Advice on new computer that shipped with Sonoma

[Markrosoft]

Hey All --

I just bought a Mac Studio and the sales rep I spoke to said it would ship with Ventura. It didn't... it came with Sonoma. I've read the threads on running the latest version on Sonoma and it seems like it works for some people and doesn't for others. I guess I have two specific questions though:

1. Do you think the next version of pro tools will have support for Sonoma?
2. Do you expect that before the end of 2023?

I know no one knows for sure and these are just guesses but I'm trying to decide whether to return it or just install everything now and hope that it works well-enough. Thanks for your help!

[basslik]

Originally Posted by Markrosoft

Hey All --

I just bought a Mac Studio and the sales rep I spoke to said it would ship with Ventura. It didn't... it came with Sonoma. I've read the threads on running the latest version on Sonoma and it seems like it works for some people and doesn't for others. I guess I have two specific questions though:

1. Do you think the next version of pro tools will have support for Sonoma?
2. Do you expect that before the end of 2023?

I know no one knows for sure and these are just guesses but I'm trying to decide whether to return it or just install everything now and hope that it works well-enough. Thanks for your help!

Traditionally it's good practice to stay back and let others deal with bugs and stay with what works and stable. I say partition the drive and have two MacOS versions, Ventura & Sonoma to try out.


Heck I would to have a Mac Studio. soon , very soon.

[Markrosoft]

Ah, I called Apple Support and they said I couldn't downgrade from Sonoma -> Ventura. I didn't realize a partitioned drive would be able to run Ventura. I'll have to give that a whirl!

[basslik]

Originally Posted by Markrosoft

Ah, I called Apple Support and they said I couldn't downgrade from Sonoma -> Ventura. I didn't realize a partitioned drive would be able to run Ventura. I'll have to give that a whirl!

I thought the sales rep. said it shipped Ventura ?


If Sonoma is installed, then you might not be able to go backwards.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by Markrosoft

Hey All --

I just bought a Mac Studio and the sales rep I spoke to said it would ship with Ventura. It didn't... it came with Sonoma. I've read the threads on running the latest version on Sonoma and it seems like it works for some people and doesn't for others. I guess I have two specific questions though:

1. Do you think the next version of pro tools will have support for Sonoma?
2. Do you expect that before the end of 2023?

I know no one knows for sure and these are just guesses but I'm trying to decide whether to return it or just install everything now and hope that it works well-enough. Thanks for your help!

It depends on the exact SKU of your new Mac Studio. If that model originally shipped with Ventura, you will be able to downgrade to Ventura. If that particular hardware model shipped originally with Sonoma, you likely will not be able to downgrade. That is the way Apple computers have always been. Partitioning the HD will have no effect on this reality.

That said, I'd just leave it at Sonoma. PT is running fine on Sonoma on several installations here.

[JFreak]

If the computer model has ever shipped with Ventura then yes, you can downgrade it.

PT is not likely to support Ventura on the expected 2023.12 release, because macOS beta users just got second release candidate of 14.2 and the release version is not out yet. It is my best guess that Avid begins working on compatibility once 14.2 is out.

So perhaps earliest we can expect is Sonoma support in PT 2024.03

[its2loud]

What’s your return window? 15?30 days?

Install the software and see what happens. If it doesn’t work out you know what to do.

[basslik]

Originally Posted by its2loud

What’s your return window? 15?30 days?

Install the software and see what happens. If it doesn’t work out you know what to do.

Especially if he told you shipped with Ventura.

[Markrosoft]

Originally Posted by off the wall

It depends on the exact SKU of your new Mac Studio. If that model originally shipped with Ventura, you will be able to downgrade to Ventura. If that particular hardware model shipped originally with Sonoma, you likely will not be able to downgrade. That is the way Apple computers have always been. Partitioning the HD will have no effect on this reality.

That said, I'd just leave it at Sonoma. PT is running fine on Sonoma on several installations here.

The tricky part is that it's a Mac Certified Refurbished one. So I don't know if the OS it "original shipped with" is the one when it original shipped with (definitely Ventura) or what they put on there when they did their refurbishing magic (definitely Sonoma). The Apple Support guy I talked to (who didn't seem like the most knowledgable one ever) said that you simply can't downgrade MacOS if you're on Apple Silicon. So I don't know.

Tempted to just run with it but
1.) I want to do a clean install which will take a long time to set up. And it would suck to spend a week getting everything all installed (tons of VIs, etc..) just to find out, nope, best to wait for PT 2024.3 (or whatever)
2.) I might have to update some firmware to get everything running on the new Mac Studio -- especially on my Eucon stuff -- and that miiight mess up my current system. So if it's not running smooth, I might not be able to just revert to my current system.
3.) If it takes so long for me to switch to the Mac Studio as my real system, the M3 might already be out or at least on the horizon! It seems dumb to have the M2 but not be able to use it until the M3 is out.

I have until Jan 6 to return because of the holiday return window. So I definitely can. Just not sure what to do. I know it's no one's fault but man this is annoying and the precise reason I'm using a 10 year old computer running Catalina and PT 2022.4.

Makes me feel like a luddite but I'm just too busy with work for things not to work!

[JFreak]

Go to everymac.com and check by your model identifier. If it says shipped with Ventura, then you can downgrade. No guesswork here.