Apple Says Goodbye To An Icon: 2012 MacBook Pro Is Now 'Obsolete,' Marking The End Of Disc Drives

The last MacBook to feature a CD drive has now been sent to Apple Inc.'s AAPL purgatory. Launched in 2012, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is now an "obsolete product."

What Happened: The 2012 MacBook Pro 13-inch model is powered by an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. It features a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which is low by today's standards.

Apple had this MacBook Pro on sale till 2016, and eight years later, it has now been retired completely. The company assigns the "obsolete" tag to a product that is over seven years old.

This comes weeks before the expected launch of MacBook Air models powered by Apple's M3 chipset.

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Why It Matters: When Apple categorizes a product as "obsolete," it won't get any updates or support.

Apple dropped software support for the 2012 legacy MacBook Pro in 2020 – the last major software update it received was macOS Big Sur.

However, on the hardware front, users who still have the 2012 MacBook Pro and need a new battery can rest assured – Apple says MacBooks "may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale."

Apple last sold this MacBook Pro in 2016, giving users two years of battery-only support. However, note that this is subject to part availability.

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Photo courtesy: Apple