MacOS Mojave Compatible Macs List
MacOS Mojave is the freshly announced next major release of Mac OS system software, complete with a gorgeous Dark Mode appearance and a variety of other great features set to improve the Mac experience.
The excitement of a new macOS release leads every Macintosh user to the same common question… will my Mac run macOS Mojave 10.14? If you’re wondering whether or not your particular Mac will support macOS Mojave, then read on to see the full list of macOS Mojave compatible Macs.
MacOS Mojave Compatibility List of Supported Macs
Apple has said that any Mac introduced in mid-2012 or later will support macOS Mojave, along with the 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models if they have a Metal capable GPU. That’s fairly descriptive, but if you want a specific list of supported Mac hardware for macOS Mojave 10.14 then the following should be helpful to you:
- MacBook Pro (mid 2012 and newer)
- MacBook Air (mid 2012 and newer)
- MacBook (early 2015 and later)
- iMac (late 2012 or newer)
- iMac Pro (2017 or newer)
- Mac Pro (late 2013 or newer, or mid 2010 and mid 2012 models with Metal capable GPU)
- Mac Mini (late 2012 or newer)
As you can see from the list, basically every Mac that was introduced from mid-2012 onward supports macOS Mojave, along with a few earlier Mac Pro models. The supported hardware list for macOS 10.14 is a bit more restrictive than prior macOS system software releases, perhaps indicating that the latest software version will be more demanding on resources or simply just require particular system architecture components that are only available on more modern Macintosh hardware.
This information comes from the Apple press release for macOS Mojave, where Apple says the following:
“macOS Mojave will be available this fall as a free software update for Macs introduced in mid-2012 or later, plus 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models with recommended Metal-capable graphics cards.”
From a system requirements standpoint, macOS Mojave appears to require a modern CPU as well as a GPU that is compatible with Metal graphics architecture. RAM may be less of an important element, though Mac OS tends to run best with more memory. In terms of disk space, typically you need storage for the installer, along with free disk space to install the update itself.
How do I know what my Mac is and whether it will run macOS Mojave 10.14?
Now that you know which Macs support macOS Mojave, you may be wondering how you can find out what Mac model and Mac model year a particular computer is. Fortunately Apple has made this super simple and you can find exactly what your Mac is quickly:
- Pull down the Apple menu and choose “About this Mac”
- At the “Overview” screen of About This Mac, find the Mac model and Mac model year
For example, if you see “MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)” then that Mac would fall within the range of Mac computers supporting macOS Mojave.
Another noteworthy mention regarding compatibility and macOS Mojave pertains to 32-bit apps, as macOS Mojave is apparently set to be the last version of Mac OS system software to support them. You can read here to learn how to find 32-bit apps on a Mac if you are not sure which apps may fall into that category.
MacOS Mojave aims to be a pretty exciting system software release for Mac users, and Dark Mode alone will surely drive many installations of the release. While developers and beta testers, and the impatient can download macOS Mojave beta right now as a developer release, the vast majority of users would be better served to wait until the final version debuts this fall.
Of course macOS Mojave is not the only new exciting operating system to come out of Apple, and you may also be interested in finding out which iPhone and iPad support iOS 12 with the iOS 12 compatibility list.
I think High Sierra is the most decent upgraded OS for my Mac Air early ’15. Mojave seems unstable on it.
Help me!!!! I have a iMac Late 2015 4K Retina, 8gb RAM Intel i7, 1Tb of space, and it was working awesome in sierra! And then it F** up completely in Mojave, súper slow, and can’t even do anything….help i wanna downgrade but don’t wanna lose any data… I don’t have backup
Macbook A1181 5,2 Mid 2009 running Mojave with the Dosdude patch. I’ve maxed the RAM to 6Gb and have installed a 250Gb SSD. I have to use Dark Mode but, apart from this, it’s working surprisingly well. There’s allegedly some limitations to what the trackpad can do, but I haven’t noticed any problems.
I don’t want Mohave or any of its upgrades with the exception of one; you cannot get the latest version of Safari without the whole OS upgrade. Or…can you?
anyone has any experience upgrading from high sierra to mojave, i have mbp 13inch mid-2012. 1tb hdd 16gb ram.
high sierra is running smoothly though boot time is not really fast.
thanks in advance
MacBook Air early 2015, running Safari — I would not do it. Unless I get a bug fix soon, I am going to downgrade.
Safari is jerky, page control is poor, does not handle large web pages well (that never had a problem, before). slow to load new web pages.
On my desktop model, drag-and-drop is partially disabled.
This one has been a hair-puller.
I have a MacBook 13 inch aluminum (5, 1) a late 2008 model and it runs Mojave just fine. You just need to patch the installer file so it think your system meets the minimum requirements. We all know Apple loves to force you o upgrade your hardware every few rears. With SSD, 8 GB of ram… I am golden.
