Should I upgrade to Sierra?

[leo.andres.21]

I am still on my 15 inch macbook pro from 2011. Thankfully, the GPU hasn't acted up so badly that I needed a replacement. Since I've bought this, I have upgraded to every new macOS updates, and while I regretted Lion and Mountain Lion, Mavericks and El Capitan had been great updates with respects to performance and usability for me. This time around with Sierra, I have no idea how updating would improve my experiences?
- I have limited access to continuity features because 2011 macbooks do not have bluetooth 4.0
- I don't have apple pay where I live anyway
- I rarely use iCloud drive, but I like having my computer automatically backing up my documents for use on more devices (though I already have dropbox for this) I don't save things on my desktop, I hate the clutter
- I don't have an apple watch
- I never use siri
So the only thing that I regularly use would be the photo app update (but I already have this with my phone) and messages (does this mean I won't be able to see/send the effects in imessage?)

 

[h9826790]

My Mac is even older than your, it's from 2009, don't even have Wi-Fi, but Sierra works very well so far on the basic task. For me, the most important factor is not those extra fancy functions, but how reliable the OS is. I went through lots of Betas (most of them are for testing purpose, not necessary my primary OS), this Sierra GM is the most stable GM I've ever try. And I was comfortable enough to make it my primary OS now. However, this experience only applicable on my Mac, YMMV. Just one single bad driver for your hardware can make Sierra the worst experience for you. And my machine is the Mac Pro, so, nothing similar to your MBP.

 

[RumorzGuy]

Similar to h9826790, I am not really into all of the fancy bells and whistles that Apple keeps adding to its OS. For example, I likewise have very little use for Siri. I am not deep into music -- very rarely ever listen -- or photography -- I have a collection, but I am not constantly messing with it -- or any of the other stuff that Apple constantly promotes as fantastic improvements in its apps and products. In short, I am a very basic Mac user, with a pretty much fixed daily routine, and the apps which I use, which are actually quite a few.

However, there are some very good reasons to always upgrade if and when your machine is compatible with the upgrade:

• stability improvements
• security improvements
• bug fixes

As I have mentioned before, Apple products increasingly become targets for hackers, botnets, etc., particularly if you have an "always on" Internet connection -- such as a cable modem -- so it pays to keep on top of such things. Upgrading your system will accomplish exactly that.

Ever since the betas, I have found macOS Sierra to be very stable on my early 2009 24" iMac. Only one of my many apps has been negatively affected by it, and that app is even now being worked on by its developers.

Upgrading OSes is obviously a very personal choice. Only you can decide, but consider the aforementioned three reasons.

 

[grahamperrin]

… I rarely use iCloud drive, but I like having my computer automatically backing up my documents for use on more devices …

Will your rare uses ever include the iCloud Drive Desktop and Documents Folders feature and if so, will you ever entrust documents to iCloud Drive?

I understand that you prefer a clutter-free desktop but at the moment, there's a question mark around the feature.