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I have 2 perfectly working iPads except that they stopped getting OS updates, so are now basically electronic trash. I find myself becoming reluctant to support
by bxparks 4y ago
I have 2 perfectly working iPads except that they stopped getting OS updates, so are now basically electronic trash. I find myself becoming reluctant to support an ecosystem that generates such waste. I stopped purchasing MacBooks when they started gluing the battery.
- givinguflac 4y agoVery interested to know what your solution is for a longer-supported good tablet, as I’m unaware of one.
- gambiting 4y agoThere isn't one. iPads are the longest supported tablets out there. So I guess they are saying that they are so upset about this that they will stop using tablets altogether, which I suppose is a valid, if weird choice.
- smoldesu 4y agoIf you want to be pedantic, the Microsoft Surface will have Linux Kernel support long after the iPad has become a derelict memory in the minds of Generation Z.
- gambiting 4y agoBut that's not official support. That's like saying that my 10 year old Nexus 7 can still be flashed with latest versions of custom ROMs so it's the longest supported tablet out there.
- smoldesu 4y agoHey, works for me. I flash a lot of my devices with custom ROMs after EOL, and they work great.
- ta8903 4y agoIt's a computational device, it's normal to be able to install whatever OS you want on it. Apple is the outlier here.
- gambiting 4y agoI'm not disagreeing with that. I'm just pointing out that when it comes to official support, Apple provides the longest out of all manufacturers.
- jamesgeck0 4y agoMine can't. The first generation entry-level Nexus 7 used a cheap storage chip that wore out within two or three years; it's completely unusable.
- Wowfunhappy 4y agoI was actually thinking that would probably apply to Windows support as well!
- coder543 4y agonot fully: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/which-surface-devices-can-be-upgraded-to-windows-11-76c3c125-82e0-4d1e-9550-12ed09f9058e https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/which-surface-de...
- Wowfunhappy 4y agoWindows 10 will be supported until 2025 though. (And to be honest, I'll be surprised if Microsoft doesn't extend that given Windows 11's system requirements.)
- pxeboot 4y agoThe original Surface Pro is still getting updates.
- coder543 4y agoI think you forgot to put an asterisk there. Microsoft doesn't fully support such old devices anymore: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/which-surface-devices-can-be-upgraded-to-windows-11-76c3c125-82e0-4d1e-9550-12ed09f9058e https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/which-surface-de... It might still be getting some updates, for now, but it can't be updated to the latest version of Windows. I guess you could install Linux on it.
- brewdad 4y agoLast I checked (admittedly about a year ago) there was very poor Linux support for Surface tablets. Basic things like the camera and wifi, on some devices, simply don't work in Linux. My Surface Go can't upgrade to Windows 11 but is still getting Windows 10 updates. By the tine those stop, it will pretty much be trash. As it stands today, using it is painfully slow and it's portability is really about the only thing going for it. 4GB of RAM and a grossly underclocked CPU will do that.
- pjerem 4y agoWell, standardizing or documenting the hardware ? Making the boot loader unlockable ? In other worlds, doing what PCs managed to do during more than three decades ? I don’t care that Apple stops to support my iPad after X years. We can’t blame them for stopping to support old enough hardware. But we can blame them for making this hardware locked in such a way that you cannot run what you want on a device you fully own and that they unilaterally decided isn’t worth using anymore.
- scarface74 4y agoYou’re using a PC from 1992?
- layer8 4y agoSome people do.
- scarface74 4y agoI seriously doubt it.
- crazygringo 4y agoWith a 486 processor? I don't think so. The only way they're using it is the same way they're using a Commodore 64, as an antique.
- layer8 4y agoYes, they use it for retro gaming, and people write new software like web browsers for the C64. It would be nice to be able to repurpose old tablets in a similar fashion.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ihatepython 4y ago
- bpye 4y agoIt’s still glued but they are at least using stretch release adhesive now - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+14-Inch+2021+Battery+Replacement/150895 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+14-Inch+2021+Batter...
- wodenokoto 4y agoI have a 2011 iPad that I still bring with me to the gym to watch tv episodes on on the treadmill.
- bonzini 4y agoIt doesn't get OS updates though, does it? Awesome tablet if it wasn't for that, battery like new on mine after 10 years.
- scarface74 4y agoYou can still use it for Netflix and a few other video apps and you can download the “last compatible version”
- crazygringo 4y agoYeah a lot of the video apps really seem to go out of their way to support old iOS versions in a way that other apps don't. Presumably precisely because a lot of people keep using 10-year-old iPads as a dedicated video player.
- scarface74 4y agoIt was 2019 the last time I tried. But I remember Netflix, Plex, Hulu and Crackle were all able to be installed from a reset iPad 1st gen. I could also download Apple’s iWork suite and download purchased iTunes music and movies and play them.
- wodenokoto 4y agoIt’s true that the use cases for that tablet has shrunk as it has stopped receiving updates and access to the newest apps. And while the interface has become quite sluggish once you open a book or play a video it runs great and the screen is still absolutely amazing. I don’t think a decade old iPad is necessarily trash, but I will concede that a decade old Linux desktop loses fewer of its use cases.
- kolinko 4y agoWhat did you switch into? Apple has a record time of support for their devices. As for the battery glued in - again, what did you switch into, and how did it go? Aside from a few mishaps, Apple has the most long lasting laptops on the market.
- georgeecollins 4y agoMy Windows laptops still get OS and software upgrades even when they are ten years old. Why does a laptop or a tablet have to be obsolete?
