Tell me again why I should upgrade from Sierra to High Sierra...

[lambertjohn]

Got a 2015 MacBook Pro 15". Runs great. Zero issues. I use it for media consumption, writing and light Photoshop work. What exactly is High Sierra going to do for my MBP that Sierra doesn't? Speed? Stability? More colorful screen? Better Internet connection? Lighter weight? Invisibility? But seriously, what am I missing out on by not upgrading? I'm baffled by the whole High Sierra update.

 

[fisherking]

every update brings new options, bug fixes, new bugs, under-the-hood improvements. some people get happy, others... not. but when did we first tell you to upgrade? i mean, why should we have to tell you again??...

 

[Partron22]

If you've got zero issues, and no need for interesting new bugs to fuss over, stay where you are.
I've got it on an external HD, and have yet to have my socks blown off by it.
Maybe by 10.13.4?

 

[RabidMacFan]

For me, the biggest improvement in High Sierra is the Photos app. The new Photos app does better with face recognition and syncs better with iOS 11, and supports the new HEIC format. APFS doesn't change much, but where I noticed it most was when I created a couple copies of my photo library for trying to import it into the Photos app. In APFS, making a duplicate of a file doesn't take up any extra drive space, which was pretty significant since my photo library is 100+ GB.
Safari aslo has some neat privacy improvements, and I've started using it again.

If you don't feel you need any of these upgrades, you are probably fine waiting a couple months until all the bugs get cleaned up. At the moment, I don't think it's a MUST HAVE upgrade unless you feel like going ALL-IN with HEIC, which is still really early in it's adoption.

 

[eicca]

With the amount of trouble I've been seeing people having with this upgrade, and it does seem to be more than in the past, I will be sticking with my current operating system for the time being. 10.12.6 has been absolutely flawless.

 

[hawkeye_a]

I like performance/optimization upgrades (SnowLeopard being my all time favorite release). I would also like native HEVC.

However the jump to a new file system is extremely risky business, and ive heard that there are more issues than "normal", so I will be holding off until 10.13.3-ish.

 

[Martyimac]

In over 10 years, I have always upgraded to the new OS on release day. High Sierra is the first one I wish I had waited till at least the .1 version before upgrading. Most of my issues seem to be graphics related like all the menu bar icons greyed out when waking from sleep and not going back to normal appearance until clicking on an icon. Just this morning upon starting my 13" rMBP, the HD icon and all other desktop icons were missing, yes GONE. Restarting the finder did not bring them back. Hmmm how to access the other programs in the Application, etc folders? Tried a trick of changing my desktop wallpaper back to the original HS wall paper and Voila, all icons back and showing and working. Won't know until the next shutdown/startup sequence if this is the fix.

My opinion? Wait, and that has never been my opinion on any other OSX/MacOS release.

 

[xgman]

you want the truth? stick with what works.

 

[BenTrovato]

I upgrade because it's fun. It breaks a few things, makes others better. Then an update comes out and improves what was already working in the previous release. High Sierra loads my apps a lot faster. Word loads in 3 seconds now, on Sierra it was close to 10 seconds or what seemed like an eternity.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Old saying:
"If it ain't broke... don't fix it."

Does this apply to you?

 

[fisherking]

OP:

Old saying:
"If it ain't broke... don't fix it."

Does this apply to you?

if we all lived by that we'd all be on os x 10.3 or something. we have a choice, to stay current or fall behind. maybe there's no rush to upgrade, but it's worth it at some point. so, down the line, you're not 3 os's back, and sites won't open, or apps won't work, etc....

 

[Fishrrman]

fisherking wrote:
"if we all lived by that we'd all be on os x 10.3 or something. we have a choice, to stay current or fall behind. maybe there's no rush to upgrade, but it's worth it at some point. so, down the line, you're not 3 os's back, and sites won't open, or apps won't work, etc...."

What works for you may not work for me.

My 2006 white Intel iMac still does ok using 10.7 "Lion". There it stays (actually, can't go any "higher").

My 2010 MacBook Pro still has 10.6.8 running on it. Runs "good enough", so there it stays.

My 2015 MBPro came with El Capitan. It runs fine, and so long as it continues to do so, I think I'll just leave it there. It "does what I need".

My 2012 Mini came with Mountain Lion (10.8), and I left it there for 4 years. Just recently upgraded it to [again] El Capitan, and may leave it there for the rest of its useful lifespan.

To be clear, I use NONE of Apple's cloud apps, never once have I logged into iCloud (and no intention of ever doing so). I don't own any iOS devices, either.

Again, one's needs may determine "where one has to be" regarding the OS.
I'm fine with "where I am" right now.

 

[green86]

I'm baffled by the whole High Sierra update.

You don't have to upgrade. But, at the very least, High Sierra will receive updates longer then Sierra. By extension, your Mac will be kept more secure longer. Just because you can't see the benefits - or understand them - doesn't mean they aren't there.

I'm baffled why you want us to 'tell you' why it is better.

 

[phoneme]

because high sierra is higher?

