Malcolm Owen
The 1.0.0 version of OpenCore Legacy Patcher has been released, allowing a number of Macs that don't officially support macOS Sonoma to now run the operating system.
Apple's macOS operating system updates often drop support for older Mac and MacBook models. Some Mac users therefore cannot take advantage of features found in the newer releases, unless they upgrade their hardware.
The OpenCore Legacy Patcher project, which is for a bootloader that allows newer macOS versions to work on older unsupported models, has introduced its latest version. As previously confirmed to be slightly behind the main macOS Sonoma release, the October 2 launch brings back support for the older Mac collective.
In a GitHub post announcing the release, the launch will bring macOS Sonoma support to 83 unsupported Mac models. While support for macOS Sonoma is included, it is warned that development is ongoing and not all features may be supported at first.
The main limitation of the macOS Sonoma release is a lack of hardware support for the T1 Security Chip, which applies to 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro models with a Touch Bar. Work to add support is ongoing, but no schedule has been set for it.
The list of models that can use OpenCore Legacy Patcher 1.0.0 to run macOS Sonoma includes:
- 2008 to 2019 12-inch and 13-inch MacBooks
- 2009 to 2017 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air
- 2008 to 2017 13-inch to 17-inch MacBook Pro
- 2009 to 2017 Mac mini
- 2007 to 2018 20-inch to 27-inch iMac
- 2008 to 2018 Mac Pro
- 2008 to 2010 Xserve.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
27 Comments
I can attest to it's stability! I have a 2014 Macbook Pro and use it daily without any issues or concerns. I would be stuck to an OLD OS if it wasn't for OpenCore and thus I have better security, more features, etc. because of this program.
How am I just learning that this was an option!
Time to roll the dice and see what happens on my 2012 MBP retina.
I've heard this at every Mac User Group meeting, in person or online, since 1986. How do I keep my Macintosh Plus running so I can keep using those floppies??
Ditch that obsolete software/hardware you've been using for your Bon Jovi fan club letter, get a new or more current computer (give OWC a call, they'll help you with it) that can run the current OS, and learn something new, instead of moaning about why Apple doesn't support ClarisWorks forever.
How do I install the OpenCore Legacy Patcher?
I might look at this for my 17" MBP that I have (at least to bring it to a more modern OS), as well as my daily driver of a 2016 MBP, and at the very least bring it up to Ventura, and maybe Sonoma.