Can I install macOS Big Sur on my MacBook Pro A2015?

Although Monterey is newer than Catalina, and it might make sense to upgrade to it, even Monterey is no longer one of the "most recent three" supported by companies like Microsoft and Adobe. So upgrading to Monterey might not make a lot of difference in terms of the ability to run current commercial applications.

To get Big Sur or Monterey, see: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

For now, I believe that Catalina is still good enough to run current versions of

• The Firefox web browser
• The LibreOffice office suite
• The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
• The commercial Affinity V2 applications (Photo, Designer, Publisher)
• The backup utilities CCC v6 (not current, but still supported) and SuperDuper!

Most other third-party browsers (like Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome) require at least Big Sur. While I'm not familiar with Brave, I think that it is built on the Chromium engine and is supposed to protect your privacy better than Chrome does. (See: Brave – Compare: Brave vs. Chrome).

With only 8GB RAM, your RAM memory will VERY quickly fill with parts of Applications and cached files, and sections of memory will start to be compressed to save space. then the additional RAM required will begin to be simulated in a SWAP file.

To help keep your under-resourced computer from slowing to a crawl, the best advice is the Restart more often, which discards all cached items and starts up anew.

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If you would like to WATCH RAM Memory usage, you can keep an eye on the Memory Pressure graph in Activity Monitor. when it stops being all Green, you are in trouble:

View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac - Apple Support

Your "A2015" model doesn't seem to correlate with any MacBook Pro that I can find.

Please double check at  > About This Mac to find the correct model year of your Mac.

With that info we can tell you exactly which macOS versions you Mac can run.

Before you proceed, you should create a Time Machine backup of your Mac to have on hand and recover from should something go sideways.

Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support

If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, macOS Big Sur requires 35.5GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, macOS Big Sur requires up to 44.5GB of available storage.

from:

macOS Big Sur - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

Remember that minimum memory requirements are what is required to GET it running, not what is required for it to be reasonably responsive once installed.

Plan to restart at least daily, and DO NOT Install Chrome.

rashedk90 wrote:

if i install Monterey it will be run slowly.

Your statement is correct as written. That is a well-known feature of too little RAM for later MacOS.

In order to run Monterey in an appropriately responsive way, you need MORE than 8GB RAM installed.

The only other way to use it is with Monterey is to use only ONE Applications at a time, limit number of windows opened at once, and absolutely Never Run Chrome. Plan on Restarting at least daily.

2015 MacBook Pro was issued around ten years ago. Mainly because what users want to do Today is far more than in 2015, that computer has already outlived its usefulness. You appear to want more modern software with more features, which simply will not run on your older computer.

Also, your 121 GB storage size is low by today's standards. You should always have about 20 percent free to avoid slowdowns. Many recent versions of MacOS require more than 45GB free storage space to be able to Install as well.

Apple-silicon Macs are so superior, ANY model Apple-silicon Mac (as long as it has MORE that 8 GB RAM) including the MacBook Air, can run rings around your 2015 model.

Chrome is the biggest resource hog on the Mac that is Not obvious malware. if you can possibly NOT install Chrome, your under-resourced Mac will run far better overall.

Chrome is particularly resource-intensive because it installs Google which renders your Mac a full time information-harvesting and -uploading "bot" for Google's purposes. Those processes can't be turned off or disabled, even if you quit the Chrome browser. Even without knowing what else is installed on that Mac it is all but assured a multitude of Google's automatically updating virus-like processes are causing your Mac to work overtime.

Get rid of it. No one needs Chrome. Follow these removal instructions.

—senior contributor John Galt

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95319?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop#zippy=%2Cmac

https://chromeisbad.com/

The other part of what I said is "plan to run only ONE Application at a time". Quit your Browser before launching any other Application.

if this is not possible for the kind of work you intend to do, then you need a better computer sooner rather than later.

Luckily, even the least expensive Apple-silicon MacBook Air can run rings around your current Intel computer.

A2105 did not look up to any appropriate model MacBook Pro.

What model-year MacBook Pro ?

That model is capable of Big Sur and Monterey.

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