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My experience using OS X Mavericks in 2026!

princess alyssa

princess alyssa

macrumors newbie
Original poster
A couple years ago (2024), I began wanting to get an old Mac collection, and I got a 2010 Mac Mini from an ewaste store. Ever since I discovered older OS X versions, I wanted to try them out!

I hated the modern state of Windows (and still do), and Linux I can never make feel...comfy for my high standards. It always feels too out-there for me, I can never make it feel right. I eventually settled on OS X Mavericks, which I daily drove on and off for a while, but after I graduated high school in Late-2025, I went fully into it! And now I daily drive Mavericks on a Mid-2014 MacBook Pro! Granted yes I still use modern macOS (cough cough, Tah*e), but its strictly for work, on my work device.

Screen Shot 2026-03-20 at 9.22.27 pm.png
Firstly I want to say...wow. Newer OS'es really mess with your perception on what a "good" computer and OS is. After switching to Mavericks, everything just...clicks for me now. Nothing feels out of place, imperfect, or wrong, and it feels like new on even the oldest hardware Mavericks supports!! (i tried this on some of my 2009/2010 macs years ago) Granted yes there are things I still don't like about Mavericks, but you can change them here, such as the Notification Centre (replaced with Mountain Lion ver).

There is also the fact that such an old OS X version is usable in 2026, which is kinda funny since Mac versions tend to lose support almost instantly after Apple drops them, which is, at max, 3 years after release. Sure I do use older versions of programs (except Firefox, which is a modern backport called Firefox Dynasty), but it doesn't mess with my workflow at all! In fact its probably better because its not tied to some b.s. subscription.

There is probably more id like to talk about, but I might save it for another post under this thread. Feel free to post your thoughts and/or experiences on OS X Mavericks too!! If you want to do something like this, I highly, HIGHLY reccomend using websites like Mavericks Forever ( https://mavericksforever.com/ ) and the Macintosh Garden ( https://macintoshgarden.org/ ), as there are lots of Mavericks-compatable software, patches, etc!

Thank you for reading!! ♡♡
 
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Hi,

have been meaning to do this for a while, and having Mavericks installed on a USB it was just a matter of carbon copying it onto something...
that something happened to be a 6 core Mac Pro trashcan with 32 gb of ram,
mixed feelings so far, it's cute - probably the main reason to do this, the interface is spot on, Tahoe should look like this 🙂
the bloat is gone, with MacPorts, Pages, Aperture, various media players, torrent client, plex server and other misc apps the total is 22GB - thats impressive!
I dont know, maybe im tired after but it looks a little rough, on a Dell Ultrasharp, comparing to Monterey thats on a different NVME partition - same setup.
yet to see how it handles all icloud stuff, or Apple music with this old version of itunes,
tomorrow maybe,
would be happy if it ran plex server headless with a stack of USB storage in the long run, the rest is optional

that Mavericks website you linked is a goldmine!
 
I also have a collection of retro devices, including Mac computers. I really like the look of the Maverick. But using old technology every day is inconvenient, and museum pieces need to be preserved.

Running old programs and games on them is fine, but it's usually of little interest to guests. You can also store and display HTML pages and documents from past years. Old news looks especially cool on old devices. Collections of photos, videos, and memes popular during the era of these technologies are also appropriate.
 
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I’ve been using Macs since around OS 5 or 6. Most of my stuff is done on an iPad these days but we also have a four or five year old iMac running the current version of OS26. Over the years I’ve watched the gradual decline in the aesthetics of the Mac OS. I came across a website that really depressed me the other day, it documented all the old versions of the Mac OS and you can see graphically how it got worse. We also have a rarely used 2011 iMac running the highest version of the OS it’s capable of. I’m now contemplating wiping it and running Mavericks on it as it’s one of the nicest looking versions of the Mac OS. I’m not sure yet how I’ll do this as I’ve not messed with this type of stuff for many years.
 
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i have the same MBP as you and yeah it's awesome on 10.9, it feels so fast lol

although my ryzen pc running Windows 7 takes the cake for feeling fast, that thing is lightspeed lmao
 
princess alyssa said:
A couple years ago (2024), I began wanting to get an old Mac collection, and I got a 2010 Mac Mini from an ewaste store. Ever since I discovered older OS X versions, I wanted to try them out!

I hated the modern state of Windows (and still do), and Linux I can never make feel...comfy for my high standards. It always feels too out-there for me, I can never make it feel right. I eventually settled on OS X Mavericks, which I daily drove on and off for a while, but after I graduated high school in Late-2025, I went fully into it! And now I daily drive Mavericks on a Mid-2014 MacBook Pro! Granted yes I still use modern macOS (cough cough, Tah*e), but its strictly for work, on my work device.

View attachment 2615185Firstly I want to say...wow. Newer OS'es really mess with your perception on what a "good" computer and OS is. After switching to Mavericks, everything just...clicks for me now. Nothing feels out of place, imperfect, or wrong, and it feels like new on even the oldest hardware Mavericks supports!! (i tried this on some of my 2009/2010 macs years ago) Granted yes there are things I still don't like about Mavericks, but you can change them here, such as the Notification Centre (replaced with Mountain Lion ver).

There is also the fact that such an old OS X version is usable in 2026, which is kinda funny since Mac versions tend to lose support almost instantly after Apple drops them, which is, at max, 3 years after release. Sure I do use older versions of programs (except Firefox, which is a modern backport called Firefox Dynasty), but it doesn't mess with my workflow at all! In fact its probably better because its not tied to some b.s. subscription.

There is probably more id like to talk about, but I might save it for another post under this thread. Feel free to post your thoughts and/or experiences on OS X Mavericks too!! If you want to do something like this, I highly, HIGHLY reccomend using websites like Mavericks Forever ( https://mavericksforever.com/ ) and the Macintosh Garden ( https://macintoshgarden.org/ ), as there are lots of Mavericks-compatable software, patches, etc!

Thank you for reading!! ♡♡
Click to expand...
what browser do you use?
 
Thanks for that, I’ll have a look out for one. Can the batteries be swapped out on either of those models?
 
Bill21 said:
Thanks for that, I’ll have a look out for one. Can the batteries be swapped out on either of those models?
Click to expand...
Not officially, no, but it's not a particularly difficult repair. I've had the battery in my Macbook Air replaced twice. (By a repair shop in my case because I'm not handy at all, but if you are you can do it.)
 
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Aesthetically IMO, Mavericks is right up there. I really wish you could make more current OS’s look like this.
When I look back at iPad OS it too was much better looking than the current version. I’m not sure who’s in charge of aesthetics at Apple but I hope they’re replaced soon with someone better. If I wanted something awful looking I’d run Windows! 😆
 
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I need some help … I have an old late 2009 iMac that I’ve erased the internal HD. I downloaded a bootable copy of Mavericks 10.9.5 on my new iMac and copied it to a USB stick. I’ve managed to boot the 2009 iMac from the USB stick but I can’t install a copy on the internal drive. It wants me to log into my Apple account and then comes up with an error:

IMG_1304.jpeg


What am I doing wrong?
 
Ok, after a couple of restarts and trying to install on the internal HD it seems to be working ok now but I can’t get the HD to appear on the desktop. It shows in disc utility and the finder but I can’t see any way to get it to appear on the desktop? Any ideas.

Edit: Ok, sorted now …

I’d really forgotten just how good Mavericks looks in the flesh.
 
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