Beema41 wrote:
I thought as much however on the Big Sur page my iMac showed up as 'suitable' for the upgrade. I guess it's Apple trying to upsell their products so you need to purchase new. Disappointing really.
Q - " the Big Sur page my iMac showed up as 'suitable' for the upgrade "
A - Interesting as I am looking that that Big Sur Page and do not see this computer listed anywhere
Now, if the Software Update Applet in System Preferences offered Big Sur as an upGrade - that would be a different matter altogether.
This has happened before where a computer has been misidentified to upgrade t a newer version of macOS which it does not Qualify to Run.
If this is what has happened advise Apple via Feedback as a Bug Report