How will updating to a newer version of OSX affect my Mac Mini?

[tokyodan]

My Mac Mini is sluggish as hell and some apps (games) will not start up unless I run them right after a full power off/power on restart. It takes forever to startup, and for all the desktop icons to appear.

It is a Late 2014 2.6GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, Intel Iris 1536 MB. It is running El Capitan 10.11.6.

If I update to a newer version of OSX will my Mac Mini speed up?

I don't want to do a clean install, just an update. My friend updated his iMac and he said the performance got a lot better.

But I know every new version of OSX gets heavier and more bloated with features I neither need nor want. How will updating to a newer version of OSX affect my Mac Mini?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Unless there's something negative happening during your current startups that would somehow be disabled if you update...then no...updating to Sierra or High Sierra will not speed it up.

How long does it actually take for the complete startup? What's in your User startup items? What non-Apple items get loaded onto your menu bar at startup? Does the computer feel slow after startup or is it OK?

If you create a new User Account and startup into that...is it just as slow?

 

[Fishrrman]

Do you have the standard platter-based hard drive inside?
If so, it's NOT really the OS that is "slowing you down".
It's the drive.

Fastest, cheapest, easiest, safest way to make it run A LOT faster:
Buy an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become the boot drive.
The Mini doesn't care from where it boots -- it will run fine.
And MUCH faster.

I'd suggest something like a Samsung t5 or one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00ZTRY5IW?tag=delt-20&th=1

This will breathe new life into the machine and you'll be back here telling us how you never imagined it could run as fast afterwards.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Unless there's something negative happening during your current startups that would somehow be disabled if you update...then no...updating to Sierra or High Sierra will not speed it up...

Upgrading my Mid-2011 Mac Mini (standard original spinner hard drive) from Sierra 10.12.6 to High Sierra 10.13.5 actually did seem to improve the responsiveness and speed of MacOS. Generally I would agree that improving performance is not the usual reason for upgrading an OS. However after past criticisms regarding slowdowns with updates in iOS Apple has supposedly been making small improvements lately in the efficiency and performance with their OS's. I believe this may also be happening to help encourage those who want to upgrade MacOS.

Of course there are no guarantees regarding performance improvements and a full system backup is always recommended before upgrading. I would probably be more concerned with potential APFS performance issues when upgrading to High Sierra if the machine has an aftermarket (non-Apple) SSD installed.

 

[Partron22]

I'm running High Sierra on a Mac quite similar to yours, except boot off a 512 GB ext SSD.
Been on High Sierra for a few months. At 10.13.5 it's reasonably stable, but I cannot for the life of me think of a single thing Apple added beyond Sierra that is of any use to me. Sierra boots a little faster. You will need an ext SSD.
With the imminent introduction of the new Mac Mini, it's just around the corner, High Sierra may be where I get off the yearly treadmill of unstable, unstable...->stable OS.
I think it'd be just as easy to quit after Sierra.