(POLL) How is Big Sur running on the 2020 iMacs?

[decypher44]

Very curious to get your opinions on Big Sur on your 2020 iMac. I have it running on an old MBP as a guinea pig for now before I take the plunge with my iMac. So far on the MBP, things seem to be working. I had planned on a full test yesterday, but the update snafu kind of hindered that. Really wanting to try it on my 27".


So, all you new iMac owners that are running Big Sur - How do you like it? Any issues (aside from the opinion on the UI) ?

 

[quatermass]

I've just about wrangled mine into a shape I can work with it, so I'm very wary about installing a New Mk 1 OS... something's bound to stop working just when I need it, so I'll wait for a bit and see what the general feel is. I will upgrade, but not today.

 

[retta283]

Runs well on my 3.6GHz i9 with 16GB RAM and the 8GB 5700. Speed is about on par with Catalina for me. No machine specific bugs so far, I did see Safari eating a lot of RAM on idle last night but it hasn't done it since then, I will report back if does again. I have only seen a few inconsistencies with the UI that are not a bug.

 

[decypher44]

Runs well on my 3.6GHz i9 with 16GB RAM and the 8GB 5700. Speed is about on par with Catalina for me. No machine specific bugs so far, I did see Safari eating a lot of RAM on idle last night but it hasn't done it since then, I will report back if does again. I have only seen a few inconsistencies with the UI that are not a bug.

I’ve seen some reports of memory leak with Big Sur. Wondering what’s going on with that. I’m hopeful it’ll be addressed in the next update. Thanks for the info!

 

[rjtiedeman]

What about iMac Pro 2017. Will the Big Sur update slow it down or bump up the speed. Every upgrade I expect my 10 core machine to get better Geek Bench Scores and run smoother. The dream has not happened yet.

 

[oneafour]

installation was awful. I felt like I was trying to complete a hackintosh, but after a night of re-formating/partitioning/first aid/etc it magically decided to work.

so far im glad to report thinkorswim seems to be working swimmingly.

 

[decypher44]

installation was awful. I felt like I was trying to complete a hackintosh, but after a night of re-formating/partitioning/first aid/etc it magically decided to work.

so far im glad to report thinkorswim seems to be working swimmingly.

Sorry to hear that the install was such a nightmare! Have you heard the same from others? I know that the upgrade I did on my old MBP went ok (after all the download snafu was fixed).

 

[oneafour]

idk but I definitely recommend to have a backup before upgrading.

 

[costica1234]

I love the new update. The corner issue on the 2020 iMac seems to be fixed and it's great that they've finally added the ability to watch 4K video on Safari (however, this is hidden in the 'Develop' menu under 'Experimental Features' -> 'VP9 SW decoder on battery').

The only issue I found is that my Automator workflows no longer work in Safari 14. I had a couple of 'Services' that helped me add tags around selected text whenever I was invoking a shortcut in a text box / text field. The good news is that I can do the same thing using Alfred workflows, so it's just a matter of porting the Automator workflows to Alfred. Not ideal, but gets the job done.

Apart from this, I really like the new UI. Feels super fresh and I don't mind the iOS-like icons. The new wallpapers are very nice, too.

 

[decypher44]

idk but I definitely recommend to have a backup before upgrading.

Stupid question: Is my Time Machine backup good enough? This is the first time I've used TM. I know I seen people talk about CCC and other programs, but not sure if they are needed, or would TM work?

 

[USB3foriMac]

Is my Time Machine backup good enough? This is the first time I've used TM. I know I seen people talk about CCC and other programs, but not sure if they are needed, or would TM work?

Boot from your TM backup. If all works, TM is fine. I have been using it for years, never had any issue, not a single problem, and always worked. I'm also wondering about certain people swearing on CCC and damning TM...

 

[decypher44]

I'm somewhat of an impatient man (understatement lol), so this morning, I installed Big Sur. Got everything set for YouTube 4k playback. It works. Checked Netflix, it plays 4k. However, the first run-through with Netflix caused a weird glitch. It split the screen in two, side-by-side. I couldn't get it to un-glitch, so I rebooted and tried again. Now it works well.

So far, there are some bugs. Expected, sadly. I remember back in the day, things worked as they should. But I understand that now, we live in a more complex world, where our various computers have to work with far more third-party software than ever before. There will be some snags.

 

[Traverse]

I won't vote in your poll as I only have a 2017 iMac, but for me Big Sur has run identically to Catalina with a slight edge toward Big Sur for app launches (on Catalina, sometimes apps would randomly hang on startup). The animation for Notification Center can be a big jagged, but other than it's been fine. So I'd assume that a 2020 iMac with increased CPU/GPU performance should be fine as well.

 

[SRQrws]

Very curious to get your opinions on Big Sur on your 2020 iMac. I have it running on an old MBP as a guinea pig for now before I take the plunge with my iMac. So far on the MBP, things seem to be working. I had planned on a full test yesterday, but the update snafu kind of hindered that. Really wanting to try it on my 27".


So, all you new iMac owners that are running Big Sur - How do you like it? Any issues (aside from the opinion on the UI) ?

I got caught up in the early adopter install error messages, but waited until Friday the 13th and tried again. installation went fine. Enjoyed playing around with some of the new settings with control center, etc. The only thing Big Sur broke so far was being able to use an old Brother QL500 labelmaker. Per the Brother site, a Big Sur driver won't be available until January. No biggie -- it's not like a need to print labels all day. My HP Color LaserJet moved over just fine. Office 365 appears to be working as usual. Other than that, not much to report.

 

[retta283]

I guess it's worth noting too that Big Sur does not support my HP Deskjet F335 at all, not even the scanner part. Didn't work with Catalina either so it's not unique to Big Sur. One issue I have had that I did not in Catalina is my Music app is really crackly at times, I've yet to find the reason for this, it's completely random.

 

[decypher44]

I guess it's worth noting too that Big Sur does not support my HP Deskjet F335 at all, not even the scanner part. Didn't work with Catalina either so it's not unique to Big Sur. One issue I have had that I did not in Catalina is my Music app is really crackly at times, I've yet to find the reason for this, it's completely random.

Oh, that sucks. Hopefully the next update can fix those, or better yet, maybe an incremental fix will be sent out. That would help you sooner!

Like I was saying earlier, I used my old rMBP to test for a bit before I did my new iMac. First thing I tested was printing to my HP Envy. There are (unfortunately) several times when I actually need to print something. I’m lucky it’s working. I haven’t had issues with music yet - knock on wood.

 

[retta283]

Oh, that sucks. Hopefully the next update can fix those, or better yet, maybe an incremental fix will be sent out. That would help you sooner!

Like I was saying earlier, I used my old rMBP to test for a bit before I did my new iMac. First thing I tested was printing to my HP Envy. There are (unfortunately) several times when I actually need to print something. I’m lucky it’s working. I haven’t had issues with music yet - knock on wood.

My specific printer has been problematic for the last 5 OS versions, it worked in El Cap then only partially in Sierra, High Sierra broke it completely, Mojave fixed it mostly, Catalina it only works as a scanner, and in Big Sur it does not work at all. It is 15 years old. I do all my printing on the Windows side (work) so it's not a major issue, but it can be convenient to have a Mac-ready printer on the rare occasion I need to print something that's not work-related.