Latest OS for my MacBook Air?

Hello and thanks for your interest.

MacBook Air 13" mid 2013 C0****5V7

Father had it factory reset when he bought a new one recently. It now has Catalina 10.15.7.

Checking for updates I'm invited to accept Big Sur 11.7.9 but the progress bar goes about 15% and hangs, with "about one minute remaining", indefinitely. After an hour I shut it down and restarted, and the MacBook is doing all I need it to on the internet.

I'm surprised it suggested updating to an OS that it isn't compatible with, as the system presumably knows what age the device is?

Again, thanks for your interest and maybe I'll just leave it with Catalina!

Regards - Doug

[Edited by Moderator]

Hello Servant of Cats. The status report is that after a few hours I am at the stage of selecting the disc where I want to install Big Sur. Two options, with the same 14 GB available space. 17.2 GB additional space is needed to install Big Sur, so the "Continue" button is not available!

So I guess I'm staying with Catalina, and I am offered a security update for that. And apparently there's a Safari update.

Again, many thanks for your patience and advice.

All the Best - Doug

There's more. Turns out my Father's 23GB of photos were still on the MacBook. He copied them to the replacement and didn't delete. So there's hope!