Highest OS Upgrade for Older Machines

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Level 1

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Highest OS Upgrade for Older Machines

Hello Apple Community,

Question:

Is there a spec sheet that shows the limitation on the highest OS that can be installed on an older mac?

For instance, I'm working with someone who has a Mac Mini (Late 2009) and they currently have OS 10.7.4 installed on their system. From experience, I believe that this particular model w/ the Intel 2.26 processor can only allow them to upgrade to 10.7.5, no higher. But I'm not absolutely sure.

I've dealt with other mac systems where I could test this out by of course creating a back up of the user's hard drive, then pushing the limits by trying to upgrade to the next level of OS but the user is not local in order for me to further troubleshoot or diagnose.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, if you have a link that addresses my question. Thanks in advance!

Posted on Mar 5, 2015 9:17 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Phil0124

Community+ 2024

Level 10

199,113 points

Mar 5, 2015 9:22 AM in response to marantsam

You cana search for System requirements for a specific Os.

For instance:

A late 2009 Mac Mini can be updated all the way to Yosemite as per Yosemite's support document here:

https://www.apple.com/sg/osx/how-to-upgrade/

To test for other Oses , you can use Google to find the system requirements for a specific OS. i.e

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Mountain+Lion+System+Requirements&gws_rd=s sl

One of the first if not the first result tends to be Apple's support document with the requirements.

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Answer 2

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Mar 5, 2015 10:34 AM in response to marantsam

http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

The min requirement is 2 GB of memory. However, it us sluggish with even 4 GB. Your Mini can accept a maximum of 8 GB.

Also, upgrade to an SSD will also help.

Upgrading memory and to an SSD is not that hard. I did it myself

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini_2009/

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Answer 3

marantsam Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 5, 2015 10:38 AM in response to lllaass

Hello IIIaass,

Thanks for your response. I may need to rephrase the question (although your answers were also applicable)...

I meant to ask, "What is the highest OS that can the Mac Mini (Late 2009) can be upgraded to (not necessarily the hardware)?

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Answer 4

marantsam Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 5, 2015 10:45 AM in response to Phil0124

Super, thanks Phil0124! This is what I'm looking for, the first link answers my question. Fantastic.

Kind Regards 😎

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Answer 5

Mar 6, 2015 5:07 AM in response to marantsam

The best site I have found for checking all models as to what version of OS they originally came with and what is the maximum i.e. newest version they can run is http://www.everymac.com far easier than even Apple's own site.

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