Fast OS for a mac without SSD : High Sierra? El Capitan? older?

[Retromac2008]

thank you for your advices

 

[padams35]

This is for a Late 2009 iMac?
High Sierra works fine on 7200rpm HDDs as long as you have enough RAM to avoid swap (8GB+ recommended). However you might do better going one step backward to Sierra. Note: Sierra and newer is a common requirement for 3rd party software so I wouldn't suggest going older.

However if this is a 2011 or older laptop with a 5400rpm HDD then going older might be necisary. I think Mavericks or Yosemite was the last OS to play nice with those anemic drives.

Note: If you have a 2012+ system I'd strongly suggest getting an external USB 3.0 SSD.

 

[Retromac2008]

This is for a Late 2009 iMac?
High Sierra works fine on 7200rpm HDDs as long as you have enough RAM to avoid swap (8GB+ recommended). However you might do better going one step backward to Sierra. Note: Sierra and newer is a common requirement for 3rd party software so I wouldn't suggest going older.

However if this is a 2011 or older laptop with a 5400rpm HDD then going older might be necisary. I think Mavericks or Yosemite was the last OS to play nice with those anemic drives.

Note: If you have a 2012+ system I'd strongly suggest getting an external USB 3.0 SSD.

Thank you!
It s the last Imac 20Inch ever sold : Mid-2009
Official support ends with El Capitan, but you can go up to Catalina with the usual patcher.

I remember Snow Leopard very fast on old HD, but i find High Sierra already a little too slow.

What os would you use if you had a mac with hd? to be fast.
As long as there is a browser that runs on it and a version of word (even a very old one) that works

 

[padams35]

Thank you!
It s the last Imac 20Inch ever sold : Mid-2009
Official support ends with El Capitan, but you can go up to Catalina with the usual patcher.

I remember Snow Leopard very fast on old HD, but i find High Sierra already a little too slow.

What os would you use if you had a mac with hd? to be fast.
As long as there is a browser that runs on it and a version of word (even a very old one) that works

Mid-2009... I believe those max out at 8GB RAM. If you haven't maxed yours out I'd suggest that. I remember needing to upgrade from 4GB RAM when I got to Yosemite back when I was using a 2011 iMac.

Anti-Malware: If you have this and performance matters uninstall. Malware protection comes at the expense of performance. Just be a little paranoid about what you download and install.

Otherwise...
Fast, but not MacOS: Linux (Fedora): Linux is generally less resource intensive than MacOS, and Fedora is a good choice for basic office use such as web browsing and word processing. Honorable mention to Mint, Lubuntu, and Ubunto. However Microsoft Word may be limited in if/how it runs. Just make sure you have a way to get back to MacOS such as a timemachine backup or an ElCapitan USB installer.
Fast, but retro: Mavericks: I consider this Snow Leopard 2.0. This plays nice with HDDs using just 4GB RAM, but modern software is generally incompatible. See the Early Intel forum for help with finding software that works.
Modern, but not exactly 'fast': Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave: These will run the latest version of Firefox and LibreOffice (or old versions of word). Mojave is a bit more refined and plays nice with modern iOS. Sierra is a bit faster and has less inconvenient 'security' features.


Avoid Catalina. I think that was the point where an SSD/Fusion drive was basically required to be fast.

 

[Fishrrman]

You want something BEFORE Mavericks (10.9).

With Mavericks, Apple changed the way memory is "managed" by the OS (if I recall correctly).
The changes "slowed things down" considerably on Macs with platter-based hard drives.

Alternative:
Boot and run from an external SSD.
Yes, I realize a 2009 has only USB2, but even so... it will be "snappier" with an SSD.