Q: I see that my (2011 or earlier) unsupported Mac does not have ' graphics acceleration' under Big Sur. Non-metal graphics card support is missing, just as an example. To make your old system working again it needs searching, finding and reinstallation of these stripped parts. Third problem: software functionality may have been stripped from the new macOS. Q: What does unsupported mean for my old Mac?Ī: Three problems: Apple locks you out from running the stock installer of Big Sur and as important to mention, you cannot get OTA upgrades via Softwareupdate in the Systems Preference. It requires some system admin technical skills. You may drop (delete) this final Catalina installation and carry on with your OLCP based Big Sur installation.Īnother method to update the firmware has been described on this site. This procedure will install also the latest firmware on your system. To apply the most recent and most valuable firmware update you need to install and update Catalina on your system and apple the latest update Apple provided in 02/2022. There will be no more updates and no more firmware updates for systems only support with Catalina, but not with Big Sur.

Macmini5,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well.) +.

Early-2009 or newer Mac Mini or white MacBook:.

Late-2008 or newer MacBook Air or Aluminum Unibody MacBook:.

Radeon HD 4xxx series GPU has graphics acceleration with Big Sur!) *

iMac12,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well.

iMac11,x (starting with OCLP 0.2.5 systems with AMD Radeon HD 5xxx and 6xxx series GPUs will be supported under Big Sur as well.Early-2008 or newer Mac Pro, iMac, or MacBook Pro:.+ graphics acceleration added back by ( OpenCore Legacy Patcher list of GPU support ) * Not officially supported in macOS Catalina, but are fully capable of running both Catalina and Big Sur with a Metal-compatible GPU and upgraded WiFi/BT card.

These Macs so far can boot Big Sur, some got graphical acceleration support and, as with most 2012-2013 Macs, using early versions of Big Sur WiFi is not fully stable yet.

Install big sur on unsupported mac