Pixelmator Pro is an incredibly powerful, beautiful, and easy to use image editor designed exclusively for Mac. With a wide range of professional-grade, nondestructive image editing tools, Pixelmator Pro lets you bring out the best in your photos, create gorgeous compositions and designs, draw, paint, apply stunning effects, design beautiful text, and edit images. The Mac App Store has thousands of apps and choosing the best apps for Mac is tricky. You don't want to end up with an app that doesn't do what it claims to do. Fortunately, here we've put together a list of some of the best apps for Mac to narrow down your choices.
Purchasing a new MacBook is much similar to buying a ticket to a land of fabulous software & apps. In addition to all the free programs offered by Apple to all the fresh Mac owners, there are some extras essential Mac apps too that help to make the most out of your Machine.
We've organized a list of the most useful Mac software and programs that are categorized into ten major categories, ranging from Best Mac Cleaning utility to Best Media Player & so on. Take a look at our best of bunch & let us know which of these suits the most for your needs!
Top 10 Best Mac Apps & Utilities for 2021
We've trawled the software market to find the most ideal Mac utilities & apps in every major category for better productivity and efficiency. Try them now!
1. Smart Mac Care (Best Mac Cleaner & Optimizer)
A power-packed Mac cleaning and optimization suite to keep your Mac secure from malware infections and remove privacy traces.
Smart Mac Careis the best Mac app to provide you with an option to keep it free from unwanted junk and malware. The must have Mac utility comes equipped with tools to clean the junk by scanning the disk storage thoroughly. It can show you how much disk space is being taken up by the junk files which can be removed easily using Smart Mac Care.
Online browsing history can be cleared using it to keep you safe from the trackers which can misuse the information. Along with it, the malware scan deep scans the Mac to look for any malicious infections and removes it. This Mac app is capable of keeping your Mac secure from spyware, malware and privacy threats.
Additionally, Smart Mac Care can easily clean up the duplicates, failed downloads, login items to boost the performance of Mac. Once the Mac is free from the unnecessary temporary, cache, log files, it can be seen performing with a good speed. It can be considered as an overall Mac maintenance software to keep it in a healthy state.
2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (Best Data Recovery Tool for Mac)
An advanced data recovery tool to retrieve accidentally deleted files, documents, music, videos and much more.
Losing data & important files is the kind of nightmare no one would ever want to experience. But unfortunately, it has been known to happen for a variety of reasons such as, drive failure, human error & viruses. However, the 'good thing' is the availability of a Data Recovery Software that makes restoring lost files effortless.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one such data recovery service that lives up to its name, by offering easy yet effective recovery solutions that makes users task super simple. The tool not only helps in locating recently deleted files from corrupted & critical file systems, but also helps in restoring data from external storage devices such as memory sticks, USB drives etc.
There are three different versions available with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Free, Pro & Unlimited. Free edition allows you to recover data up to 200 MB. Get this Best Mac App for your system now!
3. CyberGhost VPN Mac (Best VPN App for Mac)
A feature-rich, powerful VPN for PC with an easy-to-use interface, suitable for both novices & professionals. Photoshop like app for iphone.
CyberGhost is one of the most reliable VPN services for Mac. It boasts a really easy set-up process. In fact, all you have to do is download the VPN for your OS from the below button and launch it with one-click on your system. The VPN software boasts more than 3,700 servers across 60+ countries, including optimized servers for torrenting & other streaming services.
The VPN solution comes with a bundle of extra tools to block unnecessary ads, track malicious websites that attempts to make unauthorized access on your system and an automated HTTPS redirection that ensure most secure connection.
It's one-month plan costs $12.99 which is a bit higher than other standard VPN services in the market. But that's totally worthy as it supports connecting up to seven devices simultaneously.
4. Duplicate Files Fixer (Best Duplicate Files Cleaner for Mac)
An efficient, fast and easy-to-use duplicate file cleaner to get rid of identical documents, photos, videos, music and other digital media files.
