OS X El Capitan Reviews: 'Solid as a Rock' and a Worthy Update Thanks to Performance Improvements

[KoolAid-Drink]

It's not the same without John Siracusa's traditional review they still have a review up at Arstechnica, but it's written by someone else. Doesn't have the same feel to it

 

[iMcLovin]

THere are a couple of bugs in Photoshop after upgrading to El Capitan GM, but other than that everything else is way better.

 

[macduke]

Eh, blah to Snow Leopard. Tiger was the best version of OS X ever! It was the only version of OS X that was perfect out of the box from launch without any big fix updates. Snow Leopard was crap until 10.6.3.

I started on Leopard but I've heard the tale of the mighty Tiger! Technically I used some really early version in a class in like 9th or 10th grade, maybe Puma? All I know is that it was really early OS X and it was kinda glitchy. There were also two Mac nerds in my class who just wouldn't shut up about how amazing the genie effect was. If I'm being completely honest, it's probably those two fanboys that kept me away from Macs for years. But to be honest they were complete hosers so there was probably some kind of transference of emotions towards the things they liked. Too bad for me but it's not like I really had the money for Macs back then.

 

[vmachiel]

I love how spoiled we are now. "A modest upgrade" after last year's Yosemite. We used to wait 2 year for an update and pay 129 dollars for it!

 

[ooo]

This time I am waiting before upgrading. The last two times were disasters, taking up a whole day each.

Apple: you guys had better bloody have made the installer more robust. No more of the busted file ownership crap, m'k?



Are you sure the pop isn't simply a static discharge - I get that sometimes from the fan forcing hot dry air over the aluminium chassis of my Mac.

Don't think it is, since it doesn't explain the audio going in and out. I have my external speakers set on max and the volume at 100% and it's barely above 50-70db (air conditioner noise).

I use external speakers without issues.

I'll give it another try with a different set of speakers / try them on another machine. I definitely wasn't having any issues prior to install el capitan. Will report back!

 

[Manderby]

Performance will be better compared to a turd like Yosemite, but I bet it's way behind Snow Leopard or even Mountain Lion.

In my opinion, only the startup time lags behind SL. Everything else is pretty impressive. Overall a very smooth experience. And this is a comparison of the two systems on 2010 Laptops, Core2Duo. Of course, 4GB RAM are mandatory.

 

[boast]

My USB soundcard stopped working and my Logitech camera no longer works with FaceTime.

If it is just me, I am guessing my bug reports will be ignored...

 

[lunarworks]

Apple should bring back color labels and scroll arrows.

Scroll arrows?

What an odd request.

 

[milo]

Lots of third party plugins not working in Logic X, looks like Apple changed something fairly major with those. Plenty of Logic users will be waiting weeks or months to do the update.

Ars Technica review isn't from John Siracusa? I'm sure there's plenty of detail but that's still disappointing.

And any confirmation if the GM candidate is what's going public tomorrow?

 

[hiphopdan]

I'm a professional musician, and tried the DP's and public betas as soon as I could get my hands on them. Unfortunately, I dealt with MAJOR problems ranging from poor performance to repeated, constant crashing on some of my most needed programs. Had no probs with Yosemite.

Really wish I could upgrade right now but def gonna have to wait for these issues to be resolved with Serato and USB audio....

 

[xgman]

10.11.1 beta 2 is out today. Wonder what it fixes from 10.11 release... Seems odd that whatever fixes would not be released in the final tomorrow but I guess they want more testing first.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Cool. I may give that a go. Is it easy to do? I'm no tech expert but have tinkered with replacing hard drives in Mac books in the past.

It was pretty easy, but I have been doing computers since the 80's. I went ahead and got this kit, it is straightforward and easy. You do have to take pretty much everything out but I prefer having it this way than booting on usb.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BJ8U3OU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00

You do not have to get this kit with the tools to do it, but when I did mine the other kits were less than 10.00 less and it was worth it.

If you are not technically challenged you should be able to do it, I printed out the instructions from the ifixit website. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

It was probably 30 minutes taking it slow and easy, I'm getting old and everything I do now is slow and easy.

This. I'm running a 500GB Samsung EVO via external USB 3.0 in my Mac Mini 2014 - it's as fast as my Macbook Air.

I can't say this enough, anyone running a spinner with yosemite is missing out. There was a guy in the mini forum that kept saying the ssd was more than enough, he wound up putting an ssd in and quickly proclaimed it was a world of difference.

 

[Michael M. Hughes]

Good question: What applications are broken by this update?
I see very little activity on Roaring Apps.

Time Machine backups today!

Outlook 2011 is broken. Really hoping for a fix soon.

You know that Office 2011 is Microsoft product and NOT Apples, right? Office 2011 issues needed be forwarded to Microsoft...

Of course. But a lot of people are forced to rely upon Outlook (like me). So it seems like a nice thing to do to let others know that El Cap will break their primary email app.

 

[gatekeeper6838]

I have no doubt most OSes will be secured like iOS within 5-10 years, because 99% of the population will want devices to just run apps on. This is the way it's going.

There will always be those 1% of devices people like us can use, but things will be locked down for the majority of systems.

Another car analogy How open were cars from the 1890s to 1950s? You could work on whatever you wanted. Today, cars are extremely hard to change and fix. They've gone from open to closed.

This is a good analogy but not a perfect one. Cars are *almost* pure hardware (obviously this will change soon) while computers have both hardware and software.

From a hardware perspective, this analogy is pretty close to reality; more and more devices are being made which aren't meant to be modified or upgraded in any way. The major exception to this is, of course, the custom PC market where enthusiasts build their own PC's from scratch.

