Unable to download LrC v15.0 - what to do now without buying a new iMac?

[jonathanp41403920]

I'm a photography enthusiast rather than a professional and have been using/learning Lightroom Classic (LrC) for several years as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) subscription. Like many others, I don't really like the subscription model but have got used to LrC and quite like it for my purposes. I mainly use the cropping, tonal adjustments, masking, keywording, noise reduction, transform, removal/cloning, exporting and photo organising features within LrC. I hardly use any of the other CC subscription software apart from minor use of Photoshop. I store my photos on an external drive rather than the cloud (& back them up on 2 other hard drives). I do use Collections & the Adobe "cloud" to share some photos from LrC on my other devices, and also created a small website using the LrC functionality.
I have about 40k photos in my LrC catalogue which are a mix of RAW files from my Olympus OM1.1 and my old Sony A77, plus a bunch of jpegs.
However.......yesterday I tried to run the update to the new LrC version 15 but it failed because my iMac can't run MacOs Sonoma (which LrC version 15 needs). I've never had an update issue before. I don't want to pay Apple a load more money for a new iMac yet, when in all other respects my one does what I need. So I'm left with a choice - either carry on with the last version of LrC until I can afford a new iMac (or it breaks), or ditch Adobe and go with another photo editor with as much of the LrC functionality that I use today, as possible. I don't mind paying an upfront cost if necessary. I don’t want to lose the edits I’ve done though. I understand there are many photo editor options e.g. On1, Apple Photometer etc.. Also Affinity is now free as part of Affinity Studio.
I’d value your helpful thoughts/experience please. Also, if I just stop my Adobe CC subscription what (apart from LrC updates that I can’t install, or other app updates I don’t need) would I lose? (I suspect at least sharing via the cloud, and the website). Will my existing LrC still work?
TIA

[kglad]

just keep using the version that works.  if a feature is added to an upcoming lrc update that you can't live without, then consider updating your computer.

[ExUSA]

Apple only supports the most recent three system versions, so Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe are now supported with feature and security updates. If a security problem turns up, older OS versions will NOT be patched.

You can simply continue to use Ventura as you have been, but you'll gradually find more and more software that can't be updated. And Apple cuts off hardware repairs on older computers as well.

[jonathanp41403920]

Thanks - I'm not in a major rush so am going to take my time to assess and trial my best options. I can keep going for now on Ventura and LrC v14. but it means having to pay Adobe the monthly photography plan subscription without getting any LrC updates. Interestingly, Photoshop and Bridge did both update to their latest versions whereas LrC wouldn't; Camera RAW is on the latest version. Strange that some Adobe apps work on Ventura and some won't.

Any thoughts on using Opencore legacy patcher to get the latest MacOs on my 2017 iMac? Others have suggested it and the hardware is suitable according to the specs.

[kglad]

you can expect increased crashes with opencore and adobe apps.  and there's nothing unusual about different apps having different specs.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html

[ExUSA]

If you have to ask about Opencore, its probably a bad idea. I've used patchers before on older Macs and it works but it can be tricky. I'm a former Apple employee and a developer/tech guy so I was able to navigate it but honestly i don't recommend it. Get an M4 Mac mini, even a base model runs circles around older Intel Macs.

[ProDesignTools]

Or consider possibly switching to Windows. No planned obsolescence, like on Macs. It's such a common thing.

[ExUSA]

is this the same Windows that is no longer supported on hundreds of millions of computers because of the forced move to Windows 11? I have a couple of perfectly good PCs that run Windows 10 fine but can't use Windows 11, and at work they are junking a bunch of usable PCs for this reason.

[ProDesignTools]

Talking about Windows' support for third-party applications... Windows compatibility with application software (either current or legacy) is far better than Mac. That's true for both Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Whether a system should upgrade to Windows 11 is a different question. Official support for Windows 10 can be extended as far as 2028 via Microsoft's ESU program, so it's surprising that your good PCs are being junked.

But the point is that whatever Windows system you have, it is more likely to be able to successfully install and run a given third-party app than a Mac will.

"The Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 runs for a maximum of three years. For consumers, the first year of ESU is free and ends on October 13, 2026. For businesses and education, ESU is available for up to three years, with the option to purchase each year, with coverage extending to October 10, 2028. "

[jonathanp41403920 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the input. However, I didn't intend for this thread to start a MacOs vs Windows skirmish. 

I'm going to take my time, check out/trial my photo editing options, keep my photography plan subscription for now (even though I won't get any LrC updates) but I won't use Opencore Legacy patcher to get the latest MacOs on my 2017 iMac.

I might even start using film and set up a darkroom 🙂 !!

[kglad]

thanks for the update.