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Is it worth upgrading to Monterey as
- Thread starter Pmartel
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Totally worth it! Monterey will get another year of security updates, so it's just a good idea anyways. Monterey for me was the most stable "modern macOS" version I've ever used. All of your external hardware should work just fine, too!
Ventura's okay. System Settings is awful though. Most of the bugs are fixed by this point though, which is good
Wishing you lots of luck! By this point, it's a pretty stable OS, and most of the bugs have been ironed out.
The new System Settings was rough at first, but now I'm used to it and it doesn't bother me anymore. And if I can't find something, I just use Spotlight Search for the setting and it brings it up instantly. I usually do the Spotlight Search thing now anyway because it's so quick.
I was going to say Monterey is super stable and excellent, don’t know about Ventura at this point, but I saw you already updated to latest Ventura version. I hope it works good.
I liked Big Sur better, personally. But there's no denying that Big Sur is about to lose support for security updates (whereas Monterey has one more year of support left). I also don't know what computer you're working with. If it supports it, I'd honestly skip to Sonoma when it comes out. The beta is shaping up nicely and it seems to correct a lot of Ventura's annoying quirks. I get wanting to stay behind to maximize stability. But it really IS the case that some releases are just better than others.
The most important reason to stick with a previous version of macOS is if you heavily rely on specific software for your livelihood or critical tasks, and you absolutely cannot afford any disruptions or compatibility issues caused by a major OS update. In such crucial situations, exercising caution is paramount. You should take the time to conduct thorough research and ascertain whether your essential software is compatible with or actively supported on the new OS. I've personally learned from past mistakes and realized that exercising patience before updating is a wise approach, as it helps to prevent unexpected disruptions and software glitches.
While it's true that legacy software is a big reason to stay behind; it's also the case that most software built for the Mac conforms to Apple's support policies. It's only on really expensive software where perpetual licenses are still a thing that this will even come up. That said, I definitely have a few Macs lying around that are solely dedicated to being macOS Mojave machines; but they're ONLY running my 32-bit Mac apps and are otherwise air-gapped.
I've had software break and become unusable when upgrading to the big yearly macOS update. But I always do a full Time Machine backup before I upgrade just in case I need to revert back to the older version.
There are definitely good strategies when it comes to finnicky or more esoteric software. But Apple and the rest of the Mac ecosystem really make it difficult to stay on a version that's not supported. Staying one version behind current and moving up around the announcement of the next release is generally a good way to go for stability.
Upgrading to Monterey from Big Sewer fried two of our iMacs logic boards. After a few days of trying everything, we airdropped them over to Apples engineering dept, & an explanation took a bit of plying, but eventually we got that it was a known problem bc Monterey comes with an irreversible firmware update that really doesn’t play well with other OS’s. So if you upgrade, plan on never downgrading again even if you have second thoughts. If your Applecare is expired, they literally do not care. Apple soldiered the ssd to the board, so the entire board goes in the trash, and since the board is the majority of the value of the machine, the whole computer really goes in the trash, and they’ll tell you its time to buy yourself some more macs.
That said, a load of our heavy use iMacs and even 2019 MBP’s went up to Monterey and back down to Big Sur and back just fine trying to keep peripherals working. In addition, Big Sur was the last OS that didnt snoop on whatever naughty pictures you might see on the internet and report you to the federal police, so if you have teenagers using your computer, theres that.
The fault isn't generally Apple's, but lazy developers. I'm steering away from purchasing anymore software that isn't frequently updated these days. It's not worth the risk. Being forced to use an outdated OS because a developer refuses to get their apps updated is unacceptable.
Never upgrade until important software demands it, if you are content with the existing macOS.
Apple doesn't need to keep releasing new versions of macOS annually. No one is asking for this. Incidentally, there is no other platform out there that obsoletes third party software as fast as Apple does (and again, they don't need to do this).
Furthermore, have you ever developed software for Apple platforms before? To call those developers lazy when the cards are inherently stacked against them shows that you don't understand just how hostile Apple's platforms are to developers.
Unless the computer on which the software is running is air-gapped and not connected to the Internet at any point in time, this is horrible advice from a security standpoint.
There is so much that is incorrect about what you said here that I have no clue where to even begin.