Anyone have any recent positive experience with OS X Yosemite? I know @dakboy has mentioned it, and @Lee_Ars fought with it when it first came out.
I have an aging Macbook 5,2 (2GB Memory) running Snow Leopard 10.6.8. I’ve recently come across a software update for a piece of software I use quite regularly and desperately need to upgrade, but requires 10.7+ to run. I’m now admitting it’s time I upgraded my OS from the virtual stone age, but I’m hesitant to do so, not only because my computer might just be too underpowered for it, but also because I know when it came out it was pretty buggy. Has it improved? It still has more negative ratings than positive in the app store.
Anyway, opinions and recommendations would be greatly appreciated, if you have them.
I have not had any significant issues with Yosemite. A few little things here and there maybe, but given that I’m having a hard time remembering any, they can’t be too big.
Your MacBook is at pretty much at the bottom of the supported hardware list (the list says Mavericks, but Yosemite’s list is the same). But you shouldn’t even think about trying to run it on 2GB of RAM - you need to max that thing out on RAM; unofficially, it’ll support 6GB, and I’d be wary of running 4GB.
If you can, get an SSD into it, it’ll help.
But no matter how you slice it, you’re looking at 6 year old hardware and (relatively speaking) minimal RAM - it’s probably not going to be fun.
The problem I had with 10.10 is that many of my older programs (Civilization IV for example) that worked just fine under 10.6.8 decided to stop working. The new version of Pages that came with 10.10 was also unable to read some of my older text files and spreadsheets. Fortunately, Libre Office took care of that particular problem.
The backwards compatibility issues are why the old mac mini I have downstairs isn’t getting updated. That one will still run OS 9.2 when I need it to. (Civilization: Call to Power, Civ II and Sim City 4 for the most part.) Newer is not always better and in this case, didn’t really come close.
Hmmm. You might be able to pick up a copy of the 10.7 or 10.8 installation DVDs on eBay. I had a 10.8 DVD somewhere, but it seems to have wandered off.
Alternatively, there may be the option to download 10.9 (Mavericks) from the Apple App Store. Although that may not be open to you - they seem very reluctant to keep old OS installation packages around.
I haven’t yet installed 10.8, because I need to do a wipe and reload, to make sure I can even get it to run on my machine. 2GB of RAM is barely allowing me to use Chrome these days. More than one or two tabs makes the thing craaaaaawlllll.
I’m beginning to think this computer might have to become a movie/music machine, and I’ll need to use Sig’s computer for the bigger jobs (Musescore, Scrivener, Chrome). On the bright side, it would help me control my computer use during the day.
@Dakboy had it right earlier—you’ve got to upgrade the memory. You just can’t use the computer otherwise. It’s kind of the only option. Amazon sells a 2GB stick of the right stuff for about $27, and going from 2GB to 4GB will have much more than a doubling effect on your apparent performance. 2GB is so RAM-starved for anything >10.7 that it’ll be an incredible improvement.
As a potential secondary upgrade, if you can swing $100, a nice 256GB SSD added to the RAM upgrade would be like getting a brand new computer, seriously.
But absolutely do the RAM upgrade, no question—IMO it’s non-optional!
I’ll have to talk options with @sig. The new battery (3rd one now) is still pretty new, but barely lasts two hours with regular use. This laptop is almost a tethered desk machine, as it is. A cheap RAM upgrade would probably be a good stop-gap measure until I have a new solution figured out. I’ll check out that Amazon link, for sure.
I really only need 10.7.