Snow Leopard user considering updating to El Capitan

[pvall88]

I’m happily on OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard on my mid-2010 MacBook Pro (500GB SSD, 8GB RAM), but some applications either won’t work anymore or won’t allow a fresh install (Dropbox, Google Music Manager, Kemper Rig Manager, Atomic AmpliFIRE Editor). I’ve looked at updating my OS to 10.11 El Capitan, but I realize that Pro Tools 9.0.3, Adobe CS5, and MS Office 2008 aren’t compatible- all very outdated, but very functional for me, and very not-subscription-based : ) Not to mention all the headache that would come in updating my PT plugins, which are fine as-is for me.

I’m trying to figure out what my best option is to have the best of both: Snow Leopard for all of the legacy apps that I’m happy with and have already paid for, El Capitan for those troublesome apps I listed above and anything browser-based. I currently run Windows 7 in Parallels 7 as a workaround for Kemper Rig Manager; is there any way for me to keep Snow Leopard as my host OS and install El Capitan as my guest OS?

I’m trying to avoid buying another computer if possible, and I’m hoping to not have a dual-boot setup so that my files can easily go between the two OSes. I realize that I’m limiting my options this way, and I understand that one of these may be the best option- but I’m just looking for some outside opinions and perspective before making any moves. Regardless of which approach ends up being best, I just ordered a 4TB external drive to create a bootable Snow Leopard backup in addition to the Time Machine backups I already have now.
Thanks for any thoughts in advance!

 

[wicknix]

I can help with the web browsing part for 10.6.8. I've built the latest Pale Moon browser and you can get it here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Aamr9fufQDpL9uRn7gAd9nNufoaDhI8/view?usp=sharing


Cheers

 

[bunnspecial]

Not sure where you're getting your information, but CS5 and Office 2008 are 100% El Capitan compatible.

I've not used CS5 beyond the evaluation period, but have used both CS4 and CS6 in High Sierra so I have no reason to think that CS5 won't work.

I actually have Office 2008, 2011, and 2016 installed on my MBP running High Sierra and all three work fine. I use 2008 when possible because I prefer its UI to the others(and prefer it in a BIG way to 2011, which I consider a disaster). Both '08 and '11 are going away in Mojave.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on Pro Tools.

 

[pvall88]

I can help with the web browsing part for 10.6.8. I've built the latest Pale Moon browser and you can get it here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Aamr9fufQDpL9uRn7gAd9nNufoaDhI8/view?usp=sharing


Cheers

Great, thank you!
[doublepost=1532927547][/doublepost]

Not sure where you're getting your information, but CS5 and Office 2008 are 100% El Capitan compatible.

I've not used CS5 beyond the evaluation period, but have used both CS4 and CS6 in High Sierra so I have no reason to think that CS5 won't work.

I actually have Office 2008, 2011, and 2016 installed on my MBP running High Sierra and all three work fine. I use 2008 when possible because I prefer its UI to the others(and prefer it in a BIG way to 2011, which I consider a disaster). Both '08 and '11 are going away in Mojave.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on Pro Tools.

Thanks for the heads up- here’s my source I was referencing for Office 08 and CS5: http://formyfriendswithmacs.com/el-capitan.html
Glad to hear your report on those, though!
[doublepost=1532927658][/doublepost]Just thinking through options...maybe I SHOULD be looking to keep my current MBP how it is and figure out the most seamless way to network it with another Mac running El Capitan. Also, I’d want to figure out the cheapest way to get an El Capitan-ready Mac...

 

[AphoticD]

In my opinion, the best [low cost] option for an El Capitan ready Mac would be either a late 2008 Unibody MacBook (2.0 or 2.4Ghz) or any 2009 MacBook with the 9400m GPU with 4GB or more of RAM. Add an SSD (128GB or larger) for the best performance.