Big sur not available for 2012 MacBook Pro?

Dogs_are_great wrote:

Is apple activly trying to discontiue support for older macbooks? I have 1 2012 Macbook pro-15 Retina and Big sur installer says "this update cannot be installed on this computer" although the app store says this computer is compatible

Your computer does not have the adequate hardware to support the latest 'state of the art ' macOS.

The tech specs state for Big Sur—

Tech specs—Big Sur

• MacBook (2015 or later)

• MacBook Air (2013 or later)

• MacBook Pro (Late 2013 or later)

• Mac mini (2014 or later)

• iMac (2014 or later)

• iMac Pro (2017 or later)

• Mac Pro (2013 or later)

ref: How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur w/tech specs

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201475

You are quite capable of running Catalina macOS 10.15.7 it is still actively being supported for a few more years, so you are not dead in the water.

If you have issue — verify you are using the Safari browser to download/initiate the macOS links:

older macOS installer backups on this server:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211683

Dogs_are_great wrote:

The question I have is it's not a question of processing power since it has as good specs as most of the computers that the update is available for. So why is the update not available for it?

Lion required a 64-bit Intel processor, and Mojave required a Metal-compatible GPU the older Macs fell to the way side. This is how technology works.

Similar to last Mojave upgrade, where Apple introduced a series of hardware requirements based around support for its Metal 2 application programming interface (API), the move made waves for a sub-set of Apple users still utilizing older hardware. The main issue stemmed from Apple deprecating OpenGL support in favor of its proprietary Metal API, promising faster, more efficient graphics processing and can be utilized across all OSs on all model lines.

Luckily your 2012 Macbook pro-15 Retina pasted this test, as well as macOS Catalina.

Apple finally making the leap from the 'venerable' OS X/macOS 10.x code to the new 11.0 base. Bringing much more than a numerical change, the new version of macOS and is in reality geared towards the M1 chip as we move forward into the future.

We have seen the addition of the T1 chip in 2016, the T2 chip in 2018 adding security features along the way to protecting the end user locally, over the internet and synch protocols involving the other iDevices.

Processing power is but one component in a complex calculus of compatibility issue. The Big Sur list eliminates support for all Macs with Intel’s 3rd-generation Ivy Bridge processors, all Macs with 802.11n Wi-Fi, and most Macs that still use Nvidia GPUs.

The new macOS 11 Big Sur has to be in compliance with the other state of the art software compatible with: iOS 14, iPad OS 14, TVOS 14, and WatchOS 7 as we move forward, including the WiFi protocols, Bluetooth protocols .

Big Sur is gene rally a 4th-generation Haswell processor and a Metal-compatible GPU from Intel or AMD, plus the Apple Silicon Macs the M1 chip.

But more recently Apple has taken to dropping support for Macs right around the time when they become “obsolete,” according to the company’s tech support policies. Obsolete products are those whose sales were discontinued more than 7 years ago.

We can not speculate here on Apples reasoning or rational in the their decision making process according to the TOU in the communities...

Simply put your 2012 Macbook pro-15 Retina did not make the cut. I can say it never pays to get too far behind in either the hardware or software. Full stop.

If you do not think this fair, or would like to register your complaint concerning Apple's policy, procedures or updates

—you can submit your Apple Feedback hhttp://www.apple.com/feedback

—you can call Customer Support  (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)