3 ms·

I don't regret switching to mac 2 years ago.

bell-cot 2y ago
How long does Apple keep updating MacOS's for older hardware? That I'm aware, there are iPhone models that were discontinued <5 years ago, but get "security updates only" for iOS. And models disco'ed <7 years ago which no longer get even that. (Vs. Windows 10 is just under 10 years old now - and I don't know what's the newest Windows 10 system that can't update to Window 11.)
- p_ing 2y ago
  2017 for macOS 15 (2018 for mainstream Macs): https://support.apple.com/en-us/120282 https://support.apple.com/en-us/120282 A few years shorter than the Win 10 lifecycle. Much shorter than the XP lifecycle, though that was unusual.
  - trinix912 2y ago
    I'd bet my money that if we took a Windows 10 and a macOS High Sierra laptop, the Windows one would run supported versions of apps much longer than the macOS one, even if one upgraded to the latest supported macOS on that machine while staying on Windows 10 as the time went on. MacOS apps target the latest few versions and given macOS' rapid release cycle (in comparison to Windows, at least), you can easily find yourself with a machine <10 years old that can't run the latest versions of apps you're using.
    - leviathant 2y ago
      Without a doubt, Microsoft wins on backward compatibility. I was running a circa-2006 Firewire audio device on Windows 10 in 2021 using drivers that had not been updated since 2012. I had a Dell Laptop that, when I bought it in 2006, had Windows XP on it. I was able to upgrade it all the way to Windows 10, at no charge. (The beta versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 both just kind of rolled over into full fledged versions of the OS. Now, even by the time I had Win8 on that machine, it was just for fun. I mostly kept it around because the screen resolution was unusually high for 2006, and for a period afterward, laptop screen resolutions were almost all lower than WXGA+ even on higher end machines. But you could run Windows 10 and modern browsers on a machine built for the WinXP era. Also, I think I paid $700 for that machine, from the Dell Outlet. That's a lot of mileage for the price paid. So when Windows 10 told me that my 12-year-old Ship of Theseus Dell XPS desktop was unable to take an upgrade to Windows 11, I took a long hard look, and sprung for an M1 Macbook w/ 64gb of RAM. They had a pretty killer deal on these at B&H, and it's the first time I've ever felt like I've had a true "desktop replacement" laptop. I still think Explorer is better than Finder (and I'm not going to argue with anyone about why so don't bother asking), there are things I will miss about having an ATX case, but Apple's abdication on proprietary ports is ultimately what pushed me over the edge. Everything is USB-C. Great! I had gotten a lot of mileage out of Firewire hardware, but I saw this as a pivotal moment to use some of that money I'd saved over the last decade and a half to completely modernize my setup. If Windows 11 hadn't forced me to consider new core hardware (and if Apple silicon hadn't leapfrogged everything else on the market - using a laptop all day without charging? Phenomenal.) I'd still be using Windows. I've been using MS operating systems since DOS 3.1, I just have to assume I'm no longer their target market.
      - thewebguyd 2y ago
        I've also been a long time user of Microsoft's OSes, and despite many others here on HN, I actually liked windows almost the whole time I was a user. I switched when Apple Silicon came out as well, but had a few flirtations with macOS prior to that with Intel macs. Finder is dog shit compared to almost any other file manager on both Windows and Linux. So much so that I just use the terminal now for almost all file tasks. I don't love macOS, but I hate what Windows has become more, and these laptops are hard to beat, almost perfect combination of performance & battery life. I suppose if Apple ever fully iOS-isfys macOS I'll just end up on Linux full-time, and I keep Mint on a spare laptop to toy with, I don't mind it, but I have no need to fully switch yet.
- ValentineC 2y ago
  The annoying thing about macOS for legacy users is that they're regularly shut out of new Swift-based apps as developers either use newer Swift features, or just don't have enough resources or patience to keep around older Xcode versions. I'm still on macOS Ventura (13.x), and am already seeing numerous apps with a minimum version of 14.x or 15.x.

