Big Sur support on iMac late 2013

It all likely comes down to total number of platforms that

need to be qualified and how many are "guesstimated" as active

and then the time and money involved to qualify them for the new OS.

Once a line is drawn in the sand to release something to Beta and

rough final release, qualification time is a huge factor. I am sure that

anyone here that has worked on large software projects have

seen this.

Based on this, just a guess, but there are probably a significantly larger

number of 2013 MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros in the wild than iMacs

hence letting them "under the wire"?

Just to add Macbook Pro 15” Late 2013 have Intel Iris 5200 with GT750m so that will help to run new Mac OS because at least one GPU have supported new futures. But like I said will be enough easy to install Big Sur on even 2012 mac’s anyway by going a bit around.

Fact: 21.5" base 2013 iMac has Iris Pro 5200, not supported in Big Sur

Fact: 13" base MacBook Pro has Iris 5100, supported

Fact: Iris Pro 5200 supports DirectX 11.2/12

Fact: Iris Pro 5200 supports OpenGL 4.3

Fact: Iris Pro 5200 supports OpenCl 1.2

Fact: Iris Pro 5200 supports Vulkan 1.1.80

Fact: Iris Pro 5200 supports Shader Model 5.1

For base 2013 27: iMac

Fact: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Supports DirectX 12

Fact: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Supports OpenGL 4.6 (isn't that better than 4.3?)

Fact: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Supports OpenCL 1.2

Fact: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Supports Vulcan 1.1.126 (isn't that better than 1.1.80?)

Fact: NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M Supports Shader Model 5.1

You still have not proven your argument that graphics is the reason

because you did not research all the data.

From searching for the past several days for possible

answers to Catalina Macs not Supported in Big Sur,

there are two items that seem prevalent. First, Intel

has in fact dropped support for some of their older

silicon for any security patches (perhaps one motivator

in Apple's push to ARM since they will have control?).

The other is also security patch support for older WiFi

silicon with Apple's push for a more secure platform.

Then, Apple engineers are the only ones who know the true

reason(s) Catalina capable Macs were dropped from Big Sur.

In the mean time as an aside, a couple days ago a dozen or so

iMacs popped up in Apple Refurbs and a couple seemed to fit my

needs. So, I went to sharpen my accounting pencil to determine

what made sense to get and how to pay for it. Two days later

went back and all but two were gone and they were 21.5".

I guess the saying holds true, "He who hesitates is lost".

Maybe it's because of Wi-Fi.

Some people hacked the Big Sur and installed it on 2013 iMacs earlier this year. He found out that Wi-Fi failed to work on those models.

There has been some discussions on this issue: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/late-2013-imac-21-5in-macos-big-sur-question.2242212/.

marode23 wrote:

..

According to that info Big Sur must even run on 2012 Macs.

...

That page hasn't been updated yet because Big Sur has not been released

yet (11/12, 11 AM EST).

The Big Sur Page clearly shows:

RebelxAngel wrote:

..., its not fair at all, ...

Who ever told you life was fair.

BTW, I have a late 2013 27" iMac and I can live with

the fact that it ca't run Big Sur. It will get security

updates for a couple years so I will just save my money

until then (perhaps a monster Apple Silicon iMac?)

philoo84 wrote:

The installation is coming i have follow this

https://www.uubyte.com/install-macos-big-sur-on-unsupported-mac.html#:~:text=Step%201%3A%20First%20you%20need,installation%20on%20your%20unsupported%20Mac.&text=Step%202%3A%20After%20you%20have,3%3A%20Click%20on%20Install%20Assistant.

you have the link to download the files

i will tell you if it works

If you are wiling to trust some "hacker" with your machine

and whatever "nasty" downloads may come along with it

as well as being just plain unstable and unreliable. And then

there is also the possibility of bricking your iMac.

No thanks! I will stick with Catalina security updates for a

year or two and save my money for a new computer. With

the M1 thermal efficiencies (or what ever Apple silicon will

end up in iMacs), expect a dramatic change in design.

It's engineered obsolescence. They've picked a date and are trying to force an upgrade. I don't understand either; I have the same machine—it was a top of the range iMac in 2013, and it's signficantly quicker and more capable then the "supported" iMacs. Other than the date.

Do you have a degree in computer hardware design? If not then you have no business claiming your older iMac could easily be supported if Apple wanted to. You have no credibility in claiming planned obsolescence. So your machine cannot run Big sur. Does that mean it’s now useless for the daily tasks it has been and continues to perform?

well, Apple will for sure have a serious reason to exclude iMacs late 2013. Nobody knows yet what issues might occur later after patching to Big Sur anyway. This might be issues that won't be recognized immediately but only after a while when your system gets more and more instable. I'm not yet brave enough to patch. At least not before Apple provided more details for their reasons and not before they commented to patching.

Any reason for this limit? An i7 iMac 27 is not powerful enough? I has to be retina? (but iMac 2014 21 is not retina)

...right.

but still don't understand why a late 2013 I7 27inch can't be used, but a 2014 i5 21 is ok.

From what I've found a document update on 2020-05-30 says that the only 2013 iMac that are now vintage are the early 2013 21.5 iMac

yes :) , but in a few days I think a new patch will be available.

Wait and see.