MacOS 15 Compatibility: Can Your Current Mac Run Sequoia?

Most recent Mac models will be able to run Sequoia, but the cutoff is higher for the ability to use Apple Intelligence.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor

Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.

Expertise Laptops | Desktops | All-in-one PCs | Streaming devices | Streaming platforms

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Matt Elliott

June 11, 2024 2:09 p.m. PT

2 min read

240610-yt-macos-ai-mac-vs-ai-pc-v06 — Amy Kim, CNET

Apple previewed MacOS 15 Sequoia at WWDC on Monday. Set to arrive this fall, the next version of the Mac operating system will offer a healthy dose of AI by way of Apple Intelligence. That will show up in the form of a smarter, more conversational Siri along with the ability to help you write, generate images and Genmojis and more. If your current Mac is running MacOS 14 Sonoma, then the odds are good that it'll be able to make the leap to Sequoia.

Not every Mac compatible with Sequoia, however, will be able to access the generative AI features of Apple Intelligence. Yes, it's possible that you'll install the new MacOS only to miss out on the most exciting part. Here's what you need to know.

Watch this: Apple's MacOS Sequoia: The New Features You'll Want to Try

04:20

MacOS 15 Sequoia requirements

Apple didn't change the hardware requirements from Sonoma to Sequoia for the MacBook Pro. Every MacBook Pro model that's running Sonoma will be able to run Sequoia -- going back to the Intel-based MacBook Pro models from 2018.

The story is different, however, for MacBook Air owners. You'll need an Air from 2020 or later. That means the only Intel-based Air compatible with Sequoia is the final Intel model released in the spring of 2020 before the first M1 Air arrived in November 2020.

Here's the list for MacBooks:

MacBook Pro (2018 and later)
MacBook Air (2020 and later)

The most likely candidates to find themselves in need of a hardware upgrade this fall are owners of Intel-based MacBook Airs from 2018 and 2019. Apple dropped support for those models between Sonoma and Sequoia.

And to be clear, you're all set if you have an Air or Pro with an M1, M2 or M3 chip. Every MacBook Air and Pro model with Apple silicon is compatible with Sequoia.

For Mac desktops, the same requirements for Sonoma carry over to Sequoia with no model years dropped. Here are the models compatible with Sequoia:

iMac (2019 and later)
iMac Pro (2017 and later)
Mac Mini (2018 and later)
Mac Pro (2019 and later)
Mac Studio (2022 and later)

Apple Intelligence requirements

If you have a late-model Intel MacBook that's compatible with Sequoia, you'll be able to move on from Sonoma, but you won't get access to the generative AI features of Apple Intelligence. For the full experience of MacOS 15 Sequoia with Apple Intelligence, you'll need a Mac with an M1 chip or later.