Jagnut07 Loc: South Carolina

I have a 2016 MacBook Pro 15" with I7 processor, 16 Gb Ram, 1 Tb SSD. Seems the latest macOS this will run is OS 12.7.1. It has a Retina Screen and also drives an LG 27" Ultrafine 5K external monitor. And runs great.

I have the Adobe Photography Program which is up to date. I also mostly use Lightroom Classic LrC but today I opened up Photoshop and get a warning window saying "MacOS 13.4.0 is recommended for Max Performance and Correct Operation of Adobe Photoshop 2024. An earlier version of MacOS was detected".

I clicked OK and carried on using Photoshop. Does anyone know to what degree and any specific features of Photoshop are limited by running on 12.7.1?

My 2016 MacBook Pro runs great so I hate at this point to have to buy a new computer to run Photoshop successfully.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Searching in the Adobe forum system emphasizes that your message says "recommended" not required. Discussion follows that the newer AI tools may not work as well with older systems. And, that makes sense.

Jagnut07 Loc: South Carolina

Thanks for your reply, I’ll continue to use and see if and when any problems show up.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It should run, but somewhat slowly on certain routines. The 2016 machines are well outside the bounds of Apple's support window, for parts, service, and operating system updates. That means that you won't get security updates from Apple to protect against malware and other bad actors' pursuits. Of course, Adobe wants you to upgrade your hardware and OS for a better experience.

That's why, when I bought my 2020 M1 MacBook Air, I started saving to replace it in 2026 or 2027. My previous machine was a 2013 iMac that I had souped up with 16GB (maximum RAM for the 21.5"), and a 2TB SSD. I thought it was adequate, until I tried the M1 MacBook Air! The M1 FLIES, on routines where the I5 Intel iMac crawls. It makes a huge difference. The M3 iMac and 14" M3 MacBook Pro that Apple released this month double that speed. Time marches on... Computers get faster, so developers write software that requires that speed, drive space, memory, network bandwidth, etc.

I look back at where I started (Apple IIe, 1983, a Mac SE in 1987, and a PC in 1990), and I marvel at it all. The world is wired, for better and worse.