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Apple Updates Mac mini and Mac Studio with New M6 and M5 Ultra Chips

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Charge Your MacBook with the Right Power Adapter

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If you lose or break the power adapter that came with your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, make sure to replace it with a charger that meets or exceeds the machine’s required wattage. A charger with too low a wattage may result in little or no charging (or even battery drain while working), and it certainly won’t enable fast charging. You can check the adapter’s wattage by reading the fine print on the charger itself, or by opening the System Information app (in the Applications/Utilities folder) and checking the AC Charger section in the Power screen. It’s safe to use an adapter with a higher wattage than required, but we don’t recommend going below the wattages of Apple’s included adapters:

  • 13-inch MacBook Air: 30 or 35 watts standard, 67 watts for fast charging
  • 15-inch MacBook Air: 35 watts standard, 70 watts for fast charging
  • 14-inch MacBook Pro: 67 or 70 watts standard, or 96 watts for the Pro and Max chips, 96 watts for fast charging
  • 16-inch MacBook Pro: 140 watts for both standard and fast charging

(Featured image by iStock.com/Isaac Lee)

Social Media: Lost your MacBook charger? Don’t grab just any USB power adapter—using one that’s too weak can result in no charging, glacial charging, or battery drain while you work. Here’s the minimum wattage you need for each MacBook model.

Apple Speed Bumps iPad with A16 and iPad Air with M3

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Apple has updated the iPad and iPad Air and introduced a new keyboard for the iPad Air.

The primary change to the 11th-generation iPad ($349) is the move from the previous model’s A14 Bionic chip to the A16, which is nearly 30% faster but still won’t support Apple Intelligence or some recent games. Apple also increased the base storage from 64 GB to 128 GB, dropped the Nano-SIM slot from the cellular models, and updated the wireless capabilities to support current protocol versions. Although the screen remains the same 10.9-inch diagonal size, Apple now refers to it as the “11-inch iPad.” It remains an excellent and affordable entry-level device.

The 7th generation of Apple’s flagship 11-inch ($599) and 13-inch ($799) iPad Air sees only a single change—swapping the previous model’s M2 chip for the M3 to increase performance, particularly for gaming and video creation. Separately, Apple introduced a less expensive Magic Keyboard for iPad Air that adds a 14-key function row and sports a larger trackpad, though it lacks the previous model’s backlit keys and trackpad haptics. The keyboard costs $269 for the 11-inch iPad Air or $319 for the 13-inch model.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple’s latest iPad and iPad Air updates make them faster and more appealing without increasing prices. If you’re in the market for an iPad, the iPad remains a steal and the iPad Air offers all the performance most people will ever need.

Apple Updates Mac Studio with M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips

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In the first update to the Mac Studio since 2023, Apple has refreshed its professional powerhouse with new chip options and support for speedy Thunderbolt 5 peripherals. Previously, the Mac Studio was powered by the M2 Max and M2 Ultra; Apple has now replaced them with the M4 Max, which debuted last year in the MacBook Pro line, and the new M3 Ultra, which melds two M3 Max chips for the ultimate performance. According to Apple, the M3 Ultra version of the Mac Studio ($3,999) is up to 2.6 times faster than the initial M1 Ultra version and nearly twice as fast as the M4 Max configuration ($1,999) for workloads that take advantage of high CPU and GPU core counts. The M3 Ultra Mac Studio starts with 96 GB of unified memory and can be configured with up to 512 GB, plus up to 16 TB of storage, both more than ever before. If you need the fastest Mac possible, look no further.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple has updated the Mac Studio by swapping the M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips for the M4 Max and new M3 Ultra. The M3 Ultra version also offers a new memory ceiling of 512 GB and a new storage max of 16 TB. It’s a monster machine.

A Few of Our Favorite Things: Tech Edition

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The holiday season is fast approaching, but we’re asked to recommend tech gear year-round. Here are some recommendations if you’re looking for a geeky gift for that special someone or need to supplement your tech toolkit with new or updated equipment. We don’t have personal experience with all these items, and there are undoubtedly many worthy alternatives—next time we chat, let us know about peripherals you’ve particularly liked. Where possible, we provide links to the manufacturer’s product page and to Amazon, where prices are sometimes lower.