Duplicate Files Fixer by Systweak Software is an awesome duplicate cleaner that helps you reclaim chunks of occupied hard drive space, clogged with unnecessary duplicates such as Documents, Videos, Music, Photos and other files. It's one of the Best Mac Software for both professional and novice users for finding exact and similar-looking files.
This duplicate file finder comes with a robust set of functionalities for scanning different file types in just a few moments. The Mac utility has a sleek & intuitive interface for great navigation experience. It lets you create a backup of all your duplicate files before you delete them. The application is capable of scanning external devices as well for finding duplicates.
To use this Mac software all you have to do is download it > Add files or folders containing duplicates > click the Scan button to begin sorting > Remove to clean all the duplicate files at once! Enjoy deduplicate library in three-clicks. Duplicate Files Fixer is a must have mac application to fill your bucket of Best Mac Utilities 2020.
5. Stellar Drive Clone (Best Disk Cloning App for Mac)
A robust Mac utility to help you clone & restore all the files on your hard drive, so you can always have your peace of mind.
Stellar Drive Clone is a complete suite to create a Clone or Image of your Mac hard drive. The Cloned copy can be used as a ‘read-to-use' copy of the original hard drive. And, the Image file can be used for ‘restoring purpose' in case any data mishap happens.
The advanced Mac cloning tool supports various types of cloning including, HFS-to-HFS, FAT-to-FAT & NTFS-to-EXFAT. Stellar Drive Clone is a must-have Mac app if you wish to clone an encrypted Mac drive and volumes as well. You can also choose to ‘Schedule' Periodic Backup' to create timely backups.
This amazing disk cloning service stands out for two reasons, it's ease-of-use and high compatibility. It supports all the commonly used OS X versions including the latest MacOS Mojave. Download this app for MacBook Pro now!
6. Disk Clean Pro
An all-in-one solution to keep your Mac machine clean & optimized for smooth performance.
Disk Clean Pro is an affordable tune-up utility to help users maintain their system for a longer time. It features dedicated modules to remove junk files along with hidden redundant files to improve response time & speed up Mac. It's ‘One-Click Care' works like magic to keep your machine run clutter-free.
Disk Clean Pro is an excellent Mac optimizer, packed with all the advanced features that several Mac Cleaning utilities miss. Packed with various tools like Junk Cleaner, Logs Cleaner, Crash Reports, Partial Downloads remover, Duplicate Finder, Large & Old Files Cleaner & more. Moreover, it offers a module, Internet Privacy Protector, that works efficiently to remove traces of your browsing history for best-in-class Mac security.
The best part? Disk Clean Pro is available at just $10.99, & it's a limited time offer, so what are you waiting for? Optimize the storage space in a single scan & make the most of Mac's disk space.
7. Cisdem Video Player for Mac (Best Media Player on Mac)
A universal video player with an impressive set of features to play up to 5K resolution videos without any jerks or tearing.
You saw that coming, right? Talking about the Best media player and not mentioning Cisdem's Video Player is certainly not possible. It's one of the most popular and utilized OS X apps that comes with interactive interface to play both audio and video. The video player is known for its smooth playback assistance offering crystal clear views.
With Cisdem Video Player, you don't require to download any Codec pack, it lets you directly play WMV, FLV, MKV, AVCHD, AVI etc. videos on your Mac Machine. Best part? Unlike other media player for Mac, Cisdem allows you to automatically load subtitle files for the movie.
Looking to convert your video files for other Apple devices? Cisdem does that too for you with an optional in-app purchase. The video player is designed to support more than 50 audio and video formats. As soon as install the app, it's ready to go!
8. Tweak Photos (Best Batch Photos Editor for Mac)
Most popular photo editing app that lets you brighten single or thousands of photos in a few clicks.
Tweak Photos is a brilliant package featuring an attractive interface, powerful filters, plethora of customization, adjustment tools and a lot more. This OS X app is available for just $4.99 on Mac app store.
Additionally, Smart Mac Care can easily clean up the duplicates, failed downloads, login items to boost the performance of Mac. Once the Mac is free from the unnecessary temporary, cache, log files, it can be seen performing with a good speed. It can be considered as an overall Mac maintenance software to keep it in a healthy state.
