Nels Janthony
Level 1 (6 points)

Q: Upgrade from Lion to Mavericks as of DEC 2015

My roomate has a macbook pro she says was purchased in 2008 (possibly earlier) and is now running on Lion. She wants to upgrade, but not yet to El Capitan. Can she upgrade directly to Yosemite or must she first upgrade to Mountain Lion?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Dec 5, 2015 9:24 AM

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Nels Janthony

Q: Upgrade from Lion to Mavericks as of DEC 2015

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  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Dec 5, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Nels Janthony
    Level 6 (19,682 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 5, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Nels Janthony

    If the Mac meets the system requirements on this web page

    <Upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support>

    Then it can run Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite or El Capitan.

     

    HOWEVER, if she can run one of those versions, she can upgrade to Mountain Lion after purchasing a redemption coupon on the Apple web site, and then redeem it in the App Store application, -OR- she can upgrade to El Capitan.  Mavericks and Yosemite are no longer available for download.

     

    The exceptions are, if she has previously downloaded Mavericks or Yosemite, then they can be downloaded again using the same Apple ID and looking in the App Store -> Purchases tab.  -OR- it may be possible to get an Apple Store Genius Bar to install Yosemite (but that is not guaranteed).

     

    If going to El Capitan, remove all 3rd party additions, and install ONLY the most essential additions (I'm talking about things that add kernel extensions, launch agents, and launch daemons associated with utilities, not productivity applications and games; they are fine).  It is the 3rd party utility additions that are the primary cause of El Capitan performance issues and kernel panics.