Can Mac Pro customers legally sue Apple if it doesn&#39;t offer them an upgrade path to the new chips?
<p>In December 2019, Apple introduced its flagship Mac Pro to meet the performance needs of professionals. In addition to showcasing its state-of-the-art hardware components, Apple claimed the machine is built for the future. It's key selling point is upgradability and expansion through swappable hardware modules residing inside an easily accessible chassis. Consequently, Apple charges a hefty $50K for this privilege.</p>
<p>Within less than a year after its debut, however, the Mac Pro's status as the most powerful Macintosh is nearly coming to an end. Apple just introduced several low to mid range models featuring its incredibly fast M1 processor. According to several benchmarks, the new models outperform the Intel-based Mac Pro across a range of computing tasks. It must be disheartening for owners to discover their machines rendered dinosaurs by Macs costing 1/50th of the price within a year of unboxing them.</p>
<p>Do existing Mac Pro users have a good case for a class action lawsuit, if Apple decides not to provide them with an upgrade path to the new M1 processors? While not explicitly stated as future proof, Apple did market the machine as expandable. Could a legal argument be made that it mislead its Mac Pro customers into thinking they were buying into the future?</p>

<p>That Apple advertised the Mac Pro as &quot;expandable&quot; does not mean that they promised that any particular new chip or technology could be applied to the Mac Pro. As a comment said &quot;built for the future&quot; will generally be treated as puffery that does not extend a specific guarantee unless there are more specific claims along with it.</p>
<p>Computers become obsolete, or at least behind the cutting edge. This is a fact that all reasonable computer buyers know. Sometimes this happens quickly. No computer maker promises that there is an infinite upgrade path, or that a machine will never be behind the curve.</p>
<p>All that said, Apple might well provide an upgrade path for this machine to the M1 chip. But I do not see anything which legally <strong>requires</strong> them to do so.</p>

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