When Yosemite came out, many of our clients were pissed after they upgraded. It slowed down their Mac significantly and they got more spinning beach ball of sadness.
If you have an older Mac or iPhone, almost every major software upgrade could slow you down – sometimes significantly. Apple is making new stuff that takes advantage of new hardware. It’s normal that older gear would have to work harder to keep up.
The new Mac and iOS systems look awesome, with great new features especially around security. Just think twice before upgrading.
Here are some things to consider before you upgrade:
1. If you’re in the middle of a work project or on a deadline, just wait. Upgrades usually involve a bit of down time or fine tuning after the upgrade.
2. If you’re upgrading just because it looks new and exciting, make sure you’re not relying on it for work. The new features probably won’t be worth all the extra beach ball and troubleshooting.
3. Think about the features included in the new system. If it offers better security and you need tight security, that can be a smart move.
4. If you’ve already downloaded and installed a couple of upgrades on your Mac in the last few years, it’s better to do an erase/install for a fresh start. Otherwise you’re mixing the new stuff with the old. Back up all your info onto two hard drives, erase your main hard drive, install the new system as a clean install, and bring in just what you need. That gets rid of all the dust and cobwebs from old systems. *Not for the faint of heart.
5. Check your memory and hard drive. At this point it’s best to have at least 8GB of RAM and a solid state hard drive. Check out this speed comparison. Same computer, different hard drive. Pow!
In short, upgrade if you have the right hardware, you don’t mind downtime, and you’ll have some patience to fart around with it afterwards.
Yosemite system requirements page: https://www.apple.com/ca/osx/how-to-upgrade/
An awesome app we love that has all the info about every Mac; Mac Tracker: http://www.mactracker.ca/
If it ain’t broke, wait to fix it. 😉
