macOS 13 Ventura: 4 features Maddeningly Not Supported By Intel Macs (Latest Updates)

macOS 13 Ventura drops support for a jaw-dropping amount of Intel-powered Mac laptops and desktops. When Apple execs marched on stage at WWDC 2022 to present macOS 13 Ventura, they were eager to demo a number of helpful productivity and continuity changes coming to the Mac later this year.

However, they conveniently elected not to divulge just how many new functions would remain Apple silicon exclusives. Here’s the fine print on the features that will be missing for Intel Macs.

When macOS 13 Ventura releases to the public this fall, a number of Mac users who are still daily-driving Intel-based machines will not be able to update to the next major version. That is because macOS 13 Ventura drops support for iMac desktops released in 2016 and earlier, MacBook Pro notebooks released in 2016 and earlier, MacBook Air laptops released in 2017 and earlier, MacBook portables released in 2016 and earlier, and the 2013 Mac Pro. Users owning an Intel-based Mac mini will only be able to upgrade to macOS 13 if their desktop was released in 2018 or later.

Reference Mode in Sidecar

Mac users who are running macOS Ventura can use their 12.9-inch iPad Pro with an M1 chip as a separate, wireless reference monitor by using the Sidecar feature, which was introduced with macOS Catalina in 2019. The feature, which lets color grading professionals and other media editors who use a Mac take advantage of the latest iPad Pro’s mini-LED display’s color accuracy and contrast ratio, is unfortunately only compatible with Macs that use Apple’s native M2 or M1 family of SoCs.

Live Captions

Live Captions is only available on Macs with Apple silicon and iOS devices, like the iPhone 11 and later. It lets deaf and hard-of-hearing people read what’s being said in social media apps and video-conferencing calls, like FaceTime.

The feature uses the machine-learning cores in the neural engine found in the A12 Bionic chip and later, as well as the M-series chips, to automatically transcribe captions based on what is being said in real-time.

Emoji support for Dictation

Last but not least, macOS Ventura omits support for a new voice dictation mode enabling Apple silicon Mac users with the ability to auto-punctuate text and add emojis while speaking.

Apple has stated that emoji support for the new dictation system will only be available on Macs with M-series processors.