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New to Apple - questions on updating the OS

D

dmt43

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 28, 2023
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Hi! I am lifelong Windows user, new to Apple since August. I have a Macbook 15” M2. I have not updated to Sonoma. I want to do that now. Is there anything I should know or do before I do that? I have Time Machine backups.

I am looking for Apple users’ experiences and feedback - are there any “gotchas” or things I need to/should know prior to updating my Macbook software? thank you! Donna
 
welcome onboard. if you've done TM backup, just update, very straightforward

Good luck and enjoy.
 
It's pretty straight forward. Time Machine backup is fine. I'm also still Windows user for gaming and I use Macrium for backup. So when it came to Mac I discovered CarbonCopyCloner as an equivalent. But otherwise just backup and you should be good to go to update.
 
thank you both! Your feedback is much appreciated !
 
just make sure first that your essential 3rd-party apps support Sonoma. for example, some Adobe products - most notably InDesign - don't fully support Sonoma yet.
 
zevrix said:
just make sure first that your essential 3rd-party apps support Sonoma. for example, some Adobe products - most notably InDesign - don't fully support Sonoma yet.
Click to expand...
thanks, I did not think of checking my apps.
 
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Yep, apple provides much easier upgrades and is very straight forward, much faster!

what is great about  updates are unlike Miscosoft, there are not $ catches to purchase their cloud service.

Friday I had to upgrade a Lenovo laptop and what a nosebleed!
they had a "click here" ad for Microsoft cloud storage plan in the center.
I wonder how many users get tricked into purchasing cloud space with that horrible tactic?
 
It’s great to hear Apple updates are easier and NOT like MS : D

I never saw ads for storage plans or anything else during updates…… but there were certainly plenty of other issues over the years!!! It is a very deceptive tactic - many vendors use it though. I accidentally purchased Walmart + when placing an order one time and I consider myself very computer savvy! I agree, it is horrible!
 
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dmt43 said:
It’s great to hear Apple updates are easier and NOT like MS : D

I never saw ads for storage plans or anything else during updates…… but there were certainly plenty of other issues over the years!!! It is a very deceptive tactic - many vendors use it though. I accidentally purchased Walmart + when placing an order one time and I consider myself very computer savvy! I agree, it is horrible!
Click to expand...
I did and should have screen shot, or photographed that.
what a deceptive means of screwing older people!
 
The early releases of a major update tend to have bugs. It's worth it to look through the thread for the exact version you'd update to and see if you're happy to live with the known bugs.

That is, if upgrading to a dev beta read through the bugs here: macOS 14.2 Beta 4 - Bug fixes, changes, and more
If updating to a public version look through these:
macOS 14.1.2 - Bug fixes, Changes and more
macOS 14.1.1 - Bug fixes, changes, and more
macOS 14 - supported/unsupported apps

Gotcha is that there's no way to downgrade without restoring from a backup or doing a clean install. So if you upgrade, do work for a week, decide you need to downgrade, then you'll need to backup any files that you created within the week since.

My preference is to periodically check for when the os stabilizes and upgrade then (usually the 14.2 release, sometimes the 14.3 release).
 
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ibash said:
The early releases of a major update tend to have bugs. It's worth it to look through the thread for the exact version you'd update to and see if you're happy to live with the known bugs.

That is, if upgrading to a dev beta read through the bugs here: macOS 14.2 Beta 4 - Bug fixes, changes, and more
If updating to a public version look through these:
macOS 14.1.2 - Bug fixes, Changes and more
macOS 14.1.1 - Bug fixes, changes, and more
macOS 14 - supported/unsupported apps

Gotcha is that there's no way to downgrade without restoring from a backup or doing a clean install. So if you upgrade, do work for a week, decide you need to downgrade, then you'll need to backup any files that you created within the week since.

My preference is to periodically check for when the os stabilizes and upgrade then (usually the 14.2 release, sometimes the 14.3 release).
Click to expand...
I agree with this and that's what I do also. It did not help me to wait until the *.1 release one year when the upgrade to the new OS bricked my Mac. I had not been running beta software either. The good news is that my time machine backup saved me. After the Apple Store wiped my Mac I was able to restore my data from the Time Machine backup and it was like nothing had ever happened. That was the only time that has happened to me and every other OS upgrade has been fine.

You're doing good having a backup before you upgrade.
 
dmt43 said:
Hi! I am lifelong Windows user, new to Apple since August. I have a Macbook 15” M2. I have not updated to Sonoma. I want to do that now. Is there anything I should know or do before I do that? I have Time Machine backups.

I am looking for Apple users’ experiences and feedback - are there any “gotchas” or things I need to/should know prior to updating my Macbook software? thank you! Donna
Click to expand...
Having used Linux for quite a while, and being somewhat reckless, I installed Sonoma Beta as soon as I could, and went on from there. Now on Sonoma 14.1.2. Everything works well. Mine is a 2018 model 15" MacBook Pro with dual graphics.
 
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chmania said:
Having used Linux for quite a while, and being somewhat reckless, I installed Sonoma Beta as soon as I could, and went on from there. Now on Sonoma 14.1.2. Everything works well. Mine is a 2018 model 15" MacBook Pro with dual graphics.
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thank you!
 
dmt43 said:
I upgraded to 14.2 a few days ago. Also no problems. ; )
Click to expand...
that's good to hear! i am considering it as i am still on Ventura on my 2021 MBP

are there any big changes you are excited about with Sonoma?
 
i4k20c said:
that's good to hear! i am considering it as i am still on Ventura on my 2021 MBP

are there any big changes you are excited about with Sonoma?
Click to expand...
I haven’t checked it all out yet, it’s on my list ! ; )
 
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