Can my MacBook Pro(Mid 2012) be upgraded from macOS Sierra?

Is my laptop able to take the next operating system? I am starting to have issues with certain things and for my sanity I think I might need to upgrade. I really like Sierra and I'm one of those people that don't like change. Is the next OS radically different? In a perfect world I would like everything to be exactly the same but now have certain software, like my web browser and Quicktime be able to be upgraded as well. I am also worried that I will lose Lightroom. This is the last one before Adobe started charging their subscription fee. I paid full price for it and Adobe is not squeezing me monthly for money, so I want to know if I upgrade if Lightroom will remain unchanged? I also have Scrivener, also below, will that continue to work?

I just use this laptop for light web browsing, watching DVDs, Scrivener and Lightroom. I'm very worried doing some upgrade will remove features that I use and like.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Jan 9, 2025 2:30 PM

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19 replies

Jan 10, 2025 6:45 PM in response to pirhan

pirhan wrote:

maybe I'll like Photos (not sure why I never tried it before)

Photos has several things going for it:

It is included with your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
You can use iCloud Photos to synchronize a photo library between your Mac and your iPhone or iPad.
The Mac version has a lot of the tools you need for basic adjustments, and makes it easy to crop photos to specific aspect ratios for printing.
You can use other photo editors as "plug-ins" from inside the Mac version of Photos.

On the other hand,

It insists on throwing all of your photos into the top-level library view, on all devices. It's nice that a photo can be in several albums, but the idea that you might have enough photos that a complete list would be difficult to work with seems to have escaped the designers.
It doesn't support for advanced editing tools, like layers.
You can create multiple Photos libraries on a Mac – but there are no tools for working with two libraries at one time, to make it easy to move photos between them.

Basically, it's a successor to iPhoto. A nice entry-level program – but not Aperture, not Lightroom, not Photoshop.

pirhan Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 12, 2025 3:54 PM in response to Servant of Cats

Servant of Cats wrote:

I'm more into photography than other people in my family, but I'm not a professional photographer. I have photos stored in several places; although they are backed up, they're not all neatly organized in something like Aperture, or Lightroom 6.14 / Classic, or any other application on that level.

That's like me. I dabble in photos but don't do anything professionally.

My husband got me a NAS/server so now I have everything in one place which makes organizing a lot easier. And now with a kid really feel the need to get organized so I can send family photos. And if Photos has options for prints, I will be using that lots.

I'm going to keep Lightroom for now as I think it will be better suited for my DSLR photos. Apple's Photos will be great for snapshots and videos of my family.

I would like to thank you for your help and listening. I feel much better about the upgrade and new features but happy that you all advised me so well regarding limitations and how to keep my favourite programs. I hope you had a lovely weekend. 😸

pirhan Author

Level 1

31 points

Jan 10, 2025 1:29 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Thank you very much. I feel a lot more confident now in the upgrade, OS wise (still not ready for a new laptop). I hope 2025 is a wonderful year for you. 😊

Jan 10, 2025 1:45 PM in response to pirhan

You're welcome.

Thank you. I hope '25 is your year, too.

You do you! 🙂

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Can my MacBook Pro(Mid 2012) be upgraded from macOS Sierra?