“Apple last week released an update for macOS High Sierra, boosting the numeric label to 10.13.5 and simultaneously starting the clock on ending support for 2015’s El Capitan,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “Approximately one in eight Mac owners currently runs OS X 10.11, otherwise known by the Yosemite landmark of ‘El Capitan,’ according to analytics vendor Net Applications. Data published June 1 by the metrics firm said that during May El Capitan powered 12.9% of all Macs.”
“Traditionally, Apple supports three consecutive editions of the Mac’s operating system: the current and the two previous,” Keizer reports. “If ‘N’ represented the current edition, High Sierra, then Apple was also obliged to offer security updates to ‘N-1’ and ‘N-2,’ 2016’s Sierra and 2015’s El Capitan, respectively.”
“Once macOS 10.14 launches this fall – September will be the most likely, followed by October – it will become ‘N,’ with ‘N-1’ and ‘N-2’ standing for High Sierra and Sierra. OS X El Capitan will then drop out of support. At that moment, up to a quarter of all Macs will be running retired operating systems,” Keizer reports. “That fraction will shrink as users upgrade to macOS 10.14, reducing the shares of High Sierra and Sierra most of all, less so for El Capitan.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: According to Apple’s support macOS 10.14 beta Release Notes, the following Mac models are supported:
• MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013, plus mid 2010 and mid 2012 models with recommended Metal- capable GPU)*Support for 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models will be available in an upcoming beta
SEE ALSO:
Apple releases macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 with Messages in iCloud – June 1, 2018
I have a mid-2011 iMac with an i7 processor and 16gb RAM…what is it about Mojave that won’t run on that machine?
Money.
Yeah…it runs High Sierra without a problem…has to be the graphics card and/or bus speed…seriously annoyed…
That machine will run it, but the initial developer beta has more limited support. Watch the keynote for the full list and read the release notes.
Here’s one source for the current macOS 10.14 beta release notes:
https://bjtechnews.org/2018/06/macos-10-14-beta-release-notes/
The hardware compatibility list is the same as MDN has posted above. I’m not holding onto hope that list changes. But I’d like to know what’s the limitation (GPU support does make sense) locking out previous 64-bit Macs.
There occasionally are third party workarounds for legacy Macs when macOS is updated. We shall see.
I had been worried that Mojave wouldn’t let me run my older software. Not a problem, as it turns out, since my Early 2011 MacBook Pro won’t run Mojave. Ditto for my wife’s standard Mid-2010 iMac. I’m retired and can’t afford to replace two perfectly good computers.
Speaking of which… since upgrading to 10.13.5, four of my MacBook Pro keys no longer register presses. I can live without the tilde, but the “two”/”at-symbol” key is fairly important.
My guess is that 10.13.5 is less tolerant of minor hardware faults and that 10.14 relies on access to a really fast GPU. Sad.
My standby and useful 2007 Mac Pro still runs El Capitan (through a hack) and runs very well indeed. Also my wife’s 2009 iMac also runs well with El Capitan (and another one someone gave me I souped up and gave to a daughter’s family).
Seems silly to stop supporting perfectly good machines but makes perfect sense for manufacturers to use planned obsolescence as often as they can in order to sell new Macs.
This is an ongoing problem with Macs. We buy high quality hardware which could remain functional for at least ten years or more, but it’s only able to run the current operating system for about five years.
It wouldn’t be so bad if we only had Macs, but when we buy iPhones and to a leaser extent iPads, they often get replaced after one to two years and will be always running the latest version of IOS. There are many features where interoperation between IOS and Mac OS requires the newest version of both operating systems to work at all, so if your Mac won’t run the newest OS, you can no longer get the best out of your IOS device either.
Apple likes to present itself as an environmentally friendly company, but premature obsolescence is the very opposite of an environmentally friendly concept.
Ah, the “planned obsolence” myth!
Plenty of things you could criticize Apple for but complaining that a decade old computer won’t run the latest OS is pathetic whining at best.
No – it’s pathetic whining at worst. It is concern at unnecessarily obsolescence at best.
The list of Macs able to run Mac OS 10.14 doesn’t contain any MacBooks or iMacs built before mid 2012. Six years is a ridiculously short lifespan for a computer.
I can understand why versions of the OS wouldn’t be able to support new features when newly developed hardware systems are absent, but I don’t understand why Apple totally blocks older Macs from using all the other features of a new OS.
Obsolescence is a reality. Whether it’s deliberately planned or not is debatable, but once you can no longer properly use your six year old Mac with your new iPhone, that Mac is effectively obsolete. Abandoning an expensive computer after six years is not environmentally responsible.
Indeed mine creeps in so this just may be the last it will accept yet spent a fair amount putting a SSD in less than a year ago and it runs like a new machine. Again I have just semi retired now and certainly won’t be thinking of replacing this for 2 to 3 years as long as it keeps on working. Shame if it becomes effectively ‘rejected’ that soon but tbh I have already accepted due to my Adobe software I am unlikely to be able to update the OS much more anyway. Haven’t tested it on High Sierra yet which I must get around to doing soon so as to see if I can do what is likely one last update on my work Mac anyway.
