Apple’s 2012 MacBook Pro is getting added to the vintage products’ list

And another one bites the dust. After adding the iPhone 6 Plus to the vintage list of devices last year, Apple is set to add another one to the list. The mid-2012 model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the built-in CD/DVD drive is going to be added to the vintage products list on January 31, as per an internal memo seen by MacRumors.

The 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro was launched in June 2012 and was the last Mac with a built-in CD/DVD drive that Apple sold. The laptop was available for sale till October 2016 as a “lower-priced” alternative to the much-thinner 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Retina display.

The 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro supports the macOS Big Sur software update that was rolled out in 2020, but beyond that software support for the device was dropped.

For Apple, any device is considered vintage once the company has stopped distributing it for sale for more than five years. Vintage products used to be “ineligible for repairs” but Apple now offers repairs for vintage products for up to seven years depending on the availability of parts.

As Apple explains on its support page - “Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago.”

Understandably, most devices do not age well and its components and shipsets cannot keep up with the newer software requirements. Additionally, it gets harder and harder to find repair parts for older devices making it hard to keep them in working condition.

To understand exactly how Apple classifies its Vintage devices, it is important to understand the repairability clauses. For all devices currently available in the market, Apple offers both services and repair parts for a minimum of five years after a product is last distributed for sale.

Service and parts could also be available for a maximum of seven years for a device depending on their availability. However, once an Apple product has not been distributed for sale for seven years, it is considered “Obsolete”.

A product being called “Vintage” means it is about to die and ones that are “Obsolete” are pretty much dead and done with.  

“Apple discontinues all hardware service for Obsolete products, with the sole exception of Mac notebooks that are eligible for an additional battery-only repair period. Service providers cannot order parts for Obsolete products,” the company said.

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