2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (Best Data Recovery Tool for Mac)
An advanced data recovery tool to retrieve accidentally deleted files, documents, music, videos and much more.
Losing data & important files is the kind of nightmare no one would ever want to experience. But unfortunately, it has been known to happen for a variety of reasons such as, drive failure, human error & viruses. However, the 'good thing' is the availability of a Data Recovery Software that makes restoring lost files effortless.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is one such data recovery service that lives up to its name, by offering easy yet effective recovery solutions that makes users task super simple. The tool not only helps in locating recently deleted files from corrupted & critical file systems, but also helps in restoring data from external storage devices such as memory sticks, USB drives etc.
There are three different versions available with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard: Free, Pro & Unlimited. Free edition allows you to recover data up to 200 MB. Get this Best Mac App for your system now!
3. CyberGhost VPN Mac (Best VPN App for Mac)
A feature-rich, powerful VPN for PC with an easy-to-use interface, suitable for both novices & professionals. Photoshop like app for iphone.
CyberGhost is one of the most reliable VPN services for Mac. It boasts a really easy set-up process. In fact, all you have to do is download the VPN for your OS from the below button and launch it with one-click on your system. The VPN software boasts more than 3,700 servers across 60+ countries, including optimized servers for torrenting & other streaming services.
The VPN solution comes with a bundle of extra tools to block unnecessary ads, track malicious websites that attempts to make unauthorized access on your system and an automated HTTPS redirection that ensure most secure connection.
It's one-month plan costs $12.99 which is a bit higher than other standard VPN services in the market. But that's totally worthy as it supports connecting up to seven devices simultaneously.
4. Duplicate Files Fixer (Best Duplicate Files Cleaner for Mac)
An efficient, fast and easy-to-use duplicate file cleaner to get rid of identical documents, photos, videos, music and other digital media files.
Duplicate Files Fixer by Systweak Software is an awesome duplicate cleaner that helps you reclaim chunks of occupied hard drive space, clogged with unnecessary duplicates such as Documents, Videos, Music, Photos and other files. It's one of the Best Mac Software for both professional and novice users for finding exact and similar-looking files.
This duplicate file finder comes with a robust set of functionalities for scanning different file types in just a few moments. The Mac utility has a sleek & intuitive interface for great navigation experience. It lets you create a backup of all your duplicate files before you delete them. The application is capable of scanning external devices as well for finding duplicates.
To use this Mac software all you have to do is download it > Add files or folders containing duplicates > click the Scan button to begin sorting > Remove to clean all the duplicate files at once! Enjoy deduplicate library in three-clicks. Duplicate Files Fixer is a must have mac application to fill your bucket of Best Mac Utilities 2020.
5. Stellar Drive Clone (Best Disk Cloning App for Mac)
A robust Mac utility to help you clone & restore all the files on your hard drive, so you can always have your peace of mind.
Stellar Drive Clone is a complete suite to create a Clone or Image of your Mac hard drive. The Cloned copy can be used as a ‘read-to-use' copy of the original hard drive. And, the Image file can be used for ‘restoring purpose' in case any data mishap happens.
The advanced Mac cloning tool supports various types of cloning including, HFS-to-HFS, FAT-to-FAT & NTFS-to-EXFAT. Stellar Drive Clone is a must-have Mac app if you wish to clone an encrypted Mac drive and volumes as well. You can also choose to ‘Schedule' Periodic Backup' to create timely backups.
This amazing disk cloning service stands out for two reasons, it's ease-of-use and high compatibility. It supports all the commonly used OS X versions including the latest MacOS Mojave. Download this app for MacBook Pro now!
6. Disk Clean Pro
An all-in-one solution to keep your Mac machine clean & optimized for smooth performance.
Disk Clean Pro is an affordable tune-up utility to help users maintain their system for a longer time. It features dedicated modules to remove junk files along with hidden redundant files to improve response time & speed up Mac. It's ‘One-Click Care' works like magic to keep your machine run clutter-free.
