What is the latest MacOS that can run on a macbook pro 15" 2016 with 2.7 quad core Intel core i7 with 16gb ram, radion Pro 455 2GB, and Intel HD graphics 530 1536 GB?

golfspike wrote:

Thank you so much! I appreciate your effort to verify this for me. I had thought maybe the hardware could handle it since the "get" button wasn't grayed out, but the year model was the thing stopping the Software Update from allowing the update. This computer has worked long hours daily since 2016 without ever calling in sick and still works perfectly. I hate I have to retire it. I hope the MacBook Pro replacement can live up to this one.

Vendors like Microsoft and Adobe like to support only "the most recent three". Apple has sometimes taken it a step further – the latest Pages/Numbers/Keynote updates require Sonoma or better ("most recent two") – and some of their recent keyboards and mice require Sequoia (!!!).

There are some applications that might let you get more use out of your Mac. Catalina is good enough to run current versions of

• The Firefox web browser
• The LibreOffice office suite
• The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
• The commercial Affinity V2 applications (Photo, Designer, Publisher)
• The backup utilities CCC v6 (not current, but still supported) and SuperDuper!

and Catalina is "long in the tooth" compared to Monterey.

I'm guessing that the version of Safari in Monterey is still pretty usable – but Safari 17.* is the last major version compatible with Monterey. The current version, Safari 18.*, requires Ventura or later.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safari-release-notes

If you already have Microsoft Office/365 for Monterey, my understanding is that you can continue using it, but won't get any updates.

MacTracker says the maximum OS for a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) is Monterey. MacTracker is usually reliable – but I cross-checked just in case.

macOS Ventura is compatible with these computers - Apple Support does not list the MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016). macOS Monterey is compatible with these computers - Apple Support does. This indicates that the end of the line for your machine is Monterey.

Identify your MacBook Pro model - Apple Support also says that the newest compatible operating system for a 15" 2016 MacBook Pro is macOS Monterey.

FYI , if you decide to go for a new Mac, a M4-series MacBook Pro should run very nicely.

Here are selected Geekbench scores (single- and multi-core) from MacTracker.

• MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) (2.7 GHz Core i7) – 1071 / 3531
• MacBook Pro (14" chassis, Plain M4 chip) – 3813 / 14837. (I would expect 13" and 15" MacBook Airs with M4 chips to have similar performance, though in a more bare-bones chassis.)
• MacBook Pro (14" chassis, 12/16 core M4 Pro chip) – 3870 / 20240
• MacBook Pro (14" chassis, 16/40 core M4 Max chip) – 3806 / 25678.

That machine can't run anything later than macOS 12.7.6 Monterey.

golfspike wrote:

Apple support page says in the App Store if the MacOS is not compatible the "Get" button will be grayed out. The "Get" button is not grayed out meaning it is compatible but, when I click the "Get" button to download Venture it opens my Software Update and says Monterey is up to date. Ventura does not download.

If that happened, the most likely explanation is that there are bugs in the App Store code – and that only some places are doing a proper compatibility check.

My previous Mac could run 32-bit applications. My current Mac cannot. Yet the App Store has several times teased me with the idea that 32-bit programs in my Purchase history are compatible with my current Mac. Of course, they are not, and if I proceed to try to download and run them, errors will occur either at the download stage, or after the application has finished downloading.

All of this seems contradictory and makes me not know what to do. Is Ventura compatible?

No.

+1