See which Macs will -- and won't -- work with MacOS
Apple dropped support for some Macs when it dropped the X from OS X.
Apple rebranded Mac OS X as MacOS on Monday at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. In addition to changing the name of its Mac operating system, Apple dropped support for a number of Macs, the first time it has adjusted the hardware requirements for a Mac OS release since 2012 with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
According to a slide at the end of Craig Federighi's MacOS presentation at the WWDC keynote, the following models will support MacOS Sierra:
- MacBook -- late 2009 and later
- MacBook Air -- 2010 and later
- MacBook Pro -- 2010 and later
- iMac -- late 2009 and later
- Mac Mini -- 2010 and later
- Mac Pro -- 2010 and later
From OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion to OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Apple's hardware requirements were:
- MacBook -- late 2008 aluminum/early 2009 and later
- MacBook Air -- late 2008 and later
- MacBook Pro -- mid/late 2007 and later
- iMac -- mid 2007 and later
- Mac Mini -- early 2009 and later
- Mac Pro -- early 2008 and later
This change leaves the following models out in the cold for MacOS Sierra:
- MacBook from 2008 and early 2009
- MacBook Air from 2008 and 2009
- MacBook Pro from 2007, 2008 and 2009
- iMac from 2007, 2008 and early 2009
- Mac Mini from 2009
- Mac Pro from 2008 and 2009
For more, see our complete coverage of WWDC 2016, learn how to sign up for the iOS 10, MacOS Sierra public betas, and which iPhones and iPad will and won't work with iOS 10.