Questions about the Mac? Get them answered here.

Yes, provided your Mac is supported by El Capitan.

As an aside, any Mac that can run OS 10.9 (Mavericks) or OS 10.10 (Yosemite) can also run OS 10.11 (El Capitan). But for Macs running OS 10.7 (Lion) and OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion), one needs to check whether El Capitan can support those Macs.

Most Macs released in last 5+ years are supported by El Capitan. Including:
iMac (Mid-2007 or newer)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or newer), (15-inch, Mid / Late 2007 or newer), (17-inch, Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)

Another way to find out . . . try downloading and installing. The installer should tell you if El Capitan can not be installed on your Mac.

• Answered by Ewald W from Vancouver
• 12/11/2015
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (can I upgrade directly from OSX 10.7.5 to El Capitan?)

Not sure what you mean by 10.10.10. The current version of OS X is Yosemite (10.10), minor version 10.10.1.

If your Mac is supported, you can upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.10.1 using the Mac App Store. If your Mac isn't supported, it will tell you when you attempt the upgrade.

• Answered by Robert T from Chatham
• 20/12/2014
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (can Mac OS 10.6.8 be upgraded to 10.10.10? Can 10.10.10 be connected to the cloud?)

You already have Snow Leopard (10.6.8). :Lion is 10.7 and Mountain Lion is 10.8.

Lion (10.7) is no longer readily available, so your goal should be to upgrade to Mountain Lion (10.8). The easiest way to find out if your Mac meets the requirements is to open the Mac App Store and attempt to purchase Mountain Lion. If your machine doesn't meet the requirements, it won't let you complete the purchase.

• Answered by Robert T from Chatham
• 27/09/2013
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (I have a MacBook Pro 10.6.8. Is there a free upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.7)?)

No those MacBooks are limited to 10.7.5 Lion out of the box. You can however browse the web because there are people who have already done it. You might need to mod something with the drivers and such and definitely replace your wireless adapter to one that supports 10.8 or higher.

• Answered by Jamie G from Deventer
• 27/08/2017
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (Can I upgrade MacBook4,1 (early 2008) to anything 10.9 or higher?)

Ah yes...the ‘spinning beachball of death’.

1st thing, don’t panic! When you see the color wheel it means that the computer is ‘thinking’ or, more accurately, attempting or trying to execute your command. A few things can cause the color wheel but the most common one is insufficient RAM memory installed in your Mac. You can check the amount of RAM memory installed by clicking on the Apple menu on the upper left corner of the Mac’ screen. Then select ‘About this Mac’. While most Mac operating systems will work (adequately) with 4 GB of RAM, if your Mac permits the installation of more RAM, you might consider doing so. It’s easy to install and inexpensive as well. The additional RAM will let your Mac ‘breath’ a bit easier and you should see fewer beachballs.

If you have 8GB or more of RAM and are still getting spinning beachballs, try closing some of the open applications. Even with sufficient RAM if you’ve got 6 or more apps running at the same time, that’s going to dramatically slow the computer down (and you’ll see the wheel).

• Answered by Dru R from Richardson
• 18/05/2017
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (what does the color wheel mean?)

It's great that you have 10.6.8 and you can use it Lion if your Mac meets the hardware requirements. You need to have a Core 2 duo, I3, I5 or I7 processor, 2GB of RAM and 7GB of free space on your HD. If you've got that you're good to go.

• Answered by Jon B from Chicago
• 06/03/2016
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (can I upgrade from 10.6.8? want to use icloud)

Do you mean you have the iMac10,1 (note the comma)? If so, your machine probably shipped with Snow Leopard 10.6.1. Use Software Update to make sure it's now running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. Then if you want to upgrade, you can open the Mac App Store and purchase Mountain Lion 10.8.

• Answered by Robert T from Chatham
• 01/02/2013
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (i have 10.1 3.06 GHz....what do I upgrade to?)

It will replace OS 10.5.8 with OS 10.6. It will not delete your applications or data. But may delete Apple software that is not compatible with OS 10.6.

When I do a major update of the OS, I like to play it safe. Create a new partition and install OS 10.6 on it. During the install, the installer will look for other OS installations and ask if you want to import OS settings, applications and/or data from your existing OS installation. (Or, you can skip the import and have a clean install of the new OS.)

Afterwards, when you start your Mac, you can press the option key during startup and choose which partition (which OS) you wish to work with. This is very handy if you are not sure all of your applications and drivers will work in the newer OS.

(To always start up in OS 10.5.8 or OS 10.6.x, select the Start Up Disk preference in System Preferences.)

• Answered by Ewald W from Vancouver
• 06/12/2015
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (If I purchase Mac OS X 10.6 to update my Mac OS 10.5.8, will it erase my software when updating?)