Nov 7, 2017 - selling your Mac - how to prepare mac for sale If you're gearing up to sell your Mac, then the last thing you want to do is just shove it in the.

​ + + How to Prepare Your Mac for macOS High Sierra Posted on September 25th, 2017 by You may have heard that the next version of Apple’s desktop operating system, macOS High Sierra, is due to be released on September 25. Following the annual schedule that Apple has kept to for some time, operating systems for both the Mac and for iOS make their debuts this month, and these upgrades will be free. What does this mean for you? You most likely want to update your Mac, but there are a number of things you should consider doing before updating. And for some of them, it’s useful to plan ahead. In this article, I'm going to explain how you can prepare your Mac for macOS High Sierra. Following are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about upgrading to macOS High Sierra.

Is my Mac compatible with macOS High Sierra? The first thing to do is check to see if your Mac can run macOS High Sierra.

This year's version of the operating system offers compatibility with all Macs that can run macOS Sierra. So if you're running the current version of macOS, you can upgrade. Here are the models that are compatible: • MacBook (Late 2009 or newer) • MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer) • MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer) • Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer) • iMac (Late 2009 or newer) • Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer) This is simple, for the most part, with the exception of exactly what “Late 2009” means.

Apple often names its products like that, using “Early” and “Late” to identify models. It’s easy to find out your Mac’s pedigree.

Just click the  Apple menu and choose About this Mac. You’ll see a window with information about your computer. For example, I’m writing this article an a “iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015).” So if your Mac meets the above criteria, you’re good to go. Note that your Mac will need to be running at least OS X 10.7.5 to be able to upgrade. (Presumably this is because you need to run the Mac App Store.) If your Mac is too old, you could always buy a new Mac, or even a more recent used or refurbished model.

Even if you buy a Mac that doesn’t currently have macOS High Sierra, you’ll be able to easily update to the new operating system, as long as it fits the above list. How much space will I need to upgrade? Apple says you’ll need 8.8 GB free to upgrade to High Sierra.

If you're getting tight on hard disk (or SSD) space, read this,. Regardless, if you only have enough free space to install macOS High Sierra, then you should seriously consider cleaning up your hard drive. Operating systems don’t run well if they don’t have free space for temporary files, and for virtual memory files, which can be several GB. Will my Mac keep up with the new operating system? It’s hard to tell. If your Mac is on the far end of the compatibility list — those models from late 2009 or 2010 — you may find that things get a bit sluggish. This is because your Mac may have a slow processor that isn’t up to the demands of the new operating system, or because you don’t have enough RAM.