Apple Marked the 12-inch MacBook (2017) Obsolete--The Two-Pound Notebook Gets No Apple Repairs but a Battery, Stops at macOS Ventura, and Nothing Under 13 Inches Has Replaced It Since 2019

Obsolete means no repairs, with one exception

Apple's page says a product is vintage when Apple stopped selling it "more than 5 and less than 7 years ago" and obsolete after seven, that owners "may obtain service and parts from Apple service providers for a minimum of 5 years" from the last sale, and for longer "as required by law or for up to 7 years, subject to parts availability." The exception is the battery: "Mac laptops may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale, subject to parts availability." 9to5Mac reported the 12-inch MacBook's removal from Apple's store on July 9, 2019, after four years on sale, so by our arithmetic a battery is the one part Apple may still fit until 2029, if it has any left.

What the 2017 MacBook was

The 12-inch MacBook arrived on March 9, 2015, when Apple's 2015 press release called it "the thinnest and lightest Macs ever": two pounds, 13.1 mm thin, 24 percent thinner than the 11-inch MacBook Air, with one USB-C port and prices of $1,299 and $1,599 from April 10 of that year. The 2017 revision came with the iMac on June 5, 2017, in Apple's June 2017 press release: Kaby Lake processors up to a 1.4 GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost to 3.6 GHz, an SSD up to 50 percent faster, twice the memory, and the line "Weighing just two pounds and measuring 13.1mm thin, MacBook is our thinnest and lightest notebook"; it reached Apple Stores on June 7, 2017. MacRumors recorded the 2017 starting price as $1,299, a cut, with memory configurable to 16GB.

Apple's tech specs page lists the base machine as a 1.2GHz dual-core Intel Core m3 with Intel HD Graphics 615, 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD, configurable up to a 1.4GHz Core i7, 16GB and 512GB; a 2304-by-1440 display at 226 pixels per inch; a 41.4-watt-hour battery rated at up to 10 hours of wireless web; one USB-C port and a headphone jack; 2.03 pounds, in rose gold, space gray, gold and silver. It is model identifier MacBook10,1 on Apple's model identification page.

Ventura is where it stops

The 2017 MacBook is the only plain MacBook on Apple's macOS Ventura compatibility page. Apple's model page gives the Early 2016 machine macOS Monterey as its newest system and the Early 2015 machine Big Sur. Apple's security releases page shows the last Ventura update, 13.7.8, on August 20, 2025, and none since; by our count that is nearly fourteen months without a security fix, and the three systems Apple now patches, Sequoia, Tahoe and Golden Gate, all leave it out. Our September 9 tip on Intel Macs after Golden Gate covers the choices.

Nothing under 13 inches has replaced it

When the 12-inch MacBook left the store in July 2019 the 13-inch MacBook Air became the smallest Mac notebook, and MacRumors notes that Apple has yet to release anything smaller with Apple silicon. Apple's cheapest notebook on October 15 is the 13-inch MacBook Neo at $699 and 2.7 pounds, per our September 28 report at six months; by our arithmetic that is two thirds of a pound more than the machine Apple just retired, with two ports in place of one.

Then and now

On October 15, 2008 Bill Fox wrote up the salient features of Apple's new notebooks: the MacBook Air's unibody construction, the frame carved from a solid 2.5-pound piece of aluminum, extended to the MacBook and MacBook Pro, with the 13-inch MacBook down to 4.5 pounds and the Air at 3.0. He had explained in his February 2008 note on why he would buy a MacBook Air that weight had become his primary consideration in a notebook. The 12-inch MacBook took that idea a full pound further seven years later and held it for four. We would keep a working 2017 MacBook as the travel typewriter it always was, buy the battery while Apple still has one, and keep it off anything that matters now that the security fixes have stopped.