Install newer/latest OS on Mid 2011 Imac

[peteMacman]

Hi All,

I've been reading you can easily install a new OS vesion than High Sierra on a MID 2011 Imac. Current spec is
1TB SSD installed, 12GB Ram 2.7Ghz I5 & AMD Radeon HD 6770M 512 MB / Wifi Dongle installed x3 Improved Wifi.

Can anyone answer the following.
1.Can this be done and how complex is it.
2.Is my spec ok to do so - if not what needs improving?
3. Pros and cons of doing so.
4. Can you easily reverse once done if found to be less than a positive move.

Prefer responses from those that have done so, with honest feedback or those very knowledgeable of this.

thanks all

 

[Rod]

Yes, it can be done but runs the usual risks of "bricking" the device. See answer 1 on this page; Can I upgrade a 2011 iMac beyond High Sierra 10.13.6?

As in the link above it explains why this cannot be done via the usual method from Apple System Updates and gives the link to dosdude but like me he advises against it.

Even if successful you will not be able to update the newer macOS much like "jailbreaking" an iPhone. At every update you have to go through the process again.

As for reversing the process, yes, it's possible but involves creating a bootable macOS installer for High Sierra, completely erasing your internal drive, reinstalling HS from the bootable installer (on a pen drive) and restoring all of your original data from a backup like Time Machine.
There are lots of little pitfalls in this process too. Some of your 3rd party apps may require reloading from the developer and will require you to enter your user key (serial number) again.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Hi All,

I've been reading you can easily install a new OS vesion than High Sierra on a MID 2011 Imac. ...

Keep in mind that:

If you upgrade to Mojave (MacOS 10.14) or later, and your Mac has an internal rotating disk hard drive, your hard drive will non-optionally be reformatted as APFS, and your Mac will forevermore become about 40% slower.

If you upgrade to Catalina (MacOS 10.15 ) or later, you will loose access to all of your 32-bit only applications.

So, you might want to put off getting a newer version of the Mac OS until it comes with a new (or newer) Mac that you purchase.

 

[MacInWin]

f you upgrade to Mojave (MacOS 10.14) or later, and your Mac has an internal rotating disk hard drive, your hard drive will non-optionally be reformatted as APFS, and your Mac will forevermore become about 40% slower.

He did say it was an SSD, so that's probably not an issue. If it HAD been rotating, then you are right on the money.

 

[Rod]

As much as I can fully understand wanting to update to a "newer" operating system I really think the risks and effort required outweigh the few benefits.

 

[peteMacman]

Yeah that's what I want to simply understand... The gains against the losses.. Great insight as ever, certainly feels like the minimal upside isn't really worth it. But there are some pretty good patching sites that I've now found detailing the pros and consaporeciste your time/input.

If anyone has done with similar spec to mine and yes with ssd as per my upgrade. That would be great to hear about.

 

[Rod]

Lets just say, it's great to experiment with modifications, you certainly learn a lot and sometimes get good results but, I wouldn't do it on my primary (or only) device.

 

[krs]

Lets just say, it's great to experiment with modifications, you certainly learn a lot and sometimes get good results but, I wouldn't do it on my primary (or only) device.

Same here,
I experimented quite a while back running macOS on a small Dell laptop because it was much smaller to take on trips than a MacBook Air and a lot cheaper.
Patchong worked fine and I ran macOS on that for a while but then I hit some key by mistake and had no means to recover - at least I had no idea how.
Rebooting did nothing - I ended up chucking the laptop after spending a few fruitless hours trying to recover. I couldn't even install Windows anymore.
Different patching than what we're talking about here - my point is just that one has to be prepared to possibly end up with an expensive paperweight.

 

[peteMacman]

Fair insight I see sense in not pushing any further boundaries I think I'll stick with the current os and use and abuse what's been a beautiful imac for 10 years until the CPU or whatever breaks first of its own accord

For now it's funning like a dream.. Certainly not had any other pc of laptop that has for this long.

Thanks all

 

[Randy B. Singer]

... I'll stick with the current os and use and abuse what's been a beautiful imac for 10 years until the CPU or whatever breaks first of its own accord...

We have had discussions here about how long a Macintosh is good for until you should consider upgrading to a newer model. You may want to do a search for those discussions and read them. While a Macintosh might run for a very long time, there are reasons why you might want to upgrade sooner.

