I use a late 2014 Mini (headless) for some software and have been thinking of migrating my client financial work over to it. The recent thread on ARC makes me want to try that, and I just got my invite.
It’s currently on Big Sur and my frequent apps are:
Quickbooks Online in Chrome
TurboTax
Office 2016 that I bought on sale, for exporting out of QB
QB 2020 Mac (though I no longer have a client on that)
I have a number of photo apps on it as well, including Canon DPP which I’m trying to learn to use. Most of the others were demos. Most of my critical software is old so they are safe on other machines.
First question is, is there anything to watch out for in a Monterey upgrade?
And why can’t I see it in the app store? I’ve looked at a few sources and they all say late 2014 can go to Monterey. (I actually have Monterey downloaded to the drive but it was November so I’m guessing I’ll have to redownload it)
That November download should be fine, you would just want to check for updates after restarting.
I always encourage people to also run Howard Oakley’s SilentKnight to double check everything has been updated correctly. I cannot count the number of times I have found Macs appearing to be “up to date” and then find one or more missing security patches with SilentKnight (which sources downloads direct from Apple).
As I recall, you got a 2014 mini i7 last year. You should be OK to run Monterey, although there are some macOS technologies that do not work. Everymac notes the following macOS support details for this model:
It additionally supports the final version of macOS Monterey (macOS 12), but it does not support Universal Control or AirPlay to Mac in addition to the more minor Spatial Audio, Portrait Mode, 3D Landmarks, and Interactive Globe features. It does not support macOS Ventura (macOS 13) or later.
As for seeing Monterey in the App Store, sometimes updates are hidden or Apple servers just will not list them as available for you even when it is supported on the computer.
The macOS download page has a link for Monterey on the App Store that may help:
There have been a few updates to Monterey since you downloaded the installer in November, so I suggest following the instructions to download Monterey in the article that MacGuyver shared.
Your older installer should work fine, but starting from the most recent installer probably will save you a little time when you actually start the installation process.
Everymac! I was on lowendmac the other day and didn’t see what I was looking for - thanks! And for SilentKnight which I never heard of.
You have a good memory! I did buy this last year pretty much for TurboTax but I’ve moved a few client things over to it as well along with graphical stuff. I am playing with RAW and LR6 can’t read what my camera puts out.
I’ve done a couple of OS updates on the Mini since I got it and they were always waiting in the app store for me so I was surprised I couldn’t find this seeing as it’s the last one. Maybe Apple’s just trying to tell me to buy a new machine.