Is El Capitan still reliable in 2017?

[robert1998]

Hello, guys! I’m rocking a Macbook Pro 13 inch Early 2015 and I’m curious if it will be great to downgrade from Sierra to El Capitan? Will it be compatible with most of the apps ?
I don t really need Siri on my mac though...

 

[redheeler]

Unless you have a specific reason to downgrade, I don't see why you should. You won't see a huge boost in performance. Simply disable Siri in Preferences if you haven't already.

 

[chrfr]

Hello, guys! I’m rocking a Macbook Pro 13 inch Early 2015 and I’m curious if it will be great to downgrade from Sierra to El Capitan? Will it be compatible with most of the apps ?
I don t really need Siri on my mac though...

What is it you expect to gain by backdating? You give up a lot of security fixes by going backwards and as posted above, just turn off Siri if you don't want it.

 

[Ebenezum]

OP: Impossible to say if your software is compatible without knowing what software you use.

Speed is probably about the same on a reasonable current Mac. If you had old Mac that barely met the requirements situation would be different.

Unfortunately Apple hasn't provided a easy way to completely disable Siri or other features user doesn't need. Disabling Siri in System Preferences will still keep the processes running so its probably not going to make much difference.

Security is hard to say since Apple isn't providing information if the fixed vulnerabilities exist in previous OS versions.

 

[Fishrrman]

I, too, have a 2015 Macbook Pro.
I intend to boot and run it from El Capitan until it dies.

I've seen little in either [low] Sierra or High Sierra that would prompt me to "upgrade" to either of them, yet.

I'm particularly wary of APFS.
My intent right now is to NEVER use it on ANY drive that I have, until or unless Apple makes that impossible to do. And even then I'll find a "workaround"...

 

[dogslobber]

You can install High Sierra to HFS+. In fact, if you CCC a High Sierra APFS install then it converts it to High Sierra running on HFS+.

 

[Isamilis]

I used El Capitan in MBP Retina 2014. I am very doubt that I can get the same speed and battery life if I upgrade to High Sierra, especially I dont need new features in High Sierra.

 

[chrfr]

I used El Capitan in MBP Retina 2014. I am very doubt that I can get the same speed and battery life if I upgrade to High Sierra, especially I dont need new features in High Sierra.

You do give up a lot of security fixes that have been added to Sierra and probably High Sierra as well. I've not noticed any difference in performance over the years on a 2013 MBP retina with Sierra or High Sierra.

 

[Isamilis]

You do give up a lot of security fixes that have been added to Sierra and probably High Sierra as well. I've not noticed any difference in performance over the years on a 2013 MBP retina with Sierra or High Sierra.

I believe security fix is still released by Apple until today. No worries on security side IMO. Also, if you use the system heavily, then the difference will be noticeable.

 

[chrfr]

I believe security fix is still released by Apple until today. No worries on security side IMO. Also, if you use the system heavily, then the difference will be noticeable.

Apple has not applied all the security updates in Sierra to either El Capitan or Yosemite. They have a tendency to strongly favor the current OS and ignore even the most recent previous version. A key example is the "Broadpwn" vulnerability which Apple only patched in 10.12.6, but not 10.10.5 or 10.11.6, even though those two OSes did receive some security fixes.

 

[NoBoMac]

OP: Impossible to say if your software is compatible without knowing what software you use.

And which version. Eg. current version of program is for Sierra and higher but not El Cap situation.

 

[jbarley]

I've not noticed any difference in performance over the years on a 2013 MBP retina with Sierra or High Sierra.

Just how many years have you been using the 2 Sierra's to arrive at your conclusion?

 

[chrfr]

Just how many years have you been using the 2 Sierra's to arrive at your conclusion?

Hah, yeah that's funny. I didn't mean to make that plural.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I run El Cap at school, as I have a pair of 2008 iMacs that I do most of my classroom work on (lesson planning, grading, etc.) and they both work brilliantly for my needs. I'll probably keep them until El Cap starts having issues with websites that I commonly use.

 

[boppin]

I am still using El Capitan and I am using 32 bit applications who won't run under High Sierra.

I need these apps so I won't upgrade. Everything runs fine.

 

[dogslobber]

I am still using El Capitan and I am using 32 bit applications who won't run under High Sierra.

I need these apps so I won't upgrade. Everything runs fine.

32-bit apps are still support on High Sierra.

 

[boppin]

32-bit apps are still support on High Sierra.

ah okay, but I stay with El Cap, everything runs fine.

 

[dogslobber]

ah okay, but I stay with El Cap, everything runs fine.

Yes, I can appreciate sticking with El Cap as it’s as stable as the mature builds on SL.

 

[darksilentsiren]

im running el capitan on a 2009 17" macbook pro and it runs fine so, i dont get why anyone would want to down grade lol

 

[boppin]

im running el capitan on a 2009 17" macbook pro and it runs fine so, i dont get why anyone would want to down grade lol

Absolutely true.

Even when RAM is "full"

 

[morello]

I am still using El Capitan and I am using 32 bit applications who won't run under High Sierra.

I need these apps so I won't upgrade. Everything runs fine.

the point is, are you on internet nowadays with el capitan?

 

[boppin]

the point is, are you on internet nowadays with el capitan?

yes but why you ask?

 

[morello]

yes but why you ask?

sorry for the delay man. the thing is that, i kinda need to use pro tools 11, my 8gb macboor air probably wont permit me to use pro tools 12 so ill need to go back to el capitan. the thing is that i want a computer im able to do these audio recordings but also use in the daily basis internet life dealing. probably overreacting to the point. el capitan probably still fine on internet as u said. my mac is an i5

 

[imasterus]

el capitan probably still fine on internet as u said. my mac is an i5

Even Mavericks is fine with internet since modern Chrome and Firefox support it. So, no issues with El Capitan.
I haven't noticed any performance issues with Sierra compared to El Capitan. However, El Capitan has one stark advantage over Sierra: black notifications hub