Some machines, such as the MacBook Pro (2008/9), work perfectly with no modifications, leaving you to wonder why Apple thought it necessary to drop them at all. The most common is a lack of Wi-Fi due to the unsupported BCM4321 card in some machines, but this can often be replaced. Please note, some machines have issues, as the table reports. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use the tool to install macOS 10.12 Sierra on older Mac hardware, which claims not to support it.Īpple’s hardware requirements for macOS 10.12 Sierra are now as follows:Ĭontrast this with the table below, which shows the additional machines on which Sierra can be installed with the help of macOS Sierra Patcher: In many cases this turned out to be true, and with a few tweaks and amendments many of the “unsupported” machines have been brought back into the fold by a tool by dosdude1, called macOS Sierra Patcher. This led some to conclude that Apple is simply raising the bar to encourage hardware upgrades, and that there is often no incontrovertible hardware reason which dictates the unsupported machines. However, many Mac owners have questioned their motives, observing that some machines have made the cut whilst their more powerful contemporaries (such as the MacBook Pro) have mysteriously been left behind. Citing various incompatibilities and hardware deficiencies, they cut out a large swathe of machines from running Sierra.

So you can run a newer OS just not the latest depending on what you currently have.Īpple removed all of the 32-bit OS code in Mountain Lion which is why you can't run it.With macOS Sierra, Apple dropped support for some of its hardware models for the first time in several years. However, although it has a 64-bit processor, it has a 32-bit EFI and is not capable of booting into 64-bit mode. This system can run the last version of OS X 10.7 'Lion' if upgraded to at least 2 GB of RAM.

The Core 2 Duo models can in fact run Lion (10.7.x) sorry to say it can't run Mountain Lion.The older Core Duo's CPU is not 64-bit clean which is why they can't run Lion or Mountain Lion However, it cannot boot in 64-bit mode nor does it support 'OpenCL'. This system can run the last version of Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard'. The Core Duo group can only run up to Snow Leopard:.

Verify your model going to EveryMac - Lookup plugging in the last three digits of your system. While Apple's TN imply this model won't run Lion or Mountain Lion there is in fact two versions of this model group the older Core Duo and the newer Core 2 Duo.

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