Catalina Upgrade for a 2011 iMac

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Level 1

8 points

Catalina Upgrade for a 2011 iMac

I purchased a 27" iMac new in 2011 so I am not able to download Catalina. I cannot locate any information regarding what, if any, hardware upgrades are needed so I may upgrade to Catalina (I currently have High Sierra Version 10.13.6). Is it possible to make hardware upgrades to my iMac for this reason? I would like to eventually upgrade to the latest Office suite, but the information is stating I need to first have Catalina installed. I love my iMac, but I do not want to spend thousands of dollars on a new one.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jul 24, 2020 10:28 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

211,507 points

Jul 24, 2020 11:47 AM in response to lotitomj

The 2011 iMac does not have a graphics card that will run Catalina. The highest it can upgrade to is Mojave. Mojave will be supported for a couple more years while you save up for one of the new Macs with Apple's designed and built CPUs.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

145,682 points

Jul 24, 2020 11:50 AM in response to lotitomj

Your computer cannot be upgraded in any way to run Catalina. If you have a need for Catalina then it is time to buy a new Mac.

When Mojave (10.14.x) was released it required GPUs that supported Metal. Metal was not available on iMac GPUs until the 2012 iMacs were released. Before you ask, no you cannot upgrade to a Metal GPU and no there are no work arounds.

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