From a software perspective, we still have a great deal of freedom. Sure, the corporately developed operating systems like Mac OS and Windows are being locked down, but there is plenty of free software and open source code out there that we can put on our systems (even our Macs) such as Linux that allows for total freedom. When it comes to software, anything goes.

 

[Toltepeceno]

Of course. But a lot of people are forced to rely upon Outlook (like me). So it seems like a nice thing to do to let others know that El Cap will break their primary email app.

Ignore the defensive applebots, it's for the best. They perceive everything as an attack on apple.

 

[Edgar Spayce]

It's heretically crazy how you can't trust any tech medias these days: they don't nuance, they don't critic, they don't give facts, they don't even try to manipulate, they straight out do the advertisement propaganda job for companies.

As usual stupid people will be the first to update and wonder why their computer got screwed while the other will either wait to see if it's better or stay on Snow Leopard if their computer is to old for these update's planned obsolescence scheme not to ruin their Macs.

And after 15 years of using Mac, since I got screwed by buying a brand new 2015 Macbook Pro that is already lagging, bugging, and sometimes freezing, especially the GUI, if El Capitan doesn't even bother to fix theses, I'm changing all the office computer back to Windows and switching back for the first time since I was young.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

All future OS X and iOS releases need to be this balance of new features + maintenance tweaks.

 

[allanfries]

Nice to see apple back on track. Looking forward to this update.

 

[kazmac]

Really hoping this alleviates the reflux that Mavericks and Yosemite constantly give my 2010 iMac. I'm okay with not having certain features available, and I know the internals are aging. After two years of freezes, beachballs etc. and nearly bricking the machine twice, all I ask is for some stability and less freezes / beachballs.

I am 100% for stability and security too. That should be a given with any OS anyway.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Could anyone running the latest beta verify with certainty:

• Will it run Adobe CS 5.5 programs with no issues?
• Will it run Pages '09 with no issues?

Earlier betas had some trouble with these and I'm wondering if these are working now or if 10.9.5 or maybe 10.10 is the last OS for those 2?

For those who want to come back pitching upgrades, I need Pages 09 for the DTP side of that program (something the "new" and "improved" version of Pages can't match). And I'd rather use Adobe 5.5 than get on the subscription program for Creative Cloud.

I have heard that Mavericks will run both with no big issues. Can anyone on the final incarnation of Mavericks confirm that too?

Thanks for any reliable answers.

 

[RedGala]

By the image in this post, it looks like theres another new iTunes logo? Ewwwww..

yeah its looks horrible!

 

[Zeusz]

Could anyone please confirm if the same Photos library can be accessed from multiple user accounts in El Capitan? This would be crucial as both my wife and I would like to access a shared family library between us from our own respective accounts.

Anyone has experience with this?

 

[MistrSynistr]

From a Graphic Designer/Photographer standpoint, all my apps work (Adobe CC's, Affinity, etc) and the OS is almost as snappy as an SSD. I still have a 7200 in my 2013 iMac that's getting replaced in a week with a Samsung EVO.

 

[Toltepeceno]

All I can think of when I hear "Solid as a rock."

I guess I'm old, this is what i think of.

 

[dave_guitar_thompson]

Following the release of the golden master version of OS X 10.11 El Capitan to developers earlier in the month, the first reviews for the newest iteration on Apple's desktop operating system have begun to hit this morning, ahead of the wide public release tomorrow, September 30. After testing El Capitan for a few weeks, most sites agree that while OS X 10.11 isn't a massive overhaul, its performance enhancements and speed boosts make upgrading to the free new OS essentially a no-brainer.

Macworld calls El Capitan "solid as a rock," noting improvements to features like Mission Control and the introduction of Split View as big positives. Overall, Macworld views the upgrade as "routine", a welcome refresh amid Apple's continued push towards performance and security improvements.Engadget gives El Capitan an 87/100 score, calling it a "modest update" after Yosemite last year, but with solid new introductions like multitasking and noticeable improvements to Spotlight, Safari, and Photos. In particular, the site points out the exciting possibilities that will come from the addition of third-party extensions for Photos, allowing users to take advantage of the editing tools of other photo apps within Apple's own Photos experience. The Verge commented on the small but noticeable improvements brought by El Capitan, such as the ability to pin tabs in Safari and even mute them from the address bar, which the site says should cause Google Chrome users to give Apple's browser another look. Overall, The Verge views OS X 10.11 as Apple's evolutionary in-house solution for a handful of problems and shortcomings third-party software has addressed over the years, making the update feel both minor and substantial at the same time. Everyone will be able to get in on experiencing El Capitan for themselves starting tomorrow, when the new version of OS X launches for the public. Before the update goes live, a handful of other sites have posted reviews for El Capitan, including: The Wall Street Journal, The Next Web, CNET, and SlashGear. For a more technical overview of OS X El Capitan, Ars Technica also has an excellent review.

Article Link: OS X El Capitan Reviews: 'Solid as a Rock' and a Worthy Update Thanks to Performance Improvements

Macworld may call El Capitan 'Solid as a rock', though I have had a number of DSP developer's contact me recently to tell me that their products are not yet El Capital compatible. AVID have stated that pro tools is not el capitan compatible, and Arturia, and Native instruments have both sent me emails informing me that some of their programs have compatibility issues. I'm not updating until I'm certain that at least these three issues have been resolved.

Personally I have a lot of plugins which all need to work, I'm not jumping into a new boat until I know for certain all the holes have been filled. Especially after the yosemite experience.