macOS Ventura is a major release of Apple’s operating system for Mac computers. It was originally announced at WWDC 2022 and slated for full release in October 2022. The naming follows the Apple naming system that names every major release of macOS after a city in California, the home state for Apple. This started in 2013 with the release of OS X Mavericks.
In this article, I am going to answer a critical question that a lot of people brought up: will my intel Mac support MacOS Ventura? The quick answer is:
Yes and no! macOS Ventura does work on some Intel Macs, but not all of them.
As an IT professional and former Apple Genius with over 6 years of experience working with Apple products and networking equipment, I’ve upgraded my MacBook Pro to the latest macOS Ventura.
As a Developer Beta participant, I’ll share more about the compatibility between Ventura and Intel Macs. Read on to learn more!
Contents
Intel Macs vs Apple Silicon Macs
With the arrival of macOS Ventura, we get a lot of exciting new features. In 2020, Apple started transitioning from Intel to their own custom-designed chips, called Apple Silicon.
The transition is estimated to last 2 years. The new custom-designed chips will help Apple establish the same architecture across all its products. This opens a new possibility for developers and users.
For example, devices that run on Apple Silicon can launch some apps that were designed to run only on iPads and iPhones. This is beneficial for some users, as it allows them to run apps on one device. And for developers, this makes it easier to maintain.
With this convenience comes some sacrifices. Users who have Macs that run on Intel will still be losing some of the benefits that come with the yearly major releases of macOS. In the case of macOS Ventura, this is no different.
Intel Macs That Won’t Work With macOS Ventura
If you are using an older Mac machine in the list below, you won’t be able to upgrade to macOS Ventura:
- MacBook Pro: 2016 models or earlier
- MacBook Air: 2017 models or earlier
- iMac: 2016 models or earlier
- Mac Mini: 2017 models or earlier
- Mac Pro: 2018 models or earlier
That means you need to stay in the current macOS version, be it Monterey, Big Sur, etc.
Intel Macs That Can Upgrade to macOS Ventura
If you are holding a relatively new Mac machine in this list, congratulations, you can upgrade to macOS Ventura:
- MacBook Pro: 2017-2019 models
- MacBook Air: 2018, 2020 models
- iMac: 2017 or later models
- Mac Mini: 2018 model
- Mac Pro: 2019 model
Note that even if your Intel Macs are compatible, some macOS Ventura features won’t be available. These features include Emoji dictation, Reference Mode, and Live Caption. And your Mac might run slow on macOS Ventura.
Final Words
macOS Ventura adds a lot of powerful features that will help increase productivity and simplify multitasking. But unfortunately, it doesn’t work with all Intel Macs.
If you want to give macOS Ventura a try, make sure that you back up your data first before performing any upgrades. Every new macOS operating system has a few bugs here or there and not all applications might work as expected.
MBP 19
One aspect I find lacking in such reviews is an assessment of how well the XYZ generation machines perform with the latest OS.
Personally, I have a MBP 19 that functioned perfectly until the 2nd Ventura update. However, since then, my i9 CPU with 64GB of RAM has struggled when I attempt to multitask with resource-intensive software, which was never a problem before.
I wish Apple or a third-party app would create a tool that allows users to downgrade the OS without the need for a clean format.
Jerry Romero
Yeah I agree. Ever since Apple launched the M1/M2 MacBooks, it seems the whole industry started to care less about Intel Mac users. I think Apple or third-party app developers don’t have enough incentives to develop an app like this.
phoenix
Thanks for review. I know that I can update my 2018 2.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Intel Mac to ventura. My question is how will it work? Are there any bugs like will it be slow will there be a lot of crashes? My computer was very stable and I upgraded to Monterey, and now I’ve had crashes every couple of weeks or so.