Is appleOS getting too big for it's britches?

Question

Is appleOS getting too big for it's britches?

I recently tried to upgrade an older mackbook 13" pro's from Montgomery 12.6 to 12.7 on a 128GB HD. No mater what I did with disk-utility I kept getting the message "insufficient space" Checking the drives boot sector i removed all the old boot images, and still no cigar. I was able to download the upgrade then install it to an external 500-GB HD. Yes it runs very slow IO, but it boots. Frustrated with this I call apple-support (Teir-1) and was told "sir your computer is end of life (2015). You should consider buying a new mac." There maybe some logic behind that, but my American budget won't allow for new toys. Since it's a Intel-CPU I was able to install KDE-Kubuntu24.10 on it and after several config adjustments it boots faster than Montgomery, but Linux-bluetooth is dead without a usb-dongle. I'm just saying what's up with all the "APFS-disk-hog" for an simple point upgrade? Is anyone else having this issue?

Posted on Apr 4, 2025 07:54 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 4, 2025 08:37 PM in response to berrywhitetiger

Under-configured and low-spec Macs tend not to be useful for as long as mid- and higher-spec models can be useful.

The performance of iMac 8 GB hard disk configurations can be resource-constrained, as another example. You’ve demonstrated the basic issue with those again here too, with your external-boot HDD configuration.

If Linux or BSD or some other operating system works better for your available hardware and your needs, or if macOS with an external SSD works better, by all means use that.

And yes, a ten year old Mac is well past support.

PS: I’m familiar with fitting production systems into 16 KB and 32 KW system configurations, so yes, something not fitting in 128 GB is disconcerting. But then buying under-configured systems was a problem back then, too. And memory and storage are vastly cheaper nowadays.

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Answer 2

Apr 4, 2025 11:08 PM in response to berrywhitetiger

I believe macOS 12 is called "Monterey" – not "Montgomery". A 2015 MacBook Pro would have a SSD – there is no drive bay inside in which one could even install a mechanical hard drive. (Don't be fooled by the name "Macintosh HD"; that's just a name that Apple uses regardless of the actual drive type.)

No, macOS (there is no "appleOS") is not "getting too big for its britches." And yes, if this is a 2015 MacBook Pro, macOS 12.* (Monterey) is the end of the line.

By the way, although Apple doesn't sell internal SSD upgrades for the 2015 MacBook Pros, Other World Computing does. You can get internal "circuit-board stick" SSDs in capacities ranging from 240 GB to 2 TB.

Other World Computing – OWC Solid State Drives For MacBook Pro with Retina Display (Late 2013 - Mid 2015)

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Is appleOS getting too big for it's britches?

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