Availability of OS upgrades

[Wando64]

My late 2012 Mini currently on Mojave is not supported on Big Sur.
To extend the supported life of the mac I should upgrade it to Catalina at some point, however I am in no hurry to do so as it works flawlessly on Mojave.
If I delay the upgrade to Catalina until after Apple public release of Big Sur, will my Mini still offer me the upgrade to Catalina straight from the System Preferences even though Big Sur will be the latest release?
This would allow me an easy upgrade to Catalina when Mojave becomes unsupported.

Or is it better to upgrade before Big Sur’s release?

Thanks

 

[chrfr]

If I delay the upgrade to Catalina until after Apple public release of Big Sur, will my Mini still offer me the upgrade to Catalina straight from the System Preferences even though Big Sur will be the latest release?
This would allow me an easy upgrade to Catalina when Mojave becomes unsupported.

Or is it better to upgrade before Big Sur’s release?

Thanks

You'll still be able to get Catalina after Big Sur is released. Worst case, you could just upgrade using Internet Recovery.

 

[Wando64]

Worst case, you could just upgrade using Internet Recovery.

Thanks, but wouldn’t this be a fresh installation rather than an upgrade?

 

[r6mile]

You can just download the .dmg file from Apple. They store them online as far as back Yosemite, so you won't have a problem.

How to download and install macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

 

[chrfr]

Thanks, but wouldn’t this be a fresh installation rather than an upgrade?

No, Internet Recovery will upgrade the existing installation unless you manually erase the disk.

 

[ian87w]

My late 2012 Mini currently on Mojave is not supported on Big Sur.
To extend the supported life of the mac I should upgrade it to Catalina at some point, however I am in no hurry to do so as it works flawlessly on Mojave.
If I delay the upgrade to Catalina until after Apple public release of Big Sur, will my Mini still offer me the upgrade to Catalina straight from the System Preferences even though Big Sur will be the latest release?
This would allow me an easy upgrade to Catalina when Mojave becomes unsupported.

Or is it better to upgrade before Big Sur’s release?

Thanks

It's better to upgrade when you're 100% sure that all your apps AND their installers are all 64bit. Some apps are 64bit (thus they work when you upgrade to Catalina), but their installers are 32bit (meaning you will never be able to re-install them when you need it). Once you're sure, I would just upgrade to Catalina as soon as you have time. I'm seeing youtube videos showing how Catalina is faster than Mojave.

If you want to delay, you'll be able to update to Catalina whenever. I mean even today, you can still download El Capitan and each of macOS upgrades after that.

I'm keeping my 2012 mini on High Sierra. It came with El Capitan and I still had the option to upgrade to Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave/Catalina.