ulfeld Loc: New York City

I have the same computer ... I was running the last iteration of Big Sur ... I was contemplating Monteray but decided to skip in favor of Ventura which was the latest at the time ... Apple support told me I could do Monteray or just skip to Ventura ... Sonoma came out shortly after ... word on the street is wait 6 months or so for any new OS for the bugs to get worked out ... I don't know if that is valid ... my main reason for updating is security ... hope this helps

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Apple supports their last two operating systems — as well as the current one — with security updates.

mffox Loc: Avon, CT

My troubles began when I updated to Ventura, too numerous to mention. Biggest impact was on Photoshop, Word and Excel. BE CAREFUL what you wish for.

PSims46 Loc: Maryland

I have the same system as the OP has mentioned. I wouldn’t upgrade go all the way Sonoma, as they are still ironing out some problems. I didn’t know that I had auto update on my computer and it updated to Sonoma. Since it updated I can’t do “save as” when I want to save a file in Adobe Illustrator. I can only save the same file I opened. It says I don’t have enough of privileges even though I am the owner of the the computer and I’m the administrator. This problem has also shown up on other system updates over the years. I found a work around by copying a previous file to another folder and renaming it something different. I’m hoping Apple fixes this problem. I really don’t understand why this problem keeps coming up on system updates. You would think Apple would anticipate this might be a problem.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

When is the last time you backed up ALL your data, reformatted your internal startup drive, re-installed MacOS from the latest installer, reinstalled the updated versions of all your applications, reinitialized those applications, and finally, moved your data back?

I do this after I've had my Mac for three years. It fixes a MULTITUDE of little glitches and gotchas. It IS a royal pain in the patoot to do it, but it speeds up everything and ensures that I'm running the latest bug fixes and security patches. In 39 years, I've never been sorry I did it. It usually takes me the better part of two days.

NOTE: You need access to ALL your software license information and ALL the passwords for ALL your online accounts before you do it. Create a log ahead of time. Store that in a fireproof safe or safe deposit box.

You also need two, known-to-be-good, FULL data backups of your startup drive, so you can move your data back to the newly formatted drive!

The last time I moved to a new Mac, August of 2021, I tried to use Migration Assistant. It failed. I called Apple's support line and they ultimately recommended that I should just start over. They walked me through reformatting my new Mac's startup drive, reinstalling MacOS, and I took it from there.

I simply deactivated all my accounts on my old Mac, installed all the latest MacOS updates on the new Mac, then installed the latest versions of all my software and reactivated them. I should have done that to begin with. After all the software was installed and tested, I moved only my data from my old iMac to my new M1 MacBook Air.

It pays to start fresh... If you run a system that has been upgraded from version to version to version to version of the operating system, the drive is full of CRUD that you don't need, and that may be causing conflicts or slowing you down. A clean installation wipes out the crud.

I'm leery of third party cleanup applications.

Mr. B Loc: eastern Connecticut

I just went through this myself. You can upgrade to the next newest OS or you can skip that step and upgrade to the latest OS that your machine will handle.https://www.macworld.com/article/673697/what-version-of-macos-can-my-mac-run.html
Make sure that you click on the apple icon in the upper left of your screen to see the actual build date of your machine, not the date you bought it.
I have two son-in-laws in computer tech for very large companies. One of them is in international company security and support. He advice is to upgrade your Mac immediately to any new OS that comes out. Virtually any computer older than five years old is getting a bit old. Make sure you have everything you'll ever need or want backed up somewhere.

Good luck!

kvanhook Loc: Oriental, NC

MJPerini said it---software incompatibilities abound. I upgraded on my 27" iMac and had to reverse the deal because my Excel/Word wouldn't work any longer. I can't stand to lose all of my spreadsheets and documents. Yes, I know I can pay Microsoft. That doesn't mean I want to do that at my age.

xt2 Loc: British Columbia, Canada

Why not take a second and ask Apple online?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Before doing any upgrades of a MacOS:

> Check to be sure your current APPLICATION software will work on the new OS. If you haven't upgraded it since 2020, it may not work properly.

> If you are moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M-series system-on-chip), be sure your APPLICATION software will run natively, or at least run on the Rosetta 2 emulator. Here's an important link: https://isapplesiliconready.com/

> If you are moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M-series system-on-chip), be sure your PERIPHERALS have native support (drivers), or that the old Intel drivers will work with the Rosetta 2 emulator.

> If you are moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M-series system-on-chip), be sure you can CONNECT all your peripherals. You may need to buy a hub, a dock, or dongles to mate older devices to the USB-C connectors on new Macs. That USB-C CONNECTOR supports audio, HDMI, DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, Ethernet, USB 1, 2, 3.x, 4, and Thunderbolt 1, 2, and 3, plus 4 on the MxPro, MxMax, and MxUltra SOC-based Macs. FireWire is also supported via an adapter.

I know change is hard (and sometimes costly). Apple isn't like Windows, where Microsoft's corporate clients insist that 32-bit apps they wrote in 1994 still run on Win 11, somehow. You can bet that the SUPPORT life of a Mac is 5-7 years. Beyond that, it is likely to still function, but it may be unsafe on the Internet or lack sufficient hardware features to run certain software. OpenCore Legacy Patcher can allow some older Macs to load recent operating systems, but such patched systems are not for mission-critical users! They don't support all features of newer operating systems, and may fail randomly at any time.

Toment Loc: FL, IL

The first response tells you how to get the version you want…

wiz302pa Loc: Henderson, NV

I am running Sonoma on a 2019, 27-inch iMac with no issues OTHER THAN the "evolving" method Apple uses to manage security and privacy :). Mine is a 3 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 system using 32 Gb RAM.

clanmack Loc: Asheville, NC

I just upgraded to Ventura, as my 2020 MacBook Air started giving “application memory is full” when I tried to send an email with attachment. My expert and I couldn’t resolve (I had Big Sur)so we decided I needed to upgrade. She said Sonoma is too new, bugs haven’t been worked out yet, but Ventura has been around long enough to be solid. Don’t know if this applies to your 2020 27” intel IMAC.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Application Memory Full is telling me that either you don't have enough unified memory (RAM) to run all OPEN applications (close most of them), OR, that you are low on internal SSD space that the system wants to use as "virtual memory" or "swap memory."

If you have the base model of the 2020 M1 MacBook Air, you may want to try offloading most of your data to an external drive. My son has one, and we found that leaving AT LEAST half the space on the internal drive empty allows it to perform best. He also finds that he can run several everyday apps at once, but when it comes to Lightroom Classic or Photoshop or Final Cut Pro, "Just one at a time, please..."

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

Thanks for the info. I went to the Apple store yesterday and was told that Monterey is no longer available so I have to either upgrade to Ventura or Sonoma. My 27" 2020 IMAC is a 3.8 GHz 8-core Intel i7 computer with 32 Gb RAM so I should have no issues I dont think running Sonoma but I have chosen to go with Ventura then upgrade to Sonoma later. Before I do any upgrade I am doing what I can to clean up my MAC. I purchased a program called MacCleaner Pro to help me with getting rid of duplicate files, application cache, etc. Apple does not approve but I have so far freed up about 10GB of space on my hard drive but still have a lot I want to clean up. However, I am scared to touch system cache etc and so I am leaving that alone. Hope to do the upgrade by next week.

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

Exactly the reason I am always a bit reluctant to upgrade the OS. Had major issues when I upgraded to Mavericks on my previous IMAC/