What is the Latest Version of Mac OS?
This article tells you what the latest version Of macOS is and how to update to the latest macOS version. Click to read the full guide.
Author:Daniel BarrettAug 16, 202252053 Shares1107517 Views
Individuals blame electronics producers for built-in uselessness: that hardwareis designed to stop working or not be useful after a relatively short period of time. Apple has generally avoided that with Macs, letting many of its models receive OS X and macOS updates for five to seven years after the computer version’s initial release. This article tells you what the latest version Of macOS is and how to update to the latest macOS version.
Apple has a page for each release that in older versions of the OS describes the features required in Macs to handle it, and in newer versions lists the oldest models supported or spells out every model. There may be additional requirements, such as minimum RAM installed, and one always needs a certain amount of free disk space, often specified…
For example, for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, released in mid-2011, Apple notes that an “Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor” is required, but not which models; 2GB of RAM is also needed. Fortunately, third-party sites can provide the reverse lookup that helps narrow this down.
Every Mac.com, which dates back nearly 25 years, has pages that list every Mac model by the processor. Click on Core 2 Duo, and you can find that the late 2006 17-inch iMacis among the earliest that can be upgraded to Lion.
Latest Version of macOS
The current major version, macOS 12 Monterey, was announced on June 7, 2021, at WWDC 2021 and released on October 25 of that year; the latest version of macOS 12, macOS 12.5, was released on July 20, 2022.
Here’s how to tell if your Mac can run Big Sur.
Monterey introduces a redesign with simplified toolbars, buttons, and menus. It looks a lot more like Apple’s iOS and iPadsOS. Other features from Apple’s mobile operating systems were introduced here, including a Control Center with shortcuts to frequently used tasks. Under the hood, however, this is still the same powerful macOS operating systemyou’re used to.
How to Check if You Have the Latest Version
To see which version of macOS you have installed, click the Apple menu icon at the top left corner of your screen, and then select the “About This Mac” command.
The name and version number of your Mac’s operating system appear on the “Overview” tab in the About This Mac window. If you see “macOS Big Sur” and version “11.0”, you have Big Sur. As long as it starts with “11.”, you have Big Sur installed.
In the screenshot below, we have version 10.14 of macOS Mojave installed. For example, if it says you have mac OS Mojave version “10.14.1” installed, this means you have Mojave with the “.1” update installed. These smaller updates contain security patches and other fixes. They appear as updates in the Software Update pane.
How to Update to the Latest Version
If you don’t yet have mac OS Big Sur installed, you can easily update it from the Mac App Store. You can either open the App Store and look for Big Sur or click the following link to open the Big Sur page on the Mac App Store.
Click the “Download” or “Get” button on the macOS Big Sur page to download Big Sur and install it on your Mac. The operating system is over 12.6 GB in size so it may take a while. The installer will automatically open after the download is finished. Click through it to install Big Sur on your Mac.
Note:We highly recommend backing up your Mac with Time Machine (or however you back up) before upgrading your operating system. The upgrade should leave everything in place, but it’s always better to play it safe just in case. Apple only supports the most recent three versions of mac OS with security updates, so you have to upgrade regularly to ensure you have the latest security patches.
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