Upgrading my Mac

[zasrina]

I am considering to upgrade the hardwares on my Mac ie changing to SSD and also boosting the RAM.
Question that I have - once I do this will it help to upgrade to latest OSX? currently I can't upgrade past 12.6.5

My current hardware
iMac (Retina 5K, Late 2015)
Processor Intel Core i5
8GB RAM
and its with 1TB SATA (less than 50% usage)

 

[bogdanw]

I am considering to upgrade the hardwares on my Mac ie changing to SSD and also boosting the RAM.
Question that I have - once I do this will it help to upgrade to latest OSX? currently I can't upgrade past 12.6.5

Not officially. Upgrade availability is based on processor.
macOS Ventura is compatible with these computers https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264
I would say keep using Monterey, it still receives security updates. You can update to 12.6.6 (21G646) now https://support.apple.com/HT213759

 

[zasrina]

Not officially. Upgrade availability is based on processor.
macOS Ventura is compatible with these computers https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264
I would say keep using Monterey, it still receives security updates. You can update to 12.6.6 (21G646) now https://support.apple.com/HT213759

thank you for your reply! by any chance do you have any guesses for how long more Monterey to be supported?

I am trying to decide if its worth to spend the $$$ on the hardware upgrade

 

[jchap]

by any chance do you have any guesses for how long more Monterey to be supported?

I understand that macOS versions typically receive security updates for three years after the OS is released, so you should expect security updates through 2024. You might be able to upgrade Safari and certain other preinstalled Apple apps even after that, but you wouldn't get any core OS updates or updates to key apps like Mail, Calendar, Notes and so on.

 

[Fishrrman]

My advice is to NOT open the iMac unless you're sure of your ability to do the job.

Many users have opened them, and then... broken something inside, resulting in more problems.

If you want to upgrade the RAM, that's easy because of the door on the back.

If you want to upgrade the drive to an SSD, my advice is to buy a USB3 SSD, plug it into a USB3 port on the back, and set that up to become an EXTERNAL boot drive. This is actually very easy -- anyone can do it.

And no chance of breaking something inside.

The version of the OS you want to use is up to you.