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Kevsurf

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 26, 2014
56
32
I have a 2016 MBP 13 with 16gb of ram. Is Catalina a stable now to upgrade?
I am concerned that it slows down my Mac.
 

Shadow Demon

macrumors member
Oct 24, 2018
92
236
Since you have waited this long, what not wait until 10.15.6 is released? Even so, don‘t directly upgrade Mojave. Instead create APFS container to install Catalina and keep Mojave resulting in a dual-boot system. Use Migration Assistant to move all over from Mojave to Catalina.
 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
Other than the auto dark mode bug, it has never had any real issues for me. Also important though, do you still have 32-bit apps you can't live without? For some reason, unlike Windows 10, they took out 32-bit support for some reason. Windows 10 64-bit still works fine with 32-bit apps so there is no reason Apple couldn't have left that in, especially for us gamers who still adore Portal or Half-Life.
 

Starfia

macrumors 65816
Apr 11, 2011
1,010
840
I haven't noticed much of an overall change in performance. I was frustrated with certain stability issues in the first two dot versions from the fall, but the ones bothering me seem to have disappeared by early 2020.
 
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Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
I have a 2016 MBP 13 with 16gb of ram. Is Catalina a stable now to upgrade?
I am concerned that it slows down my Mac.

I am running macOS Catalina 10.15.5 on a 2015 13" MacBook Pro with 8GB RAM and it runs very well. Nothing sluggish so far. I have been running Catalina since 10.15.4. If you are unsure take @Shadow Demon advice and create a new APFS partition and install Catalina to the new partition and take it for a test drive. Don't like it, boot back to Mojave and delete the Catalina partition.
 
Last edited:

creativesmith

macrumors member
Sep 28, 2011
64
49
Ever since the 10.15.4 update, our MBP has been crashing upon awakening from sleep/hibernation. Apple Support says they are aware of the issue, are working on it, but have yet to release a remedy. Ugh.
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Sep 15, 2015
2,895
2,389
Portland, Ore.
It seems to depend on the Mac. Some don't have any issues. Others have issues like the watchdog timeout panic. You'll just have to try it out and see. Make a separate volume to install it on so you're not committed in case it doesn't work out.
 
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Kevsurf

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 26, 2014
56
32
Thank you all for your replies!
i don bit rely on 32-not apps. So that’s not an issue for me. I hesitated to upgrade since I’ve read so many bad things about Catalina on this board. I will give it a try and create a container like shadow deamon suggested. However, my keyboard broke again yesterday. After the repair is finished I’ll give it a go 🙏🏻
 

MacRS4

macrumors 6502
Aug 18, 2010
333
473
London, UK
I've now downgraded both my main machines (an iMac Pro & a Mac Mini 2018) to Mojave. The errors and crashes copying large files (100GB+ VM Images) over 10GBe and TB3 were massively annoying. Now both machines back on Mojave no more issues.

Infuriating the amount of time I spent trying to resolve that.

I wouldn't go near Catalina at all. Completely regret it all round.
 

TiggrToo

macrumors 601
Aug 24, 2017
4,205
8,838
I have a 2016 MBP 13 with 16gb of ram. Is Catalina a stable now to upgrade?
I am concerned that it slows down my Mac.

It was unstable?

Been on Catalina on my work MBP since a few days after release. Zero issues thus far.

Still on Mojave at home simply because I'm still playing the only 32 bit steam game I've got.
 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
Why does everyone complain about the iTunes Music app? It actually looks closer to the iTunes app on my PowerBook running OS X 10.2 Jaguar. You'd think that would be a welcome bit of nostalgia from the Aqua era. But no. Complain about nothing more than a name change. It's the same app people, works the same way!

I do remember reading a ton of hate about iTunes. People wishing it'd burn and never see the light of day ever again. My, the times, they indeed, are a'changin'.

