Poll

Which OS should I give a home to?

Only registered users are allowed to vote for this poll.
24 votes were received.

High Sierra - live on the edge!	2		8%
Sierra	8		33%
El Capitan	8		33%
Stick with Yosemite, be a luddite	6		25%

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I just got back my 15" mid-2014 Macbook Pro from Apple and now have a new logic board, top case with battery and MagSafe port, but still have Yosemite installed, and the machine is still doing odd things, like running the fans when looking at images in Preview. So, I'm thinking it's time to take the plunge and do a clean install of a newer OS. So... which should it be, El Capitan, Sierra or High Sierra?

Depends on your software compatibility needs. Some older software doesn't work with High Sierra.

HS also has a new file system and loses tools like a Target Disk mode.

I think EC was more stable than Sierra on my machines. But I didn't lose any software per se going to Sierra.

I can't even participate in this survey because I use Mavericks, Snow Leopard, and ChromeOS. Apple's later OSes have too many lost features and unnecessary interface changes for the sake of appeasing an aesthete who doesn't understand usability.

If you dont have Sierra, you cant get it, so kinda missed it...

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Mostly using Mavericks.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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gabester
I can't even participate in this survey because I use Mavericks, Snow Leopard, and ChromeOS. Apple's later OSes have too many lost features and unnecessary interface changes for the sake of appeasing an aesthete who doesn't understand usability.

That is an accurate assessment.

I am still mainly using Mavericks, with some forays into Yosemite which is where I have iTunes 12 installed, to back up certain iDevices. I need to keep Mavericks around for one app in particular. I also still have a Snow Leopard drive. I use Snow Leopard for a few things, including formatting drives. Sierra is installed on one laptop, and on a guinea pig drive attached to my Mac Pro.

I have no reason to install High Sierra.

I'm staying with Yosemite as long as possible. It works with everything I have and I don't need any surprises from Apple.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The reason to go to more recent MacOS versions is for integration with iOS devices.

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sekker
The reason to go to more recent MacOS versions is for integration with iOS devices.

For me, that's just not compelling. I don't use Notes or Photos or store more than an absolute minimum in iCloud. Integration can backfire, too. This funny example of unintended consequences was posted at Macintouch yesterday:

"Today I was working on my iMac, editing a bit of text that I keep in the Notes app. Suddenly, with my hands off the keyboard, I watched in horror as the text began to disappear, line by line. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the cause. My cat was on the table next to my desk, poking at my iPhone with her paws. The iPhone was open to the Notes app, which is synced via iCloud to my iMac. It's not the first time this feline has caused such havoc - she loves to play with the iPhone, so I am usually careful about locking it, or placing it face down.

But in this case, I could not figure out how to recover my text. There are no Undo or Revert to Saved commands in the Notes app. I used Time Machine to restore the files in the folder

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes/Data/Library/Notes/

but that did not bring back the lines that the cat deleted. It's not really important material, but I am curious to know if there is a way to restore previous data in the Notes app."

Currently staying with Yosemite, moved to it last year when some required application software updates came with a minimum OS requirement of Yosemite. Some other software no longer works as Yosemite either removed necessary support elements or the software no longer functioned on 10.10. For one game a workaround was possible, restoring older Python support libraries from a backup made it possible to run.

Time machine can restore deleted files, even from the cloud, so long as you kept a copy on your Mac. I use TM for this very purpose for Dropbox too.

iOS integration can be very powerful. And saves me from regular subscription fees like Evernote.

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ka jowct

Quote
sekker
The reason to go to more recent MacOS versions is for integration with iOS devices.

For me, that's just not compelling... Integration can backfire, too. This funny example of unintended consequences was posted at Macintouch yesterday:

"Today I was working on my iMac, editing a bit of text that I keep in the Notes app. Suddenly, with my hands off the keyboard, I watched in horror as the text began to disappear, line by line. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the cause. My cat was on the table next to my desk, poking at my iPhone with her paws."

It's this very reason - the double-edged sword of data available everywhere. It necessitates that it all either be ephemeral (one state) or persistent (every change saved and tracked)... if you go in-between with things like Time Machine backups running on the hour, you'll miss critical stuff sometimes.

Many apps now have multiple layers of undo, but Apple's been too busy with nonsensical feature updates like Stickers and other in-Messages Apps that they haven't implemented the functionality on Notes?!

Likewise, I don't find the "iOS integration" argument sensible. Why am I paying a premium for a Mac manufactured in the last 7-8 years to integrate with iTunes when a 15-year old Windows box can run the latest Windows and iTunes and integrate just fine. There are far far too many cases of Macs being treated as second class citizens with iTunes and iOS.

Quote
sekker
Time machine can restore deleted files, even from the cloud, so long as you kept a copy on your Mac. I use TM for this very purpose for Dropbox too.

iOS integration can be very powerful.

Since Apple's end goal is to eliminate macOS eventually, I'd expect this to be a briefly potent argument that peaked maybe a year ago and will be in decline going forward.

I'm still holding at Mavericks.

I have heard Yosemite is probably best avoided. I think the mid-2014s shipped with Mavericks, so that should be an option in addition to El Cap and Sierra as long as you don't mind having no further security updates.

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Thanks for the responses. I ended up going to Sierra, though not a clean install as I didn't have a bootable installer with me, and had no way to format the drive. So far, so good, it seems to have taken care of the fan issue, and definitely is snappier. I decided on Sierra, because I wanted to run the latest Mac application software, namely Pages, iMovie and Final Cut Pro, and those require Sierra.