Upgrade Yosemite
I currently have a mac air (early 2015) with 249GB free space. It's Yosemite 10.10.5. If I upgrade directly to Monterey, will it slow down my mac? Would it be better to an older upgrade?
MacBook Air
Question marked as
Depending on the Hardware - SSD Drive is best for moving up in macOS. At least 8 GB RAM is almost a requirements especially from Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey. The are functional with 4 GB but IMHO would be a big disappointment if not 8 GB
The Age of this computer will Govern what newer version of macOS it will Qualify to install. Use About this Mac from the Apple Icon on Desktop - the required Information will be there.
With the above information in-hand - follow this How to get old versions of macOS and verify what version this computer Qualifies to install. For Best results use Safari to commence the download as Others may not work.
Notation - If moving from Yosemite to Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey - suggest taking a step to High Sierra before attempting anything higher. It will better position the computer for the APFS Drive conversion and any EFI Boot ROM required for future upgrades of macOS.
Make Time Machine Backup is very useful and can be used to Revert to Previous Working macOS
Notation - Mojave is the Last version to support 32 bit applications / extensions and Drivers. Catalina, Big Sur & Monterey supports only 64 bit and there is no workaround.
Suggest using Go64 to find 32 bit application before attempting the upGrade. Some or many of the Application already installed may required update or upGrades to 64 Bit Versions.
Are there any AntiVirus, Disk Cleaner, Optimizers, Un-installers, etc installed which should be removed as per Developers Instructions. They are useless, unneeded, cause havoc and interfere with the normal operation of the OS and may even Corrupt the OS requiring a Reinstallation