Disk Clean Pro is an excellent Mac optimizer, packed with all the advanced features that several Mac Cleaning utilities miss. Packed with various tools like Junk Cleaner, Logs Cleaner, Crash Reports, Partial Downloads remover, Duplicate Finder, Large & Old Files Cleaner & more. Moreover, it offers a module, Internet Privacy Protector, that works efficiently to remove traces of your browsing history for best-in-class Mac security.
The best part? Disk Clean Pro is available at just $10.99, & it's a limited time offer, so what are you waiting for? Optimize the storage space in a single scan & make the most of Mac's disk space.
7. Cisdem Video Player for Mac (Best Media Player on Mac)
A universal video player with an impressive set of features to play up to 5K resolution videos without any jerks or tearing.
You saw that coming, right? Talking about the Best media player and not mentioning Cisdem's Video Player is certainly not possible. It's one of the most popular and utilized OS X apps that comes with interactive interface to play both audio and video. The video player is known for its smooth playback assistance offering crystal clear views.
With Cisdem Video Player, you don't require to download any Codec pack, it lets you directly play WMV, FLV, MKV, AVCHD, AVI etc. videos on your Mac Machine. Best part? Unlike other media player for Mac, Cisdem allows you to automatically load subtitle files for the movie.
Looking to convert your video files for other Apple devices? Cisdem does that too for you with an optional in-app purchase. The video player is designed to support more than 50 audio and video formats. As soon as install the app, it's ready to go!
8. Tweak Photos (Best Batch Photos Editor for Mac)
Most popular photo editing app that lets you brighten single or thousands of photos in a few clicks.
Tweak Photos is a brilliant package featuring an attractive interface, powerful filters, plethora of customization, adjustment tools and a lot more. This OS X app is available for just $4.99 on Mac app store.
From performing basic editing like renaming, resizing, cropping, simple color fixes, format conversions to advanced editing like applying complex photo filters, watermarking, multi-layer management, Tweak Photos does all for you.
You can download this amazing photo editor for Mac to de-noise bulk images, change texture/stylize, auto-correct orientations, blur multiple images, add frames and other artistic elements to batch photos at once. And just everything to create vivid and dazzling photo collection.
9. iSkysoft PDF Editor (Best PDF File Editor for Mac)
A super-smooth Mac software for editing PDF files easily & quickly.
iSkysoft's PDF Editor is an ultimate solution to edit PDF documents without compromising file formatting. You can download this OS X app to get a complete suit of PDF editing tools to manipulate texts, images, links and other elements present in a PDF file.
Considered as one of the best alternatives to Adobe Acrobat, you can download this Mac software for easy editing, cropping, rotating, extracting, splitting, adding watermarks, altering background colours and a lot more.
Download this free PDF File Editor to quickly edit, convert, create, merge & convert scanned PDF files with ease. Not only this, iSkysoft enables you to protect your PDF files with passwords, you can set permissions for other users to perform specific functions like editing, commenting or printing. It's one of the best Mac app available to share your PDFs to Email, Google Drive, Evernote and Dropbox in one-click.
10. Systweak Anti-Malware (Best Anti-Malware for Mac)
The 24/7 malware protection against your Mac.
Adobe photoshop cc cream. Systweak Anti-Malware is a robust Mac security software that does a fantastic job of detecting any type of malicious content hiding in your system. Its smart algorithms understand which types of threats can put your Mac Machine at risk, and hence keep a close check that no suspicious program, malware, adware or spyware could bypass Mac's defenses.
The antivirus software claims to have a 100% success rate for detecting dangerous malware and viruses. The lightweight application offers multiple scanning methods to make sure you have an ultimate protection against malware and other infections.
To keep your Mac safe, the antivirus software regularly updates its malware database, so that no latest suspicious threat can bypass you Mac's security. It not only shields your Machine from online threats but also optimizes it for smooth-functioning, which probably makes it one of the best anti-virus programs in the market.
Best Mac Apps You Need To Install On Your New Machine!
The MacOS app ecosystem is certainly packed with a lot of hidden gems. All the aforementioned Mac software & utilities are great to get you started. For the least frustration and better efficiency, download these handy extras now!
