Upgrade from Catalina to Monterey or Big Sur? What is the best choice?

[dcaccount]

Hello,

I have decided to upgrade my 2019 iMac with 36 GB memory and 512 GB SSD either to Monterey or to Big Sur. in both cases I will perform a clean install fro scratch.

The question is simple, should I upgrade to Big Sur probably more stable or to Monterey?

What would you do?

Please advise,
Dan

 

[Wando64]

Personally what I would do (which is exactly what I am doing) is to stay on Catalina until Monterey has fixed some of its current issues. Mainly the problem with Time Machine.
Everyone reports that Monterey has considerable performance improvements over Big Sur, so at this point I am going to skip Big Sur altogether.

 

[baas]

Agree with Wando, wait at least a couple of days for 12.1 and see if the issues with memory leaks and usb-c hubs are resolved, then skip Big Sur altogether.

 

[dcaccount]

Thanks for replying. In fact, what I am looking for, other than a clear environment after a fresh install, are performance improvements.

So Monterey should be faster than Big Sur also in an old machine like mine?

Thanks for helping

 

[randolorian]

My 2017 iMac has been great on Monterey. Speedy and stable.

 

[n-evo]

I wouldn’t say a 2019 iMac is old…

But yeah why bother installing macOS Big Sur at this point since a newer version is out? Good chances are macOS Monterey v12.1 will be released in the next week or two. Apparently it comes with a lot bug fixes, so you could wait for that before upgrading.

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

I installed Monterey 12.0.1 on my MacBook Pro 2015 and I had no problems such as memory leaks or with Time Machine. I guess I have been lucky. Another vote for Monterey 12.1 which will be available next week. Snappier than Big Sur.

 

[colinsky]

I usually wait until the .3 update, and Monterey is not even to .1 yet.

Big Sur is pretty smooth and steady now at the .6.1 update.

 

[ewu]

best way is to upgrade to a stable OS, I would say Big Sur is best choice for you currently.

 

[weirdsmith]

I went from Mojave to Big Sur and then to Monterey a couple of months later when it got to 12.0.1. Big Sur was a little glitchy, but generally good on my 2018 Mac Mini. Monterey seems quite similar - the odd minor annoyance here and there - but slightly snappier.

Especially now with 12.1, which also seems good, I would definitely go straight to Monterey.

 

[dcaccount]

Hello, thanks everybody for the replies. Quick questions, have the most annoying bugs been addressed, for instance memory leak?
It does not seem so reading the latest posts!
Thanks,
Dan

 

[Agrailag]

Hello, thanks everybody for the replies. Quick questions, have the most annoying bugs been addressed, for instance memory leak?
It does not seem so reading the latest posts!
Thanks,
Dan

according to /r/MacOS not all memory leaks were fixed.

 

[Wando64]

according to /r/MacOS not all memory leaks were fixed.

In fairness though, I get some memory leaks in Catalina as well from time to time.
A reboot is all is needed to bring it back to normality.

 

[jonobin]

according to /r/MacOS not all memory leaks were fixed.

It's an intel or m1 related issue?

 

[dcaccount]

Hello,
Monterey 12.2 has been released. Do you think, time has come to upgrade from Catalina to Monterey, have issues linke memory leak been addressed?

I am still in two minds, to stick with Catalina (but the system needs a fresh install), to upgrade to Bir Sur or to upgrade to Monterey?

Please help me to decide, thanks

 

[SalisburySam]

I am still in two minds, to stick with Catalina (but the system needs a fresh install), to upgrade to Bir Sur or to upgrade to Monterey?

Bigger question to my way of thinking: is there any reason Catalina is not working for you? If no, why bother with an update? If yes, and a fresh install doesn’t cure it, then your answer is to upgrade.

My 2017 iMac was on Mojave and it worked well for my use cases, so I passed on Catalina, then passed on Big Sur. But then both Office and TurboTax current versions both did not support Mojave any longer so I was forced to upgrade to something. I went to Monterey 12.1, and it went very smoothly and works well for me. Now on 12.2 with similarly positive results. YMMV.

 

[Jack Neill]

Go for 12.2.

 

[mikzn]

Hello,

I have decided to upgrade my 2019 iMac with 36 GB memory and 512 GB SSD either to Monterey or to Big Sur. in both cases I will perform a clean install fro scratch.

The question is simple, should I upgrade to Big Sur probably more stable or to Monterey?

What would you do?

Please advise,
Dan

I have been on Monterey since the first Beta - works great - no issues

Monterey is a more polished version of Catalina/Big Sur - IMHO - My vote is go strait to Monterey