External SSD

All Macs now use solid-state storage internally, and the pricing of external solid-state drives now makes them attractive for both additional storage and silent backups. SSDs also provide the ultimate performance for demanding workflows. The Samsung and Crucial SSDs are good general-purpose drives; look at the OWC Envoy Pro FX for high-performance tasks.

External Hard Disk Drive

For extensive backups and massive archives, you need a large external hard drive. They come in sizes up to 20 TB, and you can pay less than $20 per terabyte, although $20–$30 per terabyte is more common. It’s impossible to recommend specific models without knowing how much storage you need, but check out products from these manufacturers. Because hard drive prices fluctuate wildly, visit diskprices.com to identify current deals on new drives.

  • Seagate: Seagate offers a collection of desktop and portable drives under its own name and the LaCie brand. Apart from some of the larger LaCie drives, most are aimed at consumers.
  • Western Digital: Although some suggest that Western Digital drives are less reliable than Seagate’s, many people like the company’s wide variety of external hard drives.
  • OWC: Other World Computing sells desktop and portable drives with an emphasis on RAID storage and professional uses. OWC also offers enclosures into which you can install bare drives purchased elsewhere, which can save money if you want to upgrade the drive over time.

External Displays

You can find a wide array of displays that work with a Mac, with Apple’s Studio Display leading the pack in both features and price. It’s a 5K display that provides unparalleled sharpness at its standard pixel-doubled resolution of 2560×1440. There’s little direct competition—LG offers the main 5K display that’s cheaper. If that still exceeds your budget, check out the 27-inch 4K displays from Alogic and Asus, which connect via USB-C. Dell and BenQ also make high-quality screens that connect using Thunderbolt. Note that these third-party displays don’t include webcams and generally feature subpar speakers compared to the Apple Studio Display, so building a comparable display would require a separate webcam (or an iPhone using Continuity Camera) and speakers.

Laptop Chargers

Although all MacBooks come with a power adapter, you might want additional chargers that stay plugged in wherever you work or take up less space in your laptop bag. Plus, Apple’s chargers, though high quality, are expensive and large. Consider these alternatives, keeping in mind that fast charging requires higher wattages than standard charging (70W for the M3 MacBook Air, 96W for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 140W for the 16-inch MacBook Pro). Extra ports are often welcome, and the OneAdaptr chargers work in 200 countries.

USB Hubs

There are lots of reasons to want a USB hub, and your needs will push you toward one product or another. We chose three options: the Anker 555 provides many different types of ports, the Anker 10-port hub provides numerous USB Type-A ports, and the Satechi 4-port hub offers USB-C ports.

  • Anker 555 USB-C Hub (8-in-1) (Anker, Amazon)
  • Anker 60W 10-Port USB 3.0 Data Hub (Anker, Amazon)
  • Satechi 4-Port USB-C Hub (Satechi, Amazon)

Thunderbolt Docks

USB hubs are sufficient for many situations, but for more demanding setups, you’ll want a Thunderbolt dock that enables you to connect multiple external displays, hard drives, and Gigabit Ethernet, all while using high-wattage charging. The Sonnet and CalDigit docks boast the most ports in horizontal and vertical form factors, respectively, and the OWC dock trades some ports for portability.

Non-Apple Pointing Devices

Some people dislike trackpads, and others aren’t fond of Apple’s Magic Mouse. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives. Although most Bluetooth mice will work with the Mac, additional software may be necessary to control tracking speed, extra buttons, or scroll wheels. Unusual pointing devices like the Kensington trackball and Contour RollerMouse may be appreciated by those suffering from hand or wrist pain from mousing.

Non-Apple Mac Keyboards

All Macs other than the Mac mini come with a keyboard, of course, but if you’re not a fan of the feel and minimal key travel of Apple’s keyboards, you might consider an alternative. You’ll need to decide if you want a full-size keyboard with a numeric keypad or a compact keyboard that takes up less space on your desk—there are also various sizes in between. Also, keyboards use different switches under their keycaps, so it may require experimentation to find what you like best. It’s worth buying a keyboard aimed at the Mac market to ensure it has or can be configured with the correct keys. The recommendations below should get you started; also check out other products from these manufacturers.

iPad Keyboards

Apple makes some of the best keyboards for the iPad, but they don’t work with all older models. The company makes the Magic Keyboard for the M4 iPad Pro models, the Magic Keyboard that works with the iPad Air and earlier iPad Pro models, and the Magic Keyboard Folio for the 10th-generation iPad. If you want to spend less, leave out the trackpad, or have a different case design, look into the alternatives.

