SIERRA VS EL CAPITAN: performance

[Retromac2008]

I read opposite reports, is it depending from the age of the mac?

pls wrote your config and if you prefer Sierra

I left all my macs with El Capitan

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I read opposite reports, is it depending from the age of the mac?

Yes. macOS Sierra is more optimized for modern Macs, than previous versions. OS X El Capitan included, for example Haswell-specific optimizations (system libraries) which are not available on older processor architectures.

I left all my macs with El Capitan

Good idea!

 

[iarora]

Yes. macOS Sierra is more optimized for modern Macs, than previous versions. OS X El Capitan included, for example Haswell-specific optimizations (system libraries) which are not available on older processor architectures.


Good idea!

Is it a good idea to downgrade to EL Captain on my MacBook pro early 2011?

 

[Smellmet]

I'm running El Cap on a late 2015 5k imac with 4GHz i7, 16GB RAM, and AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4096MB. Basically 16GB of RAM away from being the top dog maxed out imac you can buy. What I need to know is will Sierra slow my machine down, or possibly even speed it up? I've usually updated the new OS almost immediately after release with little problems, the only one being was choppy graphics performance in Yosemite. El Cap seems to be running very nicely indeed on this machine and I don't want to take a backwards step in terms of performance.

 

[elf69]

I used to have a late 2009 unibody macbook.

it had 8gb ram and 240gb ssd.
it ran El capitan very well an smooth.
Had no problems at all.

But when Sierra was released I upgraded and after indexing completed it again ran very smooth, booted a little quicker than El Capitan and I had longer run time on battery with sierra.

I personally prefer sierra ove El capitan.
But El capitan is good and I am using it right now.

Sadly my 2007 macbook pro cannot run Sierra

 

[redheeler]

@Smellmett Running Sierra on mine since GM. No problems with performance.

Also running it on an upgraded mid 2010 Mac Pro since release. I did have issues with dual GPUs (GTX 970 + GT 120) in Safari, but that was fixed in the latest version.

Another Mac I have running Sierra is close to the minimum supported, a mid 2010 white MacBook. I didn't try El Capitan on this Mac, but with an SSD + 8 GB RAM Sierra performance is definitely acceptable.

And before it died, I had it installed on my unsupported late 2008 MacBook Air. In terms of performance, the early betas were terrible. But the release version was about the same as El Capitan, which is to say, not great due to the underpowered nature of the hardware and only 2 GB RAM.

 

[MysticCow]

I prefer Sierra over El Capitan, but prefer Windows 10 over BOTH of them. Win 10 is just snappier to me than either of the macOS-es.

Commence the torches and pitchforks...

 

[pika2000]

Although all my Mac are running Sierra now, I do think el capitan is smoother in general.
Sierra feels more sluggish for me, especially on older Macs. The reduce motion helps a bit though. Overall, there's no show stoppers per se (unlike the buggy Yosemite).

 

[Smellmet]

I prefer Sierra over El Capitan, but prefer Windows 10 over BOTH of them. Win 10 is just snappier to me than either of the macOS-es.

Commence the torches and pitchforks...

Not from me. I use both platforms, and while Mac OS is pretty slick and polished, Windows 10 is not far behind at all, and is a pleasure to use over 8, even 7.

 

[grumpywino]

Although I prefer Sierra I have to admit I am impressed by Windows 10. I boot Sierra from an external ssd (was very sluggish on the internal 54000rpm drive) and use the internal drive for Windows 10 which does seem to run well enough for my needs.

 

[ncrypt]

I'm finding Sierra smoother on my mid-2014 15" rMBP with a 4K display connected. Significantly less lag using mission control and swiping between desktops both with and without the 4K display.

 

[Populus]

Sierra still has it's minor bugs, like graphical glitches with the interface and the absence of recent items when three finger swipe down on the dock icon, for instance. But when it comes to performance, I have no doubt: Sierra is the best OS since Mavericks. Everything moves butter smooth on my 7 year old MacBook Pro and it's old integrated nVidia 320M.

It provides one of the best battery duration as well.

 

[anubis1980]

2015 rmbp i7 2.5 16gb ram 512 ssd dgpu, sierra is sluggish and lags. Tried clean installs etc, no matter how many times i give it another try, its pants. Go back to El Cap and all is fine.

