These old Apple devices are about to become obsolete

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Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
This may soon be your best option for fixing your older, broken Apple products.
Photo:

If your iPhone 3G breaks a month from now, prepare to be mostly out of luck.

Apple has released a list of devices that will stop receiving repair and parts service in Apple Stores on June 9.

The full list, via 9to5Mac, includes a few gadgets that we were frankly a little surprised were still receiving support. Devices like the 11 year-old Xserve RAID mass-storage device (the one that supported Small Form-factor Pluggables, if you’re curious) and the mid-2007 model iMac.

Apple considers devices that have been out of production for seven years “obsolete,” which means that they will neither fix them themselves nor will they send out parts. A middle ground of “vintage” exists for products discontinued between five and seven years ago. No hardware service exists for vintage items unless you bought them in California or Turkey. In those two places, AppleCare will still take your call, and you can get both parts and service for those last two years.

Here’s the full list of affected gadgets. First, the vintage ones:

    17-inch MacBook Pro (Mid 2009)
    iPhone 3G (including China)
    iPhone 3GS (including China)

And these are the completely obsolete devices:

    Airport Express Base Station
    20-inch iMac (Mid 2007)
    24-inch iMac (Mid 2007)
    15-inch MacBook Pro (2.4/2.2GHz processor)
    17-inch MacBook Pro (2.4GHz processor)
    XServe (Late 2006)
    XServe RAID (SFP, Late 2004)

If you own and still use something on these lists, it doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get one it repaired if you take it someplace that knows its way around an Apple product. But if the fixer doesn’t have the parts they need, they won’t be able to get them.

And if the worst happens, and you end up with a broken and unrepairable thing, don’t worry — you can still get some use out of your outdated tech. Take a cue from these creative people, and make something awesome.

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