Big Sur, the worse update ever!

[Giuanniello]

Just to share my experience, I usually won't rush and update but so far, always gone smooth and sometimes even felt the machine snappier after an OS upgrade but this time...

MBAir 13" 2015, mere 4GB RAM and i5 CPU, been very smooth till Catalina but after the update it feels like the slowest computer ever, will backup, clean install and stop with Catalina and very probably next computer will be a Mini like PC, Apple is getting worse and worse

 

[Apple_Robert]

You could have had a bad upgrade process happen. Some members here have had that and once a clean install was done, the Mac worked much better. I also think your limited RAM is, or could be an issue.

I would try a clean install of Big Sur and see how it goes afterward. Check memory pressure in Activity Monitor to see if you have any spikes. If it is still running bad with stock apps loaded, look to your lack of RAM as the likely culprit. If the clean install runs well with stock apps, slowly add one third party app at a time every 2 - 3 days and see what happens. That way, if the Mac starts acting up, you can better narrow down the suspect app.

 

[CTHarrryH]

Works great for me

 

[shadyman]

Go back to Catalina. Big Sur is trash for older models!

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

In my experience, the Big Sur update does spend quite a lot of time tidying up afterwards (kernel_task, mds_stores, etc all very busy). After that, I found my install reasonably well behaved and responsive.
But yes, I would recommend a backup, re-format and clean install.
As for Catalina vs Big Sur. Catalina is to Big Sur as Vista was to Windows 7, a trial run. If Catalina runs on your computer, Big Sur is better.

Alternatively, you might want to go back to Mojave, rather than Catalina. It doesn't thrash the drive the way that Catalina and Big Sur do.

 

[profdraper]

In my experience, this depends entirely on the hardware model and age. Even then, this can vary between same models (eg, new lab of 20 iMacs, two of those may have issues with OS updates). Our working rule of thumb has been: for those machines that shipped with Mojave or less, don't go past Mojave as optimum system. For those which shipped with Catalina or later, all good. In my specific case, Big Sur is very much what the 2019 Mac Pro wanted & Catalina was fairly awful with bugs - on this machine.

 

[Crash0veride]

 

[Freeangel1]

I have a 2019 5K 27" i9 3.6GHz 8 core with 72GB of RAM

It feels bloated to me. But I never did a fresh install. Been upgrading since Mojave

book marking things in my browser gives me the spinning beach ball for around 15 seconds each time

So annoying. Catalina ran much better on this Machine. Mojave was the best all around system.

as the size of the upgrades get bigger , my Mac is not so snappy, bloated and slow. Big Sur 12GB plus in size

Catalina 7.7GB
Mojave. 5.7GB BEST OS in my opinion.

Windows 10 Enterprise edition 64 bit. 6GB in size. This is now my favorite OS. Better than Big Sur and apple. snappy and just works in a wide range of applications and hardware. reliable too with the right drivers.

 

[AdamNC]

5 year old low level mac. And almost no ram. Yeah it will work great.

 

[Freeangel1]

almost no ram? um....ok.

 

[Never mind]

almost no ram? um....ok.

4 Gb. Only

 

[Freeangel1]

4 Gb. Only

no way. I don't believe it.

you must only browse the internet with that machine and read email

I do audio editing and some intensive ram and CPU processing

A Chrome book runs on 4GB of RAM

I started with 8GB on my 2019 i9 8 core iMac and it sucked

 

[TechRunner]

I have the same MBA as the OP. I did a clean install of Big Sur, and I find it perfectly serviceable as a secondary machine for general use. Given the slim system resources, I went into the upgrade with expectations of it no longer being able to function as my primary machine, so I've been pleased with what I've gotten from it.

 

[Brian1230]

I have a 2015 11 inch MacBook Air, with the 4gb of ram and the 128ssd, and it runs Big Sur awesome. it is at least 10 times faster than my 2019 dell windows 10 laptop and never crashes. I have to say I am very happy I got this little MacBook Air and so happy I do not have to deal with windows now. Only thing I need the windows laptop for now is to program my ham radios, and had to use it yesterday.... it was actually painful to use it was so much slower and doggy just doing a simple thing as downloading the new code plug for my new radio. Big Sur is wonderful in my opinion, and outside of the size I have the same machine as the op.

 

[colourfastt]

In my experience, the Big Sur update does spend quite a lot of time tidying up afterwards (kernel_task, mds_stores, etc all very busy). After that, I found my install reasonably well behaved and responsive.
But yes, I would recommend a backup, re-format and clean install.
As for Catalina vs Big Sur. Catalina is to Big Sur as Vista was to Windows 7, a trial run. If Catalina runs on your computer, Big Sur is better.

Alternatively, you might want to go back to Mojave, rather than Catalina. It doesn't thrash the drive the way that Catalina and Big Sur do.

I have never quite understood the "hate" for Vista. It was the last version of Windows I used and rather liked it—appearance-wise it was head and shoulders above XP. Of course, the one thing I did, that most who complain about it didn't, is purchase a computer designed to run Vista—I didn't try to run it on hardware designed for WindowsME.

 

[Cayenne1]

Apple does not change (update?) its OS versions to better support older hardware. To the contrary, it focuses on current and planned roadmap hardware.

I doubt if much effort was expended to address glitches found in a 2015 MacBook Air with 4GB of RAM running 11.x (the OPs computer.) That is of course if Apple actually regression tested the OS on that machine.

profDraper's post above is a good example of how to approach updating your OS. Do NOT assume Apple has the best interest in mind for your hardware. It lives and breaths by selling new hardware not OS's, vis-a-vis Microsoft.

I've been on MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and have resisted moving to operating system modifications named after a desert, an island and a coast line in order. (They were into big cats for a while. But how about someplace other than California like Himalaya or Everest? Those are lofty marketing names.)

More to the point, I'm alss running into issues that applications I use now require a newer OS. I plan to try using 10.13 in a Parallels VM in 11.x to keep some OS features Apple abandoned. We'll see.

 

[applCore]

I too am sad and trying to figure out what to do since Apple has been dying over the last several years. It started before Steve died, but they have absolutely lost their way and broken their foundation. The OS for developers, hackers, security analysts, and so on has died a slow and sad death. The kernel (ie CoreOS) changes are unforgivable. So much to hate now that it's hard to find the things to love.

 

[colourfastt]

Go back to Catalina. Big Sur is trash for older models!

Not true. BS runs better on my 2013 MBA than Catalina ever did.

 

[CTHarrryH]

If you went through the forums for older releases you'd find the same comments/threads - always some who think the latest is the worst ever

 

[applCore]

@CTHarrryH your general assertion is pretty comical - glad I have solid reasons that back it up. Been with Apple since OS X beta releases (I guess I should qualify: Rhapsody) so I'm pretty confident in my logic.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

If you went through the forums for older releases you'd find the same comments/threads - always some who think the latest is the worst ever

It goes back further than you may appreciate. There was one Roman commentator (I forget who, I had to translate him at school) who was moaning that the latest generation of young people was the worst ever - rude, no respect for traditions or elders, wore their togas too short, always looking at their clay tablets, etc.

 

[darngooddesign]

It goes back further than you may appreciate. There was one Roman commentator (I forget who, I had to translate him at school) who was moaning that the latest generation of young people was the worst ever - rude, no respect for traditions or elders, wore their togas too short, always looking at their clay tablets, etc.

What have the OS X updates ever done for us.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

What have the OS X updates ever done for us.

True. I don't know why we ever ventured beyond 8-bit CP/M ...

 

[darngooddesign]

True. I don't know why we ever ventured beyond 8-bit CP/M ...

That wasn't my point.