Before you jump to buy a cheaper older Mac, you may want to reconsider and examine the facts.
Apple’s Mac lineup has always provided customers and businesses great value when it comes to quality devices and a great operating system that ties into a unique and digitally fulfilling ecosystem. Unfortunately, the prices of new devices have not been too affordable as new MacBooks have always been well north of $1000.
With the proposition of purchasing reused devices on the aftermarket for half or even less than half of the price of new Macs, potential users definitely can become extremely tempted by such deals.
The problem is that some of the criticism levied at Apple is actually true- particularly that Apple engages in planned obsolescence. Apple is not too secretive of this, however, and they actually have a site that transparently displays the statuses of Macs and other products that are in danger of losing both hardware and software support after their warranties expire.
As with many PC manufacturers, Macs also lose support typically at around 7 years (sometimes less). Historically, Apple has been worse than Microsoft when it comes to older device support as it’s not uncommon for PC laptops older than 10 years old being capable of running the latest version of Windows 10 whereas this never happens with Apple’s Macintosh lineup. To be fair, Microsoft is now engaging in similar behavior as Apple with Windows 11 by making an artificial requirement of PCs having the 8th generation Intel processors or higher to run the new operating system.
In years past, most Mac Admins and knowledgeable users have known that Apple usually supported N-2 versions of macOS (or Mac OS X in the past) at any given time. This is no longer the case as Apple has come out after the release of macOS Ventura explicitly stating that only the newest versions of macOS are fully supported by Apple in their Software Updates section of their platform deployment guide. Their note a few paragraphs down is what lays this fact out:
Note: Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of macOS (for example, macOS 13), not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 12).
About software updates for Apple devices
Even before this development, it was discovered that Apple didn’t even fully adhere to the n-2 rule anyway as the older 2 operating systems at any given time were not given comprehensive security updates in a timely manner. One can also see this for themselves by heading over to Apple’s Security Updates page to look at any particular release of macOS and compare them to the corresponding patches distributed to lower versions of macOS.
What do users do if they need a Mac but cannot afford paying $2K upfront? There are a few options to save:
One, is to finance with Apple Card, or even PayPal credit with most third party resellers. Best Buy also offers generous financing terms especially around the holiday season for customers with Best Buy credit cards and can choose options as high as 36 months! This allows customers to avoid paying the steep price tag prices all at once.
The second option is to wait for good sales on Macs. It’s not uncommon to find retailers like Best Buy taking $200 off every now and then on their Mac offerings. And, during the holiday season, those discounts become even more generous especially on year old models. This can also be combined with the first option to finance the Mac which will make it quite easier on customer’s wallets.
The third option is to go ahead and buy some refurbished devices that are on sale. However, if one were to go with this option, they should play it smart. By taking this route, Apple’s Apple Care+ warranties will be almost guaranteed not to be applicable anymore which will preclude you from having any hardware repairs for reasonable costs. Also, just as important; if you want the device to continue receiving security updates for a reasonable amount of time, you should choose the Mac model carefully. While there are many details users can look for, the best option is to look at Apple’s macOS website and scroll to the bottom where it will typically list the compatible Macs that can officially support the newest macOS.
If you want to have a Mac that will last you more than two years with comprehensive security updates, it would best to not get the bottom requirement (i.e. any of the 2017 Mac models).
We are in an interesting time in Apple’s Mac development, however. No one knows for sure when Apple will drop support for the Intel Macs. At the time of this writing, only the Mac Pro (and possibly a replacement for the higher end iMac and the late iMac Pro) have not transitioned to Apple Silicon. The latter is not guaranteed since Apple removed the traditional 27″ iMac from their site for a while whereas the latest Intel Mac Pro is still being readily offered on Apple’s Mac website. Unless you require an Intel Mac for specific use cases (such as virtualization, software that has not been optimized for Apple Silicon and runs poorly on Rosetta 2, and/or dual booting to Windows), one would be much better off going for an M1 Mac for savings that will last them for 5+ years.
Buyers, please be aware of the facts. Don’t succumb to the ravings of Apple fanboys and girls who engage in questionable security practices and/or religiously adhere to the baseless claims of Macs not being able to get malware. Apple’s clever and heavy marketing of the 2000s still seem to resonate with many fans, but many of those points are simply not true anymore (if they ever were to begin with). Apple’s wild success has also caused the Mac platform to become much more susceptible to the very problems Windows PCs have been plagued with for decades (that Apple themselves poked fun at for years too). Buggy operating system releases, malware infections, and exploitability are all a reality of macOS now and have been for quite some time. Apple is a business that seeks profit, and to use their platforms, you as the customer needs to pay-up if you want the best and safest experience possible. Don’t blindly buy old hardware to get the Apple experience- you will pay for it one way or another.