Small Device External Batteries

Although Apple continuously works to improve battery life for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods, there will always be situations—travel, camping, non-stop use—where an external battery is a lifesaver. That’s especially true for older devices whose batteries don’t last as long as they used to.

MagSafe Chargers for the iPhone

Wired charging will always be faster and more efficient than wireless charging, but the convenience of MagSafe charging for the iPhone is compelling. As a bonus, MagSafe chargers can also power wireless charging cases for the AirPods Pro, and some, like the KUXIU X55, feature a puck for recharging the Apple Watch.

Let us leave you with a final piece of advice. For many of these product categories, you’ll find a dizzying array of alternatives at bargain basement prices from no-name Chinese manufacturers. While it’s impossible to make blanket assertions, we recommend sticking with reputable companies that have been serving Apple users for years. Even if their products are somewhat more expensive, they’re less likely to cut corners on manufacturing quality and safety and more likely to provide support in the event of problems.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Gatot Adriansyah)

Social Media: If you’re looking for a geeky gift for the Apple user on your holiday list or need to bolster your tech toolkit with new or updated gear, read our recommendations for a wide variety of peripherals.

Apple Introduces New iPad Air, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, and Magic Keyboard

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After no new iPads throughout 2023, Apple has unveiled new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro models, plus a more capable Apple Pencil Pro and a redesigned Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. The company also refined the iPad lineup by dropping the ninth-generation iPad and reducing the price of the tenth-generation iPad to $349. Only the iPad mini was left untouched. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a new iPad and iPad mini before the end of 2024.

iPad Air Adds 13-inch Model and Moves to the M2 Chip

The 11-inch iPad Air has long been Apple’s mid-range iPad, offering more power and better specs than the iPad while leaving the high end to the iPad Pro. With this refresh, Apple significantly enhanced the lineup by adding a 13-inch model of the iPad Air, a screen size previously limited to the iPad Pro. Both iPad Air models now position their front-facing camera on the longer landscape edge, so you appear to others on landscape-orientation calls as if you’re looking directly at them rather than off to the side, as happened with the previous shorter portrait edge location. They continue to use Touch ID via a top-mounted sensor.

Apple switched the iPad Air from the M1 to the M2 chip, improving performance by 50%. Storage has also increased, with the base level jumping from 64 GB to 128 GB. For those needing more space, Apple now provides storage tiers of 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB. Finally, Apple updated the iPad Air with the latest wireless technologies, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

Those who want a keyboard can purchase the current Magic Keyboard for $299 (11-inch) or $349 (13-inch), and the new iPad Air models are compatible with the new $129 Apple Pencil Pro and the $79 USB-C Apple Pencil.

The 11-inch iPad Air starts at $599, and the 13-inch iPad Air at $799. Adding 5G cellular connectivity increases the price by $150. Moving to 256 GB bumps the price by $100, 512 GB adds $300, and 1 TB costs $500 more. You can choose from four subtle colors—blue, purple, starlight, and space gray—and you can order now with units arriving next week.

iPad Pro Gains M4 Chip and Ultra Retina XDR Display in Thinnest Apple Product Ever

While the new iPad Air models feel like modernized versions of the previous iPad Pro models, the new iPad Pro models break new ground. They boast new Ultra Retina XDR displays that leverage OLED technology that promises brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and faster response times. They’re noticeably better and brighter than the iPad Air Liquid Retina screens, which are already pretty good. Because Apple targets the iPad Pro at professional photographers and cinematographers who need the best display accuracy, there’s even a nano-texture glass option that reduces glare.

As with the iPad Air, the front-facing camera is now located on the longer landscape edge, along with the Face ID sensor. Surprisingly, the rear-facing camera isn’t as capable as the previous models, which sported Wide and Ultra Wide cameras and supported 2x optical zoom. The new models drop the Ultra Wide camera and retain just the 12-megapixel Wide camera. However, they now feature an adaptive True Tone flash that improves document scanning by stitching together multiple photos to eliminate the shadows that plague most camera-based scans.

