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

[satcomer]

I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks before upgrading my main Mac because they have discovered an issue with my MIDI keyboard which is causing problems and will need a firmware update to fix it.

I can still go ahead on my MBP though so I won't be totally missing out.

With such Pro things it's best to wait for a little while on your production machine. You should contact the device manufacture and let them know it doesn't work using" you catch more more flies with honey" approach, you might get good results!

 

[SeaFox]

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

yeah its looks horrible!

I like how people get bent out of shape over the iTunes logo but are okay with the craptacular interface added in version 11.

 

[nexx27]

I've been running the GM and Spotlight indexing has not been near as good since I first came to Mac 5 years ago.

That's why I'm installing Windows 10 on my MBA.

Can't f#cking find emails!!!

Also, can't stomach lack of updates, Photos.app, lack of productivity apps (decent ms office and decent exchange mail client). Steve Jobs we missed you..

 

[scunacc]

A number of audio software vendors are reporting that El Capitan does not work with their software - AUs are not being validated, so *NOBODY* who does any professional audio work with MacOS - or even any amateur work that relies on any 3rd party plugins - which, unless you do everything in Logic alone is pretty much anyone doing audio on MacOS - should upgrade yet. AT ALL. It is *not*, apparently, rock solid for audio production. Major vendors like Native Instruments and Arturia among others sent out emails to their customers today mentioning this.

 

[felt.]

Strange that they didn't mention that AU plugins work just fine using Studio One 3 and as such El Capitan is usable, the problem is with auvaltool and logic pro x.

 

[Dangerwillrobinson]

Did they fix Safari's inability handle javascript very well? I get more beach balls with Safari than with Firefox or Chrome combined.

 

[aggri1]

I've been running the GM and Spotlight indexing has not been near as good since I first came to Mac 5 years ago.

I've had trouble with Spotlight since ... always. Sherlock, well, that actually worked. Often Spotlight can't find a file even after I open the folder the file is in and search IN THAT FOLDER. So unreliable that I only use it to open Applications.

 

[OllyW]

With such Pro things it's best to wait for a little while on your production machine. You should contact the device manufacture and let them know it doesn't work using" you catch more more flies with honey" approach, you might get good results!

It was the manufacturer who contacted me and advised I should wait for the firmware fix before upgrading.

 

[macsba]

Less than 10 hours 38 minutes to go...

 

[chromite]

How come everyone praises Snow Leopard? The reviews when it first came out were good but nothing extraordinary. It took many patches to iron out all the bugs that it launched with. If a comparison should be made, it should be with the same versions. Compare Snow Leopard at launch with El Capitan at launch. Not 10.6.8 and 10.11.0.

 

[hagar]

Anyone still having issues with Handoff?? I'm using the GM version with the public release 9.1 on my iPhone 6s+, not getting any handoff

You mean you got it work before on Yosemite and iOS8? Good for you, because for me it has been nothing but unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Without any explanation.

Problem is that if a power tool such as this is unreliable, I'm not using it after a while because I have to get work done, not hunt for solutions all the time. So it went the same way as Airdrop, Continuity and many other Apple only features that look good in theory but never fully materialised: never use it...

Maybe it will all be fixed in El Capitan. Who knows. Because while Yosemite looks good, it had many many bugs under the hood.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

I am on the GM and have issues with mail not responding and crashing. As I need mail I am not so happy. Besides that I am happy.

 

[navaira]

A number of audio software vendors are reporting that El Capitan does not work with their software - AUs are not being validated, so *NOBODY* who does any professional audio work with MacOS - or even any amateur work that relies on any 3rd party plugins - which, unless you do everyhing in Logic alone is pretty much anyone doing audio on MacOS - should upgrade yet. AT ALL. It is *not*, apparently, rock solid for audio production. Major vendors like Native Instruments and Arturia among others sent out emails to their customers today mentioning this.

Steinberg as well. The only music software that works for me is Reason and Audition. (Which doesn't see third party plugins.)

 

[felt.]

A number of audio software vendors are reporting that El Capitan does not work with their software - AUs are not being validated, so *NOBODY* who does any professional audio work with MacOS - or even any amateur work that relies on any 3rd party plugins - which, unless you do everyhing in Logic alone is pretty much anyone doing audio on MacOS - should upgrade yet. AT ALL. It is *not*, apparently, rock solid for audio production. Major vendors like Native Instruments and Arturia among others sent out emails to their customers today mentioning this.

https://www.native-instruments.com/...-beta-problems-crashing-logic-au-scan.261838/

 

[OllyW]

Major vendors like Native Instruments and Arturia among others sent out emails to their customers today mentioning this.

