Feature compatibility question

[e93to]

Hello. I have a Late 2012 iMac 21.5" with 8gb RAM, 2.7 GHz core i5, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M and 1 tb 5400rpm HDD.

I am still running 10.8.5 on this iMac because, well, I like it. But I have to upgrade to 10.13 in order to sync with new iPhone 8 and iCloud Drive features (from what I know, apps like Notes, Calendar, Contacts, etc sync through iCloud Drive starting with iOS 9).

I have several questions regarding the experience of running 10.13, or 10.12, on late 2012 iMac. Excuse my ignorance if I ask something that sounds too obvious, but I haven't kept up with tech world recently..

1. Does it run well without slowing down the device...? Do apps launch quickly, are animations smooth, does the animation stutter with multiple apps running on multiple desktops, does it make the iMac run hot, etc? I leave iTunes, Mail, RSS feed app, open in the background. And on menubar, I have Fantastical, guitar tuning app, weather app, Google Drive, OneDrive, stickie note app, launcher, etc. On other virtual desktops, I have screenwriting app (Movie Magic), Riff Station, Reason 7, ebook reader, guitar tab reader and photo app (Google Picasa, but I'll be using Photos if I upgrade to 10.13). Sometimes I run FCP to edit 4k videos for hobbies. With 10.8.5, my iMac handles these task fine without any issue or stutter. Fan speed never went above idle except for when I did AHT

2. Will all the new advertised features work on my iMac? From what I know some new features require newer machines (Hand-Off, etc)

3. Will MS Office 2011 work...? lol. I also have apps that are designed to run on older Macs with 10.6.8... Will these normally work on 10.13...?

4. I have Magic Track Pad that came with my iMac in late 2012. Will it work? Also, will external DVD Super Drive work...?

5. I used El Capitan on my MBP, but there isn't a way to open folders in new windows unless I option-click (?) to open folders. Is there a way to open folders in new windows just by simply double-clicking on the folders?

Additional info: I will be wiping out my iMac to clean-install.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Cougarcat]

1. You should be fine. Apple spent a lot of work optimizing low-level features such as memory management. HS features Metal 2 GPU acceleration for the UI.
2. You’ll get Handoff support. APFS only works on SSDs for now. The new video codec only works on 2016/17 Macs.
3. I think it’s broken in 10.13. Check the compatibility thread.
4. Yes
5. In Sierra at least, no. You can right click. But everyone should be using columns view anyway.

Clean installs really aren’t necessary with macOS.

 

[e93to]

1. You should be fine. Apple spent a lot of work optimizing low-level features such as memory management. HS features Metal 2 GPU acceleration for the UI.
2. You’ll get Handoff support. APFS only works on SSDs for now. The new video codec only works on 2016/17 Macs.
3. I think it’s broken in 10.13. Check the compatibility thread.
4. Yes
5. In Sierra at least, no. You can right click. But everyone should be using columns view anyway.

Clean installs really aren’t necessary with macOS.

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

I've just found out all the features of Sierra except for Auto Unlock will work on my iMac - https://support.apple.com/kb/sp742?locale=en_US. I'm surprised Power Nap will work... I thought it only worked on SSDs?

 

[e93to]

I would appreciate it if anyone with late 2012 iMac has an experience with 10.12 and/or 10.13 beta. Thanks in advance

 

[e93to]

I am planning to install High Sierra on a 100gb partition.

When I installed Yosemite on a partition, that particular partition became the core storage (https://awesometoast.com/yosemite-core-storage-and-partition-woes/).

Does High Sierra do something like this as well? Or, does it do something weird?

My main drive is 10.8.5, and I hope to keep it for another couple of years.

Thanks in advance.