You GO, Alan!
Particularly on the “environmentally responsible” angle. Apple has a green section on their website. Have not checked lately, so I wonder what they recommend when you have to dump bulletproof functioning perfectly hardware after only a few years?
The ONLY other option is to use outdated (obsolete) software and hardware for years until the machine blows up or the web browser no longer works.
“Big man, pig man
Ha, ha, charade you are”
— Animals, Pink Floyd 1977
“Pathetic whining?” Seriously deluded fanboy?
What if you bought a new car on a five-year loan with zero interest. Then after five years you can’t buy parts to fix it. Would you be happy, hmmm? …
To some extent, thank Tommy Ferlauto. Back when OS X was first released, his firm filed a suit against Apple claiming as some earlier G3 models didn’t receive the full set of OS X graphics features — not that OS X didn’t run on the machines, just that some of the features were disabled on the older hardware. To avoid further suits, since then Apple doesn’t do the “some features not supported” route and cuts the machine out entirely.
Most excellent post and I agree 1,000%!
I’m not one to call for regulation, but when I think auto parts must be available for more than ten years, guessing it is twenty, why not mandate software is available for at least ten. The hardware is solid and lasts much longer than that as you point out. XP support lasted how many years?
If the current obsolescence MO of Apple hardware continues, absent sensible regulation, them make cheap disposable recyclable hardware that we can rent for a handful of years.
The auto parts are Apple software, which should be the gasoline …
Well, it looks like my 17″ MBP is EOL’d. Still works though.
Time to go Linux
Can’t. I only know Macs. Windows is an abomination forced upon me at work.
I have 2 iMac 27″ late 2009 with i7 chips that run High Sierra almost as fast as the new machines since I put SSD’s in them – I am surprised that they will not be supported. I also put a SSD in my late 2011 MacBook Pro and it runs circles around some of the newer laptops as well. I am sad that the new OS will not run on them.. These old machines are still really fast especially with High Sierra!
Again, the initial developer beta has more limited support than the release version will have. Please watch the keynote and read the complete release notes.
It also depends on if your GPU can support metal or not. It’s possible, since OpenGL is being depreciated, that anything pre 2011 with an nvidia GPU may not work. But again, this is the first developer beta, not even close to the release product. We’re looking at half a dozen betas at least before this is released.
Fine, Apple make another version that works on older hardware …
Not a huge problem. Somebody will write a patch for the older machines.
Sorry to say, bugs and all, Microsoft does a much better job of longevity than Apple …
It’s not the processors, it’s to do with graphics requirement that Metal requires. My late 2012 MacMini just scrapes in for Mojave, but my great, top of the line i7 2010 MacBook Pro (with the last MBP matte screen), and over a year ago rejuvenated (with a 2T SSD), doesn’t. Still it’s working great with High Sierra (including the latest update with messages in the cloud), so it’s got another few years good work in it yet. By then it’ll be over ten years old. Can’t complain.
It sucks that a rich Apple can’t put more effort into ensuring older hardware is supported.
Apple makes top of line hardware. Shame they don’t put the same effort in software support.
Instead of a database of supported hardware, how about Apple software tests hardware performance and advises the user.
“It sucks that a rich Apple can’t put more effort into ensuring older hardware is supported.”
Yes, it “sucks” big time! Windows easily did it with XP for how many years? Apple used to be consumer friendly to Mac users FIRST. Now they are indifferent and neglecting us like a bald redheaded stepchild in favor of the leader of the pack — the cash cow iPhone.
Why they can’t do BOTH is the billion dollar question …
As someone using a 2007 iMac and been in the market for a *good* non-all-in-one Mac since 2014, you’ll find that even on an old version of Mac OS you’ll have little problem running new software. Only now are software developers beginning to drop El Capitan.
A 2007 iMac? Did it ever have video issues requiring a solder reflow for the video card?
I’ve had two 20″ 2006 and two 20″ 2007 iMacs (for different family members) and all eventually burned up the video connections from heat.
The only iMacs from that era I didn’t lose to heat were all 17″.
Apple seems to have forgotten with “planned obsolescence” that they need, you know, new hardware to sell. A “Brand New” 2014 Mac Mini is not new hardware.
I have a mid 2011 iMac, would be happy to upgrade if Apple made new iMac’s with a larger screen.
If Apple doesn’t release an updated Mac Pro soon, I suspect an updated OS won’t be as useful or welcome as it might otherwise be. From what I’ve read here it seems that Apple’s Mojave release may not work especially well on older machines that at present are on the supported list without a graphics card update, and maybe not even then. I doubt Trashcan owners carry Apple forward much longer in OS development. Well past time to put the horse back in front of the cart.