macOS Sonoma compatibility: The Macs that run Apple’s latest OS

Find out if your Mac will get Sonoma , as Apple drops support for some 2017 Macs from its big macos update. Jason Cross reports

With macos Sonoma, Apple is adding a host of great new features like desktop widgets, new video conferencing features, Game Mode, new privacy and security features, and more. But if your Mac is more than five years old, you probably won’t be able to run it. Apple ended support for a lot of older

Macs with the update to Ventura, and with Sonoma, a few of the 2017 models are on the chopping block.

MAC’S THAT RUN SONOMA

These are the Macs on which you’ll be able to run macos Sonoma.

• imac from 2019 and later

• Mac Pro from 2019 and later

• imac Pro from 2017

• Mac Studio from 2022 and later

• Macbook Air from 2018 and later

• Mac mini from 2018 and later

• Macbook Pro from 2018 and later

The list is very similar to that for Ventura, but while that version supported imacs and Macbooks from 2017, only the imac Pro from that year is supported by Sonoma.

SONOMA FEATURES THAT REQUIRE NEWER MACS

While the list of Macs supported by Sonoma extends back five years, a few features require newer hardware. The Presenter Overlay video conferencing feature, for example, requires a Mac with Apple Silicon. Hand reactions require using either the built-in camera on a Mac with Apple Silicon, or any Mac when using Continuity Camera with an iphone 12 or later.

MACS THAT WON’T RUN SONOMA

Ventura supported the following Macs that macos Sonoma doesn’t:

• imac 2017

• Macbook models from 2017

• Macbook Pro models from 2017

Apple is likely to continue to support these Macs in the form of security updates to Ventura for a little while longer. The company usually provides support for the past three versions of the Mac operating system. That would indicate that these Macs will lose support in the next two or so years though, so it would be wise to update them before that time.