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Please refrain from installing macOS Ventura on unsupported Macs using OpenCore

There are still many people out there who use older Macs that aren’t compatible with the newest version of macOS, but due to OpenCore, this is now doable (with certain limitations, of course).

Anyone with a Mac that is at least 16 years old may update to macOS Ventura with the latest version (0.6.1), allowing them to enjoy Photos and other modern programmes and services like Apple Arcade. OpenCore doesn’t yet support newer features like Stage Manager, therefore they can’t be utilised.

Many macOS drivers have been rewritten from scratch or reverse-engineered as part of the OpenCore community initiative, allowing you to use wireless connections like WiFi and Bluetooth to activate additional functions like AirPlay and Continuity.

But we don’t advise it since the hazards exceed the advantages, particularly when you can get Ventura (and future macOS upgrades) sooner and safer by ordering an M2 Mac mini.

Getting a new Mac is the more convenient option

If the release notes on GitHub are anything to go by, then by all means give it a go on that ancient Mac you’ve had collecting dust for the last decade.

OpenCore allows the following Macs to cleanly instal macOS Ventura:

  • 2007 – 2017 iMac
  • 2008 – 2016 MacBook
  • 2008 – 2016 MacBook Pro
  • 2008 – 2013 Mac Pro
  • 2009 – 2017 MacBook Air
  • 2009 – 2017 Mac mini

Support for future over-the-air upgrades is included, as is Metal, Apple’s own framework for rendering games on a Mac, in the same vein as Vulkan and OpenGL. Of course, Apple doesn’t approve of this, and a future macOS update may cripple OpenCore to the point that your Mac won’t boot into Ventura and becomes nothing more than a huge paperweight.

You’re missing out on the superior performance and longer battery life that Apple Silicon provides since all of your Macs are powered by Intel CPUs. Therefore, although using macOS Ventura with this tool is fantastic up to a certain extent, you are not experiencing the best experience compared to an M2 MacBook Air.

Regardless, it’s a tremendous attempt by a community to breathe fresh life into ancient Macs, but sometimes it’s better to let it alone and utilise this as a teaching tool rather than a means to run a crippled macOS Ventura on an unsupported Mac from 2009.