Hello all. So, I have a mid 2010 Mac mini with a 2.4 GHz intel core 2 Duo processor. 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory. I have Sierra version 10.12.5 and I'm always getting notifications about updating to the newest OS and I'm so nervous that this Mac mini can't handle it. It runs fairly well, some lag here and there but I use it mainly to store photos and do some editing in iPhoto. Can this system handle the latest updates for the OS, iTunes and iPhoto etc? Or should I leave well enough alone? Thanks.
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Mac mini(mid 2010) can I update OS?
- Thread starter zowenso
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Your Mac Mini can run High Sierra, OS 10.13.6, but that's it. If you want to upgrade, you'll need to get prepared. Here are the steps/tasks you need to perform:
1. First, are you making backups to an external device? If you are, what software/program do you use for that? Time Machine is OK, but SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner are better.
2. What third party applications do you use? And have you kept them up to date? If you do "upgrade" to High Sierra, you'll need to insure that all of them are compatible with High Sierra. That might require upgrading some/all of them. This site can help with that:
roaringapps.com
3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? You actually can do quite a lot of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent free/commercial programs to help with that. Onyx is an excellent, free program to help with that (https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html). Make sure you get the correct version for the OS you are using. You should also consider investing in a commercial program. TechTool Pro is excellent (https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro). IN fact, I depend upon both Onyx and TechTool Pro.
Those products can also give you an indication of the health of your internal drive.
Also, deleted EMails is another area. When you delete an EMail with your EMail client (Apple Mail, for example), the deleted EMial is still on your drive. You really need to permanently remove deleted EMails you no longer need. Each EMail program provides a way of doing that. I use Thunderbird as my EMail program, and it is easy for me to do it.
1. First, are you making backups to an external device? If you are, what software/program do you use for that? Time Machine is OK, but SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner are better.
2. What third party applications do you use? And have you kept them up to date? If you do "upgrade" to High Sierra, you'll need to insure that all of them are compatible with High Sierra. That might require upgrading some/all of them. This site can help with that:
Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps
Crowd-sourced application compatibility for macOS, iOS and Windows.
roaringapps.com
3. Have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? You actually can do quite a lot of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent free/commercial programs to help with that. Onyx is an excellent, free program to help with that (https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html). Make sure you get the correct version for the OS you are using. You should also consider investing in a commercial program. TechTool Pro is excellent (https://www.micromat.com/products/techtool-pro). IN fact, I depend upon both Onyx and TechTool Pro.
Those products can also give you an indication of the health of your internal drive.
Also, deleted EMails is another area. When you delete an EMail with your EMail client (Apple Mail, for example), the deleted EMial is still on your drive. You really need to permanently remove deleted EMails you no longer need. Each EMail program provides a way of doing that. I use Thunderbird as my EMail program, and it is easy for me to do it.
The benefit in upgrading to High Sierra is getting the security updates till 2020. Apple stopped updating Sierra this year. Having said that, are security updates important to you or is general responsiveness of the machine important to you? Only you can decide.
If you decide to go up further you can check out macOS Mojave for Unsupported Macs or macOS Catalina for Unsupported Macs forums
Sierra won't get security updates anymore?
I am asking this, because Sierra got one update in late September 2019.
Apple security releases - Apple Support
This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.
Sierra won't get security updates anymore?
I am asking this, because Sierra got one update in late September 2019.
Apple security releases - Apple Support
This document lists security updates and Rapid Security Responses for Apple software.support.apple.com
I should say the end of 2019. Apple has traditionally been pushing updates to 3 concurrent operating systems. At the time when that update was pushed, Mojave was the current OS and so Sierra got the update. Now, Catalina is the current OS, so only Mojave and High Sierra will get updates moving forward. When something else is released after Catalina, then only Mojave, Catalina and Current Mac OS will get updates.
Thus, High Sierra will only get updates through 2020, none beyond December 31, 2020.
