It was expected, but after the unveiling of the new Macs with Apple Silicon M1 chips, the company also confirmed that macOS Big Sur will be available for everyone today. Confirming its calendar, Apple has released the new version of its desktop operating system via the Mac App Store at all those users want to install it on their Mac.

As usual with Apple, the list of supported devices is quite extensive, and apart from a few older computers, most Macs are compatible with the new version of the desktop operating system, macOS Big Sur, including some models with more than seven years behind them, like the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro from 2013.

MacOS Big Sur compatible devices

  • MacBook, model 2015 or later
  • MacBook Air model 2013 onwards
  • MacBook Pro late 2013 and later model
  • Mac mini from 2014 onwards
  • 2014 iMac the next
  • 2017 iMac Pro
  • Mac Pro 2013 and 2019

While the latest macOS Big Sur betas and RC were already pretty stable, make sure all your software is compatible before upgrading, as the new version of the Apple operating system includes some changes that may conflict with the compatibility of some third-party applications, causing stability problems or directly preventing them from working.

Also remember that, before installing a new version of an operating system, you must run a backup of your Mac in case of a malfunction or error during the installation, it will be much easier to return to the previous state or restore files. You can backup your Mac before installing macOS Big Sur via Time Machine, or if you’d like to test it before installing it on your main system, install this update on a separate partition on your system.

macOS Big Sur includes new features and a complete redesign of the user interface, more modern and with iOS design elements, along with a change in system icons and the operation of the notification center, among others.