[murraybhenson]

I'm sure someone will provide responses to the contrary, but hasn't Apple been pretty good about providing support for quite a reasonable period of time for both their software and hardware? Apple's own recent announcement indicates that they supported various bits of "vintage" hardware (hardware support only) that was first introduced between five and seven years ago: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

The same KB article indicates that what they consider to be obsolete (not at all supported) is hardware that is about 8 years or older, with most of it being 9+ years since first introduced.

[scarface74]

For the most part yes.

Except for the original iPad. That still stings a little. They released it in 2010 and dropped support in 2012. But it was basically unusable with iOS 5 in 2011.

[ascagnel_]

I bought three of the first four iPad models (I was working at a big cellular provider, so I got them at a significantly reduced price) -- each of those early models made substantial performance gains. The fourth model they shipped (the second with the retina screen) was the first one I'd feel comfortable about recommending to friends and family -- it held up well, the screen was unlike anything else on the market at the time, and it didn't weigh a ton.