Should I switch to 10.10? Read too many threads. Deets inside.

[Rantipole]

Hi, I know this is discussed, but it still seems evenly split. And my brain hurts from trying to come to a conclusion after reading so many threads. I thought maybe if I give I give my specifics, it might be more clear whether or not I should "upgrade" to Yosemite.

I'm not a power user, so it's not like my comp is loaded to the gills with different software. But it is an older 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4 Gig RAM iMac. Apple claims it can run Yosemite.

I currently have Mountain Lion on it, and it runs OK, though opening up apps is a little sluggish, ESPECIALLY Safari. Ironically Firefox runs a little better, though I prefer Safari. Have not tested Chrome extensively.

My iPhoto library is around 18 gig, if that's relevant.

I've seen some complaints about Yosemite being sluggish, so if I see the same level of sluggishness, I can deal until I finally get a new comp.

Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[damezumari]

I would not; Mavericks was somewhat buggy and Yosemite.. sigh.

Unless there is some compelling reason to upgrade, don't.

(One is security bugs that Apple does not seem to be fixing in older operating system versions. But AFAIK none of them are remotely exploitable.)

 

[KALLT]

If you’re already dissatisfied about the speed then Yosemite certainly won’t do any good. I wouldn’t recommend using any modern versions of OS X if you don’t have sufficient RAM and an SSD or a Fusion drive, especially if you’re using older hardware.

 

[cincygolfgrrl]

If you have the knowledge and inclination to do a clean install with either your current OS or Yosemite you'd probably have a faster machine than you do now.

I run Yosemite on a mid-2011 MacBook Air with a 1.6 GHz i5 and 4GB RAM and it does fine. As with all things, YMMV, but I'd do it again.

 

[Rantipole]

Yes, I had considered doing a clean install, but wasn't sure it was worth the effort.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Yes, I had considered doing a clean install, but wasn't sure it was worth the effort.

You can certainly see if a clean install of your current OS would improve by creating a new partition on your internal hard drive and installing your OS on the new partition. Boot to the new partition. If it seems more responsive then a clean install will probably help. When you are done reboot back to your primary partition and delete the new partition. You can also do this same thing with installing Yosemite on the new partition and test drive it.

 

[simon lefisch]

You can certainly see if a clean install of your current OS would improve by creating a new partition on your internal hard drive and installing your OS on the new partition. Boot to the new partition. If it seems more responsive then a clean install will probably help.

Wouldn't they need to setup the OS the same as it is now in order to really see if it's more responsive? What I mean is, doing a clean install of just the OS will def yield a better response since it's not loaded with any/all apps and docs since the HD doesn't have to load/read as much. I know when we I do a clean install the OS is def more responsive. It's not until I start reloading all my apps and docs that it starts to "slow down" (not to say my late 2011 MBP is slow on Yosemite).

 

[KALLT]

Wouldn't they need to setup the OS the same as it is now in order to really see if it's more responsive? What I mean is, doing a clean install of just the OS will def yield a better response since it's not loaded with any/all apps and docs since the HD doesn't have to load/read as much. I know when we I do a clean install the OS is def more responsive. It's not until I start reloading all my apps and docs that it starts to "slow down" (not to say my late 2011 MBP is slow on Yosemite).

I always found the speed improvements of a clean install negligible, unnoticeable or short-lived. Unless the user has installed lots of unnecessary software, there will rarely be a benefit in terms of speed. Dormant apps that don’t start in the background and are not opened regularly won’t put a burden on the system either. Apps like Safari take a particularly long time to load with a slow hard drive and of course insufficient [RAM] plays a role as well.

 

[Rantipole]

I always found the speed improvements of a clean install negligible, unnoticeable or short-lived. Unless the user has installed lots of unnecessary software, there will rarely be a benefit in terms of speed. Dormant apps that don’t start in the background and are not opened regularly won’t put a burden on the system either. Apps like Safari take a particularly long time to load with a slow hard drive and of course insufficient [RAM] plays a role as well.

That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if I should upgrade my RAM to 8 gig before doing anything.

