Well, you’re most likely in luck. Even though Apple has yet not released official system specifications for Yosemite, a developer preview was released a little while ago which includes information on what models the beta version can be installed on. We do admit: as testing continues these details may change, but if the past taught us anything it was that the systems that the Developer Preview was released on were those fully supported by the final version.
On the other hand though, Apple has confirmed that your Mac will need at least 2GB of RAM to run Yosemite. You will also need 8GB of available storage, and you Mac will need to be running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard or higher, as the Mac App Store is required for installing Yosemite. First, you need to know which Mac version you have. To find this:
Open “About This Mac” from the Apple Menu in the top-left corner of your Mac.
Click on “More Info.”
Here, you’ll find your Mac version, as shown below.
Check if your Mac is included in the list below. OS X 10.10 Yosemite will run on the following Macs:
iMac (Mid-2007 or later) MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later) MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later) Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later) Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later) Xserve (Early 2009)
The requirements for Yosemite are the same as those for OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the current operating system for Mac. Mavericks supports Macs that date back to 2007 as listed above. So, if you’re running Mavericks right now, you should be good to go for Yosemite too.
Find Your Mac Model Number Via Terminal:
If you couldn’t understand the above method, or if you’re still confused, another way you can find out your Mac’s version is via Terminal. Simply follow the steps given below:
Open Terminal from Spotlight or by navigating to “Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal.”
Enter in the following command in Terminal:
Once you press Enter, your Mac’s model number should show up, as shown below:
Now that you know your Mac’s model number, check if it falls in the list below. If yes, then congratulations, you’re Mac will run OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
iMac – all models from mid 2007, iMac 7,1 – 12,1 MacBook 5,1 – 7,1 MacBook Pro 3,1 – 8,3 MacBookAir 2,1 – 4,2 Mac Mini 3,1 – 5,3 Mac Pro 3,1 – 5,1 Xserve 3,1
Ultimately, OS X 10.10 Yosemite will be both free and compatible with all Macs that can run OS X Mavericks. But this doesn’t mean that all features will be supported. This depends on your Mac version; older versions may not include all the features that Apple has touted for its latest operating system. Apple should update us on this in the future, so stay tuned. We’ll be publishing an article covering getting your Mac ready for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, so stay tuned for that as well. OS X Yosemite is looking really good so far; we’ll be waiting for the final public version to be released this fall. Will your Mac run OS X 10.10 Yosemite? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.
