Is Catalina as bad as it looks on this board?

[honestone33]

This is my experience too. I installed Catalina on a Late 2013 iMac and it’s working so well.

Same with me. Have installed on both of my Macs, and it works real well.

I did a clean, fresh installation of OS 10.15.2 AFTER all my third party apps were compatible with Catalina. I also keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean", with the help of the excellent programs Onyx and Tech Tool Pro.

 

[lambertjohn]

I have Catalina running on my 2018 Air. Zero issues. Can't understand what the big deal is with everyone having problems. I'm having none.

 

[panzer06]

From a person who has used Macs since 2014, I would say the current version of Catalina is enjoyable. You have to remember that the complaints come from people with issues.. so there are likely several happy users for every frustrated user - I can't possibly be the only person with zero complaints about Catalina. Completely bug-free software doesn't seem to be possible so it shouldn't be expected.

The whole removal of 32 bit support made it impossible for me to use it on my primary system. I have it on a 2013 MBP 13 and it seems to work ok, however, my staff using a 2010 white MB with High Sierra says the MB seems faster.

 

[revmacian]

The whole removal of 32 bit support made it impossible for me to use it on my primary system. I have it on a 2013 MBP 13 and it seems to work ok, however, my staff using a 2010 white MB with High Sierra says the MB seems faster.

A 2010 white MB with High Sierra still running strong. Gotta love Apple products.

 

[MacGizmo]

I have Catalina running on my 2018 Air. Zero issues. Can't understand what the big deal is with everyone having problems. I'm having none.

I said it in another thread here somewhere... There are a whole lotta people out there that think they're a lot smarter than they are. And they're stubborn as heck. Most of those people are in these forums.

There are certainly specific issues with any OS upgrade - but 99.999% of the ones found in these forums are self-inflicted.

 

[oldmacs]

Catalina even after a clean install is still hopeless for me.

 

[johannnn]

- No issues whatsoever.

- I’m happy they go all in with 64 bit. This is a great move to keep developers write code instead of being lazy. I also assume it’s gonna make the ARM transition a lot easier.

- I don’t mind the security popups. It’s one time per app. No big deal. This is nothing like Vista that kept showing popups forever.

 

[Bazza1]

Clearly inconsistency with people's experiences with installing and using Catalina. Some having issues, some dissatisfied with some of the 'improvements' or Apple failing to fix known issues, and some asking 'What are you talking about? It's fine here'.

Looks like 'You're holding it wrong' - Apple should be worried about the inconsistencies (given the OS is built to specs on the limited variety of computers they have built), but they're not. A least, not until the noise hits the public Media.

For my part, I've not had any issues with Catalina (2017 MBA, 8 / 256) - though there are built-in apps that are disappointing and ignored by Apple (Mail), or that I simply don't use. So I don't know how they are. And downloading and installing the updated OS was painfully slow.

So that shouldn't be read as the unqualified success of the OS here. Inconsistency, as I said.

Pity.

 

[Ruggy]

5 macs here running Catalina and so far, zero problems that I can report.

 

[sugargliderdude]

i'm waiting until 10.15.3 is released.

 

[Glenny2lappies]

I said it in another thread here somewhere... There are a whole lotta people out there that think they're a lot smarter than they are. And they're stubborn as heck. Most of those people are in these forums.

There are certainly specific issues with any OS upgrade - but 99.999% of the ones found in these forums are self-inflicted.

Yeah, I bought a 16" for $5000 and it doesn't work reliably. My old machine it replaced wasn't running Catalina and didn't suffer from those problems.

Such as...
* flickering displays as the 'hue' changes. Not all the time but irritating
* music requires endless effort to get it to work correctly
* lost all my old 32 bit applications, so a one-way ticket
* intermittent problems waking external monitors (Apple Cinema Display with Apple USB-C to T-bolt adapter) -- this really gets my goat
* It's crashed three or four times - the latest was today when I came back to discover it off after I'd left it for an hour. Sure, this isn't as regular as Windos but still not something I expect
* It's quirky when connecting external monitors or TVs
* It won't see older macs for Airdrop

I would happily backgrade to Mojave but it won't support the 16".


