Mavericks vs El Capitan on Mac Mini 2009

[buddhaman]

I am struggling with upgrading.Any advice is appreciated. I have had a terrific experience with 10.6.8 snow leopard i think. I read that i can upgrade directly to El Capitan. Feeling cautious though.

Any body have thoughts on Mavericks and Mac Mini 2009? I "heard" it had problems that were resolved with Yosemite and even better with El Capitan.

I am not fluent in Mac OSs however.

After reading a few threads here, I am not even sure I can get Mavericks OR Yosemite.
I am running 10.6.8 right now and I need some new software (Quicken, Neat) not compatible with this version.

Model Name:Mac mini
Model Identifier:Macmini3,1
Processor Name:Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:2.26 GHz
Number Of Processors:1
Total Number Of Cores:2
L2 Cache:3 MB
Memory:4 GB
Bus Speed:1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:MM31.0081.B06
SMC Version (system):1.35f0

 

[sXpTv]

You should definitely upgrade to OS X Mavericks. It's fast and stable and it doesn't have the stupid flat design. I also installed Mavericks on my Late 2009 MacBook (which has the same specs) and it runs great!

 

[Ebenezum]

Keep in mind that you need Mavericks installer from Mac App Store. If you haven't "purchased" Mavericks previously finding it will be problematic because Apple has removed it from MAS.

If so you could contact Apple support and ask kindly for Mavericks, if you have software that won't work in 10.10 or 10.11 I'm fairly certain Apple would make exception in your case.

As for which OS to install I would recommend Mavericks because it is very likely faster and more stable than El Capitan given your Macs age (Yosemite is POS so I can't recommend it).

Regardless of what OS you install make sure to 1. Backup Mac, preferable with Disk Utility or other such software 2. Check that all the software you need is compatible.

 

[kemo]

I have had an awesome ride with SL as well! I wish I could go back and use that system, but there is a few key apps I need to use daily which are not supporting SL anymore. So the second best in my opinion is Mavericks.

As mentioned, not "flat", still fast, stable and will run most likely very well on your hardware. Even though I have late 2011 MBP i7, 8GB RAM, I still was not happy with the performance of El Capitan (since my HW can't use Metal). So definitely go for Mavericks!

 

[asoksevil]

I feel my 2010 MBA feels way snappier using Mavericks.

 

[janitor3]

Install Mavericks, I'm using it on 2010 MacMini, and having no problems.