Will a legacy mac still prompt to update?

[bobbyquine]

hi,
I'm thinking of buying a used MBP 17" mid 2009 2.8ghz for my elderly parent, its going for a good price.

It seems that El Capitan is the last OS that is supported, so does that mean that my mother will be spared the annoying constant prompts to update? If so this could be a real blessing, as coercive orders to update are alarming to a tech-wary senior.

Or will El Capitan still order her to update, unaware that the hardware will not support Sierra?

Any other thoughts about buying a no longer supported mac for a senior? My original thoughts were to set her up with a brand new laptop and just tell her to press 'update' whenever asked, the path of least resistance. Now I think the idea of an 'unupdateable' system might be good too, so she doesn't have to keep up with a constantly 'improving' operating system. Larger screen, and cheaper....

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

I believe that the App Store/Software Update is intelligent enough not to prompt to update to an OS that isn't supported on that particular MBP. I haven't seen the update prompt on my Macs that don't support macOS Sierra. In addition, it will not allow her to download the macOS Sierra update manually...it would give a warning that it isn't supported.

I think your plan is a good one. OS X El Capitan will be supported for several years at least, and she shouldn't have any compatibility issues for years to come. The larger screen is a plus, but if you need to increase the resolution so text is easier to read, it will slightly blur things, as only the native resolution is razor-sharp.

My mother is in her 70s and loves her MacBook (13-inch Aluminum Late 2008). She is running OS X Yosemite on it, with not a care in the world.

Hope that helps,

C