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Best Mac OS X Version for 2010 Macbook Air 11"

I

imac9556

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 12, 2004
574
43
Hey everyone,
I am sorry, I have been searching hard on these forums and couldn't find the thread for the "best" performing Mac OS X version for my 2010 2GB Macbook Air 11".

I currently have 10.10 installed on it and it is very slow when switching between tasks from Safari and Word. I have a feeling its the 2GB bottleneck that it is hitting.

In your opinion, what is the best Mac OS X version I should install that isn't too "RAM hungry".

I still want some "modern day features" such as Airplay mirroring, Messages, iCloud Sync, and to run the latest safari that works with today's standards.

Does Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion ) sound like the best choice for me?

Thank you for your help!
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
imac9556 said:
Hey everyone,
I am sorry, I have been searching hard on these forums and couldn't find the thread for the "best" performing Mac OS X version for my 2010 2GB Macbook Air 11".

I currently have 10.10 installed on it and it is very slow when switching between tasks from Safari and Word. I have a feeling its the 2GB bottleneck that it is hitting. ...
Click to expand...

No need to guess. You can just open Activity Monitor and check the Memory tab to see if you are under memory pressure. (If the graph shows yellow/red.)

I had Mavericks on my 2010 when I sold it and that ran well.
 
redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
imac9556 said:
Hey everyone,
I am sorry, I have been searching hard on these forums and couldn't find the thread for the "best" performing Mac OS X version for my 2010 2GB Macbook Air 11".

I currently have 10.10 installed on it and it is very slow when switching between tasks from Safari and Word. I have a feeling its the 2GB bottleneck that it is hitting.

In your opinion, what is the best Mac OS X version I should install that isn't too "RAM hungry".

I still want some "modern day features" such as Airplay mirroring, Messages, iCloud Sync, and to run the latest safari that works with today's standards.

Does Mac OS 10.8 (Mountain Lion ) sound like the best choice for me?

Thank you for your help!
Click to expand...

Snow Leopard is the best version for low RAM amounts, but if you want a modern OS you're better off sticking with Mavericks or Yosemite as both support memory compression.

Also, I agree with motrek's post above, check RAM usage in Activity Monitor to make sure that it's your problem. If the graph under "Memory Pressure" is green then it is not your problem.
 
I

imac9556

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 12, 2004
574
43
Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I am running low on memory.

In terms of performance and memory compression, 10.9 is better than 10.10 and 10.8?

Thanks!
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
imac9556 said:
Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I am running low on memory.

In terms of performance and memory compression, 10.9 is better than 10.10 and 10.8?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

10.9 will be better with memory than 10.8.

I don't think anybody has quantified performance differences for any of these versions.
 
A

asoksevil

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2010
483
158
London, UK
I have the 2010 13"MBA with 4 GB RAM. I personally felt that Mavericks was way snappier than Snow Leopard, especially Safari (8 vs 5) and multi tasking (memory compression)
 
I

imac9556

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 12, 2004
574
43
Thanks everyone for the responses!

So I am guessing that 10.9 is more responsive and LESS of a memory hog than 10.10? 10.9 is also the first version of OS X to have memory compression which is why you recommend it over 10.8?

Thanks!
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
imac9556 said:
Thanks everyone for the responses!

So I am guessing that 10.9 is more responsive and LESS of a memory hog than 10.10? 10.9 is also the first version of OS X to have memory compression which is why you recommend it over 10.8?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes to memory compression.

I don't know that 10.9 is faster/better than 10.10 though. Lots of people on this forum claim to be running 10.10 on 2gb 2010 machines just fine.
 
I

imac9556

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 12, 2004
574
43
motrek said:
Yes to memory compression.

I don't know that 10.9 is faster/better than 10.10 though. Lots of people on this forum claim to be running 10.10 on 2gb 2010 machines just fine.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is what I have been reading. However, the machine crawls to a slowdown with fans blasting when watching Netflix. Silverlight plug-in is taxing most of the CPU and memory because HTML5 playback is apparently not supported on this machine. Read any suggestions for a fix?
 
redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
imac9556 said:
Yeah that is what I have been reading. However, the machine crawls to a slowdown with fans blasting when watching Netflix. Silverlight plug-in is taxing most of the CPU and memory because HTML5 playback is apparently not supported on this machine. Read any suggestions for a fix?
Click to expand...

Chrome supports Netflix HTML5 video playback on pre-Sandy Bridge hardware, it might be a little better than Silverlight on Netflix.
 
M

motrek

macrumors 68030
Sep 14, 2012
2,613
305
imac9556 said:
Yeah that is what I have been reading. However, the machine crawls to a slowdown with fans blasting when watching Netflix. Silverlight plug-in is taxing most of the CPU and memory because HTML5 playback is apparently not supported on this machine. Read any suggestions for a fix?
Click to expand...

I don't think that has anything to do with the OS.

Netflix and all streaming video services always maxed out my 2010 MBA ever since I got it in 2010.
 
J

jmazzamj

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2009
199
0
imac9556 said:
Yeah that is what I have been reading. However, the machine crawls to a slowdown with fans blasting when watching Netflix. Silverlight plug-in is taxing most of the CPU and memory because HTML5 playback is apparently not supported on this machine. Read any suggestions for a fix?
Click to expand...

Have you tried fresh installing Yosemite?
 
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