macOS Ventura was made official by Apple at WWDC 2022, and there are some interesting new features in the operating system. The company also launched a couple of shiny new MacBooks powered by the new Apple Silicon M2 chipset. But, the important question is, which Mac computers are eligible for the macOS Ventura update?
Apple has published a brief list of devices that will support Ventura, on its website. You can see those in the screenshot too.
- iMac – 2017 and later
- iMac Pro
- MacBook Air – 2018 and later
- MacBook Pro – 2017 and later
- Mac Pro – 2019 and later
- Mac Mini – 2018 and later
- MacBook – 2017 and later
That list could be a little confusing for users, is your computer eligible to receive the update or not? We created a full list of Macs that are compatible with the new OS.
List of devices that support macOS Ventura
- iMac 21.5-inch 2017
- iMac Retina 4K 21.5-inch 2017
- iMac Retina 5K 27-inch 2017
- iMac Retina 4K 21.5-inch 2019
- iMac Retina 5K 27-inch 2019
- iMac Retina 5K 27-inch 2020
- iMac 24-inch M1 2021
- iMac Pro 2017
- MacBook Air Retina 13-inch 2018
- MacBook Air Retina 13-inch 2019
- MacBook Air Retina 13-inch 2020
- MacBook Air M1 2020
- MacBook Air M2 2022
- MacBook Pro 13-inch 2017
- MacBook Pro 15-inch 2017
- MacBook Pro 13-inch 2018
- MacBook Pro 15-inch 2018
- MacBook Pro 13-inch 2019
- MacBook Pro 15-inch 2019
- MacBook Pro 16-inch 2019
- MacBook Pro 13-inch 2020
- MacBook Pro 13-inch M1 2020
- MacBook Pro 14-inch 2021
- MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021
- MacBook Pro 13-inch M2 2022
- MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 2022
- MacBook Pro 16-inch M2 2022
- Mac Pro 2019
- Mac Pro Rack 2019
- Mac mini 2018
- Mac mini M1 2020
- MacBook Retina 12-inch 2017
- Mac Studio 2022
That’s a fairly impressive list, isn’t it? But there are quite a few models for which Apple is dropping support for macOS. The company hasn’t provided a list of those, that’s why it has mentioned the supported devices as “MacBook Air – 2018 and later”, and so on and so forth. It’s up to the user to check if their system will receive the latest and greatest software. Well, that can be a little tedious. Don’t worry about that, here is a handy list that tells you which Macs won’t get the macOS Ventura upgrade.
List of devices that won’t get the macOS Ventura update
- iMac 21.5-inch Late 2015
- iMac Retina 4K 21.5-inch Late 2015
- iMac Retina 5K 27-inch Late 2015
- MacBook Air 11-inch Early 2015
- MacBook Air 13-inch Early 2015
- MacBook Air 13-inch 2017
- MacBook Retina 12-inch Early 2016
- MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch Early 2016
- MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid 2015
- MacBook Pro 13-inch 2016
- MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016
- Mac Pro Late 2013
- Mac mini Late 2014
- MacBook Retina 12-inch Early 2016
Here’s the official support page for Monterey, that I used as a reference point. It is a little surprising to see Apple end support for devices that are just over 5-6 years old. The company usually supports its computers for longer, that’s what it is known for, selling premium devices with long-term software updates. Of course, these machines will still likely get security updates for a while.
I have a MacBook Air M1 that runs on Monterey, but I prefer testing beta versions of the OS in a virtual machine. I upgraded my Monterey VM to Ventura to play around with the new Settings, Stage Manager, etc., and it feels the same in terms of performance. If that’s the case with a virtual machine, I don’t really see why Ventura can’t run on a computer that already supports Monterey. That’s why it doesn’t feel like planned obsolescence. Are they just trying to push users to upgrade to an Apple Silicon system, by retiring support for older Intel-based Macs?
If you own one of the unsupported Mac’s, all is not lost. You can keep an eye on OpenCore Legacy Patcher, the open source third-party tool will likely offer a way to install macOS Ventura in the future.
On a related topic, Apple has ended iOS support for iPhone 6s, 6s+, SE 1st Gen, 7 and 7+.
Do you own an older Mac that won’t be updated to macOS Ventura?
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