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

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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Answer 4

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 5

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jan 24, 2026 5:03 PM in response to Servant of Cats

@Servants of Cats,

That is such a coincidence that one of the options you mentioned was Affinity Studio. I am a long follower of Affinity since 2016. Their new AI tools is exactly why I wanted to update. It looks like there are a lot of compatibility issues with older operating systems, even though the other three studios seem to work fine so far.

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Answer 6

Jan 24, 2026 5:28 PM in response to Bleduc1

Bleduc1 wrote:

@Servants of Cats,

That is such a coincidence that one of the options you mentioned was Affinity Studio. I am a long follower of Affinity since 2016. Their new AI tools is exactly why I wanted to update. It looks like there are a lot of compatibility issues with older operating systems, even though the other three studios seem to work fine so far.

Affinity – Affinity system requirements

It looks like, while the "basic" Affinity Studio is free with registration, and will run on Catalina, Affinity's Studio's AI features require

A paid subscription
A Mac with an Apple Silicon (M-series) processor
Ventura or later

All of the M-series Apple Silicon chips have a hardware coprocessor that Apple calls the Neural Engine. It is there to speed up certain specialized computations of types commonly performed for AI and machine learning. I would guess that Affinity Studio's AI features are designed to use Apple's machine learning frameworks, and, indirectly, that Neural Engine coprocessor that has no counterpart in older Intel CPUs.

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Answer 7

Bleduc1 Author

Level 1

22 points

Jan 24, 2026 6:47 PM in response to Servant of Cats

Hmm…thank you for the tips. I recently posted a video of my review of the AI tools in Affinity, but it looks like I may have reviewed them prematurely. I definitely agree that having the latest device would make the review more fair, since any new software would be dependent on it. Latest compatibility certainly matters. This thread is helping me think, let’s take the video down for now, and wait until I get a new Mac. I have always liked Mac better than Windows, since I got one, so…

So I knew about the monthly subscription, and Apple silicon device, but I did not know Affinity’s AI tools can run on Ventura or later. Good to know.

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