 2015 to 2018 era, you're likely typing on borrowed time. At the very least, keep that keyboard clean.

Suspect SSDs and Fusion Failures

Crank out a few million laptops, and you're bound to occasionally have some hitches. In Apple's case, solid-state drives have at times been an Achilles' heel.

Some of the 64GB and 128GB drives used in 2012 and 2013 MacBook Air laptops were faulty, prompting the company to offer free replacements. Between 2017 and 2018, the 13-inch MacBook Pro had another issue-prone batch of drives. That said, you've likely run into this particular wall by now if you have one of these aged models.

Beyond that, between 2012 and 2019 some Intel iMacs and Mac minis used a hybrid storage system that Apple called Fusion Drive. It combined a speedy SSD with a cheaper but more capacious platter-based hard drive. At the time, it was a clever solution to price and performance disparities between the two storage technologies. Today, it means you have a drive that's twice as likely to conk out on you at any time.

Fusion Drives combined the drives using a RAID alternative called CoreStorage, which actually shuttled programs and files back and forth between the hard drive and SSD to optimize performance. The problem is, that pretty much means that if one drive falters, it takes the other with it.

Delaminated and Cracking Displays

The 2012 MacBook Pro elicited oohs and ahs for its dazzling Retina Display. But for the next five years, MacBooks' high-resolution panels were, at times, plagued by anti-glare coatings that could ruin screens well before their time was up. Even mild bumps or jolts could cause the anti-glare coatings to delaminate, separating into layers in a way that pretty much spoiled the screen. Even newer M1-based MacBooks have run into screen issues, with M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models suffering from unexplained cracks in the display panels. If you're looking at an older, out-of-warranty Intel MacBook with this problem, you're likely best off looking at a new model, full stop.

Those older MacBook Pros still look downright handsome.
(Credit: PCMag)

Touchy Touch Bars

If you have a 2016 or later MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar above the keyboard (yeah, Apple still uses the Touch Bar), you might run into problems caused by an internal cable. The Touch Bar of an older Mac is another problem just waiting to happen.

Love Your Old Mac, But Don't Wait Too Long to Upgrade

The overarching message should be clear: Your old Intel Mac isn't going to last forever. We've listed plenty of reasons to upgrade to one of Apple's newer models, whether it's the comfort of manufacturer-approved repairs, the usefulness of new features, the security of frequent updates, or just the reliability of the hardware that makes it all work. Our roundup of the best Apple MacBooks on the market at the moment is a good place to get a reality check and price out what the new Apple Silicon models look like if you're on the cusp of upgrading.

Also bear in mind, if you're rocking a 10-year-old MacBook, upgrading to a late-model but not cutting-edge Mac is another option. The M1 MacBook Air, introduced in late 2020, has been a fast favorite of ours, even after the M2 2022 model came on the scene. Apple still sells both(Opens in a new window) new, with the M1 model starting at a lower $999. That cheaper Air could still be a massive upgrade from an older MacBook. The same applies to the Mac mini in its 2020 M1 versus 2023 M2 guise, if you can find one of the M1 models new. (We've seen them out there.)

If you love your Intel Mac too much to part with it, at least be sure you're regularly backing up your files, as well as keeping your system clean and steering clear of bad habits that might shorten the life of your machine. And remember that when you do upgrade to something new, you don't have to throw out your beloved Mac—you can save it as a vintage piece of tech or find a creative way to reuse it.