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OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

dortania.github.io

61–70 of 86 posts

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you have an 8-year old computer. What did you realistically expect would happen here? For Apple to support your computer until the end of time even if you’re the only person using that model? In the tech world, 8 years is already practically a lifetime. At a certain point, it’s no longer profitable for a company to continue supporting old systems. And that rarely has to do with power and almost entirely due t…

Seems like apple themselves had a good solution to this with one model of the iMac that supported use as an secondary monitor. Imagine if every laptop / iMac supported use as a secondary monitor.

Yeah, to be honest, I would be happy if I could buy another product such as the mini and then plug it into the display, but sadly not supported, there are some third party ways of doing this, but I am not sure they are so great.

I actually use my iMac with my windows laptop for work, by plugging in a video capture device via USB and going via HDMI to the laptop, it works okay, but i'm not sure i'd want to run a shiny new Mac this way.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supporting old hardware costs money because you need to write more tests. Of course there aren't technical limitations for any but the lowest specced Macs. Things have changed the past few years but for a while upgrades to CPU performance weren't that meaningful between generations. A CPU that's over ten years old will still perform fine for light desktop use, because that's honestly all you need in most cases. All y…

> Supporting old hardware costs money because you need to write more tests. If there is anything Apple has enough resources of, it is money

A bit of a circular argument. They have money because they don't spend it on unprofitable activities like supporting decade old hardware.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#63

Awesome! This keeps macs out the trash and people with less means to buy their first mac.

Someone buying their first Mac is probably not aware of OCLP. Depending on the hardware, OCLP might not provide a stable or a good experience. Better to buy a newer and still supported Windows PC.

It's usually someone you know that does this for you. I've put 10.14 on some 27" iMacs from 2009 that have been rock solid for those I gave them too.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#64
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but it means you don't get security updates, because Apple doesn't provide full security updates except on the newest OS: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/apple-clarifies-secu...

This is not true. I've just got a security update (12.6.5) for a nine year old hardware. Newest is macOS (13) is not supported on this hardware

The source article says:

> "Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of macOS (for example, macOS 13)," the document reads, "not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 12)."

> In other words, while Apple will provide security-related updates for older versions of its operating systems, only the most recent upgrades will receive updates for every security problem Apple knows about.

Which doesn't contradict what you're saying.

Admittedly, the parent phrased it poorly, saying "but it means you don't get security updates" when they really meant "but it means you don't get security updates for all problems".

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's a computer I paid over £3,000 for, that got cut off 7 years after release "after release" isn't even the metric we should be using. Rather we should measure starting from when the machine is _no longer sold_. Take the "Mac Pro 2013" (aka Trash Can Mac). It was introduced in 2013 but for sale by Apple until December 2019. macOS 13 Ventura, released October 2022, dropped support for it. That's only 3 years of sup…

What do competitors offer?

Whatever Microsoft offers. Or occasionally Linux. Which are usually considerably better than the support lengths Apple offers. For example Windows 7 was supported for over 10 years, 8/8.1 for over 10 years. They also don't tend to sell the same model for literally years.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you have an 8-year old computer. What did you realistically expect would happen here? For Apple to support your computer until the end of time even if you’re the only person using that model? In the tech world, 8 years is already practically a lifetime. At a certain point, it’s no longer profitable for a company to continue supporting old systems. And that rarely has to do with power and almost entirely due t…

>In the tech world, 8 years is already practically a lifetime. I feel like that was the case in the 90s and earlier, but now? An 8 year old computer is quite capable of doing the kinds of basic browsing that most non-geek users do. But without the newest macOS, they are open to security vulnerabilities.

Yeah, exactly and the problem becomes that apps update and require a newer OS than you were able to run, happened to a lot of Discord users in the last week or so, when Discord upped the requirements of the app, but the app itself barely changed. So people have to pay up for an expensive new machine that doesn't do anything really that different to what they had before, just to be back at square one.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#67
post #12

The fact that simply patching the O.S. can be enough to make it work on older hardware is a testament on how Apple could make it work on it too, if they wanted, and without much effort. Which in my book reads as an artificial way to cut support for otherwise perfectly working machines. Forcing people to upgrade, buy more hardware, and discard the older one, even when they wouldn't otherwise have needed to do it (like…

This should be illegal, my 2010 mac pro only got support for like 5 years. Especially when it's just a matter of flipping a bit in the bios..

I have a PC from 1998 that still works using linux. That mac pro also runs happily with linux :)

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supporting old hardware costs money because you need to write more tests. Not supporting old hardware has major costs too: ewaste pollution. But of course those costs are 'externalized' and not borne by Apple, but by everyone else.

You do understand that the old HW doesn't suddenly stop working when it's unsupported by the new OS.

Sure but many people will upgrade when their laptop stops getting updated for a few versions, which they would not have done had their hardware still been supported with up-to-date software.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Supporting old hardware costs money because you need to write more tests. Not supporting old hardware has major costs too: ewaste pollution. But of course those costs are 'externalized' and not borne by Apple, but by everyone else.

You do understand that the old HW doesn't suddenly stop working when it's unsupported by the new OS.

You do understand that there's an arbitrary cut-off caused by this that leads to things like perfectly usable devices no longer receiving browser updates? Effectively, they do stop working for anybody who does anything with the internet.

Re: OpenCore Legacy Patcher – Use new macOS versions on old hardware

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. It's six years after they stopped selling it. Apple do this on purpose to make people buy new machines, it wouldn't be expensive for them too provide a small amount of support, if they are not willing to do that they shouldn't be making such machines. 6 years is not a long time.

Windows 11 dropped support for 7th generation and earlier. Your 2015 iMac, having a Broadwell/5th or Skylake/6th generation processor, would have also not been compatible. To have hardware compatibility, you'd have to have gone all the way up to a 2019 iMac with Coffee Lake. That shows that this is hardly an Apple problem, and hardly a problem of "Apple forcing you to buy new hardware". Entire companies come and go i…

Yes, and it was utter bullshit that Microsoft pulled this and I'm still infuriated that the entire world just shrugged and went "at least Windows 10 still works" or even "well, you can't expect your device to be supported forever". I have 15 year old computers that STILL FUCKING WORK PERFECTLY but they're arbitrarily not supported by W11 anymore. I guess Microsoft never heard of e-waste. Fuck Microsoft. Fuck Apple.
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