Just noticed the email from Arturia, that's another reason to hold off the upgrade.

 

[H2SO4]

"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."

That's what I want. Solid. Simple. Nothing Fancy. Not breaking my existing apps and work flow.

This. We all expect new features and performance improvements. What we don’t expect is the removal of Disk Utility or the altering of a system font to actually make life harder, or the default signing up to have all personal documents automatically stored in the cloud. A gushing review is worth nothing without knowing what we’ve lost and if that’s the case what it can be replaced with.

review |rɪˈvjuː|

1. a formal assessment of something with the intention of instituting change if necessary:
2. a critical appraisal of a book, play, film, etc. published in a newspaper or magazine.

 

[angelsevov]

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

Im even geting higher scores on geekbench on my mac pro. Multi-Core Score gave me 16100 (before 15980) and i got some improvement with Single-Core Score too..

 

[Winni]

Speed and stability are excellent.

Except for one app that most folks probably don't use: Outlook 2011. Beach ball city.

Sorry, but most folks who use a Mac at work most certainly use Outlook as well. The fact that El Capitan breaks Outlook is a deal-breaker for me and just shows how bad Apple's QA is. Outlook is one of the most important business apps and Apple releases an incompatible OS upgrade? Really? How can that happen? (That was rhetorical - Apple breaks compatibility with every new OS X upgrade; by now everybody knows that they don't give a damn.)

Office users will have to postpone the El Capitan upgrade until either Microsoft or Apple provide a fix for that problem.

 

[Lancer]

Those Photos extensions better support editing in Photoshop.

Yep, been waiting for this.

Plus it would be nice if you could sort your photo albums so the newest is at the top or what even order you want.

 

[darkknight14]

There is a new logo, but it doesn't look like that for me. It looks like this:

Yea thats what I see also currently.

 

[H2SO4]

Sorry, but most folks who use a Mac at work most certainly use Outlook as well. The fact that El Capitan breaks Outlook is a deal-breaker for me and just shows how bad Apple's QA is. Outlook is one of the most important business apps and Apple releases an incompatible OS upgrade? Really? How can that happen? (That was rhetorical - Apple breaks compatibility with every new OS X upgrade; by now everybody knows that they don't give a damn.)

Office users will have to postpone the El Capitan upgrade until either Microsoft or Apple provide a fix for that problem.

That was my worry. I’ve installed Office 2016. I’ll see how that fares.

 

[satcomer]

It was the manufacturer who contacted me and advised I should wait for the firmware fix before upgrading.

I'm getting a feeling that now with the new system protection SIP see the part of a review called OS X 10.11 El Captain ARS Technica Review. So that device drivers need really to rewrite their drivers for anything because they now need to only use X-Code now because their system tricks go get things to work isn't available anymore!

 

[=Alb=]

I'm debating upgrading. I'm still on Mavericks but it's starting to become outdated (Mavericks and iOS 9 don't sync completely with iCloud). I was on Yosemite for a few days but it was just slow, laggy and overheated my computer constantly.

Upgrade to Mountain Lion. Much better (unfortunately Snow Leopard has really few support nowadays).

 

[=Alb=]

How come everyone praises Snow Leopard? The reviews when it first came out were good but nothing extraordinary. It took many patches to iron out all the bugs that it launched with. If a comparison should be made, it should be with the same versions. Compare Snow Leopard at launch with El Capitan at launch. Not 10.6.8 and 10.11.0.

Because was the last real improved version of OS X. And optimized for efficiency. Up to Snow Leopard every new version of OS X was faster and better. After Snow Leopard it began the downgrade spiral. Lion was terrible, the first real downgrade of OS X in performance, functionality and realiability. Mountain Lion recovered much of the efficiency lost (but not all), so was a good upgrade. Mavericks introduced compressed memory and though I believed was a good thing for my old iMac maxed out af 4 GB, it was not. After a while it starts beachballing heavily and all the system slow down. Don't let me talk about the incredibly awful and slow Yosemite. With that system my love affair with Apple ends. I won't buy a new Mac anymore. This one El Captain. I've tryed. ****** as well.
Last good OS X is Mountain Lion for me because has still good support, even if Snow Leopard was the best one.

 

[Hurache Lights]

No colour labels no 'sale'. Ill cling to snow leopard forever so.