I have an early 2015 MacBook Pro, with 3.1 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3, 250 SSD (18 G free), currently running Mojave, and, it’s a bit sluggish already. I saw one previous question regarding updating a ’15 MacBook Pro to Monterey and performance issues, yet there were no comments on the computer’s subsequent performance. Does anyone have any experience with this same computer and upgrade?
Thanks in advance.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14
See:
Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support
Get an external drive and move some stuff onto it. After the upgrade you can move stuff backup. Excess free drive space is needed to to move stuff around during the upgrade process. Monterey takes little more disk space than Mojave.
Some users have experienced problems skipping macOS upgrades. Thus, I would first go to Catalina, then to Big Sur and finally to Monterey.
You can get those older macOS versions here
How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support
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.
If one gets an Error message in the Apple Store or no ” Get Button “ Replace the https in the page's address to macappstore. Credit to Contributor @Niel
Computer Qualify for the Monterey upgrade
Point # 3 - Empty Space Requirements >> If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, your Mac needs 26GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, your Mac needs up to 44GB of available storage.
Point # 4 - Empty Space afterwards - it is suggested to keep at least 15% of the Drive Total Capacity as Empty Space for good operations of the computer and for additional updates to Monterey to download, expand and install.
macOS Big Sur 11 hardware requirements
macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements
Caution - jumping over all the newer versions and directly to Big Sur / 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.
Note that:
If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, your Mac needs 26GB of available storage to upgrade.
You say you only have 18GB free.
Welcome and yes the incremental upgrade process may take some additional time to eventually reach the desired version of macOS but at the same time, less risky than jumping Mojave to Monterey in one leap.
Much has changed since Mojave to Catalina to Big Sur to Monterey
I can tell you my 2016 13" MBP No Touch with an internal SSD runs very well on Monterey.
I'd suspect a slow hard drive to be more problematic than the year.
Thank you. That has been a problem for ANY updates through iTunes, which requires a backup first. As you noted, I do not have the required storage. You may have noticed, that at Level 1 (8 points), I am not quite concurrent with this forum as it relates to my situation, or its resolution. Pickin’ up a few GBs here and there, but 8? After documents and photos “sent to the cloud”? They're gonna be hard to find. Thoughts? (Old apps not used in several years I've already deleted.)
Again, in advance, thanks!
Thank you for this. Your comment concerning applications requiring OS updates for their ability to update is what has lead me to this point.
The incremental upgrade process does seem to make sense, thanks for bringing that to my attention.
As for backups, nightly through Time Machine, but only the critical data. I do have an external HD, which is, you guessed it, full. Live music takes a lot of space. Time for another EHD, I suppose.
Again, thanks to all.
Upgrading to Monterey OS
