Apple just updated its official support website to move three older Mac laptops to its obsolete products list. The company regularly shifts aging hardware into this category when enough time passes after it stops selling them. If you own any of these specific devices, getting official hardware repairs will now be much harder since the manufacturer generally stops making the necessary replacement components.
These older laptops lose official hardware repair support this week
The manufacturer adds a product to the vintage list five years after they stop selling it, and it hits the obsolete mark at seven years. Once a device reaches this final stage, most retail stores and authorized repair shops will no longer fix the hardware.
The three laptops that just became obsolete include:
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- 2018 MacBook Air with Retina display
- 13-inch 2018 MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports
- 13-inch 2017 MacBook Pro
The 2018 Air was a major upgrade at the time. It was the first in the lineup to feature Touch ID and a much sharper screen, along with smaller borders and a lighter design. The 2018 Pro model brought a third-generation butterfly keyboard and introduced True Tone display support.
While you can no longer get standard hardware repairs for these computers, there is one small exception. The brand maintains a special battery repair policy for laptops for up to ten years after they leave store shelves. This means you might still be able to pay for an official battery swap, but only if the repair center still has those specific parts lying around.
If you use one of these machines as your daily driver, you will have to rely on third-party repair shops to fix any other failing hardware in the future.
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