new to mac should i upgrade to el capitan

[dna911]

hey guys,

running 10.8.5.... which is good... macbook air 1.7 core i7. 8 gig.

i googled around... sorta on the fence on upgrading to 10.11?

i really NOT LOVING the flat interface on el capitan.... i don't like my macbook looking like my ipad.

whats do u guys think? any benifits i am missing... or should i just wait till the next major release.

 

[leman]

The next major release will be just as flat. What you are missing is improved performance, latest security enhancements and updates to stock apps. Nothing serious though.

 

[bodonnell202]

I would upgrade if I were you, the performance and security updates alone are worth it... even if you are not crazy about the UI changes. If you are really against the new UI you'd be better to update to OSX Mavericks (10.9.5) since it is at least still getting basic security updates from Apple (for now) but unfortunately unless you have previously "purchased" (for free) a copy of Mavericks in the App Store when it was available updating to it now will be difficult.

 

[dna911]

so it really faster? on the same hardware?

 

[bodonnell202]

so it really faster? on the same hardware?

In some use cases and apps yes. 10.9 introduced ram compression which can free ram space and make your computer act like it has more ram than it does. Each successive version of OSX also comes with a new version of the safari browser which is generally faster than the previous version thanks to improvements in the JavaScript engine. Lastly you'll likely see battery life improvements (may be large or small depending on which year of MBA you have).

 

[Ebenezum]

so it really faster? on the same hardware?

Given the specks your Macbook Air seems to be 2013 model. Since it supports Metal and it has enough RAM its probably somewhat faster. It also depends on the software you are using so you likely want to check compatibility with the developers before upgrading.

In my experience older Macs with Core 2 Duo processor and less than 8 Gb of RAM are going to be slower because of RAM compression and other background changes in 10.9-10.11 are taxing the processor and GPU more than in 10.8 and earlier.

 

[MysticCow]

10.9 is pretty decent, although I'm not entirely sure it should have been its own release.

10.10 is complete garbage to me. I hated every minute of using it.

10.11 is usable and quite snappier than 10.10 was and my Mac does not support Metal. So you should be ok under 10.11.

 

[dna911]

10.9 is pretty decent, although I'm not entirely sure it should have been its own release.

10.10 is complete garbage to me. I hated every minute of using it.

10.11 is usable and quite snappier than 10.10 was and my Mac does not support Metal. So you should be ok under 10.11.

thanks for the breakdown!

i upgrade played with the transparancy... so far i like it.

i keep my mac pretty clean, so it funs fast.... can you guys suggest any helpful apps to keep it that way?

the only app i recently use is clean my mac3.

any suggestion appreciated!

 

[MysticCow]

For recommended apps:

Onyx: http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

Shadowkiller: https://web.archive.org/web/20130401040210/http://www.unsanity.net/shadowkiller-13.dmg (amazingly, it still works even on 10.11.5)

 

[Ebenezum]

can you guys suggest any helpful apps to keep it that way?

the only app i recently use is clean my mac3.

As a rule OS X doesn't need any third party software, Onyx can be helpful for troubleshooting in some cases but be sure to read the instructions before using it!