What system software can my Mac run?

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Update 12-July-2020: Added information about macOS Big Sur and recent computer models.
Update 30-June-2021: Added information about macOS Monterey and recent computer models.
Update 28-June 2022: Added information about macOS Ventura and recent computer models.

This blog entry is a little different from my usual. Normally I have handy tips and tricks for the average user. But I wanted to make a reference document both for myself and for anyone else who might need it. I will try to update this document every year when the new system software is announced.

Below you will find tables of each model of Mac from the past several years, a list of all OSes they are capable of running, and a table of all OSes with useful details.

Since 2013, Apple releases system software upgrades every fall, and unfortunately from time to time, some older Mac models don’t make the cut. There is no precise pattern, but usually, your computer will get OS upgrades for about 7 to 8 years, and then you’ll receive security patches for another two years. In the other direction, you can never downgrade past the original OS for your model.

What Mac do I have?

To find out what system software you can run, you’ll first need to determine which Mac you have.

Click the Apple menu and choose “About this Mac…”. If you are running OS X 10.7 through 10.10 you will also need to click “More Info”.

Apple’s naming convention has varied over the years, but generally, you will see the model (MacBook Pro) and the variation (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports). The specifics of the variation may be important, especially if it has a particular time of year. An Early 2012 MacBook Pro is very different from a Late 2012 MacBook Pro.

If you are running OS X 10.6 or earlier you will need to click the Apple menu > About this Mac > More Info and look for the Model Identifier. These older versions of the Mac system software do not use user-friendly names. I have included the Model Identifier in my tables below.

From time to time I’ve seen some computers running newer system software that don’t show the model name. In that case, you will need to click the “System Report” button and look for the Model Identifier.

About each version of macOS

First, here are the specifics of each version of macOS that was ever released for Intel Mac.

The prerequisite column could be useful if, for example, you have a Mid-2010 MacBook running 10.6 that you want to upgrade to 10.13. You’ll see that you must make a stopover at 10.10 along the way, and there is a download link for 10.10 in the table.

Please pay attention to the “Final Security Patch” column. Running system software that is no longer getting security patches is risky, and I never recommend using these older versions with a connection to the internet.

NameVersionRelease DateFinal Security PatchWhere To GetUpgrade FromKey Features
macOS Ventura13October 24, 2022Fall 2025 (predicted)Mac App Store10.12Send Later for Mail, Passkeys, Unsend and Edit for Messages, Family Sharing for Photos, Stage Manager, Continuity Camera
macOS Monterey12October 25, 2021Fall 2024 (predicted)Mac App Store10.9Focus, AirPlay Receiver, FaceTime SharePlay, Universal Control, Shortcuts for Mac
macOS Big Sur iconmacOS Big Sur11November 12, 2020Fall 2023 (predicted)Mac App Store10.9Cosmetic redesign, Control Center, Messages/Maps ported from iPadOS, support for Apple processors
macOS Catalina10.15October 7, 2019July 2022Mac App Store10.9Find My app, Sidecar, Music/Podcasts/TV replaces iTunes
macOS Mojave10.14September 24, 2018July 2021Mac App Store10.8Dark Mode, Desktop Stacks
macOS High Sierra10.13September 25, 2017November 2020Mac App Store10.8Apple File System, Metal 2, HEVC and HEIF support
macOS Sierra10.12September 20, 2016October 2019Download10.7Siri, Apple Pay, Desktop & Documents in iCloud
OS X El Capitan10.11September 30, 2015September 2018Direct download or Mac App Store10.6Public Transit in Maps, Metal API
OS X Yosemite10.10October 16, 2014August 2017Direct Download10.6UI redesign without skeuomorphism, Continuity & Handoff, Photos replaces iPhoto
OS X Mavericks10.9October 22, 2013September 2016Unavailable10.6iBooks, Apple Maps, first OS X upgrade to be free
OS X Mountain Lion10.8July 25, 2012September 2015Direct Download10.6iMessage, Reminders, Notes, Notification Center
Mac OS X Lion10.7July 20, 2011October 2014Direct Download10.6Launchpad, auto-hiding scrollbars, Mission Control, iCloud
Mac OS X Snow Leopard10.6August 28, 2009February 2014(unofficial) from Amazon10.4Stability Refinements
Mac OS X Leopard10.5October 26, 2007June 2011Unavailable10.4Time Machine, Spaces, 64-bit support, MobileMe
Mac OS X Tiger10.4April 29, 2005September 2009Upgrade not available for Inteln/aFirst release for Intel, Spotlight, Automator, Dashboard, Dictionary
Mac OS X Panther10.3October 24, 2003March 2007UnavailableFast user switching, Exposé, Font Book, FileVault, Safari
Mac OS X Jaguar10.2October 23, 2002January 2007UnavailableCUPS printing system, Universal Access, HFS+ Journaling, Bonjour
Mac OS X Puma10.1September 29, 2001November 2006UnavailableDVD video player, Image Capture
Mac OS X Cheetah10.0March 24, 2001November 2006UnavailableDock, Address Book, Terminal, original release of Mac OS X which was completely built on top of FreeBSD/UNIX.
NameVersionRelease DateFinal Security PatchWhere To GetUpgrade FromKey Features

