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case2001

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
356
52
I have a late 2013 MacBook Air. It is running great with the system that came on it. I think 10.8. Is that mountain lion?
Is there really any need/advantage to go to Mavericks? I using Xcode for hobby projects, Microsoft office 2008 and that basically it. I don't really think there are any features I need in Mavericks right now. But I want to make sure.

Thanks
 

rei101

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2011
976
1
I have a late 2013 MacBook Air. It is running great with the system that came on it. I think 10.8. Is that mountain lion?
Is there really any need/advantage to go to Mavericks? I using Xcode for hobby projects, Microsoft office 2008 and that basically it. I don't really think there are any features I need in Mavericks right now. But I want to make sure.

Thanks

Don't do it.
There is no difference and no advantage. It is actually more annoying because they changed tiny things here and there that actually bothers me.

For example, previously you were able to label any element in the Finder with a color. If you have x amount of elements in a folder and each one with a different color, originally you were able to select all and deselect all the colors labels.

In Mavericks, you can not delete the color labels at same time. Now you have to chose all the elements, give that same color to every element and then deselect that color to delete it.

And now, you can have more than one color label per element.

If you have 40 pictures in a folder, 2 are labeled orange and 3 blue. If you want to delete the orange labels at once, you would have to select the 40 pictures (select all) and give the blue color to all the pictures and then deselect the blue color again.

If you have 3 pictures with blue, orange and green color, you can deselect one by one or select all, add the blue to all, delete all, add green to all, delete all and so on...

That sort of things you will find in Mavericks. I didn't see any improvement just twisted things that are different with no reason.
 

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,462
4,408
Delaware
On the other side - Mavericks has improved memory management. That can prove important on a MBAir, which can't be upgraded.
Does that make a good reason to upgrade from Mountain Lion? Only you can say.
 

Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,689
4,572
New Jersey Pine Barrens
I have 10.9 on my Mac Mini but still have 10.8 on my MBA. Was thinking about upgrading the MBA just the other day but decided not to bother. Yosemite is right around the corner, might as well wait a few more months.
 

case2001

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
356
52
Ok thanks. I have not run into memory issues on my machine. I really like mountain lion so I am going to stick with that. I will see if Yosemite offers something down the road.
 

capathy21

macrumors 65816
Jun 16, 2014
1,418
617
Houston, Texas
I agree with Lou. Why wouldn't you want the newest OS with new features and such? I could understand if it was an old machine, but its barely a year old.
 

case2001

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
356
52
That's a fare question. I prefer stability. Right now everything I use on my machine works and works well. So I am not sure I would gain anything in my daily usage. Thus my question.
 

Dweez

macrumors 65816
Jun 13, 2011
1,248
10
Down by the river
After not being an early adopter, I run Mav on 2 MBP's, a mini, an iMac and an MBA. It's a solid OS, and why not run with the latest feature set?
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
So… go ahead and fix it, even if it ain't broke? :D

More like, fix it because it might get broke later. Eventually Apple's going to stop providing support/security updates to Mountain Lion, and updated apps will eventually stop running on it. And the OP might not get a chance to update to Mavericks after Yosemite comes out (which is an even BIGGER change than ML -> Mavericks).

And there ARE improvements, like the fact that battery life is improved by up to an additional 4 hours on the Macbook Air when upgrading to Mavericks from Mountain Lion. For me that was reason enough.
 

case2001

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 9, 2010
356
52
More like, fix it because it might get broke later. Eventually Apple's going to stop providing support/security updates to Mountain Lion, and updated apps will eventually stop running on it. And the OP might not get a chance to update to Mavericks after Yosemite comes out (which is an even BIGGER change than ML -> Mavericks).

And there ARE improvements, like the fact that battery life is improved by up to an additional 4 hours on the Macbook Air when upgrading to Mavericks from Mountain Lion. For me that was reason enough.

I am aware of the advertised improved battery, however not all users are that lucky. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5117523?start=45&tstart=0 Several members report worse battery life after the upgrade. There were threads here too. I think those have been fixed, but this is why I asked the question.

I cannot really see any advantages for me right now. I am sticking with Mountain Lion. If there is some reason I have to upgrade I will, but I am quite satisfied with my stability, battery life and security. I appreciate the answers in this thread though!
 
Last edited:

Windowsrefugee

macrumors regular
Mar 14, 2011
161
7
Microsoft Land
I waited for the OS to stabilize around Jan and then upgraded my 2012 and 2013 MBAs and haven't looked back. It is stable and the battery life is terrific. On the other hand, yip could wait another 4-6 months and see if it is worth leapfrogging to Yosemite...
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,400
Here
I've always been one to upgrade on the bleeding edge on everything, but I'm starting to think like the OP. I have a system that is stable, all my apps work, and I just don't have to worry about it.

I am on Mavericks now because I did gain benefits (multi monitor alone was worth it), but I doubt that I'll upgrade to Yosemite because I just don't need what they offered.
 

rambo47

macrumors 65816
Oct 3, 2010
1,354
973
Denville, NJ
I'm sporting a Late-2010 MBA 13" and Mavericks was a great upgrade. Very smooth and 100% stable. No freezes/crashes/slowdowns. :apple::apple:
 

rrl

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2009
512
57
Stop being a *****. It's a .4 release. Do it. I painlessly did it to my 2010 11" less than two weeks ago. It's running great.
 

s15119

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,856
1,714
It's always a good idea to run the latest OS. Other software will be upgraded to take advantage of the new features.
 
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