Is Monterey basically a more stable Big Sur?

[Frixos]

Big Sur was a big change in MacOS and has had several issues since launch. I know Apple sometimes has one release full of new features followed by another focused on bug fixing and compatibility (under the hood kind of stuff).

Should we think of Monterey as just that - a release focused on fixing the Big Sur issues, with some new features?

 

[AVonGauss]

Deleted.

 

[theapplehead]

I hope so

 

[mxrider88]

Probably it will be more unstable, seeing the past 10 years trend..

 

[fisherking]

Probably it will be more unstable, seeing the past 10 years trend..

which trend is that? i've been using macs for 20 years, and don't remember any general 'unstable' trend in the past decade.

anyway, no matter what, it's beta 1... and should be approached knowing that.

 

[Takuro]

Imo, having used it, it's definitely not a "fit and finish" type of update. It's more a continuation of Big Sur's changes + IOS 15 features + general enhancements to make the Mac work better in the Apple ecosystem if you own AirPods, AirTrackers, iOS devices, and multiple Macs.

 

[deef]

If you know California geography the answer should be clear…

 

[mikecwest]

which trend is that? i've been using macs for 20 years, and don't remember any general 'unstable' trend in the past decade.

anyway, no matter what, it's beta 1... and should be approached knowing that.

At least they don't try to compare the new betas to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 anymore...That was getting quite old. I have noticed over the last many years, that any true "show stopping" bugs tend to be updated rather quickly...People seem too lose focus on betas, and don't acknowledge that this is the whole point of a beta.

 

[mxrider88]

which trend is that? i've been using macs for 20 years, and don't remember any general 'unstable' trend in the past decade.

anyway, no matter what, it's beta 1... and should be approached knowing that.

Lucky you.. using Mac since 2006.
From Yosemite onwards it’s just a free fall. Bugs over bugs, half baked features, wifi disconnecting randomly, Mojave logged in without even typing a password when prompted, Catalina a disaster, couldn’t sync my iPhone reliably for 6 months through finder, I don’t know what you use the Mac for but it came to be unpleasant to me.
The photo app is a disaster, iCloud not syncing properly, continuity stops working as soon as you log in with a second user account and you must reboot to get it back up and running, sending a voice message with iPhone messages is stopping as soon as che display goes on standby, so you can send a message just as long as your screen standby setting basically.

I don’t know what you use the Mac for but those bugs are just an everyday thing.
Not to talk about HomeKit, I don’t even start with that because I would go on for one hour

 

[mxrider88]

At least they don't try to compare the new betas to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 anymore...That was getting quite old. I have noticed over the last many years, that any true "show stopping" bugs tend to be updated rather quickly...People seem too lose focus on betas, and don't acknowledge that this is the whole point of a beta.

No, I am not talking about betas. I’m talking about stable releases.
I used to run beta software and I logged over 150 bug reports over the years. Half of them are still baked in the systems, 5 6 or 7 years after. So I stopped using betas and reporting bugs.

And yes, snow leopard was the pinnacle or apple software!

 

[mxrider88]

At least they don't try to compare the new betas to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 anymore...That was getting quite old. I have noticed over the last many years, that any true "show stopping" bugs tend to be updated rather quickly...People seem too lose focus on betas, and don't acknowledge that this is the whole point of a beta.

Also, regarding show stopping bugs: Catalina couldn’t sync an iPhone quickly and reliably for 6 months.
That is not quick and that is show stopping for the company that sells you both

 

[Apple_Robert]

Big Sur has been stable for me. I haven't had any problems with it.

In regards to Monterey, I don't have it loaded but, I see it more as an ongoing refinement

 

[cfm56d7b]

I am beginning to consider that skipping Big Sure in favor of Monterey would be prudent.

MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 has been 100% stable on 2020 MacBook Pro 2.3 GHz Intel system.

 

[fisherking]

Lucky you.. using Mac since 2006.
From Yosemite onwards it’s just a free fall. Bugs over bugs, half baked features, wifi disconnecting randomly, Mojave logged in without even typing a password when prompted, Catalina a disaster, couldn’t sync my iPhone reliably for 6 months through finder, I don’t know what you use the Mac for but it came to be unpleasant to me.
The photo app is a disaster, iCloud not syncing properly, continuity stops working as soon as you log in with a second user account and you must reboot to get it back up and running, sending a voice message with iPhone messages is stopping as soon as che display go on standby, so you can send a message just as long as your screen standby setting basically.

I don’t know what you use the Mac for but those bugs are just an everyday thing.
Not to talk about HomeKit, I don’t even start with that because I would go on for one hour

maybe i've just been luckier, but i've had a (mostly) good time. and i've been on the public betas since that program started. so we're talking betas and 'final' releases.

anyway, you do realize that, like myself, your experiences don't speak for everyone?

i did freelance mac OS support in nyc for 15 years; am not a novice (also not claiming to know everything, just mentioning it). i just think it's valuable to know the difference between a personal experience, and the larger experiences of mac users in general.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I am beginning to consider that skipping Big Sure in favor of Monterey would be prudent.

MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 has been 100% stable on 2020 MacBook Pro 2.3 GHz Intel system.

For me, Catalina was a mess and updates really didn't do much to help.

Complaints on the forum about Big Sur have mainly been preferential, barring the topic of bootable clones, as well as the initial release woes.

 

[mxrider88]

maybe i've just been luckier, but i've had a (mostly) good time. and i've been on the public betas since that program started. so we're talking betas and 'final' releases.

anyway, you do realize that, like myself, your experiences don't speak for everyone?

i did freelance mac OS support in nyc for 15 years; am not a novice (also not claiming to know everything, just mentioning it). i just think it's valuable to know the difference between a personal experience, and the larger experiences of mac users in general.

Absolutely, it could matter of luck.. I also don’t assume I know everything, but I started several times with fresh installs and stable releases and still find an overwhelming amount of bugs that make the user experience frustrating.
for years I had the MacBook waking from sleep without internet connection, but connected to the wifi, the solution was turning the wifi off and back on. I went as far as getting a new router and initialising the Mac, without fixing it.
I reported that bug at least 20 times, never heard back from apple, then it finally got fixed on one of the latest Mojave releases I think.

Just to mention one..

A good friend of mine in two and a half years had two corrupted backups and lost all the data for Mac and iPhone (not iCloud backups) and his iTunes library got messed up badly with loss of artwork and music he had organised for 10 years.

I see this as a decline in software quality

 

[fisherking]

Absolutely, it could matter of luck.. I also don’t assume I know everything, but I started several times with fresh installs and stable releases and still find an overwhelming amount of bugs that make the user experience frustrating.
for years I had the MacBook waking from sleep without internet connection, but connected to the wifi, the solution was turning the wifi off and back on. I went as far as getting a new router and initialising the Mac, without fixing it.
I reported that bug at least 20 times, never heard back from apple, then it finally got fixed on one of the latest Mojave releases I think.

Just to mention one..

A good friend of mine in two and a half years had two corrupted backups and lost all the data for Mac and iPhone (not iCloud backups) and his iTunes library got messed up badly with loss of artwork and music he had organised for 10 years.

I see this as a decline in software quality

and not just 2 specific experiences? you're missing the whole point, but so it goes. no one of us can speak for all of us

 

[mxrider88]

and not just 2 specific experiences? you're missing the whole point, but so it goes. no one of us can speak for all of us

Yes maybe, but if I start with a fresh install, I am assuming the bug is in the code, not caused by a corrupt old preference file or so.
so everyone should experience the same issue, when running the same OS on the same machine.
Maybe the truth is that the majority of users are buying MacBook Pro to surf the web and not doing anything else.

But I wouldn’t think I’m a power user just because I expect my $1600 iPhone to sync with my $2000 Mac…

 

[ErikGrim]

Why are you still syncing your iPhones manually with your Mac?

 

[mxrider88]

Why are you still syncing your iPhones manually with your Mac?

Because I want to? Am I forced to use iCloud?
And because there is an option, that didn’t work for 6 months when Catalina launched.

 

[ErikGrim]

I mean sure. You are well within your rights to make life more difficult for yourself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[mxrider88]

I mean sure. You are well within your rights to make life more difficult for yourself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So it’s justified that the sync doesn’t work because there is an option to use iCloud (and pay extra)…. I don’t understand the mentality..

the point is that the OS is a disaster

 

[mrmister]

"I mean sure. You are well within your rights to make life more difficult for yourself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

Attitudes like this encourage Apple to be terrible.

 

[Kung gu]

I see this as a decline in software quality

For me macOS 12 is much better than Big Sur. Battery life for dev beta has been great. There are so many QoL improvements in Monterey that make me better for me.

the point is that the OS is a disaster

For me Catalina was bad, Big Sur was a lot better and Monterey gives me better battery life thanks to Low power mode
on my Mac. So far for me the dev beta is smoother than Big Sur.

Catalina couldn’t sync an iPhone quickly and reliably for 6 months.

I did not have this bug on Catalina. But for those did have it must have been annoying.

 

[fisherking]

Yes maybe, but if I start with a fresh install, I am assuming the bug is in the code, not caused by a corrupt old preference file or so.
so everyone should experience the same issue, when running the same OS on the same machine.
Maybe the truth is that the majority of users are buying MacBook Pro to surf the web and not doing anything else.

But I wouldn’t think I’m a power user just because I expect my $1600 iPhone to sync with my $2000 Mac…

"maybe the truth?" you mean, macbook pro users don't do pro work, coding, film editing, music making, graphics, etc etc? and, if everyone is not in fact experiencing the same issues...maybe it's something specific to your setup? or (gasp) user error?

this whole 'i am experiencing this, so everyone else must be' thing is tiresome. perhaps starting a thread when you encounter an issue, and asking for help from what, at it's core, is a pretty-great forum with some very smart people, would serve you better.