MBP Early 2011 update?

[Howaboutthis]

So my Early 2011 13inch non-Retina Macbook Pro has El Capitan, 16GB ram and a 250GB SSD installed, it's running quite well, ever so slightly laggy sometimes in Lightroom. It's usually connected to 24in 1920x1200 monitor. Were I to upgrade the OS, what version could I run without issue, assuming I could download it in the first place? Would I see an advantage, I'd quite like the latest GarageBand? Thanks for any ideas.

[sawman]

if you click on the apple menu (top left) and then click "about this mac" there is a software update button, that should make sure you are on the most recent OS thats compatible - you might get mojave ? apple support will probably tell you what your compatible with too

[OlonMusky]

sawman said:

apple support will probably tell you what your compatible with too

What about google, you know this up and coming thing called search engine?

OP do a search on "macOS 10.1X is compatible with these computers" and you'll find an answer. Hint 10.13 is the last compatible version.

[AJB88]

10.13 so 2 versions out of date now.

[NoTreadLeft]

Obviously it's not supported but my early 2011 13inch non-Retina Macbook Pro runs Catalina quite nicely.

Search for "Catalina Patcher".

[AJB88]

Patcher is pretty cool, I sold my 2010 MBP that I got cheap about a year ago because OS upgrades stopped! I went back to Dell XPS Ubuntu (I came from Linux).

Might buy a cheap Mac Mini and do the patcher on it.

[Howaboutthis]

Yep, I could install High Sierra, but keeping my older non-subscription Lightroom and Photoshop working fully is "mission critical". Hmmm.