Minimum System Requirements for macOS Monterey 12, can your Mac run it?

Find out if your Apple computer meets the minimum system requirements of the latest operating system, macOS Monterey 12, can your Mac run it.

Apple have announced their latest operating system in June 2021 and named it macOS Monterey, which will be version macOS 12 it is the successor to Big Sur. The name Monterey continues on with their California landmarks with the name after a City in the California Central Coast region.

A public beta version will be available for download in July 2021.

System requirements for macOS Monterey 12

For this upgrade unfortunately a number of models from 2014 and 2015 are now incompatible.

You’ll still require a 64bit Intel processor or an Apple ARM based processor, 35.5GBs of free disk space – if upgrading, as appose to clean install min plus at least 4GB of RAM – 4GB+ preferred.

The Mac Models that will run macOS Big Sur

  • iMac – all models from late 2015, iMac 16,1 – 20,2
  • iMac Pro – all models, iMac Pro 1,1
  • MacBook & MacBook Retina – all models from early 2016, MacBook 9,1 – 10,1
  • MacBook Pro – all models from early 2015, MacBook Pro 12,1 – 17,1
  • MacBookAir – all models from early 2015, MacBook Air 7,1 – 10,1
  • Mac Mini – all models from 2014, Mac Mini 7,1 – 9,1
  • Mac Pro – all models from 2013, Mac Pro 6,1 – 7,1

Which means most devices made prior to 2014 and a number of models in 2015 won’t be able to run it.

The ones that macOS Monterey won’t run…

– macOS Monterey won’t run on –

  • iMac 4,1 – 15,1
  • MacBook 1,1 – 8,1
  • MacBook Pro 1,1 – 11,2
  • MacBookAir 1,1 – 6,2
  • Mac Mini 1,1 – 6,2
  • Mac Pro 1,1 – 5,1
  • Xserve 1,1 – 3,1

So the recent redundant models are:

  • iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015)
  • iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2014)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13 & 15-inch, Mid 2014)
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13 & 15-inch, Late 2013)
  • MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch, Early 2014)
  • MacBook Air (11 & 13-inch, Mid 2013)
  • MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)

How to find your Mac Model Number

Macos Big Sur Minimum System Requirements
Apple Model Identifier

>Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info … > System Report … Model Identifier

Or for you terminal freaks…

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType