MacOS Big Sur Compatibility: Will Your Laptop Run With The New Operating System?

This story is part of Apple event, our full coverage of the latest news from Apple headquarters.

Apple’s latest Mac operating system, MacOS Big Sur, is now available for download on all compatible Apple devices. Big Sur – First announced at Apple’s annual Global Developer Conference in June – includes major updates to the Safari web browser and revamped Maps and Messages apps (we’ve got some of the best new MacOS Big Sur features and how to use them here, and have instructions about it how to download Big Suralso).

Big Sur represents the biggest design update since OS X was first released nearly 20 years ago, Apple executives said at WWDC. The new OS includes tweaks to window corner curves, dock icons, and user interface colors. But a lot of it looks pretty familiar: the same Photos design from iPadOS is coming to MacOS, as are many of the app updates we’ve seen in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. The control center in the menu bar, widgets and notification center also look more advanced.

At a virtual event on November 10, Apple disclosed new Mac computers with Big Sur and powered by its own company for the first time M1 silicon chips. If you have a new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac Mini with the M1 chip, MacOS Big Sur is optimized to run on these machines. Apps will run faster and smoother, Apple executives said at the event, and you’ll also see better device security.

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To download and install Big Sur now, you will need a compatible Mac to run the new operating system. Here are all the Mac models that can run macOS Big Sur, according to Apple:

• MacBook ($ 749 at Back Market), 2015 and later
• MacBook Air, 2013 and later
• MacBook Pro ($ 2,099 at Amazon), late 2013 and later
• Mac Mini, 2014 and later
• iMac ($ 1,800 at Best Buy), 2014 and later
• iMac Pro ($ 5,000 at Best Buy) (all models), 2017 and later
• Mac pro, 2013 and later

For more information, see our review of macOS Big Sur here.

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