I think Apple will quickly try to get rid of support for Intel Machines to reduce overhead and allow them to move forward with the Apple Silicon Machines, it wouldn’t surprise me if they stick to around 5 years of OS support and 2 years of patches.
I know the M1 chips are fast, but Apple’s never been one to rest on their laurels, or let themselves be held back by legacy.
For various reasons, I plan to hold back on updating my end-of-model, decked-out 16in Intel MBP for at least another two years as best possible.
In science/engineering as a discipline, one might say they are sometimes known to dump the laurels, run full speed ahead to the roses, and let the legacy clean up the conversion demands on its own.
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JJW
I bought the updated-at-that-time 16" MBP, fully loaded, at the end of 2019 in all of its Intel i9 glory. Spent quite a lot of money on it despite the Apple Silicon rumours that were already doing the rounds. We didn’t know anything for sure though. I needed a computer and at that time it had to be a fast Intel one anyway for the work I was doing at the time (involved running several Windows Server virtual machines, often simultaneously).
Thing is, we justify these decisions with the information at hand at the time, along with the assumption that the machine will be good for many years into the future. I used my previous Macbook Pro for 7 years and was betting on a similar performance this time around.
Now, like many of the pundits, I think the Intel support won’t be long lasting but I have since seen a change in my work situation. With the Covid legacy still being worked back and income some months out (at the very least) I, for one, am hoping for many more years of current software on this machine despite my intuitions to the contrary.
I purchase a PowerMac in 2003 
. Then Apple announced the powerpc to intel change in 2005 
, started the transition in 2006, and released the last version of OSX to support PowerPC in 2009 (Snow Leopard) 
.
2003 to 2009 is a good run though. I’d be happy to get 6 fully supported years (plus more in a secondary role) from my computer.
I always viewed my iPhones as having 5 years from announcement and Macs as 7 from release. I also strongly suspect the M1 onwards devices will somehow end up with only 5… sadly. I was shocked to think the Mid-2017 MacBook Pro nTB I got back then (Scraping together every penny as a broke student) would have been dropped this year. But that’s a six year run - not too far off the 7 we praise Apple for.
Easily it’s because of the Apple Silicon transition why they’re cutting otherwise fresh enough devices off. I do wonder if it’ll cap at 5 given how their chips in iOS devices tend to lag behind. Or worse still, will they slow our Macs down?
If Apple follows their pattern of announcing that the newly announced version of MacOS will be the last one to support a major, legacy technology, then if that’s announced for the 2024 version 2019 Macs will have a current OS until 2025, nearly 6 years (and hopefully get security updates for another 2).
Yes. But I had hoped to use it longer considering it, and my Apple Display, cost the equivalent of $6000+ at the time.
So far, OpenCore is keeping up with the support drops. I don’t know what will happen when Apple releases a version not intended to support any Intel Mac.
All these changes changed my philosophy of purchasing apple products and I now go for low end baseline models so they can be replaced sooner. Saves a ton of money on extortionate ram and sdd costs that can be invested further down the line.
I was a manager my entire career and never needed a powerful computer, so I’ve always purchased low end models. Now that repairing out of warranty Macs might be unaffordable buying only what you need for the next couple of years might be a good idea for a lot of people.
I’m on a 2019 MBP like @Dewald and would like another year or two.
Having said that, I’ve already come across one app I couldn’t download because I’m not running a silicon Mac, and assume this will become more common even if Apple itself doesn’t end support just yet (the app is Amazing Marvin if you’re wondering).