With macOS Sierra, Apple has once again raised the bar on which Macs can install and run the newest version of the Mac OS. But as sometimes has happened in the past, there are workarounds that make it possible to install Sierra on some unsupported Macs.
A huge thank you to Collin Mistr for developing and sharing his macOS Sierra Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs. Mistr is a member of our Low End Mac group on Facebook, and he's been sharing this tool ever since he figured out how to install the first public beta of Sierra. Several members of our group have used the tool and shared their results.
- Your MacBook Air comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ for Mac to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus.
- MacBook Air packs heavy-duty performance into just 2.8 pounds. The available quad-core Intel Core i7 processor delivers up to 2x faster CPU performance 1 and up to 80 percent faster graphics performance, 4 to help you power through everything from browsing the web to playing games to editing video. Up to 16GB of high-performance 3733MHz memory lets you work seamlessly even with multiple apps open.
Apple Requirements for macOS Sierra
Your Mac must have at least 2 GB of memory and 8.8 GB of available storage space. You must also be running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or later. (For those still on OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, you can upgrade to OS X 10.11 El Capitan for free and then install macOS Sierra.)
Download MacBook Air Essentials, MacBook Pro Essentials, MacBook Essentials, iMac Essentials, iMac Pro, and Mac mini Essentials from Apple Books. Get manuals and related documents for MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, MacBook, iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac mini from the Apple Support manuals website.
- Late 2009 iMac or newer
- Late 2009 MacBook or newer
- Mid 2010 MacBook Pro or newer
- Mid 2010 Mac Pro or newer
- Mid 2010 Mac mini or newer
- Late 2010 MacBook Air or newer
All Macs introduced in the past six years are supported, as well as the consumer MacBooks and iMacs from late 2009, which are almost 7 years old. The official macOS Sierra installer will refuse to install on anything older.
Real Hardware Requirements for macOS Sierra
Again, your Mac needs at least 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB of available storage, and you'll need a USB drive (thumb drive or hard drive) at least 8 GB in size. You will also need a Mac with an Intel Penryn Core 2 Duo or later CPU, since Sierra requires SSE4.1 – and older versions of the Core 2 Duo, such as Merom, and older Xeon chips (used in the Mac Pro) don't have it.
mac OS Sierra Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs supports the followining:
- Early 2008 Mac Pro or newer
- Early 2008 iMac or newer
- Early 2008 MacBook Pro or newer
- Late 2008 MacBook Air or newer
- Early 2009 MacBook White or newer
Where Apple only supports some Late 2009 and Mid 2010 Macs, Mistr's patch supports all Early 2009 Macs, some Late 2008 Macs, and even some Early 2008 Macs. We have a full list of Macs that can unofficially install Sierra using using the Unsupported Sierra tag. We will also be updating these profiles with #unsupportedsierra as time permits.
You Can Install It, But…
That's a lot more low-end support than Apple offers, so what's the catch?
There has been an issue with some of the Apple AirPort hardware in older Macs, but other than that, it's pretty much clear sailing. The AirPort support depends on which WiFi module your Mac uses. If it is not the Broadcaom BCM4321, you're set.
Other issues include the trackpad in the 2009 MacBooks and loss of volume control on the Early 2008 iMac. Details below.
Unsupported Devices
- The Broadcom BCM4321 WiFi module used in many older Macs is not supported. You will need to replace it with a compatible module or use a USB WiFi dongle. Models that may have this module include:
- Early 2008 Mac Pro (MacPro3,1)
- Early 2009 and Mid 2009 MacBook (MacBook5,2)
- Early 2008 and Late 2008 MacBook Pro (MacBookPro4,1) but the 15″ Late 2008 MacBook Prois supported
- Early 2008 iMac (iMac8,1)
- Early 2009 and Late 2009 Mac mini (Macmini3,1)
- Late 2008 and Mid 2009 MacBook Air (MacBookAir2,1).
- The trackpad in the Early 2009 and Mid 2009 MacBooks is not fully supported. Sierra sees it as a standard mouse; you cannot change the trackpad orientation settings.
- Some Early 2008 iMacs have an audio issue that will not let you adjust sound volume.
Real World macOS Sierra Requirements
Memory
Sure, you can install and run macOS Sierra on a 2 GB Mac, but you're not likely to be happy with system performance. You have a couple browsers running or several tabs in one browser, and that amount of memory will really hobble performance.
Heck, I find 3 GB on my 2.0 GHz 2007 Mac mini with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard barely adequate. Then again, I often have 3-4 browsers running, many open tabs, and some additional apps.
My 2.0 GHz Late 2008 Aluminum MacBook has been running OS X 10.9 Mavericks and 10.11 El Capitan decently with 4 GB of memory, and that should be adequate for most users. Power users, however, will want at least 8 GB of memory.
A Fast Drive
Nothing will make your aging Mac seem fast like a Solid State Drive (SSD). Where hard drives are limited in how fast they can read data off a spinning platter, SSDs have no such limitation. Speed is almost completely limited by the speed of the SATA connection in your older Mac. Macs with 1.5 Mbps SATA will seem very fast with an SSD, those with 3.0 Mbps SATA will seem wicked fast, and those with 6.0 Mbps SATA will seem insanely fast.
SSDs have become very affordable over the past year. I have 256 GB and 480 GB SSDs in my Mac mini and MacBook respectively, and they made a world of difference.
If you need really high capacity or are on a very tight budget, look into newer 7200 rpm hard drives to replace your older hard drives. Newer drives tend to be faster and have larger data buffers, which boosts performance.
A third option if hybrid hard drives, which are part hard drive and part SSD. The drive itself manages which files are on the SSD and which remain on the hard drive platters, much like Apple's Fusion Drive. I have tried hybrid, and while it was nicer than a straight hard drive, it doesn't compare with a full fledged SSD. For some users in some applications, though, it might be a perfect mix of hard drive capacity and sometime SSD throughput.
In Closing
We Mac geeks have had a long history of hacking Mac OS X to run on unsupported hardware – starting with OS X 10.2. The biggest success was probably the unsupported installer hack for OS X 10.5 Leopard, allowing easy installation on Macs with G4 CPUs below the official 867 MHz threshold.
Collin Mistr's patch is the same kind of thing for macOS Sierra. If your Mac is not supported by Apple but is by Mistr's patch, give it a try. I think you'll like it.
Macbook Air 13 Inch A1466
Keywords: #macossierra #unsupportedmacs #unsupportedsierra
Change default browser on macbook. Short link: https://goo.gl/InL5NS
searchword: unsupportedsierra
Not that model, I'm afraid.
Upgrading to Mavericks
You can upgrade to Mavericks from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mavericks can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for FREE.
Upgrading to Mavericks
To upgrade to Mavericks you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Download Mavericks from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mavericks is free. The file is quite large, over 5 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mavericks
1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
Are my applications compatible?
Macbook Air A1237 Os Supported
See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.
Upgrading to Lion
If your computer does not meet the requirements to install Mavericks, it may still meet the requirements to install Lion.
You can purchase Lion at the Online Apple Store. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download. You will get an email containing a redemption code that you then use at the Mac App Store to download Lion. Save a copy of that installer to your Downloads folder because the installer deletes itself at the end of the installation.
Lion System Requirements
1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7,
or Xeon processor
2. 2GB of memory
3. OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
4. 7GB of available space
5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Sep 7, 2014 11:14 PM
