Upgrade paths available to Intel Macs
This shows the upgrade paths up to Mojave for all Intel Macs, and their Model Identifiers. Note the horizontal
scrollbar on the bottom of this tip to show the Mac Pro compatibility is beyond the width of this tip's layout. Every Mac released on or after an operating system release can't run an older version of Mac OS. The one exception is Mac OS X 10.6 Server which can run on Parallels on newer Macs. For more on release dates, see the identifying articles are found on this tip:
How to find your Mac's model and age?
| 10.6 compatible - 10.6.8 | MacBook 1,1 | iMac 4,x | MacBook Pro 1,x | Mac Mini 1,x | ||
| 10.6.3 to 10.7.5 compatible | MacBook with removable battery | iMac 5,x; 6,x | MacBook Pro 2,x | Mac Mini 2,x | MacBook Air 1,x | Mac Pro 1,x-2,x |
| 10.8 - 10.11 preloaded with 10.4 | Late 2008 MacBook Aluminum 5,1 | iMac Mid 2007 7,1 | mid 2007 MacBook Pro 3,1 - 4,2 | |||
| 10.8 -10.11 preloaded with 10.5 | MacBook White Early 2009 5,2 | iMac Early 2008 8,1, 9,1 | MacBook Pro 5,1 - 6,2 | Mac Mini early 2009 3,1 | MacBook Air Late 2008 2,1 | Mac Pro Early 2008 3,1 and 4,1 |
| 10.12 & 10.13* compatible with 10.6.3 retail. Also 10.11 compatible through 10.6.8 App Store. | MacBook Late 2009 6,1 | iMac Late 2009 10,1 and 11,1 | ||||
| 10.12 & 10.13* compatible with system specific 10.6.3 or later | MacBook 7,1 Mid 2010 | iMac 11,2 Mid-2010 | MacBook Pro mid-2010 7,1 | Mac Mini Mid-2010 4,1 | MacBook Air Late 2010 3,1 | Mac Pro Mid-2010 5,1 |
| 10.12 compatible & 10.14* compatible | MacBook early 2015 8,1 | Imac Late 2012 12,1 | MacBook Pro Mid-2012 9,1 | Mac Mini Late 2012 6,1 | MacBook Air Mid 2012 5,1 |
* Note starting with 10.13, Apple introduced APFS. This automatically formats solid state and thumb drives when
installing operating systems, and renders those drives invisible with older operating systems.
