i want to update my mac

Which OS you can upgrade to will be governed by which model and year your mac is.

Click on the  top left of your screen click on About This Mac to find out the year of your mac.

upgrading to the newer OS's like High Sierra and above really require your mac to have at least

8GBS of RAM installed, otherwise your mac will perform poorly.

These are the macs that can upgrade to macOS Big Sur,

MacBook introduced in 2015 or later

MacBook Air introduced in 2013 or later

MacBook Pro introduced in late 2013 or later

Mac mini introduced in 2014 or later

iMac introduced in 2014 or later

iMac Pro

Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later

Although it is possible to upgrade directly to macOS Big Sur I would recommend to upgrade to macOS High Sierra

first as this should make the transition from the HFS+ file system to the newer APFS file system smoother.

For macOS High Sierra,,

Open Safari and click on this link, 

How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support

Go to the Download OS section and click on the macOS High Sierra.

Before upgrading make a full back up of your Mac.

Check that third party apps you use have updates available for the new OS.

https://roaringapps.com

Check that your printers/ scanners etc have updated drivers and software available for the new OS.

Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.

Do not use your mac while it is downloading

and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.

If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app

go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS ******.app.

Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.

Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.

If you want to or are able to install Big Sur, open Safari and click on the link below.

How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur - Apple Support

If you are considering upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur be warned they do not support 32bit apps.

Your Mac is probably running 32bit apps and these will need to be updated to 64bit apps,

some updates may be free, some may be paid. Use this app to discover which apps you have

are 32bit, https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/ then contact the developers of the software to see

if they are offering 64bit updates.

Back up your data, check your applications for compatibility, and depending on which Mac model you have, click on El Capitan, High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, or Big Sur.

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