- If you have a 2013 or later Mac, please check [Apple's official list of supported Mac models](https://www.apple.com/macos/big-sur/) (search the page for "See if") first, to make sure that you actually need this patcher.
- By the way, with the exception of Mac Pros, all of the Macs in this section officially support Catalina. This section is basically "Macs without official Big Sur support but with Metal support", with the exception of pre-2012 iMacs that have upgraded GPUs. (In fact, a 2011 iMac with upgraded GPU is almost equivalent to this category. Earlier iMacs may have compatibility problems caused by other components; see below.)
- Late 2013 iMac: Everything should work (and, after step 14, you're finished -- no need for step 15 and later). Note that there have been some reports of very poor performance with Fusion Drives on this model when running Big Sur, which may be why Apple does not support Big Sur on this model.
- 2010/2012 Mac Pro: I have received positive feedback about this patcher, but I do not know which features work perfectly and which don't. If I had to guess which features might be problematic, I would guess sleep and Wi-Fi. patch-kexts.sh (step 15) should fix Wi-Fi, but I don't know what effect it might have on sleep. (You should upgrade the graphics card, as you would for official compatibility with macOS Mojave.)
- 2010/2012 Mac Pro: You should first upgrade the graphics card, as you would for official compatibility with macOS Mojave. Once you have done that, everything should work after installation except for WiFi (which should work after post-installation patching in step 15) and possibly USB (there were some reports of USB problems with Big Sur betas, and I need to see if they are still happening and, if so, if they are patchable).
- 2009 Mac Pro: Once it's flashed to MacPro5,1 firmware, it should be equivalent to a 2010/2012 Mac Pro. (As with those, you will want to upgrade to a Mojave-compatible graphics card.) However, note that some people have had their flashed MacPro4,1s enter boot loops during installation. We don't yet know what causes this or why it only happens sometimes.
- Other 2012/2013 Macs: Most things should work after the initial installation, except for Wi-Fi (unless you have upgraded to an 802.11ac Wi-Fi card) or possibly GPU switching (on 15" MacBook Pros). Step 15 of the installation process fixes Wi-Fi support, but GPU switching may not yet be a solved problem.
Barry K. Nathan
5 years ago