In part because of the Ultra Retina XDR display, the new iPad Pro models are thinner than before, so much so that the 13-inch iPad Pro is the thinnest product Apple has ever made at 5.1 mm thick. More impressive is that the 13-inch model also shed nearly a quarter of a pound in weight—103 grams. Ignore the fact that the iPad Pro is now thinner and lighter than the iPad Air, and that the iPad Air is the mid-range iPad, but the MacBook Air is the low-end MacBook. Air is just a name now.

To power the Ultra Retina XDR display and make the iPad Pro models as thin as they are, Apple leapfrogged a chip generation, moving from the M2 to the new M4, which hasn’t appeared in any Macs yet. Apple says the M4’s CPU is 50% faster than the M2 in the previous models, and its GPU is up to four times faster.

For those who want a keyboard, the new iPad Pros are compatible only with the just-released Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro ($299 for 11-inch, $349 for 13-inch). As with the iPad Air, you can use either the new $129 Apple Pencil Pro or the $79 USB-C Apple Pencil.

Pricing for the 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, with the 13-inch iPad Pro at $1299. 5G cellular connectivity adds $200. Storage starts at 256 GB, up from 128 GB, and Apple offers tiers of 512 GB ($200 more), 1 TB ($600), and 2 TB ($1000). The nano-texture glass also adds $100 and is available only for models with 1 TB or 2 TB of storage. The only available colors are black and silver.

Apple Releases Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro

For artists, students, and others who like precise stylus input, the new Apple Pencil Pro offers a variety of new sensors and capabilities. A sensor in the barrel detects a squeeze that brings up a tool palette, and a gyroscope notices when you roll the barrel to change the orientation of shaped pen and brush tools. A new haptic engine provides confirmation of actions like squeezing, double tapping, and snapping to a Smart Shape. When used with the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil Pro pairs, charges, and is stored on the side using a magnetic interface. If you lose it, you can now locate it with Find My.

While the new iPad Air models work with the existing Magic Keyboard, the new iPad Pro models are compatible only with the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. It retains the design that floats the iPad Pro above the keyboard but adds a function row of keys for features like screen brightness and volume. The palm rest is made of aluminum, and it has a larger trackpad with haptic feedback, so it feels more like using a MacBook. It attaches magnetically and uses the Smart Connector to connect power and data without Bluetooth—there’s also a USB-C connector in the hinge for charging.

Buying Advice

All these products are available for order now and will ship next week. Who should buy what? Apple’s comparison page can be helpful, but here’s our advice:

  • iPad: With the price drop to $349, the tenth-generation iPad becomes a remarkable deal, and it’s an ideal iPad for watching videos, browsing the Web, reading email, and other basic tasks.
  • iPad mini: If smaller is better for you, the iPad mini remains in the lineup, starting at $499. It performs slightly better than the iPad, but its size is the main reason to buy it.
  • iPad Air: The iPad Air is the workhorse of the iPad line, with sufficient performance to do nearly anything you want. The addition of the 13-inch model is particularly welcome because it’s $500 cheaper than the equivalently sized iPad Pro. Buy the iPad Air if you want to do more than the basics with your iPad.
  • iPad Pro: The technology in the iPad Pro is impressive, but so is the cost. As with the Mac lineup, the Pro models are mainly targeted at creative professionals who need the ultimate power and are willing to pay for it.

A related question surrounds upgrades. Generally speaking, upgrading to a new iPad may not be worthwhile if you have the previous model. However, once you’re two generations back, the performance increases tend to be significant. The caveat to that advice is that if an iPad isn’t doing what you want, it’s time to upgrade. For instance, if you have an M1 iPad Air that runs your drawing app slower than you’d like, it’s worth considering either an M2 iPad Air or an M4 iPad Pro, depending on how important performance is to you.

Regardless, contact us if you have any questions about what iPad makes the most sense for you.

(Featured image by Apple)

Social Media: Apple has released new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro models, plus a new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. We round up the new features and provide advice on what to consider for your next iPad.

