My wife is running a 2008 MacBook pro which will not be supported. That's not a big deal, because we are going to get her a new system anyway. What *IS* a big deal is the lack of hardware updates (aside from friggin' watch bands) for the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. A 12" screen will NOT cut it, and I'm not going to drop $2000+ on 2-year-old technology.
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List of Macs Compatible With macOS Sierra
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It is. I am concerned about not getting future security updates. Just because I have an old Mac that is stable with a certain OS, doesn't mean I want to be vulnerable to new threats. But...in the end, that may be the risk I have to take.
Good catch on the older Airport card making it into the supported Mid 2010 13" MacBook Pro. The mystery deepens or perhaps we are thinking too deeply about this and choosing which systems to support really was just arbitrary on Apple's part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_(microarchitecture)#Steppings_using_45nm_process
One other thing I was considering though was CPU steppings. The E0/R0 stepping for Penryn was introduced in late 2008 and added two new instructions that are intended to be used by OS for fast context switching of processes. Perhaps those instructions are now required? Many Penryn CPU models were available in multiple steppings and Intel continues to sell older steppings simultaneously with newer steppings of a CPU until stock runs out, so it may be that it was only starting in Late 2009 that Apple can guarantee that all Macs are using the E0/R0 stepping. The issue with this is that the Late 2009 Mac Mini is not supported even though it looks like it's three CPU options should all be using the E0/R0 stepping.
The list states only 2010 and up Mini's. My 2009 Mini that I gave to my mother is so slow after installing El Capitan that I wouldn't have installed Sierra anyway.
I think that we need a technical explanation from Apple. This doesn't make sense.
I'm an app developer and have a 2008 Mac Pro. I've upgraded it over the years with SSD and PCIe sata III cards and USB 3. It runs great still. It can match any modern Mac in terms of usability. I'm not surprise but disappointed Apple dropped support for 2008 Mac Pro. I really don't see a tech reason for this. Being a developer, the newest version of xcode always makes you upgrade to latest OS. Now I'm stuck because I can't upgrade. This is a very anti-consumer and developer move by Apple. This may force me to move my main development to windows. This is a sad day for me...
Okay.
I've read through most of the posts, but I couldn't find the true reason for the requires specs.
Is it:
a) Bluetooth LE (i.e. v 4.0)
b) AirDrop capability
c) Wifi specs
d) ...?
Thus
- what is the difference between Mac Pro 2009 and 2010?
- what is the difference between MacBook 2009 and Mac mini 2009
- ...?
I've read through most of the posts, but I couldn't find the true reason for the requires specs.
Is it:
a) Bluetooth LE (i.e. v 4.0)
b) AirDrop capability
c) Wifi specs
d) ...?
Thus
- what is the difference between Mac Pro 2009 and 2010?
- what is the difference between MacBook 2009 and Mac mini 2009
- ...?
In the Platforms State of the Union, they say that Xcode 8 will run on both El Capitan and Sierra. (And support Swift 3 and 2.3)
I find it ironic that Apple has discontinued it seems the Macs it has had the most problems getting Bluetooth problems fixed on El Capitan. A late 2009 Mac Pro should be able to run Sierra easy, but it suffers from many of the bugs that Apple has never fixed in El Captian. So instead of fixing the problems, they've just given up instead. Bad decision. 
Mac Pro
In netkas.org forums: discussion of macOS Sierra running on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (MacPro4,1) with superior firmware. Credit to @SteveJobzniak for drawing attention.
About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support
Discussions:
In netkas.org forums: discussion of macOS Sierra running on a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (MacPro4,1) with superior firmware. Credit to @SteveJobzniak for drawing attention.
About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support
Discussions:
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I didn't see that thank you. I'm still upset Apple basically dropped support of their 2008 and 2009 professional workstations. Those are still powerful computers today. It's very disappointing.
I'm more concerned about being able to continue to update Logic X on my 2009 Mac Pro. I have a hefty investment in audio interfaces that I can't afford to upgrade to a new Mac Pro AND $2k-5k worth of interface upgrades. Honestly not sure what I'm going to do.
I don't think it's the Bluetooth LE as my Mac Pro 2012 runs Sierra okay without it.
Fixed that for ya.
Because there is no sound technical justification for it. It would be like if you could suddenly no longer be licensed to run your 2009 Cadillac simply because they don't stock parts for it anymore.
Honestly, in my mind, if they wanted to make a reasonable tech cutoff, they should have just said it requires a machine with DDR3. That would have been a far more fair and reasonable cutoff in my mind.
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Just stay at what OS you're on now. I got screwed over when Mavericks changed PCI addressing and my audio dsp cards stopped working with anything newer, so that machine has been stuck ever since. Pretty much every audio company out there *except* Apple (and to be Frank, eMagic was pretty bad about it too so the blame isn't entirely on apple) is pretty good about maintaining support for older OSes. Heck my 15+ year old FireWire interface by MOTU still has driver support in el cap.
You'll be fine for now though. I'd say you probably got 2-3 years active updates.
It's that awkward moment when except for Sierra now, you can do more on your 2009 Mac Pro than you can on your 2016 Mac Pro or other supported Macs. I might be speed limited, but at 3Ghz, I hardly think I'm obsolete or that a new Mac Mini or Macbook is faster. I don't even think most iMacs supported are faster, have more memory support or more storage capacity!
They joked that the new iMac looks like a trash can, and while I wouldn't say that, it certainly is not selling like the larger Mac Pros did. In my opinion a smaller Mac Pro was a great idea, but "iPhoning" it was a mistake. Pro users do not buy machines that are not upgradeable or expandable. It's that simple. If Apple sold the same thing as a Pro-sumer type desktop, they'd probably have a market. REAL Pro users are probably looking elsewhere sadly. :-(
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Yep , was hopping for a June announcement myself. My current MacBook Pro is a tad ancient and requires updating somewhat urgently, and the current one is not worth me buying? I hope they release an update soon. Might have to consider a move to the dark side otherwise???
Apple did it to sell more new machines. The new OS is just what ever. Is not like when switching from OS9 to X. No reason to ditch anything except for proffit.
Well, I got experimental.
I cloned the SSD that has the Sierra OS installed on it onto a SDXC flash drive while booted in El Capitan on my Mac Pro using CCC. I then booted the flash drive on my iMac. God, no problems. For now, I don't want Sierra installed on the main hard drive of my iMac. it works fine.
This is getting so fun. Hey, I like the new Messages features.
Yes, hopefully someone will find a way for the "gray/grey" Macs to run Sierra.
A side note here: I'm not a developer nor public beta tester so don't have official access to the developer website downloads. Some developer made it available to the outside users via the black Internet.
I cloned the SSD that has the Sierra OS installed on it onto a SDXC flash drive while booted in El Capitan on my Mac Pro using CCC. I then booted the flash drive on my iMac. God, no problems. For now, I don't want Sierra installed on the main hard drive of my iMac. it works fine.
This is getting so fun. Hey, I like the new Messages features.
Yes, hopefully someone will find a way for the "gray/grey" Macs to run Sierra.
A side note here: I'm not a developer nor public beta tester so don't have official access to the developer website downloads. Some developer made it available to the outside users via the black Internet.
Yes! My Mac mini late 2012 will be able to run MacOS Sierra! Thank you so much for the list, I'm a happy camper
I think you'll be fine using Logic with El Capitan for quite a few years, I think it will be quite a while before Logic requires this OS to upgrade, perhaps not even before Logic XI, if there ever will be a Logic XI that is.
Not to worry.
So, with my Xserve not being able to run Sierra, what hardware to you guys propose I use to run the server OS?