 

[eicca]

Sierra gave me a whole new crop of random crashes, interaction glitches and runaway processes. I find it a much less trustworthy OS than El Capitan.

 

[newlifer]

I have a 2011 macbook pro and I chose sierra to max out lifespan. I have upgraded my hard drive to an ssd and its as if I'm using a brand new machine...

 

[Razer(x)]

Surprised to see all these people stating Sierra is faster, wondering if it's placebo

 

[Kissmyne]

macOS Sierra is definitely faster than El Cap was on my MBP. Window animations and transitions are A LOT smoother. And App performance is either the same or better as well, the former being the more common scenario of course.

 

[MysticCow]

macOS Sierra is definitely faster than El Cap was on my MBP. Window animations and transitions are A LOT smoother. And App performance is either the same or better as well, the former being the more common scenario of course.

This has been my experience. App-wise, it's as fast if not a tiny bit (very tiny) faster than El Cap.

However, compared to Windows 10 right now, El Cap is still El Crap and Sierra is a molehill.

 

[OldGreyGuy]

Sierra was initially slow and then I realised that I can exclude my external drives from spotlight indexing. As my externals are merely backup drives (Time Machine and Synced copies) then there was no benefit to me, added those drives in the System preferences (Spotlight->Privacy) and it is as fast if not faster than El Cap.

 

[SoYoung]

I'm running El Cap on a late 2015 5k imac with 4GHz i7, 16GB RAM, and AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4096MB. Basically 16GB of RAM away from being the top dog maxed out imac you can buy. What I need to know is will Sierra slow my machine down, or possibly even speed it up? I've usually updated the new OS almost immediately after release with little problems, the only one being was choppy graphics performance in Yosemite. El Cap seems to be running very nicely indeed on this machine and I don't want to take a backwards step in terms of performance.

I also have a late 2015 5k iMac and the performance is essentially the same on Sierra. I see no difference, bad or good, its just feel the same.

 

[dogslobber]

I read opposite reports, is it depending from the age of the mac?

pls wrote your config and if you prefer Sierra

I left all my macs with El Capitan

Stick with el cap, folks. It's a beautiful thing.
[doublepost=1481688742][/doublepost]

However, compared to Windows 10 right now, El Cap is still El Crap and Sierra is a molehill.

Win10 is awesome. I hate myself for saying that as I feel unclean, but Win10 is streets ahead of OS X bloat ware.

 

[h9826790]

I am still with my 2009 Mac Pro (spec as per my signature). Sierra is more smooth then El Capitan, less bug for me as well.

On my own computer, 10.11 has USB 3.0 bug (unable to recognise my USB 3.0 hub, card reader), GPU bug (not 100% sure it's from GPU, keep working on this with Apple Engineer for few months, and but they believe it's the GPU driver's bug, but never confirmed and fix the issue), slow shut down bug (may take 5+ minutes to shut down).

With Sierra, USB normal, GPU normal, shut down normal......

And I didn't do any fresh installation since 10.7. So, if there is any "my own rubbish" in the system causing the 10.11 malfunction, all those rubbish should still on my machine now with Sierra.

However, what I realise is that Sierra definitely use more memory than El Capitan. May be my 48GB RAM helps, therefore my Mac can works better in Sierra.

 

[Ritsuka]

Smooth as El Capitan on my 2011 27" iMac (with a SSD).

 

[MysticCow]

Stick with el cap, folks. It's a beautiful thing.
[doublepost=1481688742][/doublepost]

Win10 is awesome. I hate myself for saying that as I feel unclean, but Win10 is streets ahead of OS X bloat ware.

Win 10 simply works. There just isn't a whole lot else to say on that front.

Win 10 simply works when compared to El Crap. It simply works compared to Molehill. And coming from someone who has been on the Mac since the PowerPC days, that is saying something!

 

[Stavros86]

2015 rmbp i7 2.5 16gb ram 512 ssd dgpu, sierra is sluggish and lags. Tried clean installs etc, no matter how many times i give it another try, its pants. Go back to El Cap and all is fine.

I have the same machine as you. I updated it yesterday, by performing a clean install and I am noticing a similar behaviour. It is not a speed issue. It boots as fast as El Capitan did, apps open equally fast; however, the animations (notification centre, launchpad, scrolling in Finder, etc) are a little bit sluggish.
In short, animations/transitions are not as smooth as they were in El Capitan.