why isnt apple supporting the 15 i9 macbook pro but is suporting the 16inch model.

zenmajoo wrote:

I have the same specs on my intel 15inch MacBook Pro (2019) as a 16 inch model and I cannot download Tahoe.

The hardware does not support the new macOS. Metal 3 / 4...

Support for Metal on Apple devices - Apple Support

macOS Tahoe is compatible with these computers

macOS Tahoe is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

see vintage and obsolete, ignore the warranty part

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

Call Customer Support (800) MY–APPLE (800–692–7753)

Phil0124 wrote:

Metal 3 looks to be the cutoff point for Tahoe support, which the 15" MacBook Pro's GPU does not support.

Yep, which would explain why the 2019 16" MacBook Pro is supported by Tahoe as it is Metal 3 capable. The specs in the 2 machines are clearly different with the GPU being the biggest factor seen between those 2 devices.

Impossible to answer as Apple does not disclose such reasons.

Likely it has to do with the display support and GPU.

2019 16-inch MacBook Pro uses newer and more powerful AMD Radeon Pro 5000M series GPUs (5300M or 5500M), which use faster GDDR6 memory, while the 2019 15-inch model came with older Polaris-based GPUs like the Radeon Pro 555X or 560X with GDDR5 memory.

leroydouglas wrote:

zenmajoo wrote:

I have the same specs on my intel 15inch MacBook Pro (2019) as a 16 inch model and I cannot download Tahoe.

The hardware does not support the new macOS. Metal 3 / 4...

Support for Metal on Apple devices - Apple Support

macOS Tahoe is compatible with these computers

macOS Tahoe is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

see vintage and obsolete, ignore the warranty part

Obtaining service for your Apple product after an expired warranty - Apple Support

The 16" doesn't support Metal 4 either since its not an Apple Silicon Mac yet still get's Tahoe.

Metal 3 looks to be the cutoff point for Tahoe support, which the 15" MacBook Pro's GPU does not support.

zenmajoo wrote:

I have the same specs on my intel 15inch MacBook Pro (2019) as a 16 inch model and I cannot download Tahoe.

It very likely has to do with when Apple discontinued that machine.

Only four Intel-based Macs are eligible to run macOS 26 Tahoe. They are all Intel-based Macs that Apple did not immediately discontinue at the beginning of the Apple Silicon era.

• MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) – discontinued in October 2021, when 16" M1 {Pro/Max} models replaced it.
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt Ports) – discontinued in October 2021, when 14" M1 {Pro/Max} models replaced it.
• iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) – discontinued in March 2022, when Apple introduced Mac Studios, and a 27" 5K Studio Display
• Mac Pro (2019) – discontinued in June 2023, when Apple introduced the M2 Ultra Mac Pro.

Apple discontinued your model in November 2019.

If it's any consolation, no Intel-based MacBook Airs or Mac minis received Tahoe. Even the iMac Pro workstation from 2017 did not receive it. Nor did the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt Ports) model (which had older hardware than its Four Ports sibling, and went away as soon as the 13" M1 MacBook Pro came out).

Apple has also announced that Tahoe is the last major version of macOS that will run on any Intel-based Mac. So even the four models listed above will be out of luck when Apple releases macOS 27.

Phil0124 wrote:

Metal 3 looks to be the cutoff point for Tahoe support, which the 15" MacBook Pro's GPU does not support.

Support for Metal on Apple devices - Apple Support

macOS Ventura 13 or later

• • MacBook Pro introduced in 2017 or later*

There's that hostile asterisk. The footnote tells us that "Intel-based models using AMD Radeon Pro 500 series graphics" don't support Metal 3.

Some of the 15" 2019 MBPs had Radeon Pro 555X and 560X GPUs ("No Metal 3 for you!"). Others had Radeon Pro Vega 16 and Vega 20 GPUs, which presumably do support Metal 3.

But all of them were discontinued in November 2019. By the time that Tahoe came out, it had been more than 5 years since Apple discontinued them.

zenmajoo wrote:

I have the same specs on my intel 15inch MacBook Pro (2019) as a 16 inch model and I cannot download Tahoe.

Apple considers your Mac to be "vintage" (next will be "obsolete"). Apple starts phasing out support for vintage and obsolete devices. You can certainly continue using Sequoia, and in fact some users have chosen to not upgrade to Tahoe at this time, for various reasons.

Your 15" MacBook Pro does not have the same specs as the 16" model from 2019; they have different hardware, and hence the reason that the 15" model cannot run Tahoe. The 16" model, which costed significantly more when new, is a more capable machine. I believe that Tahoe will be the last supported version of MacOS for the 16" model, which I have. For the 15" model, Sequoia is the latest it can run.

These limitations are and always have been a part of the Mac and PC world. My 2015 iMac can run Monterey but no more. Sometimes I have to use Firefox on certain sites when using that 2015 iMac because they don't work on the older versions of Safari. It's just the world we live in.

zenmajoo wrote:

I was reading about that in the forum after I posted my question. It’s a shame that we cannot install another non Apple OS (such as Linux) as a the only and primary OS since Apple isn’t supporting OS upgrades any further. I feel like I rented this device instead of actually gaining ownership from my purchase.

Your 15" 2019 MacBook Pro originally shipped with macOS 10.14.5 (Mojave). So it received six major macOS upgrades.

You can get a virtual machine program such as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, and install other OSes in virtual machines.

There is also Boot Camp, for installing Windows in its own partition, so that you can boot either into macOS, or Windows, as the primary OS. Unfortunately, Windows 10 has gone end-of-life – and it's not clear that you can install Windows 11. (Due, among other things, to a "Trusted Program Module" requirement which I understand also has locked out many existing Windows 10 PCs.)

Boot Camp Assistant User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

This additional article from Apple similarly documents that Sequoia is indeed the “end of the OS line” for your MBP.

Sorry.

Identify your MacBook Pro model - Apple Support

zenmajoo wrote:

I have the same specs on my intel 15inch MacBook Pro (2019) as a 16 inch model and I cannot download Tahoe.

seems a rhetorical question...

ref: MacBook Pro 2019 lagging after macOS Taho… - Apple Community

zenmajoo wrote:

I was reading about that in the forum after I posted my question. It’s a shame that we cannot install another non Apple OS (such as Linux) as a the only and primary OS since Apple isn’t supporting OS upgrades any further. I feel like I rented this device instead of actually gaining ownership from my purchase.

Who says you can't?

Intel Macs can run Windows and Linux OSes through Bootcamp or without it if you know what to do.

Install Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant - Apple Support

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1358468/installing-ubuntu-on-macbook-pro-2019-with-macos-big-sur

zenmajoo wrote:

I was reading about that in the forum after I posted my question. It’s a shame that we cannot install another non Apple OS (such as Linux) as a the only and primary OS since Apple isn’t supporting OS upgrades any further. I feel like I rented this device instead of actually gaining ownership from my purchase.

And a lot of Windows PC owners are angry that their machines aren’t supported by Windows 11. So what’s your point? As pointed out you can install Windows or Linux on your “rented” device. No shame needed.