I'm glad you can actually downgrade a Mac myself. I remember what a nasty pastel mess Yosemite was at the time and was happy to know I could get
OS X Mountain Lion back. I believe one can still downgrade even today, using the internet recovery. I do wish that same option were available back when iOS 7 took over my iPhone 4 and iPad 3.
 

Jack Neill

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2015
2,272
2,308
San Antonio Texas
Why does everyone complain about the iTunes Music app? It actually looks closer to the iTunes app on my PowerBook running OS X 10.2 Jaguar. You'd think that would be a welcome bit of nostalgia from the Aqua era. But no. Complain about nothing more than a name change. It's the same app people, works the same way!

I do remember reading a ton of hate about iTunes. People wishing it'd burn and never see the light of day ever again. My, the times, they indeed, are a'changin'.

I'm glad you can actually downgrade a Mac myself. I remember what a nasty pastel mess Yosemite was at the time and was happy to know I could get
OS X Mountain Lion back. I believe one can still downgrade even today, using the internet recovery. I do wish that same option were available back when iOS 7 took over my iPhone 4 and iPad 3.
You can downgrade to Mojave if your machine came with it or earlier. I don’t want to. I want the App to work. It’s not the same as iTunes. Here’s some light reading for you.

 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
I admit I never liked having to use iTunes in the past to transfer music to an iPhone/iPod (back when you couldn't download music via the phone/pod itself) as it felt more like a throwback to 1998 when the Palm Pilot was all the rage. Here we were in 2007 using docks and cables to transfer data to a futuristic smartphone as if it were the year 1998.

So admittedly, I hated that part. I wanted a solution where I could just use wifi on my iPhone and download my entire library without needing a computer at all tethered to it. Eventually that came true and iCloud has been doing the syncing with any new Apple product wirelessly since. So I do know they removed that part of the app. But The UI has become more reminiscent of the old 10.2 app and I can still buy music through it so that myth is gone as well. I really only use it to play music or add music to my library and thank god the cable is finally gone!!!

So I have only noticed the name change. Even the icon still looks like iTunes' icon. The UI is a flatter version of my G4's UI. Missing brushed aluminum, sure, but that's merely aesthetics.

OS X 10.2 app:

iu.jpeg




New Music app:

Screen Shot 2020-06-13 at 9.16.26 PM.png


Your article also claims radio was removed--I've read others claiming the same. But check my screenshot out--there's radio tab right on the left. So it was never removed at all!
 
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Jack Neill

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2015
2,272
2,308
San Antonio Texas
I admit I never liked having to use iTunes in the past to transfer music to an iPhone/iPod (back when you couldn't download music via the phone/pod itself) as it felt more like a throwback to 1998 when the Palm Pilot was all the rage. Here we were in 2007 using docks and cables to transfer data to a futuristic smartphone as if it were the year 1998.

So admittedly, I hated that part. I wanted a solution where I could just use wifi on my iPhone and download my entire library without needing a computer at all tethered to it. Eventually that came true and iCloud has been doing the syncing with any new Apple product wirelessly since. So I do know they removed that part of the app. But The UI has become more reminiscent of the old 10.2 app and I can still buy music through it so that myth is gone as well. I really only use it to play music or add music to my library and thank god the cable is finally gone!!!

So I have only noticed the name change. Even the icon still looks like iTunes' icon. The UI is a flatter version of my G4's UI. Missing brushed aluminum, sure, but that's merely aesthetics.

OS X 10.2 app:

View attachment 923956



New Music app:

View attachment 923957

Your article also claims radio was removed--I've read others claiming the same. But check my screenshot out--there's radio tab right on the left. So it was never removed at all!

I want to get my PB out and install Jaguar now..
 

nickdalzell1

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2019
2,787
1,670
I want to get my PB out and install Jaguar now..

I was given my PB (G4 Titanium complete with two batteries and the iconic 'chipped' hinges) back in 2014, but it had permissions issues, (was running 10.3 during that time) and the hard drive often sounded like it were dying and the system would freeze. I got a disc image from Archive.org of 10.2 Jaguar and wiped and reinstalled it. No more hard drive clicking issue, no permissions issue and it appears to work. Downloaded Netscape 9 (the last version released) and it can still pull up a limited number of SSL secured sites. Still a quite usable machine. I download podcasts to it and use itunes to play them, but could do the same on my current MBP.

