I am unable to upgrade my Late 2009 iMac to the newest OS Catalina

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Level 1

8 points

I am unable to upgrade my Late 2009 iMac to the newest OS Catalina

I would like to know why I am unable to upgrade my Mac to the newest OS Catalina. I know it says latest I can download is high Sierra. I don’t like that so I’m currently using El Capitan. The system requirements I meet as I have already replaced the hard drive with a evo 860 SSD and added max ram to 16gig. I also have a 1T external HD. So the system requirements I meet, just not the date of production basically. My question is WHY aren’t I able to upgrade? What is the reason my iMac can’t? Does anyone know why? Is there something else Mac does to stop older machines from updating to latest OS? Is there anything I can do to upgrade my iMac further to make it compatible?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Jan 4, 2020 2:57 PM

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Answer 1

KiltedTim

Level 10

226,008 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:02 PM in response to Weezybreezy

You can't upgrade to Catalina because your machine does not contain the hardware required to run it.

Namely, a graphics controller that supports Metal.

Your machine does not meet the hardware requirements to run either Mojave or Catalina.

It's time to move on. That machine is now over 10 years old. It's had a good life. Let it go.

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Answer 2

Niel

Level 10

741,911 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:02 PM in response to Weezybreezy

Because the computer's graphics card isn't capable of Metal. It's not upgradable.

(177633)

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Answer 3

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,296 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:43 PM in response to Weezybreezy

The one used in 2009 iMacs is removable but there is not a Mac-compatible replacement that fits and is also Metal-capable.

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Answer 4

Weezybreezy Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 4, 2020 3:42 PM in response to KiltedTim

I’ve only had it for a year and it wasn’t used for 8 years. It’s basically brand new. It runs like a dream. Faster than my 2017 MacBook Pro. It doesn’t make that much of a difference if I can’t upgrade OS it still can do everything it needs to. Just thought it would be nice to have more options. So nah. I don’t need to move on or let it go.

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