- bxparks 4y agoI agree that the iPads are the best of the breed out there, and Apple does support their hardware longer than most. But once the support stops, the hardware is locked and there's no alternative. So to answer some of the other questions that my post generated, I basically stopped using tablets. The kitchen tablet was replaced with a cheap Chromebook. My travel tablet was replaced with a MacBook Air 11 2015 that I got on eBay, and installed Linux Mint on it. I believe the 2015 MacBook Air model is one of the last MacBooks with a replaceable battery, and it is still one of the best 11" laptops ever made. My other laptops are a bunch of Dell Latitude 7000 series and Dell Precision series laptops, running Ubuntu MATE or Linux Mint. All of those have replaceable battery, upgradable RAM slots, and replaceable SSD or NVMe slots. I cannot bring myself to buy a laptop with a glued-in battery.
- mrtksn 4y agoWhat do you mean the hardware is locked once Apple cuts support? Did the iPad stop working? Are you referring to Apple services no longer working?
- scarface74 4y agoThe last time I checked a couple of years ago. All Apple services still worked on an old first gen iPad from 2010.
- 4y ago
- r0fl 4y agoI have a bunch of iPads in the house including the 4th generation one from 2012 that is still get used randomly to watch content. It' 10 years old and still works without any issues. It's the oldest piece of tech that I have in the house. You can always recycle them with Apple if you are worried about the waste footprint.
- efdee 4y agoStrange. I have that exact iPad and it's pretty much useless now. All apps my kids want to run on it want an upgrade to a version of iOS that is not available for that model.
- scarface74 4y agoIt still works with most streaming apps that were available then and it can still be used for the web.
- hbn 4y agoI have an iPad mini 2 (released 2013) that I still use every night for watching YouTube videos in bed. It also got a security update like a week or 2 ago. It doesn't perform great, but it gets the job done for watching videos.
- bilsbie 4y agoThis happened with my six year old MacBook. I’m so mad. It works great and still has plenty of power but I can’t seem to upgrade the OS. And one by one the apps I use stop supporting my OS. Really feels like such a waste and makes me wonder if I really own it at all.
- crazygringo 4y agoWhich MacBook? According to Wikipedia, macOS Monterey has support for everything that dates back to 2016. The only exception I see would be if you bought the 2015 model of MacBook in 2016? In any case, it still runs Big Sur. What apps don't run on Big Sur...? Desktop software often (usually?) supports a few years' worth of previous macOS versions. If you're just running into an installation bug for Big Sur, you can always just install it clean rather than upgrading. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Monterey#Supported_hardware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Monterey#Supported_hardw...
- bilsbie 4y agoI’ll have to check but when I went to updates it didn’t offer any upgrade options. Maybe there’s still a way to do it?
- scarface74 4y agoHow is “trash”? Apple is still providing security updates for devices back to 2013 and even without iOS updates, you can still use third party apps that either support your OS or you can download the “last compatible version” as of a couple of years ago, I was able to redownload Netflix and a few other apps on my original 2010 iPad.
- graeme 4y agoWhich ipads are you referring to? I have an ipad air 2 from 2014. It just got 15.7, most recent update. That is eight years of top line support. It won’t get ios 16, but apple has started supporting older devices with security updates. Ios 12.5.6 supports devices from 2013 that can’t use ios 15. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201222 https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201222 Apple makes some of the longest supported hardware in the business, and they’ve been lengthening their support. Their incentive is to get more services revenue so they want the largest userbase possible. I expect new devices will have at least ten years support.
- greggman3 4y ago8yrs is better than 4yrs but worse than 12, 20, 30yrs. I get that in some ways tech is different (my rice cookers still going, 60yrs) but in other ways it's not. My 2014 MBP really has zero reason to become obsolete (they stopped supporting it a year ago). It still functions just fine. It's still plenty fast. There are no features of the 2021 MBP missing from them 2014 MBP except at most USB-C ports.
- r00fus 4y agoIf you want your MBP from 2014 to run the latest OS release, check out: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.ht... Honestly hoping for 12/20/30+ years of patches sounds super nice but unreasonable. My MacPlus from 1986 works fine, but I don't expect Apple to provide MacOS7 patches.
- asdff 4y agoWhy not? Automakers recall cars and 'patch' them years later.
- MockObject 4y agoTheir OS7 team would be larger than the number of OS7 users. It would be cheaper for Apple to send free Macs to all the users than support the code anymore.
- hdjjhhvvhga 4y agoFor that reason for every ios/ipados device I buy, I automatically download all purchased apps and then delete the ones I don't use. Apple keeps the older version most of the time without charging me for storage. I think this is what I pay for when I give them 30% for every app I buy.
- asdff 4y agoIts very frustrating that I have a stack of iPhones that I can't do much with even if they are still perfectly good hardware. They are either updated to some version where I can't jailbreak it and turn it into the worlds best raspberry pi, or I've forgotten my old passcode and its basically bricked as a result. If only I could run them as a small arm cluster or something useful like that.
- scarface74 4y agoWhich iPhones would that be? The 5s is still getting security updates and carriers are cutting off 3G compatibility which means nothing older than the 5 will work today anyway.
- asdff 4y agoI don't need 3g for my would be iphone cluster, wifi is sufficient. These would be a 5, a 5s, and the first SE, all in a nice stack because they share the same chassis. I would basically use this cluster of hardware how people currently use home servers, not as a phone anymore. It should be plenty of power to run plex, backup other devices, self host a website, among other things, since these are overpowered arm devices after all. I'm not sure how many cores it would be with this stack off the top of my head, but it would be a nice amount to play with for sure.
- layer8 4y ago> I've forgotten my old passcode and its basically bricked as a result. You can use recovery mode to reset them: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212787 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212787 Or if that doesn’t work, you can factory-reset them using DFU Restore (google for it). If you don’t have a Mac but a PC, you can use iMazing.
- NoPicklez 4y agoI'm still using my Macbook Pro from 2014 without issue and its on the latest OS. I don't feel the need to buy an iPad.