Newbie to Mac

[Cveal1]

Listen i have been an iPhone user since they first hit the market but never made the switch to Laptops or Desktops. I recently bought a MacBook Pro(13 inch,Mid 2010) from my daughter in law just to get my feet wet. I added the max memory 8GB and its a 2.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo. I cleared the harddrive and installed the software that came with it and put all my info in.
The problem that i am having is that sometimes in Safari it doesnt display pictures and go to websites, some websites it will and then others it wont.
I downloaded Chrome but it states that chrome will no longer be supported. I am running Mac OS X 10.6.8, how do i know which version of the latest OS's to update to?

Thank you for all your help.

 

[Boyd01]

More info about your computer here

MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" Mid-2010 Specs (Mid-2010 13", MC374LL/A, MacBookPro7,1, A1278, 2351*): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" Mid-2010. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

According to that, High Sierra (MacOS 10.13) is the newest version that is supported on your MacBook Pro.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

I believe that Apple will stop providing security updates for High Sierra in January.

 

[Cveal1]

More info about your computer here

MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" Mid-2010 Specs (Mid-2010 13", MC374LL/A, MacBookPro7,1, A1278, 2351*): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the MacBook Pro "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" Mid-2010. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, hard drive details, price and more.

everymac.com

According to that, High Sierra (MacOS 10.13) is the newest version that is supported on your MacBook Pro.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

I believe that Apple will stop providing security updates for High Sierra in January.

Thank you for that, after January what will i do then?

 

[Boyd01]

There are hacks to install unsupported versions of MacOS. Some people do that, but I wouldn't. If you look in our MacOS forums, each one has a long thread about installing on unsupported Macs. For example,

macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

How to update Catalina Machine Support Video Card Support Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.) Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older without acceleration, GeForce 3xx...

forums.macrumors.com

macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Thread

macOS 10.14 Mojave on Unsupported Macs Machine Support Video Card Support Pre-Metal AMD video cards (Radeon HD 6xxx series and older without acceleration, Radeon HD 4xxx series and older with acceleration.) Pre-Metal Nvidia video cards (GeForce 5xx series and older, i.e...

forums.macrumors.com

This is just my personal take, but you are not going to get a very good Mac experience with a 10 year old laptop. You could do things like replace the hard drive with a SSD (if possible on yours... not sure). But I am not a fan of putting money into old computers. I wouldn't have even done the RAM upgrade. I have a 2008 15" MacBook Pro with the same CPU as yours (2.4ghz Core 2 Duo). I completely retired it 5 or 6 years ago, just too old, slow and incompatible for my taste. But that's me.

Here's a long thread about a 2011 Mini that rambles on quite a bit, but it's relevant in that it addresses the issue of a computer than cannot be upgraded beyond High Sierra

Advice Please: What To Do With Mac Mini mid2011???

Hey guys, Sorry to be making a new thread, but I know MacRumors is the community which has the most experts on Macs on the internet. I searched the forums and I couldn't find a previous thread related to my severe problem. My biggest fear has come true: Apple will stop giving security updates...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Brian33]

Thank you for that, after January what will i do then?

After Apple drops support for High Sierra, it will still run fine. However, bugs and security vulnerabilities in Safari and macOS will not be patched. Since many (?) malware issues go through the browser, you can mitigate the risk somewhat by using Firefox (or I suppose, Chrome) which will still be updated and supported on High Sierra for quite awhile. That wouldn't fix any base OS vulnerablities, of course.

According to that, High Sierra (MacOS 10.13) is the newest version that is supported on your MacBook Pro.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

You are running "Snow Leopard" -- quite old! According to Apple's page (above) you would need to upgrade first to El Capitan. After that you could upgrade the system to High Sierra. That's what I would try. I probably wouldn't try the "hacks" to install Mojave or Catalina, at least not until I'd become quite familiar with macOS.

 

[Cveal1]

Thanks for your help.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I downloaded Chrome but it states that chrome will no longer be supported. I am running Mac OS X 10.6.8, how do i know which version of the latest OS's to update to?"

The old version of Safari that exists on 10.6.8 is simply TOO OLD to load some websites -- it will throw up an error message.

This doesn't mean the MBP is "too old" to be used.
It DOES mean you need to update the OS.

As mentioned above, OS 10.13 "High Sierra" is the last version that will still run on it.
I wouldn't worry about High Sierra "not being supported" any more.
Just upgrade to it, smile, and run it as long as it runs.

I'm not sure if you can upgrade to HS "directly", but it's worth a try.
Here's what to do:
- Power down, all the way off
- Press the power on button and hold down this key combo:
Command-OPTION-R
Do you see the "spinning globe"?
If you do, GOOD.
You're trying to get into "internet recovery".

You may need your wifi password.
It will take a while for the internet utilities to load.

Can you get to the internet utilities?
If you do, good, now try opening the OS installer.
Start "clicking through" and see what happens.

IF THIS DOESN'T WORK...
Don't despair.
There are "other ways to get to where you want to be..."