My Experience with the 2012 MacBook Pro and Recommendations for Operating Systems on a 12-Year-Old MacBook

I have a 15-inch 2012 MacBook Pro (non-Retina) with an i7 processor and 8GB of RAM. I’ve tested several macOS versions, from the oldest to the newest, using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. Here are my conclusions based on my current configuration and the versions I’ve tested: * **macOS El Capitan**: Perfect—very stable and extremely lightweight for my applications. The only downside is that some browsers don’t work. * **macOS High Sierra**: Even better than El Capitan and all the others I tested. My applications run extremely well, all browsers work fine, and the MacBook feels super fast for everything. * **macOS Mojave**: Essentially the same as High Sierra, but with Dark Mode. That’s basically the only difference. The performance is just as great. * **macOS Catalina**: On my MacBook, it overheats a lot and performs terribly. Sometimes, even during basic tasks, the heat makes the MacBook unusable. Even after replacing the thermal paste, it tends to overheat too much. * **macOS Big Sur**: It runs poorly, not usable at all. * **macOS Monterey**: Just as stable as High Sierra. Everything works well, but my 8GB of RAM becomes a limitation. I plan to upgrade to this version in the future when I upgrade to 16GB of RAM—then it’ll work great. But for now, with 8GB, it’s not good enough. * **Post-Monterey Versions**: These are much more demanding. In my opinion, they’re like "Catalinas"—overheat the MacBook and don’t allow me to do most of the tasks I can do with earlier versions because of the system’s heaviness. # My workflow includes: * Video editing on Final Cut Pro * After Effects 2019 * Photoshop 2019 * Ableton Live 10 * Logic Pro The Apple apps are purchased from the App Store, so even on older macOS versions, I can download previous versions without any problems. For Adobe and Ableton, I’ve kept virus-free and stable versions backed up in my cloud storage. I’ve also backed up versions of Google Chrome for these older macOS versions, but for Mojave and earlier, I prefer using Firefox ESR. Currently, I use macOS Mojave, which works wonderfully on my MacBook. # My final opinion: * **If you need a system for productivity**, , where apps work without lag or slowdowns, I recommend macOS High Sierra or Mojave. However, keep in mind that you need to take proper security measures since these systems no longer receive updates.. * **If you need the latest apps**, any version from Monterey onwards (using OpenCore Legacy Patcher) will work. However, you’ll sacrifice some speed on the MacBook, and it will only run smoothly with 16GB of RAM or more. What do you think about this?☺️