I expect better than this from Apple.

 

[fisherking]

Yeah, I bought a 16" for $5000 and it doesn't work reliably. My old machine it replaced wasn't running Catalina and didn't suffer from those problems.

Such as...
* flickering displays as the 'hue' changes. Not all the time but irritating
* music requires endless effort to get it to work correctly
* lost all my old 32 bit applications, so a one-way ticket
* intermittent problems waking external monitors (Apple Cinema Display with Apple USB-C to T-bolt adapter) -- this really gets my goat
* It's crashed three or four times - the latest was today when I came back to discover it off after I'd left it for an hour. Sure, this isn't as regular as Windos but still not something I expect
* It's quirky when connecting external monitors or TVs
* It won't see older macs for Airdrop

I would happily backgrade to Mojave but it won't support the 16".


I expect better than this from Apple.

instead of ranting on an internet forum... call apple. (also, the 32bit thing is irrelevant, as that's something that's changed in the OS, and thus works as it should).

 

[wlisik]

Been using Catalina since very first beta and - till today - no problems with it.

 

[honestone33]

Clearly inconsistency with people's experiences with installing and using Catalina. Some having issues, some dissatisfied with some of the 'improvements' or Apple failing to fix known issues, and some asking 'What are you talking about? It's fine here'.

There are some (?many?) folks who expect to be able to just "press a button/keystroke" and have the OS installed without subsequent issues. Without proper preparation, that is a potential disaster for issues.

For my part, I've not had any issues with Catalina (2017 MBA, 8 / 256) - though there are built-in apps that are disappointing and ignored by Apple (Mail), or that I simply don't use. So I don't know how they are. And downloading and installing the updated OS was painfully slow.

I have never relied on doing the updating/installation of the Mac OS via the internet. I always have downloaded the appropriate full installer/updater file, and run it myself (of course I already have a SuperDuper! backup available). Definitely much less time consuming, and smoother.
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instead of ranting on an internet forum... call apple. (also, the 32bit thing is irrelevant, as that's something that's changed in the OS, and thus works as it should).

Yes, and Apple did provide PLENTY of advanced warning about support for 32 bit applications going away with Catalina. Can't help it if folks did not prepare properly for that.

 

[Glenny2lappies]

instead of ranting on an internet forum... call apple.

Shirley you're joking?

Like apple give a toss nor can/will do anything about it other than maybe in a later release. What could I do: move back to my previous machine which is grossly underpowered (I actually need the RAM and disc space)

I've never had these problems with Apple kit before -- and I've been using it since PowerPC days. Catalina's the runt of the litter.

 

[revmacian]

instead of ranting on an internet forum... call apple. (also, the 32bit thing is irrelevant, as that's something that's changed in the OS, and thus works as it should).

Agreed, the loss of 32-bit applications is no fault of Apple since they provided lots of warning. Perhaps it is best to speak to the third-party developers about moving their apps to 64-bit.
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Shirley you're joking?

Like apple give a toss nor can/will do anything about it other than maybe in a later release.

I feel that is a lazy excuse - you'd rather complain than do something that has a chance of solving a problem. I happen to know people who have called Apple about a problem and were provided help during the call.

 

[JBaby]

Yes, and Apple did provide PLENTY of advanced warning about support for 32 bit applications going away with Catalina. Can't help it if folks did not prepare properly for that.

It’s not like we haven’t known of this change for more than a year. I always got a pop up saying that I needed to update the 32 bit app I was launching because soon it would no longer work.

 

[fuchsdh]

Same with me. Have installed on both of my Macs, and it works real well.

I did a clean, fresh installation of OS 10.15.2 AFTER all my third party apps were compatible with Catalina. I also keep my Macs "lean, mean, and clean", with the help of the excellent programs Onyx and Tech Tool Pro.

I feel like clean installs are the best way to keep your sanity with software.

