MacOS – the latest version of OS X that I can run on a Black MacBook 4,1 (Early 2008 model?)

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I would like to run OS X El Capitan on an older, black MacBook 4,1 (Early 2008 model with 2GB of RAM).

However, after looking at the El Capitan specifications, it appears that OS X 10.11 requires at least a "Late 2008 Aluminium" unibody MacBook.

My first question is:

  • Does anyone here have OS X 10.11 running on a MacBook 4,1?

Probably a more realistic second question is:

  • What is the latest version of OS X that I can get running on a MacBook 4,1 Early 2008 model?

Best Answer

As you mentioned, OS X El Capitan will run on the MacBook (13-inch Aluminium, Late 2008) model, known as MacBook 5,1.

The latest version of OS X that you can get running on a MacBook 4,1 (Early 2008 model) is Mac OS X 10.7.5. El Capitan will not run on the non-Aluminium 2008 models (Early or Late).

I have verified this information against the Mactracker app (not affiliated with Mactracker in any way).

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