OS X 10.11 El Capitan Runs on All Macs Capable of Running Yosemite

Monday June 8, 2015 5:34 PM PDT by Juli Clover
OS X 10.11 El Capitan, the successor to OS X Yosemite, is capable of running on all Macs that are able to run Yosemite, according to the OS X 10.11 release notes (via Ars Technica). The first developer beta is listed as supporting the following Macs, which are the same that are able to run Yosemite:

- iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
- MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
- Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
- Xserve (Early 2009)

OS X El Capitan is focused heavily on performance improvements to make the Mac "snappier and more efficient." According to Apple, apps launch up to 1.4x faster and app switching is up to 2x faster. Displaying the first Mail messages when opening mail is up to 2x faster, and it's up to 4x faster when opening a PDF in preview.

elcapitanperfomanceenhancements
El Capitan also brings Metal to OS X for the first time, improving graphics for more fluid performance in games, high performance apps, and key system-level graphics operations.

iOS 9, the upcoming update for iOS devices, has also been designed to work with all devices that run iOS 8. Even older A5 devices like the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4s will be able to run the new operating system, and in many cases, performance will improve over iOS 8 thanks to the optimizations being introduced.

Both OS X El Capitan and iOS 9 will be available to the public in the fall, with a public beta becoming available in July.
147 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
mrxak
45 months ago
Pretty terrible name.
Rating: 20 Votes
Avatar
keysofanxiety
45 months ago
Thankfully Apple's insistence to still sell computers with spinning HDDs, and release 'updated' computers with worse specs, has forced their hand to improve software performance. If you work around the limitations of the hardware, it's likely you'll bring out the best from the software.

Anyway, good job Apple. You did the right thing on focusing on performance rather than new features.
Rating: 16 Votes
Avatar
OriginalMacRat
45 months ago

Thankfully Apple's insistence to still sell computers with spinning HDDs...


MacBook: SSD only
MacBook Air: SSD only
MacBook Retina: SSD only
Mac Pro: SSD only

Only the iMac and Mac mini (and the legacy MBP 13") even have HDD options.
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
nezr
45 months ago
El Crappy name
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
ReesMaxwell
45 months ago
You all DO realize that they named it El Capitan because it is supposed to be similar to Yosemite...not a huge update on features, but on performance...akin to Leopard, then Snow Leopard. Get it, Yosemite, then El Capitan!
Rating: 13 Votes
Avatar
Aldaris
45 months ago
4x faster to open a PDF in preview?!?

Great Yosemite messed up preview so bad-probably to make el capitan snappier.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
pavelbure
45 months ago
Yay, my 2007 iMac is still chugging along pretty good.
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
super tomtendo
45 months ago
I tell you... that "Creative and free spirit marketing team" at apple was pretty high when they choose this name... El Capitan? No only is that going to be confusing to pronounce for most people (they're say captain... like a ship captain), but it's just bad... I know it's a real place, but come on...
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
Mr-Stabby
45 months ago


Only the iMac and Mac mini (and the legacy MBP 13") even have HDD options.


Sadly though the iMac is the desktop that most people buy and it having a spinning hard drive really does affect performance. The 21.5 inch iMac has a 5400rpm Hard drive, and it REALLY slows down the machine. I cannot believe they are still selling this as a default option.
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
phaedarus
45 months ago

An OS X "performance update"? I hope it's like Snow Leopard, the best update ever, and not like Lion, the worst update ever.


Fixed that for you.
Rating: 7 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]