 

[AeroZ]

I upgraded to High Sierra on launch (as I usually do with new macOS/OSX releases) but downgraded back to 10.12.6 a few days later. High Sierra is just too buggy. Better wait for bugs to be ironed out. Sierra is working flawlessly.

 

[fisherking]

I upgraded to High Sierra on launch (as I usually do with new macOS/OSX releases) but downgraded back to 10.12.6 a few days later. High Sierra is just too buggy. Better wait for bugs to be ironed out. Sierra is working flawlessly.

high sierra is too buggy... for you, not for everyone. do people really think that we all have the same hardware, software, and same experiences? HS is running beautifully here; not perfect, but pretty great.

 

[dogslobber]

Bit rot. The longer the OS goes without being upgraded then the bits start to go stale on the hard disk. As SSDs ares faster than spinners, SSDs go stale faster.

 

[simonsi]

I stayed on EC when Sierra came out (due to wanting a tablet driver update then time passed...), and had a hell of a time upgrading straight to 10.12.6 - several incompatible extensions weren't identified in that upgrade jump so I'm not doing that again.

HS installed and working fine...not even any cosmetic issues. I have it on both my 2011 MBP and 2011 iMac.

 

[EugW]

fisherking wrote:
"if we all lived by that we'd all be on os x 10.3 or something. we have a choice, to stay current or fall behind. maybe there's no rush to upgrade, but it's worth it at some point. so, down the line, you're not 3 os's back, and sites won't open, or apps won't work, etc...."

What works for you may not work for me.

My 2006 white Intel iMac still does ok using 10.7 "Lion". There it stays (actually, can't go any "higher").

My 2010 MacBook Pro still has 10.6.8 running on it. Runs "good enough", so there it stays.

My 2015 MBPro came with El Capitan. It runs fine, and so long as it continues to do so, I think I'll just leave it there. It "does what I need".

My 2012 Mini came with Mountain Lion (10.8), and I left it there for 4 years. Just recently upgraded it to [again] El Capitan, and may leave it there for the rest of its useful lifespan.

To be clear, I use NONE of Apple's cloud apps, never once have I logged into iCloud (and no intention of ever doing so). I don't own any iOS devices, either.

Again, one's needs may determine "where one has to be" regarding the OS.
I'm fine with "where I am" right now.

IMO, anything below 10.10 is seriously out of date. I bought a new (old) late 2008 MacBook specifically because my 10.7 early 2008 MacBook is so problematic in terms of software compatibility. I'm typing in High Sierra on that late 2008 MacBook right now actually.

I tried to give away a 10.6.8 2006 iMac, but nobody wanted it. Well, I don't really want it either. I may try Linux on it just for kicks though.

I now have 5 machines on High Sierra, including that 2008 MacBook and a 2009 MacBook Pro that aren't supported officially. I did it mainly for HEVC and HEIC format compatibility.

El Capitan is fine though for most usage (aside from the file format compatibility).

Also, if you do upgrade, it can make sense to wait for 10.13.2 or whatever.

 

[nilk]

If it's a machine I do work on, I usually wait at least 3 months before upgrading to a major macOS release, often times more than that (6 months is typical).

For my home, non-work machine, I'm going to upgrade later this month for the Photos app improvements, but I'm finishing up some video editing (FCP X) projects before I do that.

 

[Analog Kid]

I never understand these "tell me why I should' threads.

It's really not up to us to convince you, or anyone, to take action. The only "common good" argument is protection from malware, but Sierra will receive security updates for a while yet. As long as that's true, it doesn't matter to the rest of the world whether you upgrade or not. The update is free. Take it or leave it.

Vaccinate your kids, security patch your software. I don't care how you dress your kids, or what file system you run.

 

[kagharaht]

I wouldn't do it right now. Mac Help Viewer is screwed up. I Re-install now it takes 20 min to finish booting because it shuts down my two external drives. The progress bar just crawls after it reaches 3/4 o the way. I think I need to Clean Install.

 

[EugW]

I wouldn't do it right now. Mac Help Viewer is screwed up. I Re-install now it takes 20 min to finish booting because it shuts down my two external drives. The progress bar just crawls after it reaches 3/4 o the way. I think I need to Clean Install.

This issue with delayed boot from external drives is not limited to High Sierra. I had a similar problem years ago with a couple of previous OS X versions.

Obviously, the compatibility issue varies with the different drives and different OS versions, but the end result can be similar.

 

[AeroZ]

high sierra is too buggy... for you, not for everyone. do people really think that we all have the same hardware, software, and same experiences? HS is running beautifully here; not perfect, but pretty great.

The OP is asking for people’s opinions/experiences and I’m exactly giving him/her that.

 

[kagharaht]

This issue with delayed boot from external drives is not limited to High Sierra. I had a similar problem years ago with a couple of previous OS X versions.

Obviously, the compatibility issue varies with the different drives and different OS versions, but the end result can be similar.

I'm also having Mac Help Viewer problem. All the text is one vertical line. I've cleared all the preferences plist for it based on searches on how to fix it. It's still not working. The weird part is that it ok under guest users, but not mine. But I've cleared what I can under my home library preference folders.