tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

I have a 2020 27" intel IMAC with Big Sur OS 11.7.10. About 5 month or so ago I was considering upgrading my MAC OS to Monterey when Ventura was the current OS. I got busy with other things including travelling and never got around to upgrading my OS. Now the current OS is Sonoma. I am not sure if I can now upgrade to Monterey or if I have to upgrade to either Ventura or Sonoma. Not ready to go from Big Sur to Sonoma. I understand Apple will not support Big Sur after Dec. 31. I would like know if I can still upgrade to Monterey or do I have to upgrade to Ventura? I prefer to not bypass Monterey to do the Ventura upgrade.

alphonso49uk

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

My recommendation would be to upgrade to the latest macOS version your Mac will support.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I believe you must do the O/S updates in order
Check the Web sight for Mac updates Ventura is the last update for The 2020 platform

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

Call Apple.

PhotoMono123 Loc: Houston, Texas

Get yourself updated and then set your computer for automatic updates.

Apple will update all their programs throughout the year as new features are added and bugs or safety issues are resolved. And you can set the computer for these updates to occur at night when you are tucked safely beneath the covers.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

I have a 2017 iMac that's currently running Monterey 12.7 without any problem*. I've always set my computer on "automatic update" so it runs on the latest version. The OS updates always have security updates and fixes so I figure it's worth the risk of possible glitches I might have to deal with.

* The only issue I've had for the last couple of updates, and I'm not the only one, is that a new email might appear with the heading but no message and I have to quickly shut down the app and restart it to see the body of the message. In fact, if anyone out there knows the fix for this, let me know. I've complained to Apple to no avail. Other than that, my computer runs exactly as before, with each upgrade.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

Why wouldn't you call Apple? 800- MYAPPLE

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Not.

You can update to the latest version your Mac can support. You SHOULD update to a currently supported version. I’m still on 13.6. When 14.2 is out, I’ll upgrade.

The link posted above should tell you how far you can take your Mac.

tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

If your IMAC is set on automatic update why is it not running Ventura? On my previous IMAC I had the computer set to automatically update and ran into a lot of problems when upgraded to Mavericks. It caused my computer to crash and really messed up my programs. I had to the computer into Apple for repairs. It took over a week before problems were resolved. Then my photo editing program Aperture had to be reconfigured and I was advised to create another library. Anyway, I never update right away to the latest OS because there are always bugs that need fixing. I will upgrade to Ventura if I cant upgrade to Monterey. I also do not do automatic backups anymore. I prefer to have control over when I backup my computer. Before I upgrade my OS I am currently trying to clean up files on my IMAC. I have so far freed up about 11 GB of space on my hard drive by removing some duplicate files and application cache that I understand was safe to do. I just bought a program to help me clean up my MAC. I know Apple is against this but apparently from what I have read online the program I bought for $45 CDN per year ($29 US) is quite good. It's called MacCleaner Pro. There are other types of caches files that this program allows me to remove but I have read that you need to be careful what files you remove so here is where I am stuck. I am afraid of removing other cache and other files for fear of screwing up my computer. Cant rely on Apple to help me because I am using a cleaner app that they do not recommend. I have a lot of stuff still to clean up but I need help on what files I can remove safely.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I have seen this. A restart usually fixes it.

Harry02 Loc: Gardena, CA

A stripped Windows 11 might help ...
.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Once an Intel Mac is no longer supported by Apple (no parts, no service, no security fixes or OS upgrades), it actually might make sense to fire up BootCamp on the Mac and install Win 11... Assuming the user can use Windows. That's often a big assumption.

All the Intel Macs were/are full Intel PCs that can be partitioned and dual booted. OR, given sufficient RAM and drive space and graphics horsepower, they can run a second OS on top of MacOS with an emulator such as Parallels Desktop. I did that for seven years on two machines.

MJPerini

Well, the first thing you should check is your other software to be sure it is updated and compatible with the newer Mac OS's , Then my recommendation is to upgrade to the newest OS that is at least an XX.1 update, so the bugs are fixed. The latest updates provide the latest security and latest Safari Browser (if you use it) New versions of mature OS's rarely have must have features, but the latest security IS important.
Call Apple and ask

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Absolutely! as a computer guy I would wait a few days to see if there are any issues but if you are not on the up to date version of the OS you do not have the security updates which are critical to the safety of your information. While your computer should be able to run Sonoma it may be showing signs of performance anxiety (sic). It is amazing how much faster the Apple silicon chips are. I have a M1 Mac Mini and it is the faster pc I’ve ever owned. Absolutely no issues running Photoshop , Lightroom Classic and every Illustrator with zero lag.