Earliest version of Mac OS that is still usable?

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 08:07:10 -0700

Does anyone here use an older apple computer?

I do some work for a small office.  They would like one or two of their workstations to be Macs.  Mainly they are just launching a browser and working in Google Docs.   Sometimes an office application, but I have them all using LibreOffice and they seem happy with that.

My question:  what would be the earliest version that is still usable?   I have seen a few MacMini's on eBay that are running HighSierra.

show all 15 comments

Mike Macgirvin

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 12:45:14 -0700

We've got a fair number of old macs collecting in the shed. They all become unusable after a few years. The wife keeps buying them anyway, thinking that their focus on design means it's a better product. She buys roughly two Apple devices a year and discards the old. Meanwhile I'm using old Dells and Deltacoms from the e-waste dumpster at the university I once worked and giving them a new lease on life by installing Linux (and replacing the mechanical hard drives with SSDs to improve their performance a bit). To me the fact that I can keep these from going to landfill for a decade or more is what makes a better product.

I do have a purple eMac which we inherited when the father-in-law passed away that has only been turned on a couple of times - ever. I should power it up just to see if the engineered obsolescence is based on absolute time (software instructions to slow down after 'n' days) or after a given number of power-ups. Note: It would be prohibitively expensive to ship out of the country.

Adam Robertson

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 17:14:03 -0700

@Emanuel that is good to know. I saw quite a few of those age-range macs for sale on ebay for very cheap.

Tanja

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 02:49:30 -0700 last edited: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 03:37:27 -0700

The latest update offer we got for an old iMac from 2009 was for El Capitan. According to the Google Chrome download page (called up with a user-agent switcher), at least 10.13 (High Sierra) is required.

Here are the requirements for High Sierra:
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP765?locale=en_US

And then, as others stated, you risk not getting any updates much sooner than with a newer model.

Adam Robertson

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 16:33:44 -0700 last edited: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 16:34:17 -0700

@Tanja Thanks! that is helpful. Looks like mac minis later than 2010 will run High Sierra, and a few are available on eBay for under $100.

The people in the office who are requesting Macs just want the familiar thing they are used to, I guess.