Let’s cut to the chase....how buggy is it?

[ArPe]

After tinkering around with security permissions and reinstalling apps I’m pretty impressed by this first beta. It’s the closest to ‘release quality’ first beta I have ever seen. There are random bugs and apps will need to be updated but I would be surprised if Big Sur needs as many pre-release betas as Mojave or Catalina had.

The most impressive thing is that it seems to be more energy efficient. The notebooks run cooler, fans don’t come on loudly like before, battery lasts longer. Audio output for those with 2018-2020 Macs is greatly improved.

 

[VSMacOne]

It has been pretty smooth sailing here, with the few apps that I use. I have not run into any significant issues, other than some glitches and design inconsistencies. But the overall feel of the OS is pretty great, so far.

 

[chama98]

The only thing I have noticed is handoff not working.

 

[ek9max]

google drive was broken for me. When they fix that I could check it out again.

 

[chama98]

The only thing I have noticed is handoff not working.

Actually its not broken as I thought it was. The Handoff icon is in the 'recent items' part of the dock.

 

[calibru_2good_4u]

macOS Big Sur it’s ok , but it’s glitching a lot , don’t install it as mainly driver!

 

[antisomnic]

macOS Big Sur it’s ok , but it’s glitching a lot , don’t install it as mainly driver!

not a hardcore user but haven't experienced any bugs!!

 

[hxlover904]

i tested both. I guess i was one of the lucky ones with Catalina as it has never been a problem OS for me. The first few betas were a bit buggy, but after that (and the actual release), it's been a good OS for me.

BS has been better on the whole than Catalina. I've had an episode where i couldn't quit X-Code (the quit option was greyed out and CMD quit wouldn't work either). Otherwise, it's a little laggy at times, but perfectly usable and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm not sure how I feel about some of the visual changes. Some are great. Text is a little bigger and a lot more readable. I've got a mix of Apple apps and third party apps and so far, all have worked well.

I would never recommend beta testing a new OS on your only computer, but if you have a second one around, I see now reason not to try it out. (Of course, you understand that any subsequent beta can be worse than b1 and break stuff that was working).

 

[chama98]

not a hardcore user but haven't experienced any bugs!!

Same with me. I had a bug with Music App kept saying that it wouldn't download music, error -9XXXX something. It was annoying plus some other niggle as well. Which kind of tipped the balance and thought lets head back to Catalina. Plus I erased the wrong drive and took bootcamp with it! 🤦🏼‍♂️

 

[oMc]

Running it since a couple of days on my 2017 MacBook. So far so good, only a few graphical glitches and one crash, but otherwise it's smooth.

 

[chama98]

What crash did you have? I might try again come version 2 of the beta. I might that is, I might.

 

[oMc]

What crash did you have? I might try again come version 2 of the beta. I might that is, I might.

I don’t quite remember. These kind of crashes when your computer has to restart because of a problem. I was not even in front of the computer when that happened so I’m not sure which software was involved.

 

[RumorConsumer]

After tinkering around with security permissions and reinstalling apps I’m pretty impressed by this first beta. It’s the closest to ‘release quality’ first beta I have ever seen. There are random bugs and apps will need to be updated but I would be surprised if Big Sur needs as many pre-release betas as Mojave or Catalina had.

The most impressive thing is that it seems to be more energy efficient. The notebooks run cooler, fans don’t come on loudly like before, battery lasts longer. Audio output for those with 2018-2020 Macs is greatly improved.

audio output? how so?

 

[klingklanging]

Running MBA 2014 i7/8/256G. Did a simple system update and not a clean install. The BS Beta 3 (20A5323l) is an absolute nightmare. Today the finder freezes every few minutes. 3/10.

 

[pldelisle]

Running MBA 2014 i7/8/256G. Did a simple system update and not a clean install. The BS Beta 3 (20A5323l) is an absolute nightmare. Today the finder freezes every few minutes. 3/10.

Not having this problem.

 

[Ansath]

Not having this problem.

Same, also not having this problem.

I mainly use 3rd party apps. Citrix being one of the primary ones, and that’s been fine since beta 1.

 

[Nicole1980]

I had the exact opposite experience, but I run a lot of 3rd party apps. I notice you only mentioned Apple apps. You might as well just use an ipad then.

EXACTLY. The real test of any OS is whether it can run 3rd party apps without major headaches. If all people are going to do is run the built in Apple apps, it's not a very informative assessment.