 

[glenthompson]

That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if I should upgrade my RAM to 8 gig before doing anything.

Run Activity Monitor while performing your normal tasks. See what it shows for memory pressure or page-outs. Post the results here if you can't interpret them. Very easy way to see if more memory will help. A SSD is the best performance you can make. A bit difficult of an install on a Mini.

 

[cincygolfgrrl]

I always found the speed improvements of a clean install negligible, unnoticeable or short-lived.

That may be true in your case. But an older computer that has been in use will develop "kruft" that just plain slows down a computer—it can't be helped.

When that happens it's reasonable to backup everything, wipe the drive, reload an OS then the apps currently in use, and finally the important files. All this will probably take a day, but in most cases getting a fresh OS with current apps and files will give the computer a new lease on life. If an SSD is added to the computer, that's even better.

If in the end, the OP does all the above and it doesn't improve performance, then it may be time for new.

 

[crjackson2134]

OP,

Everyone has their own way of approaching this. KALLT is correct that a fresh install does very little to improve speed. If you have a specific problem with the OS, sometimes a new install will correct it faster than trying to track it down though.

Regarding "cruft"... passivle leftovers don't slow the system and take up almost no space on your drive. I don't like leftovers and I try to keep it as clean as possible, but it's really not likely to be of detriment to your system in any way.

If I were in your shoes, I'd make a full backup of the current drive.

Then simply install Yosemite and give it a good test drive. If you are not satisfied with Yosemite you can simply restore your backup.

For me, OS X 10.8 was a wonderful OS. If there is no particularly compelling reason to upgrade and it's a good performer (Safari aside), I'd stick with it.

 

[KALLT]

That may be true in your case. But an older computer that has been in use will develop "kruft" that just plain slows down a computer—it can't be helped.

When that happens it's reasonable to backup everything, wipe the drive, reload an OS then the apps currently in use, and finally the important files. All this will probably take a day, but in most cases getting a fresh OS with current apps and files will give the computer a new lease on life. If an SSD is added to the computer, that's even better.

If in the end, the OP does all the above and it doesn't improve performance, then it may be time for new.

I am using a 2008 MacBook with a Core 2 Duo myself. That’s where my experience comes from. OS X is actually decent enough that it won’t benefit from clean installs like Windows would do. The only thing you have to worry about after such a long time is that your system is cluttered with obsolete files that could fill up your hard drive, but it’s not a technical problem.

 

[Rantipole]

Yeesh, sorry it's been a while. I got busy.

Run Activity Monitor while performing your normal tasks. See what it shows for memory pressure or page-outs. Post the results here if you can't interpret them. Very easy way to see if more memory will help.

I haven't run activity monitor since OS9! I don't even know where to find it in OSX! Shoot I guess I should post this from home and just see if Spotlight will find Activity Monitor, but I'm at work on a Windoze machine.

 

[Dark Void]

Yeesh, sorry it's been a while. I got busy.



I haven't run activity monitor since OS9! I don't even know where to find it in OSX! Shoot I guess I should post this from home and just see if Spotlight will find Activity Monitor, but I'm at work on a Windoze machine.

It's under Applications in the Utilities folder.

 

[shadow puppet]

That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if I should upgrade my RAM to 8 gig before doing anything.

I'm in the process of ordering a 500gb for my mid-2009 MBP. In the meantime, I upgraded my memory today from 4gb to my max of 8. Gotta admit I'm loving the change thus far. Can't help but feel once the SSD is in place, this trusty veteran will be screaming fast.

Thanks to those in this thread that suggested not doing a clean install. I'll be moving from ML to Yosemite and also thought that was the best move. What a relief to know it's not that important so am now going the clone/bu/install route.

 

[numberfour]

i would wait for el capitan.

 

[Tech198]

according to the forums you'll never really get a definate answer since any new OS will always be "best"

 

[patternjake]

Upgrade to Yosemite, then to El Cap.
There's no point of a clean install, Mac's don't suffer from the notorious Windows Rot issue. I have over 100 apps installed in the Applications folder and many many files and photos and the mac is still running like it did when I bought it.