Best macOS version and SSD for mid-2014 16 gb ram ?

[halledise]

Ah sorry. you should check on everymac.com for your model and look for the "maximum macOS".
Monterey is imho a very good and stable macOS. I have it running on several 2014 MacMinis. If your Mac can run it, I would recommend it over BigSur.

you might well be able to run monterey on a 2014 mini but i very much doubt you'd get it running on a 2013 MBPro.
something about different firmware or architecture or something …

 

[TheEnthusiast]

you might well be able to run monterey on a 2014 mini but i very much doubt you'd get it running on a 2013 MBPro.
something about different firmware or architecture or something …

macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

This thread will be dedicated to the discussion of running macOS 12.0 on unsupported Macs At the time of writing, WWDC has wrapped up and Developer Seeds have been sent out. We're eagerly awaiting for all our community developers and enthusiasts to test out the new version of macOS We will...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[halledise]

macOS 12 Monterey on Unsupported Macs Thread

This thread will be dedicated to the discussion of running macOS 12.0 on unsupported Macs At the time of writing, WWDC has wrapped up and Developer Seeds have been sent out. We're eagerly awaiting for all our community developers and enthusiasts to test out the new version of macOS We will...

forums.macrumors.com

thanks for that 👏
i'll give it a try sometime on the trusty old 11" Air (2013), though i kinda like Catalina running on it.
[i do have a 2011 Air somewhere around here but with only 2gb ram it would struggle to get past high sierra]

 

[Minghold]

best macOS version …
[screenshot from everyman.com]

"...The best Mac OS version is the one that your Mac is eligible to upgrade to...."
--That author is either an idiot, or an "access-media" shill in Apple's back-pocket. For example, you will fast-track murder rotational hard-drives by using an APFS-requiring operating-system, and Apple was still putting those in machines as recently as 2020. (The MacOS installers do NOT check for drive type, because deliberate planned-obsolescence.) Also, any OS higher than Mojave cannot run 32bit software (which is most software), and access-media shills will not tell you that (because, in order to rope you into the brave, new subscription-model future, you much first be tricked into wiping out your oft better-featured old-version paid-for software). Not to mention, by slavishly keeping as "current" as possible, you'll be an unpaid beta-tester dealing with all of Apple's newest bugs (such as the infamous Monterery 3rd-update that gorked everyone's Cinema Displays, meaning 95% of Photoshop professionals).

I have the exact model listed in the OP: a 2014 MBP (mine's an i7 with an SSD) with 16gb ram. I'm running Mojave in an HFS+ partition, enjoying (via Retrospective) Final Cut Pro 7 (the good one) and 10+, Logic Pro 9 (the good one) and 10+, and Adobe CS6 "Extended" (the good one) and 2020. It's greased lightning, and I can get much more work done in the leaner, cleaner, faster 32bit older versions of the productivity packages than their latest bloated subscription-model counterparts.