If you play with Jaguar again, I highly recommend setting the built-in Internet Explorer browser's home page to http://theoldnet.com for a nostalgia trip!
 
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Jack Neill

macrumors 68020
Sep 13, 2015
2,272
2,308
San Antonio Texas
I was given my PB (G4 Titanium complete with two batteries and the iconic 'chipped' hinges) back in 2014, but it had permissions issues, (was running 10.3 during that time) and the hard drive often sounded like it were dying and the system would freeze. I got a disc image from Archive.org of 10.2 Jaguar and wiped and reinstalled it. No more hard drive clicking issue, no permissions issue and it appears to work. Downloaded Netscape 9 (the last version released) and it can still pull up a limited number of SSL secured sites. Still a quite usable machine. I download podcasts to it and use itunes to play them, but could do the same on my current MBP.

If you play with Jaguar again, I highly recommend setting the built-in Internet Explorer browser's home page to http://theoldnet.com for a nostalgia trip!

I have a few PB G4's around, I always liked the dock clock in Jaguar.
 

Kevsurf

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 26, 2014
56
32
It was unstable?

Been on Catalina on my work MBP since a few days after release. Zero issues thus far.

Still on Mojave at home simply because I'm still playing the only 32 bit steam game I've got.
When I did an initial upgrade, I felt that my mac slowed down a bit; as a result, I used time machine to get back to Mojave...I don’t have any 32bit apps. My biggest fear is that my ma is getting slower with each MacOS iteration...
Im a Mac user for 13 years now and since Lion, I think that Apple is in an update rush and the OS‘s get worse...
[automerge]1592330681[/automerge]
I don't wish to sound a grump or anything, but ain't it disappointing we have to question wether Catalina is any good, after all this time?
What do you mean?
 
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harriska2

macrumors 68000
Mar 16, 2011
1,945
1,073
Oregon
When I did an initial upgrade, I felt that my mac slowed down a bit; as a result, I used time machine to get back to Mojave...I don’t have any 32bit apps. My biggest fear is that my ma is getting slower with each MacOS iteration...
Im a Mac user for 13 years now and since Lion, I think that Apple is in an update rush and the OS‘s get worse...
[automerge]1592330681[/automerge]

What do you mean?
That it isn’t stable for some people after being released months ago. I won’t go near it with my 2018 MacMini using hdmi. Mojave works and I’m keeping it that way.
 

mj_

macrumors 68000
May 18, 2017
1,618
1,281
Austin, TX
Might as well wait for 10.16. Although then you don't want to install 10.16.0 but wait for 10.16.4 or even .5 instead. Which means you might just as well wait for 10.17. But then you don't want to install 10.17.0.... see where this is going?

The issues with Catalina are blown way out of proportion on the internet. Yes, there were/are a few bugs, some of which Apple still hasn't addressed and fixed. But almost none of them are critical, and almost all of them can be filed under (minor) annoyance. Yes, 32-bit support has been dropped, which can be a major issue for some users but is a no-brainer for most. Keep in mind that there are millions of Macs out there that run Catalina just fine without any issues at all. The internet, whether its Facebook, Reddit, or forums like these, is filled with a large group of incredibly vocal complainypants that will get upset no matter what ("mimimimimi they changed the button me want old button mimimimimi", or "mimimimi i want to continue using this software like i did for the last 20 years mimimimimi"... you get the picture).

I dare say that most users did not have any issues with Catalina at all, 32-bit incompatibilities aside. Case in point: I avoided Mojave because it was a major disaster on my iMac, but have been running Catalina since the early days of 10.15.0 without any issues at all on both my iMac and my MacBook. So yes, it is definitely stable and usable, and has been for a very long time. However, as always, YMMV.
 
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