I do a clean install every few versions of MacOS and it forces me to actually go through my files and apps as a nice side benefit. It probably also helps with having fewer weird edge case technical issues.

 

[fisherking]

Shirley you're joking?

Like apple give a toss nor can/will do anything about it other than maybe in a later release. What could I do: move back to my previous machine which is grossly underpowered (I actually need the RAM and disc space)

I've never had these problems with Apple kit before -- and I've been using it since PowerPC days. Catalina's the runt of the litter.

works for many. it's like every apple OS before it; some people do well, some have issues. whining instead of getting help accomplishes nothing, but if that's what you need to do... this forum seems to be the place for it ?

 

[revmacian]

I feel like clean installs are the best way to keep your sanity with software.

I do a clean install every few versions of MacOS and it forces me to actually go through my files and apps as a nice side benefit. It probably also helps with having fewer weird edge case technical issues.

I do clean installs as well. People tell me I'm wasting my time, but I don't seem to have many issues with Apple products.

 

[JBaby]

I do clean installs as well. People tell me I'm wasting my time, but I don't seem to have many issues with Apple products.

I’ve never done a clean install but I keep my machine in good condition. I’m always running maintenance on it. But I also keep super clean back ups so if I need to do a clean install it wouldn’t be a big deal. I only had one upgrade go bad, but I took it to the Store and turned out to be a hardware issue.

 

[subjonas]

works for many. it's like every apple OS before it; some people do well, some have issues. whining instead of getting help accomplishes nothing, but if that's what you need to do... this forum seems to be the place for it ?

Well I know I look for these kinds of threads before updating my software, to get a general sense of issues as well as specific issues that may be important to me. There were a lot of complaints about Catalina, so I waited until they decreased and until a specific issue was resolved before updating to Catalina. So these complaint threads do serve a purpose for me.

 

[fisherking]

Well I know I look for these kinds of threads before updating my software, to get a general sense of issues as well as specific issues that may be important to me. There were a lot of complaints about Catalina, so I waited until they decreased and until a specific issue was resolved before updating to Catalina. So these complaint threads do serve a purpose for me.

the macrumors forums are a history of this; we go thru the same thing every year. every new mac os, people whine & moan on the forums; the 'current' os is apple's worst, it's awful, etc etc. meanwhile, most macusers (who live in the real world, and not on this forum) just upgrade, sort things out (ie updating their apps), and get on with life.

to me, the value of these forums is to get help, discuss issues, bugs, etc. and, in between the whining, that does, at least, happen.

 

[subjonas]

the macrumors forums are a history of this; we go thru the same thing every year. every new mac os, people whine & moan on the forums; the 'current' os is apple's worst, it's awful, etc etc. meanwhile, most macusers (who live in the real world, and not on this forum) just upgrade, sort things out (ie updating their apps), and get on with life.

to me, the value of these forums is to get help, discuss issues, bugs, etc. and, in between the whining, that does, at least, happen.

“Just upgrade, sort things out” is reckless advice in my opinion.

Yes, it’s more helpful when people talk about specific issues rather than blanket statements. Nobody likes to listen to the hyperbole, but again it all still serves a purpose for me to hear the general impression because I can compare to other years. There were way more complaints about issues with Catalina than Mojave, for instance.

 

[fisherking]

“Just upgrade, sort things out” is reckless advice in my opinion.

Yes, it’s more helpful when people talk about specific issues rather than blanket statements. Nobody likes to listen to the hyperbole, but again it all still serves a purpose for me to hear the general impression because I can compare to other years. There were way more complaints about issues with Catalina than Mojave, for instance.

can you be more specific? how many people is 'way more'? also, are there more people in general on this forum then last year? (or previous years)? that would matter, if.

always love this sort-of thing: "my friends say that", "lots of people think that", "most mac users don't like", etc... absolute statements without actual facts to back them up.

people tend to post complaints and issues (often with good reason), but rarely post 'hey, i have no problems'. something to consider.

anyway, we'll be doing the same thing next year. "10.16 is apple's worst OS yet", etc. etc. etc......