The biggest reason is technological drift. The longer you wait to upgrade to a new Mac, the harder it will be to migrate to one as old applications, file formats, peripherals, etc. become outdated and incompatible with the most recent technology.

When clients ask me how often they should upgrade, I usually tell them that if you are using your Mac in a business, every five years or so might be optimum. If you are using your Mac for home use, every seven to ten years is probably the limit.

Most Mac users don't upgrade because their Mac fails. They usually upgrade because they want a new (or just newer) Mac. Lots of Mac users have a closet full of old Macs that were retired when they still worked more or less fine.

 

[peteMacman]

Web Browsing, emails, streaming, can run Word and Excel til forever for home use, Job done.

90% of personal users are paying over the odds for Macs that they are using 10% of its functionality at best. You buy for the longevity if you've sense, or for the Beauty / need to get noticed in cafes if you haven't.

It continues to treat me well £ per year cost a bargain. Too many urging people to ditch, have a backup, and when it's ready to go.. it will tell you.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

As I said, you really should read the discussions about how long you should go before upgrading to a new Mac. If you wait too long, there can definitely be very negative repercussions. Ask anyone who held on to an old Mac for a long time, and who ran AppleWorks or MacWrite for too long.

 

[IWT]

Too many urging people to ditch, have a backup, and when it's ready to go.. it will tell you.

Clearly, it's your choice, your decision. No one is forcing you to get a new Mac. The advice given is just that. Advice - based on experience; the experience of hundreds of others.

So enjoy your Mac for as long as you wish.

One final thought: backups are pretty critical, and FREE if you use the Mac's built-in Time Machine. The only "cost" is acquiring an External Hard Drive (EHD) of about 1.5 to 2 times the storage capacity of your Mac's Hard Drive.

Ian

 

[jga40]

Clearly, it's your choice, your decision. No one is forcing you to get a new Mac. The advice given is just that. Advice - based on experience; the experience of hundreds of others.

So enjoy your Mac for as long as you wish.

One final thought: backups are pretty critical, and FREE if you use the Mac's built-in Time Machine. The only "cost" is acquiring an External Hard Drive (EHD) of about 1.5 to 2 times the storage capacity of your Mac's Hard Drive.

Ian

I don't recommend a Mac with Venture installed, it's like an alien Operating System, and I've been a Mac user since 1992, first Mac LC lll with 2 MB Ram & 160 MB HD. I've got the chance of an Apple refurbished MacBook Pro with Monterey installed. 12 months warranty, 16 GB RAM & 512 SSD for under £400. I will then upgrade to New Monterey and leave it . I think this would be better than buying a Windows PC, never used Windows but version 10 of Windows ran a few years before version was released

 

[MacInWin]

I don't recommend a Mac with Venture installed, it's like an alien Operating System, and I've been a Mac user since 1992, first Mac LC lll with 2 MB Ram & 160 MB HD. I've got the chance of an Apple refurbished MacBook Pro with Monterey installed. 12 months warranty, 16 GB RAM & 512 SSD for under £400. I will then upgrade to New Monterey and leave it . I think this would be better than buying a Windows PC, never used Windows but version 10 of Windows ran a few years before version was released

That is a strange comment, to me. Ventura is not that much diffferent from previous macOS versions, and works well on a Mac with an SSD internally. The "new" features can be ignored, if you wish. For example, I don't use Stage Manager because I don't need it. Other than that, Ventura isn't "alien." At least to me.

It doesn't seem logical to me to buy a new-to-me machine that is already obsolescent to the rest of the world and which is already not being updated except for serious security issues.

There is no "New Monterey," BTW. Once you get to the last version of Monterey, there aren't any more updates to it.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

jga40 said:
I don't recommend a Mac with Venture installed, it's like an alien Operating System

That is a strange comment, to me. Ventura is not that much diffferent from previous macOS versions

It's a bizarre comment. But not surprising to me. With every new version of the Mac OS there are some changes, some updates, and some additions. And for as long as I can remember, with every new Mac OS introduction there have been a handful of users who felt overwhelmed by the constant change in technology. It isn't so much that the change presented too much to learn, or that things had become too difficult, it's just that a few users just didn't want to have to learn anything new anymore.

There are some really nice FREE tutorials to get users quickly familiar with new versions of the Mac OS with no pain whatsoever. For instance, here are a couple for Ventura:

What's new in macOS Ventura
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpMB9MLUvNo

macOS 13.4 Ventura is Out! - What's New?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKDxWUbgdH4

As far as buying an old Mac, with an older version of the Mac OS...you can do that. But if you don't expect that old Mac to be the last Macintosh you will ever buy, then eventually that Mac will become too outdated to use.

