List of Macs that can run macOS 14 Sonoma

[trs96]

The line was drawn at "Macs with a T2 chip." That's why the 2017 iMac Pro made the cut and the 2017 iMac didn't. The 2019 iMac, which doesn't have a T2 on board but does run the same firmware as the other T2 Macs, has a newer Intel CPU (9th gen Coffee Lake) without as many vulnerabilities like Spectre, baked in.

Intel's 9th Generation Coffee Lake-R CPUs contain Spectre/Meltdown hardware fixes​

Intel has confirmed that their upcoming 9th Generation 8-core Coffee Lake processors will ship with mitigations for some variants of spectre/meltdown.

Apple is thinking primarily about security. MS is doing the same thing with Windows 11. They require at least an 8th gen Intel CPU and TPM 2.0 to officially be eligible for Win11. I can see Intel Macs getting one more year of support. 2017/2018 models will likely all be dropped next year with macOS 15.

'19 and '20 Intel Macs will get one last macOS upgrade next year.

After that I'd predict macOS 16 will support only Apple Si in 2025. Intel will have had a 19 year run with Macs. I think that's the longest period they've stayed with any one chip maker. Just my informed opinion. Based on Apple's past actions. Apple could also cut off all Intel Macs next June, but I don't see it happening.

 

[Jamesbond007]

View attachment 567423

• iMac 2019 and later
• Mac Pro 2019 and later
• iMac Pro 2017
• Mac Studio 2022 and later
• MacBook Air 2018 and later
• Mac mini 2018 and later
• MacBook Pro 2018 and later

For comparison these are the Macs that currently run macOS Ventura:

• ¡Mac 2017 and later
• ¡Mac Pro 2017
• MacBook Air 2018 and later
• MacBook Pro 2017 and later
• Mac Pro 2019 and later
• Mac mini 2018 and later
• MacBook 2017 and later

macOS Sonoma

macOS Sonoma brings stunning screen savers, desktop widgets, new ways to share work and web apps along with fun personalization tools and Game mode.

www.apple.com

Frankly I am a bit surprised that Apple decided that MacOS Sonoma still supports SOME Intel Macs. I thought Apple could be more aggressive and cut Intel Macs off a lot sooner.

As the Apple Silicon transition is now complete, perhaps next year MacOS will be Apple Silicon only, and if not, then probably in 2025 at the latest.

And don't expect any more support for new hardware, especially graphics cards like the RX 7xxx cards from AMD.

 

[poles]

Few nails left to hackintosh coffin

 

[poles]

Frankly I am a bit surprised that Apple decided that MacOS Sonoma still supports SOME Intel Macs. I thought Apple could be more aggressive and cut Intel Macs off a lot sooner.

As the Apple Silicon transition is now complete, perhaps next year MacOS will be Apple Silicon only, and if not, then probably in 2025 at the latest.

And don't expect any more support for new hardware, especially graphics cards like the RX 7xxx cards from AMD.

I think they don't want to upset some Intel Mac Pro (2019) owners. $5,999

 

[Ecchi Nutuano]

I think they don't want to upset some Intel Mac Pro (2019) owners. $5,999

.... starting at $5,999. People were able to configure it to absurd prices if they went strictly through Apple (RAM, CPU, storage).

 

[Ecchi Nutuano]

The line was drawn at "Macs with a T2 chip." That's why the 2017 iMac Pro made the cut and the 2017 iMac didn't. The 2019 iMac, which doesn't have a T2 on board but does run the same firmware as the other T2 Macs, has a newer Intel CPU (9th gen Coffee Lake) without as many vulnerabilities like Spectre, baked in.

Intel's 9th Generation Coffee Lake-R CPUs contain Spectre/Meltdown hardware fixes​

Intel has confirmed that their upcoming 9th Generation 8-core Coffee Lake processors will ship with mitigations for some variants of spectre/meltdown.

Apple is thinking primarily about security. MS is doing the same thing with Windows 11. They require at least an 8th gen Intel CPU and TPM 2.0 to officially be eligible for Win11. I can see Intel Macs getting one more year of support. 2017/2018 models will likely all be dropped next year with macOS 15.

View attachment 567431
'19 and '20 Intel Macs will get one last macOS upgrade next year.

After that I'd predict macOS 16 will support only Apple Si in 2025. Intel will have had a 19 year run with Macs. I think that's the longest period they've stayed with any one chip maker. Just my informed opinion. Based on Apple's past actions. Apple could also cut off all Intel Macs next June, but I don't see it happening.

I just looked at my post history. I predicted "10.18" (aka macOS 13) as the likely beginning of removing intel-only macs (not counting T2's). The cynic in mean feels like COVID only delayed this drop-kick; I wouldn't have been surprised if they originally roadmapped a year prior. I'll be curious how hackintosh-ing will go forward, glad I haven't sunk any further upgrades into my Hack.

 

[Bustycat]

I just looked at my post history. I predicted "10.18" (aka macOS 13) as the likely beginning of removing intel-only macs (not counting T2's). The cynic in mean feels like COVID only delayed this drop-kick; I wouldn't have been surprised if they originally roadmapped a year prior. I'll be curious how hackintosh-ing will go forward, glad I haven't sunk any further upgrades into my Hack.

WTF is 10.18?

 

[Ecchi Nutuano]

...
macOS Catalina (10.15) was the last 10.X release, before Big Sur (macOS 11) changed the versioning to whole numbers. At the time of my prediction, it was based on the assumption Apple would continue its 10.X iterations. 10.18 technically should be macOS 13 (Ventura).

 

[caniggia]

I can't see apple dropping updates for mac pro 2019 for another 2 years at least. Easily going to 3. So with that in mind ...
.. what are the lowest specs that someone can use to build a custom mac with macpro7,1 SMBIOS AND keep getting macOS updates?
Custom macs should keep going till the end!!

 

[trs96]

what are the lowest specs that someone can use to build a custom mac with macpro7,1

Why the lowest specs ?