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Level 1

10 points

High Sierra on a 2011-built Mac?

Dear Mac experts, I have an old 21.5-inch, Mid 2011 iMac running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5. I want to upgrade it to the latest possible version of MacOS, High Sierra. Will it work well on this old hardware? From your experience, will the upgrade slow down my system? Or should I upgrade to an older MacOS version?

Full details: 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, RAM 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon 512 MB - this is Model A1311

Many thanks for sharing your experience, thoughts and advice. — André

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7, RAM 4 GB 133

Posted on Aug 25, 2018 10:21 AM

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6 replies

Level 10

138,595 points

Aug 25, 2018 1:49 PM in response to Andre.K

More RAM would be helpful. Otherwise, should be fine.

Level 10

111,438 points

Aug 25, 2018 10:35 AM in response to Andre.K

I'm running High Sierra on a mid 2010 iMac and it's very snappy. I'd agree about the RAM though, 4GB is paltry.

Level 10

208,430 points

Aug 25, 2018 1:48 PM in response to Andre.K

macOS High Sierra - Technical Specifications

Level 10

138,595 points

Aug 25, 2018 10:38 AM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote:

You don't have to take my word for it (or anyone else's). Read Upgrading macOS without fear.

Not to quibble John but you have to at least take your word that everything you wrote on your link is correct. 😎

Level 10

162,806 points

Aug 25, 2018 10:28 AM in response to Andre.K

Will it work well on this old hardware?

Yes.

From your experience, will the upgrade slow down my system?

No.

You don't have to take my word for it (or anyone else's). Read Upgrading macOS without fear.

Level 1

10 points

Aug 25, 2018 2:42 PM in response to Andre.K

Thank you guys for your helpful answers! I will proceed to the upgrade then.

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High Sierra on a 2011-built Mac?

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