How can I update my iMac mid 2011 to something better than High Sierra 10.13? I do not think my 2011 iMac is compatible for Mojave? I have no updates available and the app store says macOS Mojave 10.14 is not supported.
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
The short answer:
You can't.
The longer answer:
In "the old days" you would download various Apple developed software packages separately. Now many of these things are bundled with the system installer and update packages for a particular system version. So you would get a higher iMovie version as part of a 10.3 system updater. Since High Sierra is no longer having components updated it is unlikely you will ever see a higher iMovie version until you upgrade your operating system version which in your case will require a newer computer. Even if you could somehow extract iMove from an updater designed for OS 10.5 it would probably refuse to run.
The short answer:
You can't.
The longer answer:
In "the old days" you would download various Apple developed software packages separately. Now many of these things are bundled with the system installer and update packages for a particular system version. So you would get a higher iMovie version as part of a 10.3 system updater. Since High Sierra is no longer having components updated it is unlikely you will ever see a higher iMovie version until you upgrade your operating system version which in your case will require a newer computer. Even if you could somehow extract iMove from an updater designed for OS 10.5 it would probably refuse to run.
Thank you Limnos, that makes total sense. Would you know how I would be able to download iMovie with my current version? The app store says "iMovie can’t be installed on “Macintosh HD” because macOS version 10.15.6 or later is required."
I suppose it depends upon the features for which you are looking. I get the impression from what others have said over the years that Apple tries to simplify some things which then lose functionality and features as a result. I don't know about recent iMovie but that was certainly a complaint about a decade ago. I think one thing about a recent iMovie is Apple abandoned support for old, pre-h264 codecs. In other words if you had video shot maybe more than 8 years ago it likely wouldn't open in iMovie directly. You'd have to re-code it once to get it into iMovie, then another time getting it out of iMovie. Each time you do it you'd lost quality. May not matter if you're 15 years old and have nothing taken more than 8 years ago but for some of us with motion-jpeg video still in our collection it's incentive not to upgrade. Well, we can always play them in a third party player such as VLC but as far as Apple is concerned they are antiquated junk and not supported. Just FYI.
For Mojave you need an iMac introduced in late 2012 or later. You can't upgrade to anything higher than what you currently have.
Thanks again Limnos! I guess it's time to upgrade to a new Macbook.
Upgrade to Mojave from High Sierra 10.13.6
