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> When has Apple ever put out a macOS update that didn't support 4-year-old hardware? Every single time Apple has changed the hardware architecture of their ma

> When has Apple ever put out a macOS update that didn't support 4-year-old hardware? Every single time Apple has changed the hardware architecture of their machines. The last generation of PowerPC macs was only supported for two years. The first generation of Intel macs was only supported for 3 years. The second generation of Intel macs was supported for >8 years.

crazygringo 5y ago
The first Intel iMac was released in early 2006 and supported until Lion was released in mid 2011. That's five and a half years. Not three. And the last PowerPC iMac was late 2005, and supported until Snow Leopard in late 2009. That's four years, not two. So I guess that is the one case of not supporting four year old hardware (barely), but that's not analogous to the M1 since it dropped support for the old architecture, not an older model of the new architecture.
- volta83 5y ago
  That's unfortunately incorrect. The first generation Intel Macs used Intel Yonah cores "Core Duo". Those were the ones released in january 2006. These models were discontinued in September 2006, and replaced by Intel Penryn cores "Core 2 Duo". The main difference being that Intel Yonah cores only support SSE3, while the Penryn cores support SSSE3 and up to SSE4.1 (there is some variation here). Lion required "Core 2 Duo" hardware, Leopard is the actual last OS that supported the early "Core Duo" macs, and received its last update in 2009. Back then, this was kind of frustrating, because Leopard was released in 2007, so basically those with the very first Intel-based macs only got 1 major OS upgrade. That is, the first generation Intel-based macs reached EOL at the same time as the last generation of PowerPC macs. I guess the technically-correct thing to say is that the very first generation of Intel macs only got 3 years of support. This is in strong contrast with the Core 2 Duo macs released 6 months later, which got much longer support (some up to Mountain Lion... which had its last update in 2015, 9 years later). --- For this reason, I'm not buying M1 macs. Makes more sense to wait 1 year or so if you can stretch it and get M2s or M3s, chances are any of those will last you a decade. I completely agree with you that Apple will kill Intel support ASAP. IIRC they guarantee ~2 year of support or so, so probably 2 years after they discontinue their last Intel model all support for Intel will be gone. Makes absolutely no sense to buy an Intel mac right now unless you get them for peanuts and only want it for the next 2 years or so.
  - crazygringo 5y ago
    Everything I see indicates that the earliest Intel iMac supported Snow Leopard. So it was supported until Lion dropped support -- five and a half years later. I still don't understand where you're getting three years from.
    - volta83 5y ago
      I had one of those early Macs. If you check the official Lion support page from Apple, you will see that it requires an Intel "Core 2 Duo", that's the model that came after the Intel "Core Duo" (without a 2 in between) that shipped with the early Intel macs. Snow Leopard (the version before Lion) does support the "Core Duo" processors, but they can only run 32-bit apps there, because the very first Intel Macs from Jan 2006 used 32-bit Intel CPUs. The ones that replaced them in September 2006 had x86_64 CPUs. Apple killed support for PowerPC and 32-bit x86 at the same time with Lion.
      - crazygringo 5y ago
        Yes, that's what I'm saying. Lion didn't support it, but everything up to Lion did. Lion is when support stopped. 32- vs 64-bit support is an app support issue, not OS support.
        volta83 5y ago
        That's all correct. Snow Leopard released in 2007 is the latest OS version to support these CPUs. Lion released in 2009 didn't support them. For me that was a killer back then and I had to upgrade.

crazygringo 5y ago

The first Intel iMac was released in early 2006 and supported until Lion was released in mid 2011. That's five and a half years. Not three. And the last PowerPC iMac was late 2005, and supported until Snow Leopard in late 2009. That's four years, not two. So I guess that is the one case of not supporting four year old hardware (barely), but that's not analogous to the M1 since it dropped support for the old architecture, not an older model of the new architecture.

volta83 5y ago
That's unfortunately incorrect. The first generation Intel Macs used Intel Yonah cores "Core Duo". Those were the ones released in january 2006. These models were discontinued in September 2006, and replaced by Intel Penryn cores "Core 2 Duo". The main difference being that Intel Yonah cores only support SSE3, while the Penryn cores support SSSE3 and up to SSE4.1 (there is some variation here). Lion required "Core 2 Duo" hardware, Leopard is the actual last OS that supported the early "Core Duo" macs, and received its last update in 2009. Back then, this was kind of frustrating, because Leopard was released in 2007, so basically those with the very first Intel-based macs only got 1 major OS upgrade. That is, the first generation Intel-based macs reached EOL at the same time as the last generation of PowerPC macs. I guess the technically-correct thing to say is that the very first generation of Intel macs only got 3 years of support. This is in strong contrast with the Core 2 Duo macs released 6 months later, which got much longer support (some up to Mountain Lion... which had its last update in 2015, 9 years later). --- For this reason, I'm not buying M1 macs. Makes more sense to wait 1 year or so if you can stretch it and get M2s or M3s, chances are any of those will last you a decade. I completely agree with you that Apple will kill Intel support ASAP. IIRC they guarantee ~2 year of support or so, so probably 2 years after they discontinue their last Intel model all support for Intel will be gone. Makes absolutely no sense to buy an Intel mac right now unless you get them for peanuts and only want it for the next 2 years or so.
- crazygringo 5y ago
  Everything I see indicates that the earliest Intel iMac supported Snow Leopard. So it was supported until Lion dropped support -- five and a half years later. I still don't understand where you're getting three years from.
  - volta83 5y ago
    I had one of those early Macs. If you check the official Lion support page from Apple, you will see that it requires an Intel "Core 2 Duo", that's the model that came after the Intel "Core Duo" (without a 2 in between) that shipped with the early Intel macs. Snow Leopard (the version before Lion) does support the "Core Duo" processors, but they can only run 32-bit apps there, because the very first Intel Macs from Jan 2006 used 32-bit Intel CPUs. The ones that replaced them in September 2006 had x86_64 CPUs. Apple killed support for PowerPC and 32-bit x86 at the same time with Lion.
    - crazygringo 5y ago
      Yes, that's what I'm saying. Lion didn't support it, but everything up to Lion did. Lion is when support stopped. 32- vs 64-bit support is an app support issue, not OS support.
      - volta83 5y ago
        That's all correct. Snow Leopard released in 2007 is the latest OS version to support these CPUs. Lion released in 2009 didn't support them. For me that was a killer back then and I had to upgrade.