pop email question on new iMac

I know the difference in imap and pop3. I understand with imap when you delete an email one place it deletes it everywhere.

My 2008 iMac has snow leopard and operates on a pop3 account (AT&T/yahoo).
My 2015 10.10.5 set itself up as imap (same provider).

I a getting a new iMac. Am I correct to assume it will set up automatically with imap? Can I make it stay pop3?

I am asking because I actually like having my desk top as my "work" computer where emails can be kept as long as I need them (sometimes years) even though they have been deleted from yahoo.

I don't like all those emails on my lap top since it is more of an entertainment computer.

And I sure don't want all those emails on my phone.

I hope my question is clear.

Hi Nancy:

It depends on your ISP. I have both POP and IMAP accounts with Google (gmail), but it's my understanding that all new accounts are automatically entered as IMAP. I'm assuming that if you already have a POP account with Yahoo that it will remain that way. The age of the Mac does not matter (new or old); what matters is your account. In other words, when you buy your new iMac, unless you open a new account you should be able to use your new iMac with your existing POP account. Of course there may be a future time when all ISPs will require their client accounts to be IMAP but for now you should be OK.

Thanks for letting me know the reasoning. I thought it was because my 2008 was ancient.

If you want to retain emails forever with an IMAP account, create an archive of the emails and then write a rule that says for every incoming email to that IMAP address copy it to the archive. That way when the IMAP emails "age" out and the server deletes them, you'll still have a copy.

Thanks for that tip also! Learn something new everyday!