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Is it possible to upgrade an old iMac 7,1 to a later OS X than 10.6.8

I have an old iMac 7,1 that is a Intel Core 2 Duo with 6GB of ram and it is a single processor. I currently am running the OS X Version 10.6.8 and would like to know if it is possible to upgrade the Software to a later version or is it just too old?

iMac, macOS 10.12

Posted on Aug 21, 2020 9:34 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 21, 2020 9:42 PM

Please don't create multiple threads for the same issue as it can get very confusing.


You iMac can run up to macOS 10.11 El Capitan. Here is an Apple article providing instructions on how to download and "install" El Capitan. Read the article carefully as there are multiple steps that need to be performed.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT206886


I would suggest creating a bootable macOS 10.11 USB installer just in case something goes wrong during the upgrade. This way you will still have a way of recovering the system more easily.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


Make sure to have good backup before upgrading macOS since you could lose access to your data if something unexpected goes wrong during the upgrade. You should have good frequent and regular backups anyway, but definitely make sure to have a current backup before making major system changes.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 21, 2020 9:42 PM in response to InnateArtist

Please don't create multiple threads for the same issue as it can get very confusing.


You iMac can run up to macOS 10.11 El Capitan. Here is an Apple article providing instructions on how to download and "install" El Capitan. Read the article carefully as there are multiple steps that need to be performed.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT206886


I would suggest creating a bootable macOS 10.11 USB installer just in case something goes wrong during the upgrade. This way you will still have a way of recovering the system more easily.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


Make sure to have good backup before upgrading macOS since you could lose access to your data if something unexpected goes wrong during the upgrade. You should have good frequent and regular backups anyway, but definitely make sure to have a current backup before making major system changes.

Aug 22, 2020 10:43 AM in response to InnateArtist

InnateArtist wrote:

Niel,
I cannot even go to the page on my old iMac 7,1 to answer this. I don't quite understand what the different applications for compatibility are? What are each of those listed, the only one that I recognize is Apple of course. Could you give me some insight as to what they are in reference to?

You may find some of your non-Apple third party applications may not be compatible with macOS 10.11. Some third party apps may require an update to work with macOS 10.11. If an application isn't compatible with 10.11, then you will need to find another application to replace it.

Aug 22, 2020 11:51 AM in response to InnateArtist

InnateArtist - If you have any old PowerPC programs, they'll not work anymore because the Rosetta translator program was only available in 10.6. Apple chose not to buy the license for it in later OSes. Other than the PPC code being extinct post-Rosetta - so far I haven't found a single 'universal' (Intel-capable) program that worked in Snow Leopard that won't run under El Capitan!


It's just the old PPC (Motorola) RISC code that's no longer viable.

Is it possible to upgrade an old iMac 7,1 to a later OS X than 10.6.8

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