About downgrading OS versions

Downgrading OS versions in-place can be disastrous to the stability of your computer because all of your settings files have been updated to work with newer software. Instead, you should back up your data, create a USB installer for the version you want to install, and use the USB installer to erase your computer and install the old OS. Then you can manually restore your documents and reinstall your software if needed. If Terminal is beyond your ability or you want something easier, DiskMaker X is great.

One fringe case: if you have recently upgraded to a new OS version you can boot into macOS Recovery mode and restore from a Time Machine backup, which will also downgrade your software to the version you had at the date you select. Any changes to files and settings made since that date will also be rolled back, so this option is only viable immediately after you upgrade and find that the upgrade doesn’t work for you.

Mac system software compatibility

MacBook

Not to be confused with MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)MacBook5,1
MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)MacBook5,2
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009)MacBook5,2
MacBook (13-inch, Late 2009)MacBook6,1
MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2010)MacBook7,1
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)MacBook8,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016)MacBook9,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)MacBook10,1macOS Big Sur icon
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0

MacBook Air

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
MacBook Air (Late 2008)MacBookAir2,1
MacBook Air (Mid 2009)MacBookAir2,1
MacBook Air (11-inch, Late 2010)MacBookAir3,1
MacBook Air (13-inch, Late 2010)MacBookAir3,2
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2011)MacBookAir4,1
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)MacBookAir4,2
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012)MacBookAir5,1
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012)MacBookAir5,2
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)MacBookAir6,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013)MacBookAir6,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014)MacBookAir6,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014)MacBookAir6,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)MacBookAir7,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)MacBookAir7,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)MacBookAir7,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018)MacBookAir8,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2019)MacBookAir8,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2020)MacBookAir9,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (M1, 2020)MacBookAir10,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Air (M2, 2022)Mac14,2
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0

MacBook Pro

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid/Late 2007, 2.4/2.2GHz)MacBookPro3,1
MacBook Pro (17-inch Mid/Late 2007, 2.4 GHz)MacBookPro3,1
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2008)MacBookPro4,1
MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2008)MacBookPro4,1
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)MacBookPro5,1
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2008)MacBookPro4,1
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009)MacBookPro5,2
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)MacBookPro5,5
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz, Mid 2009)MacBookPro5,4
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009)MacBookPro5,3
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)MacBookPro5,2
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010)MacBookPro7,1
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010)MacBookPro6,2
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010)MacBookPro6,1
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)MacBookPro8,1
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011)MacBookPro8,2
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)MacBookPro8,3
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)MacBookPro8,1
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)MacBookPro8,2
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)MacBookPro8,3
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)MacBookPro9,2
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)MacBookPro9,1
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)MacBookPro10,1
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)MacBookPro10,2
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2013)MacBookPro10,2
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013)MacBookPro10,1
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)MacBookPro11,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)MacBookPro11,2 or MacBookPro11,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)MacBookPro11,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)MacBookPro11,2 or MacBookPro11,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)MacBookPro12,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)MacBookPro11,4 or MacBookPro11,5macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)MacBookPro13,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)MacBookPro13,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)MacBookPro13,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports)MacBookPro14,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)MacBookPro14,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)MacBookPro14,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)MacBookPro15,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)MacBookPro15,1 or MacBookPro15,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports)MacBookPro15,2macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019)MacBookPro15,1 or MacBookPro15,3macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2019, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports)MacBookPro15,4macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)MacBookPro16,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)MacBookPro17,1macOS Big Sur icon
MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021)MacBookPro18,1
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021)MacBookPro18,2
MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)Mac14,7
MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2023)Mac14,9 (M2 Pro) or Mac14,5 (M2 Max)
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2023)Mac14,9 (M2 Pro) or Mac14,5 (M2 Max)
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0