As Web standards evolve, some Web sites won't render properly anymore. As new applications are released, they won't be backwards compatible. Old file formats are likely to be abandoned and you won't be able to exchange some files with others. Etc.

If history is a guide, you can probably get away with using an old Mac that is a few years out of date, for about 7 years. But then what? By that time, you will practically be forced to buy a new Macintosh, but you will now be about a decade behind technologically. At that point, having been stagnant for so long, upgrading really may be on the painful side. Are you going to give up on using a personal computer altogether at that point?

It's a lot easier to adapt to change in small steps than to try to make big leaps decade by decade.

 

[Rod]

jga40, I have to agree with Jake, thers not much difference between Ventura and Monterey as far as the Operating System goes, I mean it still does things the same way. Yes, System Preferences changed to System Settings with a new layout much the same as on an iPhone or iPad.
I don't use Stage Manager either but I do love the inclusion of the new Clock and Weather apps.

You don't mention which MBP you are considering for under £400 but assuming it is compatible with Ventura that seems a reasonable price but I wouldn't get a model earlier than 2019. You may change your mind.
Also worth considering is that unless it's a Silicon processor chances are it will not go beyond Ventura (Which is soon to be superceded by macOS 14 Sonoma) and that would effect resale value.

 

[jga40]

I have been using Mac since 1992, running on System 7.6 and have ran every OS that Mac have released without any problems. Are you trying to tell me that Venture hasn't changed the Mac interface, something previous OS's haven't done. The MacBook Pro I can buy for less than £400 has 16GB RAM & a 512 SSD. Actually, I'm still not sure if I'm buying it, as it's out of stock, I may yet buy a PC, as in my opinion and experience, Mac UK Tech Suoport is useless.

Gave me instructions on how to copy Applications on my 2020 MacBook Air using Migration Assistant
Halfway through the process it stopped and try as I may, I cannot get Migration Assistant to complete the job, despite numerous phone calls to Apple.

I am at a disadvantage living rurally, as we have shops that sell Macs like PC World or Currys, but our nearest genius store is in Liverpool or Manchester both over 160 miles round trip. Too far for me with MS a blood cancer and chronic asthma. At least if I buy a Windows PC, there are plenty of PC shops, plus a better and cheaper availability of software.

I think the MacBook Pro is 3 or 4 years old, so would last me until I die as I'm 83 next birthday, December 26 this year. See int www.ijtdirect.co.uk, plenty of bargains and reliable, as I've been their customer for over 15 years.

The best Mac I still have is a 27inch iMac, running on 10.15.7, never freezes & crashes rarely.
Jim

 

[MacInWin]

Are you trying to tell me that Venture hasn't changed the Mac interface, something previous OS's haven't done.

I'm not sure what you meant by the "something previous OS's haven't done," but basically, yes. Ventura is very much like the preceeding versions of macOS.

There are two changes in Ventura that are "large." The first is that "Preferences" is now "Settings" and looks more like Settings on an iPhone/iPad. That takes a bit of learniing, but it has an excellent search function to find what you need. The second is Stage Manager, which allows the user to have some Apps "in the wings" as it were, while other apps are on "stage." But that can be turned off fairly simply. I tried it, but don't need it for what I do. I can see a case for using it in a work environment where, for example, the user is using multiple applications to do video editing, pushes them all "off stage" to get some other bit of information from a different app, then brings back the entire set of apps from off stage to where they were.

But as I said, that can be turned off, leaving the Desktop exactly as it was before Ventura.

 

[peteMacman]

Clearly, it's your choice, your decision. No one is forcing you to get a new Mac. The advice given is just that. Advice - based on experience; the experience of hundreds of others.

So enjoy your Mac for as long as you wish.

One final thought: backups are pretty critical, and FREE if you use the Mac's built-in Time Machine. The only "cost" is acquiring an External Hard Drive (EHD) of about 1.5 to 2 times the storage capacity of your Mac's Hard Drive.

Ian

Surely you don't need the above if you have both the brand new SSD I've installed into my 2011 and a regular copy over to my external HD taken out of the Mac..

So not one but Two copies thst both can act as an initial external HD to connect to any new Mac for files etc
Any software you'll look to install all the latest versions on the new macs Latest OS