Earlier today, Apple updated its “vintage and obsolete products” article:
Owners of iPad, iPhone, iPod or Mac products may obtain service and parts from Apple or Apple service providers for 5 years after the product is no longer manufactured (or longer where required by law). Apple has discontinued support for certain technologically obsolete and vintage products.
The company does this from time to time, but today’s update caught my idea because of the inclusion of several Early 2009 and Mid 2009 models.
What’s interesting is that OS X supports machines of this vintage, including Mid 2007 iMac.
I haven’t run OS X Yosemite on an iMac that old, but my guess is that while the experience isn’t great, it’s passable. Generally, OS X gets faster and lighter with each revision, giving Apple the ability to support hardware longer and longer.
This can put some customers in a weird position if something goes wrong, however. Genius Bars will support vintage products, but if there’s a hardware issue, are usually unable to do much besides send the customer to a third-party Authorized Apple Service Provider.