With Apple’s next version of OS X now available as a public beta, you might wonder whether or not your Mac will be able to run it. While any relatively new Mac ought to be able to run the next version of OS X, if you have an older one then this may be a valid question.
Even though Apple has not yet released official system specifications for Yosemite, it has released its Public Beta which includes information on what models the beta can be installed on. Granted, as testing of the new OS continues these details may change; however, in most past releases of OS X, the systems that developer preview software was released on were those fully supported by the final version.
ioreg -l | grep "board-id" | awk -F\" '{print $4}'
You can also immediately copy this information to the clipboard by running the following command
ioreg -l | grep "board-id" | awk -F\" '{print $4}' | pbcopy
System Information utility showing the Mac model number (click image for larger view).
With the output of this command copied to your clipboard, you can search for it in the list at the end of this article. Note that in this list, I have tried to include the relevant model number, which you can also look up using the system information utility, or by running the following command in the Terminal:
sysctl hw.model
The Mac motherboard IDs and corresponding model numbers that the current preview build of Yosemite will work on, are the following, so if you find your Mac’s motherboard ID and model listed, then your Mac should be supported for running at least the current test build of Yosemite.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite Hardware Compatibility List
| Motherboard ID | Mac Model |
| Mac-F2218EC8 | iMac9,1 |
| Mac-F2268DC8 | iMac10,1 |
| Mac-F2268CC8 | iMac10,1 |
| Mac-F2268DAE | iMac11,1 |
| Mac-F2238AC8 | iMac11,2 |
| Mac-F2238BAE | iMac11,3 |
| Mac-F221DCC8 | iMac12,1 |
| Mac-942B5BF58194151B | iMac12,1 |
| Mac-942B59F58194171B | iMac12,2 |
| Mac-00BE6ED71E35EB86 | iMac13,1 |
| Mac-FC02E91DDD3FA6A4 | iMac13,2 |
| Mac-031B6874CF7F642A | iMac14,1 |
| Mac-27ADBB7B4CEE8E61 | iMac14,2 |
| Mac-77EB7D7DAF985301 | iMac14,3 |
| Mac-81E3E92DD6088272 | iMac15,1 |
| Mac-FA842E06C61E91C5 | iMac15,x |
| Mac-42FD25EABCABB274 | iMac15,x |
| Mac-F4238CC8 | iMac7,1 |
| Mac-F42386C8 | iMac7,1 |
| Mac-F227BEC8 | iMac8,1 |
| Mac-F226BEC8 | iMac8,1 |
| Mac-F2218EA9 | iMac9,1 |
| Mac-F2218FC8 | iMac9,1 |
| Mac-F2218FA9 | iMac9,1 |
| Mac-F42D89C8 | MacBook5,1 |
| Mac-F42D89A9 | MacBook5,1 |
| Mac-F22788AA | MacBook5,2 |
| Mac-F22C8AC8 | MacBook6,1 |
| Mac-F22C89C8 | MacBook7,1 |
| Mac-F42D88C8 | MacBookAir2,1 |
| Mac-942452F5819B1C1B | MacBookAir3,1 |
| Mac-942C5DF58193131B | MacBookAir3,2 |
| Mac-C08A6BB70A942AC2 | MacBookAir4,1 |
| Mac-742912EFDBEE19B3 | MacBookAir4,2 |
| Mac-66F35F19FE2A0D05 | MacBookAir5,1 |
| Mac-2E6FAB96566FE58C | MacBookAir5,2 |
| Mac-35C1E88140C3E6CF | MacBookAir6,1 |
| Mac-7DF21CB3ED6977E5 | MacBookAir6,2 |
| Mac-C3EC7CD22292981F | MacBookPro10,1 |
| Mac-AFD8A9D944EA4843 | MacBookPro10,2 |
| Mac-189A3D4F975D5FFC | MacBookPro11,1 |
| Mac-3CBD00234E554E41 | MacBookPro11,2 |
| Mac-2BD1B31983FE1663 | MacBookPro11,3 |
| Mac-F42388C8 | MacBookPro3,1 |
| Mac-F4238BC8 | MacBookPro3,1 |
| Mac-F42C86C8 | MacBookPro4,1 |
| Mac-F42C89C8 | MacBookPro4,1 |
| Mac-F42D86A9 | MacBookPro5,1 |
| Mac-F42D86C8 | MacBookPro5,1 |
| Mac-F2268EC8 | MacBookPro5,2 |
| Mac-F22587C8 | MacBookPro5,3 |
| Mac-F22587A1 | MacBookPro5,4 |
| Mac-F2268AC8 | MacBookPro5,5 |
| Mac-F22589C8 | MacBookPro6,1 |
| Mac-F22586C8 | MacBookPro6,2 |
| Mac-F222BEC8 | MacBookPro7,1 |
| Mac-94245B3640C91C81 | MacBookPro8,1 |
| Mac-94245A3940C91C80 | MacBookPro8,2 |
| Mac-942459F5819B171B | MacBookPro8,3 |
| Mac-4B7AC7E43945597E | MacBookPro9,1 |
| Mac-7DF2A3B5E5D671ED | MacBookPro9,2 |
| Mac-6F01561E16C75D06 | MacBookPro9,2 |
| Mac-F22C86C8 | MacMini3,1 |
| Mac-F2208EC8 | MacMini4,1 |
| Mac-8ED6AF5B48C039E1 | MacMini5,1 |
| Mac-4BC72D62AD45599E | MacMini5,2 |
| Mac-7BA5B2794B2CDB12 | MacMini5,3 |
| Mac-031AEE4D24BFF0B1 | MacMini6,1 |
| Mac-F65AE981FFA204ED | MacMini6,2 |
| Mac-F42C88C8 | MacPro3,1 |
| Mac-F221BEC8 | MacPro4,1 |
| Mac-F60DEB81FF30ACF6 | MacPro6,1 |
| Mac-F223BEC8 | Xserve3,1 |
| Mac-50619A408DB004DA | |
| Mac-35C5E08120C7EEAF |
I wonder if any systems have fallen of the list between 10.9 and the 10.10 Beta? I wonder if the graphics card might be what is going to determine whether or not the motherboard is supported on the new OS?
It appears they are all the same, so if your Mac is running Mavericks then you should be able to upgrade to Yosemite. It is possible that this could change, but I doubt it will very much.
What prompted the question was the iOS 8 requirements very quietly dropped the iPhone 4 off the list of devices supported. I’ve got an iPhone 4 and was amazed at how many upgrades I was able to do until time ran out. Was hoping my old iMac would weather the upgrade as well. Looks like it’s good to go.
There is at least one model clearly missing from that list. Towards the end of the list yu can find MacPro3,1, MacPro4,1, MacPro6,1. Those correspond to the models from 2008, 2009, and the adorable little trashcans from 2013 (I want one!).
What is missing is MacPro5,1: the models from 2010 and 2012. Maybe they correspond to the motherboard ID’s that have no corresponding Mac Model numbers at the very end of the list?
I’m a bit confused; The MacPro 4,1 should support Yosemite, according to Mactracker it supports the latest release of OSX, but I can’t upgrade mine above Lion… Graphics card issue?
Possibly. My understanding is that the graphics card (GPU) is the real issue in these recent system updates. It should, in principle, be possible to upgrade some MacPros to Mavericks or Yosemite by upgrading the graphics card first but I don’t know if the OS installer will let you.
Turns out it was a problem with the Wifi card! The Atheros card is known to cause Problems..
There has not yet been a Mactracker update to cover Yosemite. You might contact Apple support to see if your graphics card is the issue. If that’s the case, you can upgrade the graphics card – if you want to spend the money.