“macOS Sierra, the successor to OS X El Capitan, was announced overnight, but Apple is dropping support for multiple Mac models,” Stephen Withers reports for iTWire.
“The minimum configurations for macOS Sierra are the late 2009 MacBook and iMac, and the 2010 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and Mac Pro,” Withers reports. “Reasons for dropping support for older models are varied. Some will suspect forced obsolescence, but that might just be a different way of looking at a decision that the absence of certain hardware capabilities (eg, Bluetooth LE) would detract too much from the overall user experience of the new operating system.”
Withers reports, “And it must be said that the performance of older models — especially those that had not been upgraded with additional RAM and an SSD — under recent operating systems left something to be desired.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Time marches on and, with tech companies that push the envelope, obsolescence comes soon enough, it need not be forced.
End of the line for me, as I’m running the mid-2008 iMac, which just this month is eight years old. I never got such an extended lifetime out of my earlier PCs. Still, I never upgraded to El Capitan. And I mostly browse and write on my iPad (4th gen) anyway.
AppleInsider posted a list version of the compatible hardware, as seen on the WWDC keynote slide:
Apple reveals macOS Sierra hardware compatibility list
Here is what Apple has posted so far (as of today) about Sierra at their Newsroom:
Apple previews major update with macOS Sierra
The big up and coming technology not announced at the WWDC keynote is the ‘Apple File System‘, aka APFS. It is being developed to replace HFS+.
APFS is not yet ready for prime time and won’t be in Sierra. We’re likely to see it accessible to developers some time in 2017.
What’s ‘big’ about APFS is that geeks have been waiting for its features since 2008 when Apple introduced the ZFS Developer Preview. (ZFS originally stood for ‘Zettabyte File System’).
ZFS is a new filesystem from Sun Microsystems which has been ported by Apple to Mac OS X. The initial (10.5.0) release of Leopard will restrict ZFS to read-only, so no ZFS pools or filesystems can be modified or created. This Developer Preview will enable full read/write capability, which includes the creation/destruction of ZFS pools and filesystems….
By the end of 2013, the project was dead at Apple. It was followed by a couple open source attempts to port ZFS to Mac. The still active project I know of is at OpenZFSOnOSX.org
APFS offers many of the features of ZFS. Hopefully, this project will finish development and succeed, catching up macOS with several modern file system features.
[I’d post some relevant links, but I’ve already used up my allotted two for this thread. AppleInsider has an article about APFS entitled:
”Apple File System’ will scale from Apple Watch to Macs, replace HFS+“]
Correction: A Preview of APFS is being provided to WWDC developers alongside the beta of 10.12 Sierra.
And… Apple will be have a presentation of APFS this afternoon at WWDC:
Introducing Apple File System
System Frameworks | 701
The Apple File System (APFS) is the next-generation file system designed to scale from an Apple Watch to a Mac Pro. APFS is optimized for Flash/SSD storage, and engineered with encryption as a primary feature. Learn about APFS benefits versus HFS+ and how to make sure your file system code is compatible.
Tuesday, June 14, 1:00 PM–1:40 PM
Nob Hill
The compatibility list says:
2010 and later
MacBook Air
MacBook Pro
Mac mini
Mac Pro
Does that mean your Mac Pro has to be 5,1 or newer?
What a great question. I didn’t even think about it. Originally I assumed they meant the current cooling tower Mac Pro. But I believe you are correct. That would mean macOS 10.12 Sierra ‘should’ run on the MacPro5,1 (Mid 2010) on up.
I can’t do both of my machines……Early MB 17″ and Early Mac Pro. I wouldn’t have a problem, but when older Macbooks will run it and a Pro model won’t something is wrong. I’d like to know why as I don’t see why my 17″ MB Pro can’t run it as it runs El Capitan fine. Plus I have the HD upgraded to an SSD so that helps as well.
It could simply be something like Bluetooth LE support, or specific 64 bit extensions not present in the 1st and 2nd generation core2 machines. I find it strange that 09 Mac Pro’s won’t run it, but it could easily be an extension thing with that generation of processor.
That being said, ~8 years is about how long Apple has supported macs since the PowerPC days. For example my top end G4 quicksilver from 2001 can run leopard, but the sawtooth in my basement can’t. It’s probably just a generational thing.
I would love nothing more than to have a shiny new 15″ MBP to run macOS Sierra on. alas, that doesn’t appear to be within my control.
My almost 10 year old iMac at work runs El Cap perfectly fine, but sadly won’t run Sierra… but hey, it gives me another excuse to request an upgrade 😀
Must be a 2007 iMac like mine. We’ve spent many moments together, through two hard disk replacements and memory upgrades.
What to do with an old iMac after the security updates stop coming?
Well, it is time for a new MBPro anyway.
I know I’m living on borrowed time with a 2010 MBPro & one failed USB port. 6 years is a great lifespan.
Mine is a late 2008 Macbook Pro 15″. Aside from the crappy battery life compared to todays new MB, it runs great on El Cap. Turning it into a Home Sharing File Server when I upgrade to a new MBP in the future.
With everything that macOS Sierra has in it, you might not be happy with the speed trying to run it on mac as old as 2008.
10.6.8 still works great, will less frustration. Actually I still use Tiger on one of my Macs. (But will up to Sierra on 2 others.)
Just because Apple moves on doesn’t mean your system stops working.
I will not buying any replacement Mac until Apple offers hardware worth upgrading to.
Apple, is a cutting edge 17″ MacBook Pro too much to ask?