Sitting on a shelf in my garage is a 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro. I keep it around because it has an optical drive–it was the last Apple laptop with the feature. Since I’m the go-to tech support guy in the family, I’ve used that laptop more than I expected to get data from old vintage discs. (For you young’uns, an optical drive is used to read data from things called CDs, DVDs, and in some instances (but not this one), Blu-ray discs.)
However, that 2012 MacBook Pro is now dead to Apple. As spotted by Ars Technica, the company officially put it on its obsolete list, which means that “all hardware service” has ceased and that “service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products,” according to Apple’s support document about vintage and obsolete products.
An Apple product is considered “vintage” between 5 and 7 years after it has stopped being available for sale. “Service and parts may be obtained for longer, as required by law or for up to 7 years, subject to parts availability,” according to Apple. After that, a product can be declared “obsolete.” If you have an obsolete product, you can’t take it to an Apple Store for repairs. You can try to take it to a third-party repair shop, but that shop will have to find other means besides Apple to get parts.
This specific MacBook Pro model was introduced in June 2012 and actually stayed in Apple’s lineup for a long time despite being replaced by an optical drive-free model in late 2012. Apple offered the 13-inch MacBook Pro with an optical drive until October 2016 as a cheaper option, according to Mactracker, which also states that its marketing tagline was, “We put more into it. So you can get more out of it.” Apple ended macOS support for this model when Big Sur arrived 2020.
Apple called its optical drive the “SuperDrive,” and it was able to burn CDs and DVDs. Apple still sells an external USB SuperDrive for $79/£79 (in the U.S. it’s a couple of bucks cheaper on Amazon), but it uses a USB-A connector, so you’ll need a USB-A to USB-C adapter to use the drive on a modern Mac. Third-party optical drives that are much cheaper are also available.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor
Roman has covered technology since the early 1990s. His career started at MacUser, and he's worked for MacAddict, Mac|Life, and TechTV.