I have a MBP mid 2009, that I’ve maxed out with RAM (All glorious 8GB :´)) But I’ve yet to install an SSD. Matthew, where did you get yours, was it difficult to install and how do I patch the installer file?
The Mac has been through many hardships, but has managed to outperform my friends Mac & PC’s throughout Highschool and Uni, so I see no problem with sticking with a earlier OS, although it would be nice to upgrade incase it prolongs its useability!
I have a Sandisk SSD in my machine and its glorious. I would go with either Amazon or a retail store for this purchase just because if there is an issue with it the refund will be easier to take care of. Stay away from eBay.
Way is it I still can’t get my firewire to work with OS X 10.13… Quit making every thing obsolete before you fix the damn problem with them. This is way I will never by a new Apple Product!!
Will Mojave support Fusion drives yet?
This is great but if your Mac isn’t on the list and you are brave you can patch Mojave to install on older macs
http://dosdude1.com/mojave/
I’m sorry, I don’t understand this: Mac Pro (or mid 2010 model with Metal capable GPU). Can you advise me on how to find out if my mid 2010 Mac Pro has a metal capable GPU). It looks like I may have to either upgrade soon, or stick with 10.13 for awhile. Thanks.
A good question is whats does mind for apple „Metal GPU”
I have mid-2010 Mac Pro 5.1 with 2×3.33GHz, 64GB Ram, 500GB ssd + 4 x 2TB Sata hdd’s and AMD R9 280X with 3GB and after trying to intall today public beta – I can’t (!!)
Apple – you going wrong way!!!!
Anecdotal evidence suggests that it will install with a Radeon HD 7950
I also have a late 2009 iMac and I can understand that the time has come that it does no longer support the latest OS, but I find it peculiar that 3 years (2009 -2012) of iMac fall off at once.
The iMac 21,5 late 2011 has been sold by Apple until march 2013, rather quick that in 5 years it cannot run the latest software anymore compared to the 9 years of my late 2009 model.
At long last, my late-2009 iMac (Core 2 Duo) won’t be able to run the latest and greatest.
…but it will still be much more useful to me than the 2016 core i3/Windows 7 Dell (employer provided) that it’s sitting next to.
same iMac here. almost 10 years ain’t a bad run. plus with high Sierra I figure I have another 3-5 years before it starts becoming obsolete. hoping not.
sorrow the moment air 2011mid die come,ha ha ha,yeah,
i should curse myself if i would fall into the fancy for great AppInc in th e bright future…at least in Intel-mac Era…sighah
Will this FINALLY & once and for all get rid of the spinning beach ball…? Or just another version of Windows ‘95?
It is just a simple trick of trade. I suppose that all other previous Macs can run Mojave but how could Apple inspire people to renew their Macs if they will run the same OS? Some will renew theirs in order to be able to use the latest OS.
Will a Mac Pro 2009 (4,1) that has been flashed to a 5,1 with a Metal supported GPU work with Mojave?
I have an iMac built mid 2011, which is not on the list. Will I even be offered Mojave in the App store as an upgrade? What happens to older macs that are able to install Mojave, even though not supported? Will it foul up my Radeon graphics? What features other than those that are Metal related will I lose?
No. You’ll have to download Mojave to a machine that is on the supported list and then copy it to a memory stick or something.
Will unsupported early MacBook Pro eventually need some anti-virus and other security installed?
Apple usually issues security updates to the prior two system software releases. With that in mind, it would be reasonable to expect this to continue after macOS Mojave is released, and if that does continue then macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra would likely continue to get security updates and the like even if they are not running macOS Mojave. It’s possible that could change, but that has been the standard currently.
My MacPro5,1 is mid 2010 and has a ATI Radeon HD 5770 GPU, is it Metal capable?
I have a MacPro 3,1 running High Sierra ( using the macOS High Sierra Patcher.app ) with a NVIDIA 1050Ti card installed…
I’m hopeful that a ‘new’ Mojave Patcher.app will become available soon. And like most of the comments here, I’m wondering what exactly ‘Metal compatible GPU’ really means ?
Who knows. My Mac Pro 5.1 with a Radeon HD 7950 says it can´t be installed.
I have same spec but fortnite says it needs Metal capable Graphic card so I don’t think it is Metal capable even though Apple says it is…..
I doubt it – that’s probably the original GPU that came with your computer – but you can check: Open ‘About This Mac’ in the Apple icon (top far left of your screen), then click ‘System Report’. Under ‘Hardware’ choose ‘Graphics/Displays’, look for ‘Metal’ in the list and it see if it says ‘Supported’.