8 Responses
Tips on 10.4 Tiger, 10.5 Leopard(last compatible operating system for G4 867 and above, and G5s), 10.6 Snow Leopard (end of the line for PowerPC applications), 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks,
10.10 Yosemite, and 10.11 El Capitan to 10.14 Mojave.
Mac OS X Sierra was released on September 20, 2016. A few Macs which came with 10.6 can install Sierra.
Note this tip, and the series of tips from 10.2 (10.2, and 10.3 not mentioned in above links as people must have 10.4.4 or later on an Intel Mac to get to 10.6) to 10.11 I've written here all refer to Mac OS X Client. Server versions of Mac OS X may have different limitations, and the people visiting the appropriate Server forum may be able to answer your questions better about Mac OS X Server.
When determining your Mac model, see this tip to find its age:
I would not downgrade to Leopard without erasing your data first.
Be sure to backup your data first at least twice before installing any operating system. Shut down, and disconnect any peripherals before continuing with the installation. Read the info below to ensure you are compatible. Finally, you may need to use the Startup Manager to boot the operating system when the 'C' key doesn't work in order to get the installer to work or repair the disk before installation if the initial attempt to install fails. To determine if that repair is necessary, post to the forum, and someone will be able to help you to find out which repairs might be necessary.
Java is outdated in terms of security in Mac OS X 10.6. Backup your data and at least update to 10.6.8 if your Mac says it is Intel in Apple menu -> About this Mac. Read about updating to 10.7, and this tip about how to optimize your Java in 10.6 if you are stuck with 10.6.
10.6 retail is available from the Apple Store on http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard (the /us/ in the link may be changed for the standard two letter country code matching the store link). Note: Macs newer than April 1, 2010 but older than July 20, 2011 must use the original 10.6 installer disc that shipped with them to boot 10.6 from CD. AppleCare may have those discs if you lost or misplaced it. To determine the age of a Mac, plug it in the support status search engine, and use the serial number lookup. Using the model name, find the release date of that model on Wikipedia or Everymac.com, and the followup date.
Leopard (10.5) is not to be confused with Snow Leopard (10.6) which are different paid operating systems.
If you are interested in upgrading to Lion you can read this tip, and Mountain Lion or Mavericks, this tip. Note: Mavericks you can update to
for free, whereas both Lion and Mountain Lionyou can not. Lion requires a minimum of 10.6.6 already be installed, unless you have the USB Flash drive for it, and Mountain Lion and Mavericks requires a minimum of 10.6.8. Lion and Mountain Lion have different hardware requirements, but the Apple hardware requirements for Mavericks are the same Mountain Lion.
If you got a machine that came with Lion or Mountain Lion and wonder if you can install Snow Leopard on it, read the bottom of this tip first.
Snow leopard is available free for a limited time from this link if you have Mobileme and need an upgrade path to Lion that doesn't require erasing your hard drive.
Flashback malware has a patch on 10.6.8. Users of 10.6.7 and earlier are recommended to disable Java. For more info read this tip.
Macs that were released new as of July 20, 2011 (the MacBook Pro for instance had no new release until October 24, 2011, and that model's earlier sold models all work with Snow Leopard) or later, will generally not run Snow Leopard unless you follow this tip for Snow Leopard Server virtualization. Other than that, the following statements are true:
All Mac Pros will work with Snow Leopard (10.6.x), and they look like:
The PowerMac G5 towers which look like:
will not work with Snow Leopard. Neither will the ones that are beige, blue, or graphite colored with plastic cases.
All Apple notebooks labelled MacBook with at least 1 GB of RAM, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air below the screen or will work with Snow Leopard.
Apple notebooks labeled iBook, and Powerbook beneath the screen will not work with Snow Leopard. Note, many of the newer MacBook Airs and MacBook Pro no longer have the label on the bottom of the screen frame, and you have to shut down the Mac, and look under the Mac for its label. Those may only be able to use the aforementioned virtualized Snow Leopard Server.
Mac minis with at least 1 GB of RAM and 4 and 5 USB ports on the rear as shown in the image below:
will work with Snow Leopard.