iMac

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
iMac (20-inch Mid 2007)iMac7,1
iMac (24-inch Mid 2007)iMac7,1
iMac (20-inch Early 2008)iMac8,1
iMac (24-inch Early 2008)iMac8,1
iMac (20-inch, Early 2009)iMac9,1
iMac (24-inch, Early 2009)iMac9,1
iMac (20-inch, Mid 2009)iMac9,1
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2009)iMac10,1
iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)iMac10,1 or iMac11,1 
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010)iMac11,2
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)iMac11,3
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)iMac12,1
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011)iMac12,2
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2011)iMac12,1
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)iMac13,1
iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)iMac13,2
iMac (21.5-inch, Early 2013)iMac13,1
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)iMac14,1 or iMac14,3
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)iMac14,2
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014)iMac14,4macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)iMac15,1macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015)iMac15,1macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)iMac16,1 or iMac16,2macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)iMac16,2macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015)iMac17,1macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (21.5-inch, 2017)iMac18,1macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2017)iMac18,2macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)iMac18,3macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019)iMac19,2macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019)iMac19,1macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020)iMac20,1 or iMac20,2macOS Big Sur icon
iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021)iMac21,1macOS Big Sur icon
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0

iMac Pro

NameIdentifier10.1310.1410.15111213
iMac Pro (2017)iMacPro1,1macOS Big Sur icon

Mac Mini

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
Mac mini (Early 2009)Macmini3,1
Mac mini (Late 2009)Macmini3,1
Mac mini (Mac OS X Server, Late 2009)Macmini3,1
Mac mini (Mid 2010)Macmini4,1
Mac mini Server (Mid 2010)Macmini4,1
Mac mini (Mid 2011)Macmini5,1 or Macmini5,2
Mac mini Server (Mid 2011)Macmini5,3
Mac mini (Late 2012)Macmini6,1 or Macmini6,2
Mac mini Server (Late 2012)Macmini6,2
Mac mini (Late 2014)Macmini7,1macOS Big Sur icon
Mac mini (2018)Macmini8,1macOS Big Sur icon
Mac mini (M1,2020)Macmini9,1macOS Big Sur icon
Mac mini (2023)Mac14,3 (M2) or Mac14,12 (M2 Pro)
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0

Mac Studio

NameIdentifier111213
Mac Studio (M1 Max)Mac13,1
Mac Studio (M1 Ultra)Mac13,2

Mac Pro

Not to be confused with MacBook Pro, Apple’s notebook computer.

NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.15111213
Mac Pro (Early 2008)MacPro3,1
Mac Pro (Early 2009)MacPro4,1
Mac Pro (Mid 2010)MacPro5,1
(note below)
Mac Pro Server (Mid 2010)MacPro5,1
(note below)
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)MacPro5,1
(note below)
Mac Pro Server (Mid 2012)MacPro5,1
(note below)
Mac Pro (Late 2013)MacPro6,1macOS Big Sur icon
Mac Pro (2019)MacPro7,1macOS Big Sur icon
Mac Pro (Rack, 2019)MacPro7,1macOS Big Sur icon
NameIdentifier10.910.1010.1110.1210.1310.1410.1511.012.013.0
Note: Mac Pro 2010 and 2012 can only run 10.14 Mojave if a Metal-capable GPU is installed

Further help

If you are an existing customer who needs help with this or if you have other questions, or if you are in San Francisco and interested in becoming a client I invite you to book an appointment with me. Otherwise, you may wish to contact Apple Support or find a local Apple consultant.

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