I have a Mac Pro mid-2010 MacPro5,1 with a 1TB SSD Drive, 64 Gigs Ram with an AMD Radeon HD 7970 (which ran about $250) and it’s Metal Supported. Disclaimer: I haven’t tried installing the macOS Mojave beta yet.
No, I’m afraid the Radeon HD 5770 doesn’t support Metal. If I remember correctly you need a GPU from the Radeon HD 6XXX series or later for Metal support
Star-Affinity, unfortunately the 6xxx series Radion is also not supported, you need a minimum 7xxx series to run Mojave, even with the Patch tool, 5xxx/6xxx will run but you have to disable acceleration which renders the machine unusable.
Planned obsolescence is a bitch and Apple is a pedigree breeder.
The Metal requirement is curious to me and I am not sure that anyone understands it based upon my initial inquiries and investigations. I do not know exactly what Metal GPU means or what is so special about it.
For Wikipedia says the following about Metal GPU on Mac:
“On macOS, Metal supports Intel HD and Iris Graphics from the HD 4000 series or newer, AMD GCN-based GPUs, and Nvidia Kepler-based GPUs or newer.”
OK, well that is GeekGreek from Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_(API)
And then there is Apple which gives even less information about Metal and what it is or isn’t
“Metal 2 provides near-direct access to the graphics processing unit (GPU), enabling you to maximize the graphics and compute potential of your apps on iOS, macOS, and tvOS. Building on an efficient low-overhead architecture with precompiled shaders, fine-grained resource control, and multithreading support, Metal 2 evolves to give the GPU even greater control of its graphics pipeline, accelerate neural network training, and provide powerful new tools that give deep insight into your shader code.”
OK but Apple does not tell us what GPU is Metal capable, so helpful!
https://developer.apple.com/metal/
OH but wait, I did discover a list from Apple about what Mac have Metal support, but again not explaining what Metal is and what GPU is supporting it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205073
-iMac pro models
-iMac models from 2012 or later
-MacBook models from 2015 or later
-MacBook Pro models from 2012 or later
-MacBook Air models from 2012 or later
-Mac mini models from 2012 or later
-Mac Pro models from late 2013
The quote from Apple is: “Metal is a graphics technology from Apple that allows the main processor (CPU) and graphics processor (GPU) to work together more effectively, providing faster and more fluid graphics performance in games and high-performance apps. These Mac computers support Metal and Metal 2”
So I suspect for Mac Pro, since some Mac Pro models can have upgraded GPU or you can upgrade it yourself, perhaps buying a new GPU card or graphics unit will be sufficient to have this mysterious “Metal” support that nobody including Apple appears to understand!
And why we need this when the interface is still the same? OH dark mode Give me a break, then just don’t bring Dark mode to the non-Metal GPU! OK I am annoyed, as you can see. I want most Macs to run Mojave if possible, Apple is usually good with support.
I did not like High Sierra so Mojave I have higher expectations for.
Ok first Metal is a bit of software that helps programs talk to the hardware more efficiently. Its like openGL and DirectX. This is a thing you want. Every program from chrome to photoshop to the little calendar app uses an API (short form of the type of program metal is). OpenGL which is currently the API for Mac OS is about 6 or so years old. That means newer hardware (such as a gtx 1080 or titan or even the newer processors) aren’t being communicated with as efficiently. The result is slower render times in video software, lower frame rates, and even choppy window open and close animations.
Why does this require newer macs verse older ones? Well technically it doesn’t. But let me get you thinking about graphics cards like cars for a moment. Picture 4 cars in your head: a minivan, a sports car, a large truck, and a racecar. Now each of these cars are really good at doing something correct? The van hauls people, the sports car handles really well, the truck is useless but hicks like them and the racecar goes really fast all the time. Now Imagine that you are coordinating matching workloads with the correct car to do them. This is the API’s job, to determine what workload goes where and how to get it there, but the API has to know what hardware is there and how to use it without asking 20 times. So it has a list of hardware and how best to utilize it. The more macs you service the more complex the list becomes and the harder it is to create the API to begin with, and the slower the API is in general. So, we now have every processor that has a 4000 or higher built in graphics chip, plus every graphics processor made after the m650, plus random hardware that goes into the system like chipsets and controllers, thats already a long and complicated list to figure out and then you want to add more and will complain if you start dropping frames or your render times go up.
I can come by anytime in my hick truck to load up all the old Macs not capable of running the new OS….
Your understanding of software is poor if you honestly believe this, or you must be an Apple shill. Software is not analogous to real world objects, such as a car. This is just plain wrong. Software, such as OpenGL, evolves over time. _Exactly_like_Windows_ . Even though Windows goes through new iterations, under the bonnet it is actually the previous incarnation with extra bits on top. In my example, it is a way for Microsoft to sell you a new product, ’cause niceties and shiny new things. As far as Metal is concerned, it is just Apples push on the gfx vendors to force a shift that they can control more of. They don’t control OpenGL any more than Google or Microsoft or any players that have a say in the development of that software, hence the mandated Apple separation. If you don’t like it, Apple will brand their own soon enough then… I don’t like it because from a marketing perspective it makes perfect sense to phuck over the environment just so Apple can push a few more units across the line.