Those with less than four USB ports will not work with Snow Leopard.
All iMacs that look like:
Will work with Snow Leopard.
From the iMacs which look like:
If they are iMac Intelthey can upgraded to Snow Leopard. To tell if they are Intel, they will have an EMC# on the base which is enumerated 2104, 2105, 2110, 2114, 2118, 2111, 2133, or 2134. All others were iMac G5 and can only be upgraded to 10.5.8. Another distinction is that iMac G5's had mini-VGA ports that looked like:
Whereas White iMac Intels had mini-DVI which looked like:
You can also tell if it is an iMac Intel by selecting Apple menu -> About This Mac. Core Duo and Core2Duo are Intel, whereas the G5 are not.
Notes: G5 refers to the CPU made by IBM for Apple before the migration to Intel CPU in 2006. It was found on iMacs, and PowerMacs. Powerbooks and iBooks maxed out using the Motorola G4 CPU, only to be replaced by MacBook Pros and MacBooks in 2006. Intel made the CPU found in 2006 and newer Macs, and these are referred to as CoreSolo, CoreDuo, Core2Duo, i3, i5, i7, and Xeon. Don't confuse a G5 for an Intel CPU Mac. They are not the same except in exterior design when it comes to the iMac, and the means to tell them apart is stated above. In 2006, the Mac Mini changed from G4 to Intel CoreSolo CPU. In 2006 the iMac changed from G5 to Intel CoreDuo CPU.
All Intel Macs with sufficient RAM older than March 29, 2010 can take the retail 10.6.3 installer disc. All Intel Macs with sufficient RAM older than August 28, 2009 can take the 10.6.0 retail installer disc. This disc must look like and can't say Upgrade, Dropin, or OEM on it.
It is recommended those upgrading from PowerPC follow this tip:
It is recommended you backup your data at least twice before upgrading any software.
It is recommended you check these listings for compatible 10.6 software from:
C!Net, Snow Leopard Wiki,Macintouch, and Apple's listing of compatible printers and scanners
and Apple supplied updates for printers and scanners:
HP, Ricoh,Canon, Epson, Brother,Lexmark, Samsung, and Fuji/Xerox
Additionally, some Ricoh printers that do not have official drivers have been found to have the resolution documented by this thread:
And Apple's phone support with iSync:
For digital cameras, these RAW formats are supported on 10.6. Note the most recent Mac Mini, iMac, and MacBook Pros
have SD card slots for reading camera media. For all other camera media, Express/34 on 17' MacBook Pro and pre-June 8 2009 MacBook Pros, PCI for Mac Pro, USB, and Firewire card readers exist for all Intel Mac models. Additionally, many multifunction printers have card readers that will work on the Mac. JPEG, TIFF, PNG
are all common formats supported by cameras outside of RAW, though RAW enables you to post process many more features of digital images than the other formats.
To be compatible with the Mac App Store, the Lion updater from the USB Flash drive or App Store, and the Facetime video software in Standard Definition minimum, you'll need the 10.6.6 combo, 10.6.7 combo, 10.6.7 combo with the font update, or the 10.6.8 combo followed by the Thunderbolt update if applicable.
10.6.8 has the following security updates: 10.6.8 2013 Security Update 004, 2013-005 Java update (note Java is not current until Mac OS X 10.7.3 from Java.com)
Sometimes when 10.6 is installed, Rosetta, the application that allows PowerPC programs to run will not automatically install. In those situations, you can manually install Rosetta from the 10.6 installer disc. The following quote explains how to install it manually:
Insert the Mac OS 10.6 installation DVD When the DVD is mounted, select 'Optional Installs' then 'Optional Installs.mpkg'
Follow the onscreen instructions for agreeing to the software license and selecting the hard drive for installation.
In the 'Installation Type' step, select the box next to Rosetta from the list of applications presented. Continue the installation process.
After successful installation, a confirmation message will appear.
These instructions appeared on http://forums.printable.com/showthread.php?t=1110 .