Looking for Apple Manuals? Check the New Documentation Site

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Apple publishes a multitude of manuals and tons of technical documentation for its products on its support site, but until recently, it could be challenging to find something specific because the search engine on Apple’s site is poor. For a better path into Apple’s online support materials, check out the company’s new Documentation site, which brings together manuals, specs, and some downloads for nearly all its products. The operating system User Guides are particularly helpful, and they even provide a Version pop-up menu that lets you make sure you’re getting information for the version you’re using.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Ildo Frazao)

Social Media: Do you want to read the actual manuals or specs for Apple products? You can now easily find them on Apple’s new Documentation website.

Keep a USB Keyboard and Mouse for Troubleshooting

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Steve Jobs famously railed against cable clutter, and it’s now easy to use a desktop Mac with a wireless keyboard and mouse, either from Apple or another manufacturer. That’s fine for regular usage, but Bluetooth keyboards and mice aren’t always sufficient. Batteries wear out, pairing can fail, and wireless interference can cause lags or spurious inputs. Plus, if you need to boot into macOS Recovery, wireless input devices may not work. We recommend keeping an extra USB keyboard and mouse—preferably from Apple, but any brand will work—to use in case you have problems with your wireless versions. If you don’t have a keyboard and mouse left over from an old Mac, a friend or family member may be happy to give you theirs, or you can probably find them for next to nothing at a local reuse store.

(Images by iStock.com/Jeffrey Glas and RafalStachura)

Social Media: The minimalist approach with a wireless keyboard and mouse is good most of the time, but if things go wrong, it can be handy to have a wired USB keyboard and mouse available for troubleshooting.

With Storms Increasing, Protect Your Tech Gear from Damaging Power Fluctuations

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It has been a tough year for extreme weather events. While the connection between weather and technology may seem tenuous, heat waves, high winds, and lightning strikes can play havoc with all sorts of powered and networked electronic devices.

Anything that causes power fluctuations—spikes, surges, sags, brownouts, and blackouts—can hurt your tech gear. Protecting your most vulnerable devices doesn’t have to be expensive, but don’t be complacent because you plug your Mac into a cheap surge protector you’ve had since college. And note that many power strips offer no surge protection at all.

First off, why are power fluctuations problematic? There are two scenarios:

  • Too little power: Sags and brownouts are drops in voltage; a sag is a short-term dip, whereas brownouts last longer. Blackouts are complete power outages. Although they’re less damaging than surges, sags and brownouts can cause electronic devices to behave erratically or crash, and the fluctuation in voltage—particularly when coming back from an outage—can stress components. Losing power entirely will cause you to lose any unsaved work and possibly end up with document or even drive corruption.
  • Too much power: Spikes and surges are sudden, brief increases in voltage; the difference is that spikes are shorter than surges. Either way, the excessive power can degrade or damage sensitive electronic components, reducing lifespan or causing immediate failures.

The best solution to these scenarios is an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Put simply, a UPS is a big battery into which you plug your Mac and other peripherals. It then plugs into a wall outlet and monitors the incoming power. If the power surges, falls below a certain threshold, or fails outright, the UPS switches the power source to its internal battery. This happens so quickly that your Mac never even notices.

If your gear is plugged into a UPS when a blackout hits, you get some time to save your work and shut down gracefully, ensuring that you don’t lose data or flirt with drive corruption. A UPS also protects against spikes and surges, filtering out the excess voltage so it can’t harm the devices plugged into it. The downsides to UPSes are that they’re an extra expense, their batteries need replacing every few years, and they take up space under your desk. For a home or small office UPS, consult Wirecutter’s recommendations. For larger installations, contact us.

If power outages are rare in your location, you may prefer to rely on a surge protector instead of a UPS. As the name implies, surge protectors filter out voltage spikes and surges so they won’t damage your gear. Surge protectors are smaller and less expensive than UPSes, and while they don’t have batteries to fail, their protection circuitry degrades over time, so they should be replaced every few years as well. Better surge protectors alert you or stop working entirely when they can no longer provide protection. Again, Wirecutter has good recommendations.

If most of your expensive tech gear is battery-powered, you could forgo even a surge protector. Outages aren’t an issue, and a MacBook or iPhone power adapter will protect against most sags, brownouts, spikes, and surges. The power adapter may incur damage, but it’s inexpensive to replace.

