Macs that didn't make Big Sur's list but were on Catalina's included the mid- and late-year 2012 MacBook Pro, mid-2012 MacBook Air, mid-2012 and late-2013 iMac, and late-2012 Mac Mini machines.

So it wasn't a surprise when the system requirements were narrowed for the new OS.Īccording to Apple, these Macs will run Big Sur: Apple has used an odd-even cadence for its operating system upgrades' requirements, alternately retaining the prior year's models on the newest version's support list in odd-numbered years with odd-numbered editions, as in 2019's Catalina, macOS 10.15, and dropping models from the list during even-numbered years with even-numbered editions.īig Sur would have been 10.16 if Apple had hewed to tradition, but it's still an even-numbered upgrade because of its year.