Update Mac from Monterey 12.7.6 to Tahoe 26

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Level 1

22 points

Update Mac from Monterey 12.7.6 to Tahoe 26

As you can tell, I am using a very old version of Mac. It was originally because I am very traditional in certain areas, and I enjoy a lot of the old stuff. Well now, I decided to give it a go, and I would like to stay up to date with the latest OS, since there are bugs that no longer get addressed with older operating systems.

But there’s a problem. My system is telling me that I am all up to date. When I click on the Apple menu, select System Preferences (which I assume is now called System Settings), and then select System Update, the system does not recognize that there have been many other updates after Montery. And from research, I am guessing that Tahoe is the latest one?

So is there another way I can update? Would there be a charge, since I waited this long?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.7

Posted on Jan 23, 2026 2:50 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 23, 2026 3:57 PM in response to Bleduc1

Yes, the 2015 Mac likely cannot be upgraded beyond macOS 12 Monterey, with 12.7.6 being the latest version update released in July, 2024.

Ten years (almost eleven) is a pretty good run for a computer. 👍🏽

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Answer 2

Jan 23, 2026 3:18 PM in response to Bleduc1

Please tell us what year your Mac is.

macOS Tahoe is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jan 23, 2026 3:47 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Oh shoot. It would appear that I have long surpassed my limit. My computer is back from 2015. It’s very impressive that it still works wonders.

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Answer 4

Jan 24, 2026 1:47 AM in response to Bleduc1

Monterey is still enough to run current versions of

The Firefox Web browser, and most other major third-party Web browsers
The LibreOffice office suite
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
The Affinity Studio suite (free with registration if you don't need the AI functions)

However, if you want to run current versions of macOS, or applications from the likes of Microsoft and Adobe, it's time to start looking at a new Mac. A 14" MacBook Pro with a plain M5 chip would be an "apples-to-apples" replacement for your 13" 2015 MacBook Pro. (It would have CPU benchmarks somewhat better than its plain M4 predecessor whose scores are shown here.)

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