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When to upgrade MacOS?

D

DukeDevlin

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 12, 2020
101
3
Hello,

It's not an obvious question: When to upgrade MacOS ? Indeed, for more than one year, I have a 16 inches MBP full configuration which remained under Catalina. I haven't upgraded since. My main use is FCPX and Photoshop. So the question is when to upgrade? I have heard that many times, upgrades can slow down the system more than improve it. What do you think? When to do it? Should I leave it as is?

Thank you.
 
My Mac Mini is still running fine on Mojave. I upgrade the OS as long as everything I have will be supported and I can still use the Internet without excessive delays. I have only a couple of apps (which I use less often than ever) that will not work with a higher OS. So, when the Internet bogs down, or the hardware fails, I'll graduate to whatever the current OS is then. So, if it works, and there is nothing you cannot do that a newer OS would enable you to do, there's no reason to upgrade. It doesn't cost you to wait.
 
Yeah fore sure! It’s very strange. Generally on iOS, I update immediately, but on macOS it seems different!
 
I always upgrade mine. The whole "don't upgrade your system" if it's working fine, it's for some people. But I like to live on the cutting edge with the newest features and the best compatibility.
 
DukeDevlin said:
Hello,

It's not an obvious question: When to upgrade MacOS ? Indeed, for more than one year, I have a 16 inches MBP full configuration which remained under Catalina. I haven't upgraded since. My main use is FCPX and Photoshop. So the question is when to upgrade? I have heard that many times, upgrades can slow down the system more than improve it. What do you think? When to do it? Should I leave it as is?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
If you are more than 2 generations behind, you no longer receive security updates, unless Apple finds it very critical to patch something. When Monterey is released and you want to upgrade to Big Sur, you have to follow Apple’s instructions to access older releases. If you are not needing some need feature, but just want to maximum stability, it does make sense to stay 1 generation behind. Also keep in mind that app support fades with time for older versions. I am still running High Sierra on my old iMac and it is working fine, but some apps are no longer supported or at least not the latest version of them.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
So, at this moment, when Monterrey will be released, I have to update from Catalina to Big Sure?
 
Last year I waited until I was sure all my software was compatible - especially SoftRAID, which I use for my RAID SSDs along with FCPX. This took a few months.
This year I will wait even longer - my system does everything I need perfectly fine for now. Unless there is a really compelling reason to upgrade, I'm going to hold off and stay on Big Sur...
 
When Tim breaks compatibility with other Apple devices to force you to upgrade to more bloated and buggy version.
 
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DukeDevlin said:
So, at this moment, when Monterrey will be released, I have to update from Catalina to Big Sure?
Click to expand...
No. Catalina will receive security patches for a year. Apple normally support the current OS and two major versions back.

for example, apple has recently drop support for mojave because of the upcoming monterrey. This is also why Catalina got Safari 15 and Mojave didn’t
 
I can't tell you when to update, but I can tell you when NOT to update, and that's when you're delivering a major project that week.

A few years back at a studio I worked in, IT scheduled that all systems must update from Sierra to High Sierra. Well, my Mac decided that the keyboard would stop working every few hours, requiring reboots through the day. Not good for stress levels at all!
 
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If something big is due or time sensitive, I'll always try to wait and finish everything before touching a new Mac OS. I want to make sure that I have enough time after upgrading Mac OS to find out anything unexpected, such as things that used to work before and now don't. Like with the release of Monterey, Tuxera NTFS had stopped working and so I couldn't write to NTFS drives. Also, if you have multiple Mac OS devices, it's a good idea to not update them all at the same time. You can always use the stable older version in case of an emergency with the new one. Make sure you have all your bases covered before removing that safety net.

Another reason to update MacOS is to match the features of iOS and have apps in sync. A year or two ago, there was an update with Notes, Calendar etc. that made it so that the newer versions were not syncing with older versions. I had family reminders that were all of a sudden broken because they couldn't communicate to each other. I was forced to update all the phones and laptops to latest iOS and MacOS to get them all in sync.
 
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