Apple’s MacBook Pro 2017. (Photo by James Sheppard/iCreate Magazine/Future via Getty Images)
Apple’s last update to macOS Sonoma addressed several bugs and issues, but millions of MacBook, iMac and Mac users are still waiting for Apple to fix a raft of bugs on their computers.
The latest update to macOS Ventura features multiple problems that have made the Macs difficult to use. Reported issues include connectivity problems with Wi-Fi and BlueTooth, failed Time Machine backups, UI lag, TouchID issues, and various issues in first- and third-party apps.
Ventura is not the latest version of macOS, but it is the latest version that will run on millions of Macs and MacBooks that are still within their support window. If you have an Intel-based Mac from 2017 or earlier, macOS Ventura is as high as possible, so Apple continues releasing code updates and security patches.
Apple continued to sell Intel-based Mac hardware until June 2023, when it launched the first Mac Pro powered by the ARM-based Apple Silicon. Turning back to 2017, Apple shipped 19.7 million Macs, slightly up on 2016’s 18.6 million, with the vast majority of these being MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro laptops.
There’s a general consensus that a MacBook will be in use for 5 to 8 years on average (with deskbound Mac averaging a little longer). While there will be users who have upgraded their hardware over the intervening years, there will be millions of active Macs that could be affected by the latest issues introduced to macOS Venutra 13.6.6
This week, Apple moved new versions of iOS 17.5, watchOS 10.5 and macOS Sonoma 14.5 into beta testing, which would mean a full public release a few weeks later. With macOS Ventura updates are typically launched alongside macOS Sonoma updates, it’s going to be well into May before any potential fixes for millions of Macs affected could arrive—and that’s assuming the next release can address all the issues.
In the meantime, if you still have the option to update to macOS Venutra 13.6.6, consider the option carefully. It will offer the latest security patches, but it comes with a significant number of issues.
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