Mojave Update. MacBook Pro early 2011.

Ok...so late to the party on this thread, but felt compelled to provide some insight to the OP's original question...

I too have an Early 2011 MBP (MacBook Pro 8,2 - Quad Core i7 w/16GB RAM) , upgraded to SSD, Bluetooth LE, and recent new battery. It runs great, and is still a seriously awesome computer running High Sierra.

Yes, I would like to be able to upgrade to Mojave...but like the OP, this machine is not supported.

The reason why is that this model MacBook Pro uses an AMD/ATI Radeon 6750 GPU. AMD/ATI Radeon 6750 does not support Metal, which is required for Mojave.

If you really want to install Mojave, you can do a search online for Mojave on Unsupported Macs. You will find a solution. However, in the case of our MacBook Pro Machines, you would need to disable the AMD Radeon GPU, and have only the Internal Intel GPU working. This would cause problems with External Monitors.

Bottom line: Unless/Until somebody comes up with AMD Radeon Drivers that can support Metal, it appears you are better off to stick with High Sierra on MacBook Pro 8,2 or 8,1. I believe similar considerations apply to other Mojave "Unsupported" Macs...

Is your Mac compatible?

This might seem an obvious matter, but if it’s an older model, it is worth checking carefully to be certain. The official list currently reads:

• MacBook8,1 Early 2015
• MacBookAir5,1 mid 2012
• MacBookPro9,1 mid 2012
• Macmini6,1 late 2012
• iMac13,1 late 2012
• MacPro6,1 late 2013
• MacPro5,1 mid 2010 with suitable graphics cards (this is worth checking carefully if you are not already running High Sierra)

and all later models. Because this list is based primarily on GPU compatibility, it seems unlikely that there will be any hack or cheat which extends it to earlier models.

These types of posts come up every year Apple releases a new macOS

and decides to not support an old batch of Macs. FWIW, you will still

be getting security updates for High Sierra for at least another year or so.

FWIW, I have an early 2011, 13" 2.7GHz i7 MacBook Pro and and a 2011 Mini Server

that are both not compatible. That is life.

If you really, seriously, absolutely have to have Mojave, I have found on my MBP

that it will run as a virtual machine in VMware Fusion.

@Saior23M - You can't upgrade / Update the discrete Video Card/GPU in MacBook Pros...the discrete GPU is soldered to the Mainboard/Motherboard. For the MacBook Pro 8,2, the only thing you can do to run Mojave is to DISABLE the AMDRadeon discrete GPU, so the MacBook Pro runs only on the Intel integrated GPU.

(Which will work very well btw...but there is quite a bit of "work" involved to make it function properly, and I wouldn't recommend this to anybody who is not computer/Linux/Unix/MacOS CLI savvy. You must modify and replace Kernel extensions as well as customize NVRAM settings...the solution works, but it is complicated to implement. In my case, I only did it because the AMDRadeon Discrete GPU is failing, and there is no viable HW fix available...it is a defect in the manufacturing of the AMDRadeon chipset used, and AMD did not ever release a "fixed" chipset...so even if you DO get it fixed, the repair will only fail again sometime in the future.)

That being said, I've disabled my discrete AMDRadeon GPU on my MacBook Pro 8,2, and am typing this reply via my MPB 8,2 running Mojave. My MBP 8,2 has never worked so well!

zannafromindy wrote:

Why would a Macbook Pro, Mid 2010 be compatible with Mojave and not the Early 2011?! My computer is technically newer, correct? If my computer doesn't have the correct GPU's then they need to tell us how to get them updated so it does!

It's not. A Mac Pro could be with a Metal capable card.

Mac Hardware Requirements

For details about your Mac model, click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen and choose About This Mac. These Mac models are compatible with macOS Mojave:

• MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
• MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
• Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
• iMac Pro (2017)
• Mac Pro (Late 2013; Mid 2010 and Mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards)

Apple reports that these video cards are compatible with macOS Mojave:

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

FYI - I've got 2 (non-retina) MacBook Pro's. A 2011 17" that does not support Mojave, & a Mid 2012 15" that's now running Mojave - and the graphics cards are NOT an exact match to any of the above graphics card.

