I have heard that installing Monterey can "brick" my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) and or slow it down to an irritating speed. Would it be wiser to upgrade from my current Mojave 10.14.6 (18G9323) to Big Sur 11.?
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14
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.
Safari will open a redirect and open the Apple Store where the download can commence.
macOS Big Sur 11 hardware requirements
macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements
Caution - jumping over all the newer versions and directly to Monterey on Qualifying computers is Technically possible - there are those who have attempted and were successful. Then there are those who attempted and had less than good results.
If this is a Production or Mission Critical Set-up - a more prudent and measure approach is suggested.
The above is from observations on the Apple Support Community Forums and IMHO
Tips Big Sir Upgrade Released Nov 2020
Tips Monterey Upgrade Released Oct 25, 2021
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
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.
Safari will open a redirect and open the Apple Store where the download can commence.
macOS Big Sur 11 hardware requirements
macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements
Caution - jumping over all the newer versions and directly to Monterey on Qualifying computers is Technically possible - there are those who have attempted and were successful. Then there are those who attempted and had less than good results.
If this is a Production or Mission Critical Set-up - a more prudent and measure approach is suggested.
The above is from observations on the Apple Support Community Forums and IMHO
Tips Big Sir Upgrade Released Nov 2020
Tips Monterey Upgrade Released Oct 25, 2021
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
The answer to your question has to be answered by you, presumably after you have done some good research. That said, I offer the following thoughts for consideration. Monterey will not "brick" your computer. This has been alleged about every newly released OS in recent history. The problems are generally found to be with already installed conflicting apps when the investigation is completed. Depending on which OS you are upgrading from, it can have an effect on the computer's speed since Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey do take more RAM to run than older operating systems do. How much RAM do you have installed. Ideally it will be 16 GB or more. I like having my Macs upgraded to the newer OSs since they offer increased security and more features. I do the same with my installed apps. So far that has served me well. Be aware that you may have to install a new print driver, should your printer stop working. Also, some older 32 bit apps will no longer work.
In my opinion Mojave was one of the best OS that Apple released. That being said Big Sur will not be any better than Monterey as to function so if you were to decide to upgrade i would just do Monterey. Like Ronasara stated any older 32bit apps will no longer run on Big Sur, Catalina or Monterey.
I would as a matter of course upgrade to BS, since Minty isn't finished yet... as lomg as you don't need any 32 bit apps.
I have heard that installing Monterey can brick my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) and or slow it down to an irritating speed. Would it be wiser to upgrade from my current Mojave 10.14.6 (18G9323) to Big Sur 11.?
