User level: Level 1 (9 points)I'm getting the M6 mac mini upgrading from my m1 macbook pro, should I upgrade my macbook from Tahoe to goldengate before transfer to new mini?
Posted on Sep 17, 2026 7:16 AM
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)Sep 17, 2026 7:53 AM in response to wthorne2
No it is not necessary or monitory.... see > Transfer to a new Mac with Migration Assistant - Apple Support
In fact:
1) Most everyone that buys a new Mac, will be migrating from an older macOS version to a newer macOS version.
2) It is faster, easier and more reliable to migrate from the old Mac's Time Machine backup, then to migrate Mac to Mac.
User level: Level 7 (21,895 points)Sep 18, 2026 5:45 AM in response to wthorne2
While upgrading to macOS 27 Golden Gate is not necessary, you should make sure your MacBook Pro has the latest version of Tahoe.
Over the years, I had a couple occasions when migrating where I was prompted to update to the latest version of the installed macOS on the source computer before migrating to the new computer.
FWIW, you should migrate from a Time Machine backup or clone (which is something you should have) of the MacBook Pro instead of a computer to computer migration. It just makes things much less complicated, i.e. less possible problems.
Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256358992