Some Macs receive fewer updates than they used to. That’s why it’s a problem

When macOS Ventura was announced earlier this month, its system requirements were significantly stricter than those of macOS Monterey, which was released just eight months ago at the time of this writing. Ventura requires a Mac released in 2017 or newer, therefore ending support for the wide range of Monterey-supported Mac models released between 2013 and 2016.

It certainly feels more aggressive than the new releases of macOS released just a few years ago, when system requirements were tightened up about once every two years or so. But how bad is it really? Does a Mac bought in 2016 get fewer updates than a Mac bought in 2012, 2008, or 1999? And if so, is there any explanation other than Apple’s desire for more users to upgrade to the shiny new Apple Silicon Macs?

Using data from Apple’s website and EveryMac.com, we’ve pieced together more than two decades of Mac releases—almost everything Apple released between the first iMac in late 1998 and the latest Intel Macs in 2020. We recorded when each model was released, when Apple stopped selling each model, the last officially supported release of macOS for each system, and the dates those versions of macOS received the latest point updates (e.g. 10.4.11, 11.6) and the latest regular security patches. (I’ve made a few notes about how I’ve chosen to organize and arrange the data, which I’ve included at the end of this article.)

The end result is a spreadsheet of dozens of Macs with multiple metrics for how long each one has received official software support from Apple. These methods included measuring the time between when each model was discontinued and when it stopped receiving updates, which is especially true for models such as the 2013 Mac Pro, 2014 Mac mini, and 2015 MacBook Air, which have been on sale for a a few years after they were sold. presented for the first time.