Platforms compatibility & requirements for OS X/macOS

[Hervé]

Last update: 20 Jun 2023

 

Questions keep resurfacing, so let's try to clarify things again:

• minimum requirements for Snow Leopard: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp575?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Lion: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp629?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Mountain Lion: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp654?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Mavericks: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp702?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Yosemite: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP711?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for El Capitan: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp728?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Sierra: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp742?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for High Sierra: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP765?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Mojave: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP777?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Catalina: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP803?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Big Sur: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp833?locale=en_US
• minimum requirements for Monterey: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212551
• minimum requirements for Ventura: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264

 

Essential basics:

• Lion (and later) requires a 64bit Core2Duo minimum even though it may have to run in 32bit kernel mode (eg: for supported old Intel GMA graphics or old NVIDIA Curie graphics).
• From Mountain Lion, OS X runs a 64bit kernel only. 32bit kernel mode is abandoned, hence the drop of support for older GPUs for which only 32bit fully functional drivers are available (e.g.: Intel GMA 950/GMA X3100, nVidia GeForce 7xxx and derivatives).
• Sierra drops support for Broadcom BCM431x and BCM4321 wireless cards (no workaround).
• Sierra and later require SSE4-capable CPUs (SSE4 instructions set introduced in Penryn family C2D/C2Q/Xeon CPUs). Non-SSE4 platforms such as Conroe/Merom are limited to El Capitan.
• Mojave drops support for non SSE4.2-capable C2D/C2Q platforms (workaround exists).
• Mojave drops support fior Atheros wireless cards (workaround exists).
• Mojave and later require a Metal-compatible card (Kepler-only for nVidia (lack of Web Driver oblige), GCN1.0 and later for AMD, HD4000 and later for Intel).
• Mojave is last macOS version to support 32bit apps. Catalina and later support 64bit apps only.
• Catalina drops support for BCM4322 wireless cards (workaround exists).
• Big Sur drops support for Broadcom BCM4331 and BCM43224 wireless cards (workaround exists).
• Monterey drops support for Intel HD4000 and nVidia Kepler graphics (workaround exists). Workarounds for Broadcom and Atheros cards previously dropped no longer work.
• Ventura drops support for pre-Kaby Lake Intel iGPUs (workarounds exist for Skylake and older generations) and pre-Polaris AMD dGPUs.
• Sonoma beta1 drops support for Broadcom BCM4350, BCM4360 and BCM43602 "legacy" wireless chipsets, limiting support to Intel cards and compatible USB adapters.

 

For Hackintoshing purposes:

• Netburst/revived P6/original Core 32bit platforms (Pentium 4/D/M, Yonah, etc.) are natively supported from Tiger 10.4.4/10.4.5 to Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
• Netburst and Core2 64bit platforms (Pentium 4/D, Conroe/Merom, Wolfdale/Penryn, etc.) are natively supported from Tiger 10.4.7/10.4.8.
• 1st gen Nehalem/Westmere platforms (Lynnfield, Clarkdale/Arrandale, etc.) are natively supported from Snow Leopard 10.6.2/10.6.3.
• 2nd gen Sandy Bridge platforms are natively supported from Snow Leopard 10.6.6.
• 3rd gen Ivy Bridge platforms are natively supported from Lion 10.7.5.
• 4th gen Haswell platforms are natively supported from Mountain Lion 10.8.5.
• 5th gen Broadwell platforms are natively supported from Yosemite 10.10.2/10.10.3.
• 6th gen Skylake platforms are natively supported from El Capitan 10.11.4.
• 7th gen Kaby Lake platforms are natively supported from Sierra 10.12.6.
• 8th gen Kaby Lake Refresh & Coffee Lake platforms are natively supported from High Sierra 10.13/10.13.1. Fully supported in 10.13.6. 8th gen Amber Lake Y (UHD617) platforms are supported from 10.14.1.
• 9th gen Coffee Lake Refresh and Whiskey Lake platforms are natively supported from Mojave 10.14.4/10.14.5.
• 10th gen Comet Lake and Ice Lake platforms are natively supported from Catalina 10.15.3 and are the last Intel platforms supported by macOS.

 

• 11th gen Tiger Lake & Rocket Lake platforms, 12th gen Alder Lake platforms and so on are not supported. Only desktops of such generations with a supported graphics card or laptops with a supported dGPU may run macOS with all appropriate settings/patching. No support whatsoever for Tiger Lake/Rocket Lake/Alder Lake and later iGPUs which is a complete show-stopper for laptops.

 

NB: Here, "support" means official and native support by Apple OS, not potential support with/after patching.

[Hervé]

Updated following 1st Sonoma beta.