I’ve got an iMac which I do most of my work on because I prefer a desktop. It’s getting quite old (it’s a late 2013 27") but I upgraded the hard drive to an SSD which seemed to give it new life and it serves my needs perfectly as is. However, it’s maxed out at Catalina.
A couple of years ago, I got a macbook air and I’ve stayed at Catalina with it just out of precaution because I share files between the two.
Am I asking for trouble if I upgrade the OS for one and not the other (with RW specifically)?
RW 8 will run on macOS versions all the way up to Monterey. So you can safely buy a new Mac that runs Monterey and use RW8 on it.
Sharing files between the new machine and your MB Air wouldn’t be a problem either, as long as both are running the same version of RapidWeaver. You could use iCloud (or any other cloud storage provider) or a networked drive that both machines can access.
We haven’t heard the requirements for RW9 yet, but with RW8 you’re safe.
Tip: should you upgrade, I’d advise you to get a new M1 Macbook Air and use it in clam shell mode if you work at your desk. It blows all your current machines out of the water performance wise and does so at a really competitive price point. I’s so powerful that you’d really no longer need a seperate desktop and portable. And no more worries that files of software versions are out of sync either.
If you’re fast, there’s probably a good CyberMonday deal to be had.
Right now, the three Macs i work on are all on the same OS, but this is a rarity, normally it’s all different, and never had an issue sharing projects between them, even going right back to High Sierra.