Just upgraded my old A1278 - Big Sur or Monterey?

[Paramods]

Just upgraded my old A1278 - Big Sur or Monterey?

Ive popped 16gb ram and a 1tb ssd in my mid 2012 macbook pro and just wondering which would be best to upgrade to OS wise.

Its only going to be used for office and abit of photoshop work.

Any advice would be great

 

[UncleBillVT]

I just checked MacTracker and it looks like Apple has capped the 2012 model at MacOS Catalina as the last OS that it will support.

 

[gren81]

Just upgraded my old A1278 - Big Sur or Monterey?

Ive popped 16gb ram and a 1tb ssd in my mid 2012 macbook pro and just wondering which would be best to upgrade to OS wise.

Its only going to be used for office and abit of photoshop work.

Any advice would be great

My reading of Apple’s compatibility list for for Monterey and Big Sur is that the Mid-2012 MBP is not eligible.
- Monterey: Only MBP Early 2015 and newer
- Big Sur: Only MBP Late 2013 and newer

When I have asked, others suggested staying with Mojave.

FWIW:
I am currently on Catalina with 8GB and am upgrading to 16GB.

I will compare it to another mid-2012 MBP with 8GB running El Capitan that I am upgrading to Mojave.

 

[MBAir2010]

OLD?
that MacBook pro still packs a punch!

Mojave seems to run flawlessly on my MacBook air 2010 while performing other tasks.

I'm sure your MBP will have no problem with photoshop using Catalina, if its 64 bit.
High Sierra and that butterfly keyboard me get a dell ups 13" in 2019.

 

[mikzn]

Just upgraded my old A1278 - Big Sur or Monterey?

Ive popped 16gb ram and a 1tb ssd in my mid 2012 macbook pro and just wondering which would be best to upgrade to OS wise.

Its only going to be used for office and abit of photoshop work.

Any advice would be great

I have that same mid 2012 MBP i7 / Mojave - (and also a newer Mid 2015 rMPP / Monterey) - not much difference between the 2 MBP's - I agree with @MBAir2010 the Mid 2012 is still a great MBP - especially with the 1TB ssd and 16g memory maxed out

My recommendation is to keep the Mid 2012 on Mojave unless there is some compelling reason to have Catalina or Big Sur ? - Monterey is not an option

Check to make sure your PhotoShop and Office apps will work after the upgrade? and any other apps that may be 32 bit - Mojave is the last macOS that can run 32 bit apps

Upgrading from Mojave and earlier? - Catalina / Big Sur do not support 32 bit applications - see this link to check for 32 bit apps before upgrading to Catalina and later -
Go64 "Quickly scan your disk for 32 bit applications"

Music? - if you use iTunes for managing you music you may prefer iTunes to the new App "Music"

On the other hand - if your phone or iPad are on newer version of iOS they may not connect with iTunes and Mojave

hope that helps - good luck - make a back up or preferably a clone first

 

[MBAir2010]

On the other hand - if your phone or iPad are on newer version of iOS they may not connect with iTunes and Mojave

hope that helps - good luck - make a back up or preferably a clone first

Mojave still acknowledges the new iPads, and ios 15.2
for now.
I think El Cap was the last OS that could sync iPads etc.
and
thanks for the comments on my comment!

 

[mikzn]

Mojave still acknowledges the new iPads, and ios 15.2
for now.

Thanks - I was not aware of this

I am testing with a Back up of my iPhone 8 - Mojave / iOS 14.8.1 - looks good - thanks for the correction

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If you've not yet upgraded, I'd suggest Mojave.
It's smooth and stable, one of Apple's best OS's.
It can still run 32 bit software.

If you have problems getting it from Apple, try downloading dosdude1's "Mojave patcher" from his web page.
You don't have to actually apply "the patch".
Just launch the patcher app, go to the tools menu, and choose the "download Mojave" option.
That will bring in "a good copy".

Put that into your applications folder (if it doesn't go there automatically), and run it.

I'd suggest you backup first.
THE BEST backup would be to use CarbonCopyCloner (free to download and use for 30 days), to create a bootable cloned backup on the OLD drive which you just took out (get a USB3 enclosure for it, they're cheap).

Good luck.

 

[Paramods]

Thanks for the replies...
Ive just tried monterey with opencore and seems to be fine and runs well but not sure to trust it.
From what ive now been reading Mojave is the way forward for stability but im worried that my photoshop wont run as it says it needs catalina min.
Whats the score with garageband and imovie? Do you get the latest versions in Mojave?