If you click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen + press "option" button, then select " System Information", the go to "Graphics Displays" , then click on each graphics card, it will show you if your computer is compatible with Mojave. Just look for "Metal". It's not even listed on my 2011, but here's what's on my 2012:

Intel HD Graphics 4000:

  Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 4000

Type: GPU

  Bus: Built-In

  VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1536 MB

  Vendor: Intel

  Device ID: 0x0166

  Revision ID: 0x0009

  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

  gMux Version: 1.9.23

  Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily1 v4

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M:

  Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M

  Type: GPU

  Bus: PCIe

  PCIe Lane Width: x8

  VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1024 MB

  Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

  Device ID: 0x0fd5

  Revision ID: 0x00a2

  ROM Revision: 3682

  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

  gMux Version: 1.9.2

  Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily1 v4

I'm debating whether or not I want to do another hardware upgrade on my Early 2011 17" MBP, since I've upgraded to Bluetooth L.E. 4.0 & upgraded airport card to get Handoff, continuity & phone calling to work - which they did - until one of the OS X upgrades or updates disabled them. Then I found a fix online that enabled them - then another OS X upgrade disabled them again ...

If anyone upgrades your MBP to supported graphics cards & you get Mojave to work on your 2011 or older MBP, let us know.

Win 10 runs just fine on hardware of 2011 vintage, as does Ubuntu and other *nix distros. There's no reason for OS X not to other than Apple deems it so by how they implemented Metal. It's possible that there is an instruction set in the HD4000 gpus that isn't available in the HD3000 but we'll never know since Apple is so closed mouth on things like that.

Think about it. Technology changes over the years. Your old computer can not run new apps or new operating systems. Why has this got anything to do with "Apple is really just getting greedy..."? Maybe it is that you are too inflexible to keep current with advancing technology. It must have been hard for you when radio vacuum tubes were no longer available and your radio wouldn't run with transistors then integrated circuit boards? Was it a conspiracy by greedy radio manufacturers to make you buy new radios as technology advanced?

If you had a 2012 model MacBook Pro it would run the current OS. A 2012 computer is 6 years old, this does not sound like Apple getting greedy and wanting you to buy a new computer every other year as you said. The issue is old hardware that can not run new technology.

zannafromindy wrote:

Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012) - Apple Support

A MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro are two different computers.

Eh, that's not a list of "hardware requirements," it's a list of models. I'd like an explanation why my 2011 MBP with 16GB of RAM and an SSD HD can't upgrade to Mojave, when this machine runs circles around my 2016 MacBook. It looks like planned obsolescence, aka, "naked greed."

I too have a 2011 I7 with 1tb ssd and 16gb ram. Apple is really just getting greedy and wanting you to purchase new laptops and desktops every other year. well I dont have 2000$ to buy a new laptop. I also have 2 2008 MBP’s that run really good. this is getting ridiculous every year.

My thoughtful replies tend to get deleted, Bob, so read it quick. My 2011 MBP runs faster than my 2016 MacBook, and the claim that "it can't run Metal, therefore they it can't run Mojave" doesn't seem to bear out.

stateofthej wrote:

I have the same issue as the OP, thank you for your considerate response.

OK, but there is no answer except that your computer is not capable of running Mojave. It is pointless to try to assign conspiracy based motives to why Mojave does not run on old hardware. Why doesn't Windows 10 run on old Microsoft hardware? Why don't old cars run on unleaded gas? There is no conspiracy it is changing and advancing technology.

If you want assistance in trying to determine why your 2016 computer is running slow please start another thread and we'll be happy to try to help you.

Why not just install Win10/1809 on your 2011 MacBook Pro? I have

it running just fine as the only OS on a 2011 MacMini Server. Had to

install Win7 first then upgrade as there was some Windows platform

driver that needed to be "grandfathered" in. Then again drivers and

Windows has always been an adventure.

I guess the quickest diversion is to call someone a conspiracy theorist when they raise reasonable concerns. Can this wonderful trillion dollar company possibly be greedy or they're just incapable of writing software to drive more than a few components. The bottom line: Apple can definitely make Mojave work well on a 2011 MBP with 16GB ram and SSD HD, they just won't. Apple can definitely make Mojave not work on a 2018 MBP, they just won't, because then the naked greed is too blatant.