I find the supported Mac list to be disappointing particularly given that previously anything from 2010 onward was supported. The hardware from 2010-2012 is still very powerful, often more powerful than todays hardware, so what’s the big deal?
Is this about abandoning OpenGL? Bad for gamers, bad for graphics…. all for Metal? And what is Metal good for? How is it better?
Does WindowServer sit idle at 30-50% CPU in Mojave like it does in Sierra and High Sierra? No wonder battery life is so bad now, each 25% of battery I get about 45 minutes of battery life on a relatively new MacBook Pro (2015 edition bought in early 2017, don’t even get me started on the Touch Bar and keyboard of the “new” editions…).
I hope performance is a big improvement, but I am disappointed to see the support for many good Macs is no longer there. I have a 2011 Mac that runs great on Mavericks, I guess it will stay with that.
Something to think about is that in comparison the fact that every single year Apple comes out with an update is pretty amazing. When was the last time Windows 10 was updated? Maybe a Service Pack (If they still do that). It’s had to have been at least 3 years.
Not every computer is going to run forever, but you can be rest assured that the core software (iTunes, iWork, and Security Updates) are going to be coming out for years to come.
Don’t be too disappointed. Just because it’s not running the most up to date OS does not mean your computer is now garbage.
FYI, Windows 10 was updated last April https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2018/04/30/whats-new-in-the-windows-10-april-2018-update/
Every single year, that’s half the time than Windows 10 upgrades which happens every half year https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10_version_history
Also Windows 10 will run easily on hardware made in 2011. They (Apple) just want to push everything to Metal, nothing more, nothing less.
Time for me and other users with a perfect 2011 Mac to re-evaluate our upgrade path.
People would stay on older system which works fine for development but unfortunately Apple forces Xcode to run only on newest OS, this not going end well
I’m in the exact same boat. I’ll have to figure something out by the end of the month because It looks like apple will not be releasing the IOS 12 SDK for machines running High Sierra.
Well I take that back, XCode 10 just dropped with the IOS 12 SDK
which supports 10.13.6 and later.
So basically all my Macs are now “deprecated”.
I have a MBP 13” Late 2011 which won’t run Mojave and it’s perfectly capable of running it (SSD + 16GB RAM). My Mac mini Mid 2011 (SSD + 8GB RAM) should also be capable of running it, but… well, whatever. Thanks Apple.
My response too!
Those macs will run Mohave, it just won’t be supported by apple – you’re on your own if things don’t work out.
Right. Apple is supposed to support every Mac forever. I’m going to email Tim Cook and demand that my Mac Classic from 1992 be able to run macOS Mojave.
Very funny.
Reductio ad Absurdum level: Over 9000.
About as amusing as my grandma’s Alzheimers.
They’ve cut off 3 years of iMacs in one update yet those same iMacs run Windows 10 better than many dedicated Windows machines… How ironic is that?
I have an even older Mac Pro 3,1 with 8 cylinders from 2008, it’s been upgraded to the hilt (SSD, 32GB RAM, etc…) Runs great, such a reliable beast.
There are third party hacks to install unsupported OSes, I may try them if Mojave is compelling enough, but deprecating OpenGL has me concerned.
So? You’re running 7 year old machines anyway. Besides, Apple never said it would stop supporting the other recent OSX’s anyway. Run Sierra or High Sierra and stop complaining lol.
I would recommend going to iFixit.com and purchasing the logic board for the mid-2012 MacBook pro and installing it in your late 2011 MacBook pro. It can be done. Go to youtube and search upgrade 2011 MacBook pro to 2012 and you’ll see a video by Kenneth Tanaka who explains that the newer logic board is compatible with some modification (trimming the display cable and purchasing the 2012 heat sink). The logic board is $399 but comes with a lifetime warranty. Hope that helps.
Probably your MBP is not accepted because the processor is the “Sandy Bridge” line, the second generation of Intel’s “Core i” line.
Sorry, now that I’ve checked a few things, your MBP should rather accept the Mojave macOS.
Most people will stuck with High Sierra and maybe Apple finally understood that cutting Macs year after year is not good solution
I am not on the upgrade list as well. Late 2011, i7, 8GB, but I suspect it fails in the GPU.
I have three Mac.. all falling short.
Kinda pissed Apple!
Only Metal compatible Macs are supported by the MacOS Mojave release. Does Dark Mode require metal? I read early reports that Dark Mode feels slow even on 2017 MacBook Pro. IT is beta after all, so I expect good performance by final release.