Trouble with old MacBook and macOS - any advice?

[tobasco27]

I've got an old 2010 MacBook Pro (15 in. 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7, 4GB) that has macOS 10.12.6 (Sierra) installed. I cleaned the hard drive and gave it to my granddaughter to use since she loves typing and making up stories (future novelist!). We wanted to install Pages on the system, but it said it needed newer operating systems, at least 10.13 or 14 (which don't seem to be available via the App Store). I'm thinking it's likely that older MacBook models can't accept the latest software. Does anyone know?

Can these older Macs even take on the latest software updates? I'm basically trying to get my granddaughter to have a simple word processor so that she can build her stories and stay interested in writing - but it seems this old Mac is fighting us. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

 

[chscag]

According to Mactracker, your 2010 15" MacBook Pro can be updated to High Sierra (10.13.X). After updating, you can install the latest version of Pages for her.

Read this Apple Support article to learn how to download High Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

 

[Fishrrman]

Does it have an SSD inside, or the original platter-based hard drive?

You can get a 250gb 2.5" SATA SSD these days for around $40-50 or so.

It would GREATLY improve the speed of the MBP.
VERY easy to install, ANYONE can do it.