One final thought. No UPS, surge protector, or power adapter can protect against a direct lightning strike. Lightning is too fast and too powerful—it’s millions or even hundreds of millions of volts. Even turning your equipment off isn’t sufficient because lightning that has traveled miles through the air to hit the ground can easily jump across an open switch. If lightning strikes are common in your area, unplug your most expensive devices entirely during severe storms.

To sum up:

  • For a desktop Mac and peripherals, a UPS is a worthwhile investment if you ever suffer from power outages. Also, consider a UPS for essential networking gear—cable modems, routers, switches, and network-attached storage.
  • If power outages are extremely rare, or for equipment that doesn’t need to remain on during an outage, get a good surge protector. If it doesn’t automatically disable itself when it’s no longer effective, write the date on the bottom and replace it in a few years.
  • Although there’s no harm in doing so, it’s not necessary to plug battery-powered device chargers into a surge protector or UPS. A spike or surge may damage them, but they’ll probably sacrifice themselves to protect your gear.
  • When in doubt during severe storms, unplug your most valuable equipment to protect against a direct lightning strike.

(Featured image by iStock.com/HardRockShotz)

Social Media: How can you protect your tech gear from unexpected power fluctuations? A UPS is best in some scenarios, but a not-too-old surge protector is often sufficient.  You can also let your Apple chargers do their job without worrying about what they are plugged into.

Understanding What “Vintage” and “Obsolete” Mean for Apple Products

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Macs—and Apple products in general—tend to last a long time. It’s not unusual to see someone happily using an 8-year-old MacBook Pro. As much as it’s environmentally responsible to use electronics as long as possible, doing so may reduce your productivity or leave your business in a precarious situation if a hardware failure forces an upgrade at an inconvenient time.

Another factor to consider is whether or not you can get service and parts for your older device. It’s easy to assume that Apple will fix whatever you bring in, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. Apple has policies surrounding how long it guarantees to provide service and parts, which is reasonable. No one would expect Apple to repair a 128K Mac from 1984—many repair techs hadn’t even been born then.

All Apple products fall into one of three categories: current, vintage, and obsolete. Current products, which Apple defines as those that were sold within the last 5 years, are eligible for service and parts from Apple, Apple Authorized Service Providers, and Independent Repair Providers. In other words, if you bought your Mac new within the last 5 years, you won’t have any problem getting Apple to fix it.

(Independent Repair Providers are firms that have signed up for Apple’s Independent Repair Provider Program to provide out-of-warranty iPhone and Mac repairs using Apple-provided parts, tools, service guides, and diagnostics. Other repair shops can repair Apple products but may lack Apple certifications and have to source parts from other suppliers.)

Things get trickier with the other two categories:

  • Vintage: Apple considers a product to be vintage when the company stopped selling it more than 5 and less than 7 years ago. During this 2-year window, Apple says that service and parts may be obtained, subject to parts availability.
  • Obsolete: As you’d expect, a product is considered obsolete when Apple hasn’t sold it for more than 7 years. Apple will not service obsolete products, and service providers cannot order parts for them.

There is one exception to these policies. Mac laptops may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale, subject to parts availability. That makes sense since a new battery may be all an old MacBook needs to keep working.

Apple maintains a page listing all vintage and obsolete products. To determine which Mac model you have, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu. For iPhones, iPads, and iPods, Apple provides pages explaining how to identify your model.

Apple’s policies surrounding vintage and obsolete products shouldn’t make a huge difference to most users. That’s because once a Mac hits 5 years old, it’s likely that upgrading to a new model will provide significant benefits. Many businesses prefer a 3-year replacement cycle because they’ve determined that’s the sweet spot where increasing support costs and lower performance make it worth selling the old Mac and buying a new one that’s faster and more reliable.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with keeping a Mac longer if it meets your needs and you don’t mind spending more on support. At some point, though, products in the vintage and obsolete categories are living on borrowed time.

(Featured image by iStock.com/Soulmemoria)

Social Media: It might be easier to repair vintage jeans than a vintage Mac. Read on if you want to understand Apple’s definitions of vintage and obsolete hardware and what they mean for support and repair.

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