Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Upgrading El Capitan 2015 vs buying a new mac
- Thread starter edavt04
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why would you take a 2015 MBP "to a shop" for a system software upgrade?
Do it yourself.
It can run up to OS 12 "Monterey".
That's a pretty stable release of the OS.
It's a "fairly big jump" from El Cap to Monterey.
I'd suggest:
- back up your current OS first to an external drive
YOU MUST HAVE A BACKUP TO PROCEED FURTHER as your drive will be wiped clean!
- boot to internet recovery (Command-OPTION-R)
- you may need a wifi password when booting to internet recovery, and be patient while the utilities load.
- I believe you're going to need to ERASE the internal drive first (because of the big changes to disk formatting for the new OS)
- so... open disk utility
- VERY IMPORTANT: go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices"
- the topmost line in "the list on the left" is the internal drive
- select the top line (internal drive) and click "erase"
- erase to "APFS, GUID partition format"
- when the erase is done, quit disk utility and open the OS installer
- start clicking through. The MBP will reboot one or more times, and the screen may go dark for a minute or more with no other indication of activity. BE PATIENT.
- when done, you'll see the initial setup screen (choose your language)
- CONNECT YOUR BACKUP DRIVE at this point.
- start clicking through. when setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive, YES.
- "aim" setup assistant at the external backup and give it some time to "digest everything".
- setup assistant will present you with a list of stuff to migrate -- I suggest you accept everything and migrate it all over.
- SA will take some time to do the migration. When done, you'll see your login screen, just as before. So... log in and look around.
BE AWARE that older applications that are 32 bit won't run AT ALL.
Other apps may need upgrading.
PRINT THIS OUT for reference and keep it around.
Good luck.
Do it yourself.
It can run up to OS 12 "Monterey".
That's a pretty stable release of the OS.
It's a "fairly big jump" from El Cap to Monterey.
I'd suggest:
- back up your current OS first to an external drive
YOU MUST HAVE A BACKUP TO PROCEED FURTHER as your drive will be wiped clean!
- boot to internet recovery (Command-OPTION-R)
- you may need a wifi password when booting to internet recovery, and be patient while the utilities load.
- I believe you're going to need to ERASE the internal drive first (because of the big changes to disk formatting for the new OS)
- so... open disk utility
- VERY IMPORTANT: go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices"
- the topmost line in "the list on the left" is the internal drive
- select the top line (internal drive) and click "erase"
- erase to "APFS, GUID partition format"
- when the erase is done, quit disk utility and open the OS installer
- start clicking through. The MBP will reboot one or more times, and the screen may go dark for a minute or more with no other indication of activity. BE PATIENT.
- when done, you'll see the initial setup screen (choose your language)
- CONNECT YOUR BACKUP DRIVE at this point.
- start clicking through. when setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive, YES.
- "aim" setup assistant at the external backup and give it some time to "digest everything".
- setup assistant will present you with a list of stuff to migrate -- I suggest you accept everything and migrate it all over.
- SA will take some time to do the migration. When done, you'll see your login screen, just as before. So... log in and look around.
BE AWARE that older applications that are 32 bit won't run AT ALL.
Other apps may need upgrading.
PRINT THIS OUT for reference and keep it around.
Good luck.
edavt04:
im typing this message on a MacBook air 2010 11" 4GB using Sierra OSxSierra is very good, fast and only needs 2GB to run.
What i did was go from ElCap to Sierra last week via Apple's upgrade
were everything stayed the same, no erasing of the SSD_drive.
But you will need to reformat the drive to APFS for Mojave and newer OS.
the only thing is th fan whirls loud when streaming sports or movies.
your MacBook pro would perform better with added RAM (if you could) than mine.
The new Mabooks M#s are incredible tho, and my MBA2020 was the same price as the 2010!
Last edited:
I upgraded from El Capitan (which I consider their best version for a long time) on my imac 2014 model that Apple considers "vintage"
and am now running Big Sur 11.7.4. I find Big Sur bloated, slow and it drives me nuts. There are icon issues and a ton of Keychain Access entries from the day I upgraded. They also got rid of NetStats where I used to be able to see network activities.
I went to my local Mac guy and he was kind enough to do the upgrade for nothing. I backed up what doc's, files, photos I had on to my external drive first. Apple is getting way too expensive to keep up with their annual versions and forcing us to buy their products quicker. I am a senior and can not afford Apple's shareholder greed.
and am now running Big Sur 11.7.4. I find Big Sur bloated, slow and it drives me nuts. There are icon issues and a ton of Keychain Access entries from the day I upgraded. They also got rid of NetStats where I used to be able to see network activities.
I went to my local Mac guy and he was kind enough to do the upgrade for nothing. I backed up what doc's, files, photos I had on to my external drive first. Apple is getting way too expensive to keep up with their annual versions and forcing us to buy their products quicker. I am a senior and can not afford Apple's shareholder greed.
That statement is inaccurate. When installing High Sierra or newer, the installer will automatically convert the drive that you upgrade to APFS. It's not necessary to erase the drive first.
You WOULD need to erase the drive if you want to return to an older system, however.
so i can go from Sierra to high sierra without erasing the drive?
And will the drive be APFS, instead of: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?
i was thinking of upgrading the MacBook air 2010, again.....
thanks, DeltaMac!
Correct, High Sierra does conversions in place.
Oh good, i might jump to High Sierra today, although i remember not enjoying that OSX upon release,
too much spinning ball, but that s for a 3rd used MBA:
Last edited: