Inherited Mom's 2008 iMac running 10.6.8 -- Want to upgrade OS

[AndrewTman]

Hi all, I am an average PC guy just learning to operate a Mac. This is a beautiful piece of engineering even if rather old. I just want to be able to update Chrome and also load printer drivers for my brother printers.The model number is 8,1 and it has 2 GB on board. I tried downloading -- Install Mac OS X. DMG -- When I clicked open it told me it was not recognizable. there is only about 2 gigabytes in the file so maybe it's incomplete?? Will I be able to upgrade to a more contemporary operating system? Also, I have an external hard drive which has recently backed up.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

You can check the specifications at everymac.com.
I think you can upgrade the OS to macos 10.11 (El Capitan.)

 

[AndrewTman]

Thanks Lufbrarunner … When I looked it up on everymac.com they listed all the specs (emailed them to myself) but I could not find anything about OS updates. Everything I have run across so far says you are right that I should be able to download an upgrade to 10.11 . It didn't work when I tried it from one website on the Mac help circuit. When I go to the App Store from the computer itself it just lists a bunch of mostly game stuff and gives me no options. When I click on update, it says there are none. Do I have to change something to become the administrator maybe ?... or is there just some tech glitch, or just my brain glitch? There is probably just something simple I need to do but I am a Mac novice and I'm still swimming in deep water here.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Try this link to El Caipitan on App store

 

[AndrewTman]

Well ..... after a couple hours of getting my apple id sorted out and a password working I went to your suggested link again and hit the ...get it…. Button. This time the site accepted my Apple ID and password and then displayed a message telling me that I needed to update my payment methods and other information and that I would have to upgrade my operating system to do that. Catch 22, cart before the horse, I'll try updating my info from another computer when I have a little time later tonight. Wow, I've been in computer circles of mystery before but I think this one takes the cake. I am just an old guy trying to get an old computer to work so he can recover any of his Mom's poetry and stories we may have missed and get my printers working. She was a lovely writer…. I wish there was just a disc upgrade, I would be happy to pay the 20 bucks, but I haven't been able to find that anywhere either. I suspect apple is really hoping these old machines will die off and go away but I would love to get this one working and join the Apple family. It seems to work quite well and it is fast enough for me …. Just needs the next level of OS.