It’s Official: Yours Truly Needs a new Mac Soon
Amidst this week’s hubbub regarding Liquid Glass and more, one tidbit of news has me feeling melancholy. The next version of macOS, named Tahoe, is the last edition to support Intel-based Macs. This is important news because, as I suspected, I’ll need to upgrade my Mac pretty soon. My trusty Retina 4K iMac from 2019, the 21.5-inch model, is sated to stay on Sequoia forevermore. You’ve served me with great honor, old friend.
According to Apple, macOS Tahoe is “the last release for Intel-based Mac computers,” adding the machines will get three years of security updates. The news coincides with the company’s plans to sunset its Rosetta 2 translation system, introduced in 2020 to help developers with transitioning their apps from Intel to Apple silicon. “Rosetta was designed to make the transition to Apple silicon easier, and we plan to make it available for the next two major macOS releases—through macOS 27—as a general-purpose tool for Intel apps to help developers complete the migration of their apps,” Apple says. “Beyond this timeframe, we will keep a subset of Rosetta functionality aimed at supporting older unmaintained gaming titles, that rely on Intel-based frameworks.”
As with my beta-testing strategy for this summer, I’m still contemplating which Mac should supplant my 4K iMac. I have lots of options; I love the all-in-one design of the iMac and its anchoring of my workspace, but am also enamored by a more modular setup headlined by something like the big and bright Pro Display XDR. On the mobile side, I’m tempted to turn the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro I got for my birthday last September into my “laptop” paired with the Magic Keyboard. I’m really excited for the forthcoming (and arguably overdue) Mac-like features coming to iPadOS 26. In terms of my main work setting, macOS, the jump to using an Apple silicon Mac full-time is tantalizing because of Apple silicon-exclusive features such as iPhone Mirroring, as well as a larger display, and other quality-of-life improvements like faster processing and stuff.
My birthday is coming up in September, so perhaps my present will be a new computer.