How long does Apple keep updating MacOS's for older hardware? That I'm aware, there are iPhone models that were discontinued <5 years ago, but get "security updates only" for iOS. And models disco'ed <7 years ago which no longer get even that. (Vs. Windows 10 is just under 10 years old now - and I don't know what's the newest Windows 10 system that can't update to Window 11.)

p_ing 2y ago
2017 for macOS 15 (2018 for mainstream Macs): https://support.apple.com/en-us/120282 https://support.apple.com/en-us/120282 A few years shorter than the Win 10 lifecycle. Much shorter than the XP lifecycle, though that was unusual.
- trinix912 2y ago
  I'd bet my money that if we took a Windows 10 and a macOS High Sierra laptop, the Windows one would run supported versions of apps much longer than the macOS one, even if one upgraded to the latest supported macOS on that machine while staying on Windows 10 as the time went on. MacOS apps target the latest few versions and given macOS' rapid release cycle (in comparison to Windows, at least), you can easily find yourself with a machine <10 years old that can't run the latest versions of apps you're using.
  - leviathant 2y ago
    Without a doubt, Microsoft wins on backward compatibility. I was running a circa-2006 Firewire audio device on Windows 10 in 2021 using drivers that had not been updated since 2012. I had a Dell Laptop that, when I bought it in 2006, had Windows XP on it. I was able to upgrade it all the way to Windows 10, at no charge. (The beta versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 both just kind of rolled over into full fledged versions of the OS. Now, even by the time I had Win8 on that machine, it was just for fun. I mostly kept it around because the screen resolution was unusually high for 2006, and for a period afterward, laptop screen resolutions were almost all lower than WXGA+ even on higher end machines. But you could run Windows 10 and modern browsers on a machine built for the WinXP era. Also, I think I paid $700 for that machine, from the Dell Outlet. That's a lot of mileage for the price paid. So when Windows 10 told me that my 12-year-old Ship of Theseus Dell XPS desktop was unable to take an upgrade to Windows 11, I took a long hard look, and sprung for an M1 Macbook w/ 64gb of RAM. They had a pretty killer deal on these at B&H, and it's the first time I've ever felt like I've had a true "desktop replacement" laptop. I still think Explorer is better than Finder (and I'm not going to argue with anyone about why so don't bother asking), there are things I will miss about having an ATX case, but Apple's abdication on proprietary ports is ultimately what pushed me over the edge. Everything is USB-C. Great! I had gotten a lot of mileage out of Firewire hardware, but I saw this as a pivotal moment to use some of that money I'd saved over the last decade and a half to completely modernize my setup. If Windows 11 hadn't forced me to consider new core hardware (and if Apple silicon hadn't leapfrogged everything else on the market - using a laptop all day without charging? Phenomenal.) I'd still be using Windows. I've been using MS operating systems since DOS 3.1, I just have to assume I'm no longer their target market.
    - thewebguyd 2y ago
      I've also been a long time user of Microsoft's OSes, and despite many others here on HN, I actually liked windows almost the whole time I was a user. I switched when Apple Silicon came out as well, but had a few flirtations with macOS prior to that with Intel macs. Finder is dog shit compared to almost any other file manager on both Windows and Linux. So much so that I just use the terminal now for almost all file tasks. I don't love macOS, but I hate what Windows has become more, and these laptops are hard to beat, almost perfect combination of performance & battery life. I suppose if Apple ever fully iOS-isfys macOS I'll just end up on Linux full-time, and I keep Mint on a spare laptop to toy with, I don't mind it, but I have no need to fully switch yet.
ValentineC 2y ago
The annoying thing about macOS for legacy users is that they're regularly shut out of new Swift-based apps as developers either use newer Swift features, or just don't have enough resources or patience to keep around older Xcode versions. I'm still on macOS Ventura (13.x), and am already seeing numerous apps with a minimum version of 14.x or 15.x.