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Downgrade 27" iMac OS to 10.8

P

push/pull

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 31, 2013
26
0
My current systems are buckling under the load of Autocad LT 2012. While they have great multi-core processor speeds, their single core speeds are not up to snuff. AC LT 2012 does't utilize multiple processors.

The current iMac was originally released with 10.8.4. Currently it comes with the latest 10.9.

Apple has told me that it will not run 10.8. I find that hard to believe. Has anyone recently purchased and downgraded the os?

Other wise it adds $1200 to the cost if I upgrade auto cad.

Thanks in advance.
 
Typically the way that works is whatever version came with your machine when you bought it, is the oldest version it can run.

My iMac came with 10.8 and is a late 2012 Model. I couldn't put 10.7 on it.
 
That's what I have been able to gather up to this point.

However, this particular iMac originally came with the OS I want to downgrade to. Though it now comes with the current OS.

I was hoping that would be the difference.

Alas. I'll have to wait.

Thanks for the quick reply.
 
push/pull said:
That's what I have been able to gather up to this point.

However, this particular iMac originally came with the OS I want to downgrade to. Though it now comes with the current OS.

I was hoping that would be the difference.

Alas. I'll have to wait.

Thanks for the quick reply.
Click to expand...

The late-2013 iMacs came with a special build of 10.8.4 that isn't the same as the combo update build of the regular 10.8.4.

And there isn't a place you can download this special build, which contains drivers specific to these iMacs.

You could try Recovery Mode though, but YMMV.
 
I find the specificity of your answer both informative and disappointing.

Now I have to decide to upgrade to the 2012 iMac and have to upgrade again sooner or wait until I have more $$ to upgrade the software as well.

Thanks again to both of you.
 
The Internet recovery should be always the version it came with the Mac. So that's what you would get if you did the internet recovery to clean install osx.
 
illusionx said:
The Internet recovery should be always the version it came with the Mac. So that's what you would get if you did the internet recovery to clean install osx.
Click to expand...

I don't think that works anymore, because when I tried Internet Recovery on both my late-2013 iMacs (the initial builds of Mavericks were hell), it turned out that it restored the latest version of Mavericks at that time back to my iMacs.
 
Looks like apple officially does not support ML on your late 2013. But if it came pre-installed, then it should work.

If you have an older mac that supports ML, then you can use it to install, update to 10.8.5 and move your HDD to the late-2013. It should work.
 
My late-2013 iMac came with ML. I've a few questions for you though.

What makes you think Autocad will run any better on 10.8 compared to 10.9?

If you purchase and download 10.8, surely it will be the latest version, and that will run just fine on the late-2013 iMac. My box even has the ML picture on it!
 
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