As 10.6 is the last operating system that shipped on prebundled discs that come with Macs, it also is the last one that shipped with a prebundled set of iLife applications. To learn which version of iLife may have come on your computer, see this tip. 10.7 and later prebundled Macs did not ship with iDVD, but will have shipped with iPhoto, iTunes, Garageband, and iMovie. If you still desire iDVD, consult with AppleCare.
10.6 has these updates available depending on what you have on your Mac (Combo updates can be applied to any of the preceding versions, where Delta can only be applied to the immediately preceding version):
| 10.6.1 | 10.6.3 v1.1 Delta and 10.6.3 v1.1 Combo | 10.6.4 Combo, 10.6.4 Delta, 10.6.4 Mac Mini Mid 2010 | 10.6.6 Delta, 10.6.6 Combo | 10.6.7 for early 2011 MacBook Pro, 10.6.7 Combo, 10.6.7 Delta, 10.6.7 font update to all previous updates | 10.6.8 delta v1.1 (7/25/2011) and Combo v1.1 (7/25/2011), and the followup Thunderbolt update for 2011 iMacs and MacBook Pros for installation after 10.6.8 |
Which Macs can have Snow Leopard installed, and which can only have Lion installed based on Machine ID (also known as Model Identifier)?
You can find out which gray installer disc came with Macs that can install Snow Leopard newer than March 15, 2010 by reading: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1159. Machine ID is in Apple menu -> About This Mac -> More info (on 10.7 and later the About Window has System Information instead of More info to access the System Profiler) under the hardware section. The 'x' value below can be any number. Older Macs indicated below can use the 10.6.3 retail installer, if not the 10.6 retail installer, if they are older than August 28, 2009. Together with partitioning, the Core2Duo (not CoreDuo, not CoreSolo), Xeon, Core i3, i5, i7 Macs which are Snow Leopard compatible can run both Snow Leopard and Lion, provided they have at least 2 GB of RAM. Partitioning requires an erase of the hard drive. A second internal or external hard drive can boot into a separate operating system on the same Macs. The Macs below which can only run Lion and later, are also known as Lion prebundled Macs. Lion prebundled Macs thankfully can run Windows in virtualization, which would allow them to use the Windows version of software that may only run in Snow Leopard and earlier on Mac OS X. The Macs listed here that won't run Snow Leopard also are not able to use the retail Lion installer USB Flash drive, and must use the instructions onMacworld to create a specialty Flash drive or be cloned onto another hard drive before their prebundled hard drive dies, to be able to restore Lion. Macs below that can't install Snow Leopard directly may be able to do so via virtualization, as described by this tip.
Mac Mini 5,x and later only run Lion and later. Mac Mini 4,x and earlier can run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM (that's greater than 768MB of RAM).
MacBook Pro 8,x with EMC#s 2355, 2563, 2564 can only run 10.7 or later, all other 8,x EMC#s can run 10.6.3 or later, and all 7,x can.
MacBook Pro 9,x and higher can only run 10.7 and later.
Mac Pro 5,1 that are not EMC 2629 and earlier can run Snow Leopard. EMC 2629, and Mac Pro 6,x and later can only 10.7 and later.
The 10.6.3 retail installer will only work on Mac Pro 4,x and earlier.
MacBook with no Air and no Pro on the screen as of 11/30/2011 can all run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM.
MacBook Air 4,x and later can't run Snow Leopard, while 3,x and earlier with at least 1 GB of RAM can run Snow Leopard.
iMac 12,1 i3 (EMC 2496 on foot, MC978LL/A) can't run Snow Leopard, while the 12,x i5 and i7 can run Snow Leopard, and the iMac 1,1 through 11,x can run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM. iMac 13,1 and later can't run Snow Leopard natively.
Lastly, here the Macs that are compatible with 10.6.3 retail avialable from the Apple Store based on Model Identifier:
iMac 11,1 and older
Mac Mini 3,x and older
MacBook 6,1 and older
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MacBook Pro 5,x and older
MacPro 4,x and older
MacBook Air 2,x and older
Macs that fall between those criteria must use the 10.6 installer that shipped with them to install 10.6.
* The release names Early and Late can be gotten by plugging the serial number of the machine in
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