If you would like information about your Mac Pro, Mac mini, or MacBook Air, go to Part 2. And don't forget, we can offer you cash back for your old RAM! We've tried and failed many times over! If you have less than the system maximum, then you can upgrade your machine to 16GB of RAM. Don't think about upgrading beyond the 16GB maximum.
(Again, see our roundup of the best external SSDs for more discussion of this.) You can insist on Thunderbolt 3 support if you have a late-model Mac and you know you need all the speed you can get, but a USB-C drive will be a better pick if youre more price sensitive, or need to also. The published system maximum is 16GB or 4x4GB. Any drive formatted with HFS+ will work just fine with a Mac thats running macOS High Sierra or later. We call this a four slot machine because there are four memory banks. Say goodbye to the spinning wheel of pain! Running macOS Sierra on 8GB over 4GB of RAM is a significant improvement. We can upgrade this machine to 8GB of RAM as it has been thoroughly tested in our labs. The MacBook 6,1 was released in Late 2009. This is perfect for those who like to keep a lot of apps or browser tabs open at the same time. It's published system maximum is 8GB although we can upgrade this machine to 16GB of RAM as it has been thoroughly tested in our labs. This MacBook Pro 7,1 was released in Mid 2010. The models below are oldest ones that still qualify for a macOS Sierra upgrade.
In general, 4GB of Memory is a minimum requirement, 8GB of Memory is recommended, and 16GB or more is ideal because it gives you enough room for most of your other applications. If you aren't sure whether you can upgrade to macOS Sierra, take a look at some of our recommendations.
