Yosemite on old Macbooks - your impressions

[brdeveloper]

In my opinion, it isn't worth installing.

I installed it on my spare Macbook White (8GB, SSD) and it doesn't show anything interesting for old Macs. Window management is also a bit buggy with the merging of maximize+fullscreen functions.

The user-interface looks a bit lame (GUI elements are bigger and unecessarily flat or non-polished). Yosemite is a major redesign on GUI elements (although usability remains the same) and a minor redesign on internals (except the signed kext drivers, whose measure prevents malwares, but also custom drivers, like TRIM-enabler or custom CUDA packages for old GPUs).

 

[AustinIllini]

I'm having major Safari performance issues on my 2011 MBP. Also, the WiFi drops out constantly. I have tried every fix, including going to Apple directly.

 

[crazzapple]

In my opinion, it isn't worth installing.

I installed it on my spare Macbook White (8GB, SSD) and it doesn't show anything interesting for old Macs. Window management is also a bit buggy with the merging of maximize+fullscreen functions.

The user-interface looks a bit lame (GUI elements are bigger and unecessarily flat or non-polished). Yosemite is a major redesign on GUI elements (although usability remains the same) and a minor redesign on internals (except the signed kext drivers, whose measure prevents malwares, but also custom drivers, like TRIM-enabler or custom CUDA packages for old GPUs).

What's the best osx version in your opinion for your macbook? I'm on SL and thinking I should finally upgrade.

 

[brdeveloper]

What's the best osx version in your opinion for your macbook? I'm on SL and thinking I should finally upgrade.

Well, specifically to my late-2009 unibody macbook or to my mid-2010 mini (which has the same specs as the mid-2010 macbook), I think it is Mavericks 10.9.3 or 10.9.4, which supports CUDA and nVidia drivers by following instructions in the topic:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1748213/

Actually, there is a user who reports have been successful by using the same tutorial on Yosemite. In this case, it can be worth a try.

 

[tom vilsack]

Did you do a clean usb stick install?

I did on my late 2009 2.26 unibody with 4g ram and stock 320g 5400 hd....I've not found any of the issues others complain about...Yosemite runs just as fast as Mavericks (in fact I find it even a bit faster),no wifi issues at all ect ect....Right now I'm also hooking it up to a 32 tv via vga adapter and still no issues.

Maybe all these Yosemite complaints are with people doing a upgrade? With my clean install (using diskmaker program) I've found my macbook now has new life,and years left in her!

 

[socbrian]

I have been doing clean installs every upgrade on my late 2008 uni body and Yosemite runs WAYYY better than Mavericks. I was surprised by how much faster and reliable it is. I do have 8GB ram in it, and looking to pop a SSD in now that it still has some life.

 

[Big Ron]

I have been doing clean installs every upgrade on my late 2008 uni body and Yosemite runs WAYYY better than Mavericks. I was surprised by how much faster and reliable it is. I do have 8GB ram in it, and looking to pop a SSD in now that it still has some life.

Yosemite runs perfect on my 2009 White unibody, 8Gbyte Ram & 240 EVO SSD.

Only thing I don't care for is the 2D dock, maybe an option for a future upgrade

 

[MCAsan]

Both Yosemite beta and public releases ran just fine on several 2010 white books I refurbed. Do a clean install from USB stick.

 

[Big Ron]

Yosemite runs perfect on my 2009 White unibody, 8Gbyte Ram & 240 EVO SSD.

Only thing I don't care for is the 2D dock, maybe an option for a future upgrade

I have since discovered cDock. It allows you to turn Yosemite dock 3D.

Here is the link

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cdock/

 

[BrettApple]

I've got some Macs on the lowest end Yosemite supports, and I'm happy to say that they run pretty well still. While Snow Leopard will always be the pure speed king on them, Yosemite helps them stay modern without too much sacrifice.

The oldest Mac I have it on is our Mid 2007 20" iMac, it was purchased as the base 2.0 GHz model with the ATI 2400XT 128MB. The GPU didn't struggle at all under Mavericks but the added transparency effects in Yosemite give it a run for it's money. Mostly in apps like Mail where it has a lot of transparency over much of the screen when you move the window around. But everything else is pretty smooth. It's been upgraded to 4GB RAM and a spare OCZ SSD from it's base 1GB/250GB slow-as-molasses HDD. It shipped with Tiger

The oldest MacBooks I have it on are my Late 2008 and Early 2009 models. The 2009 being the less powerful of the two. Originally I had Leopard still on it fully stock (2.0GHz, 2GB, 120GB) but it has since been upgraded to 4GB DDR2 and a 128GB SanDisk SSD along with Yosemite.

It was almost unbearably slow with the stock HDD, so much so that I went straight to Snow Leopard. But once I threw the SSD in it's been happy as a clam. Boots fast, opens apps fast, doesn't have too much lag so the 9400m (even on DDR2) is still performing adequately. 1080p plays back just fine too.

So overall, it's been good. If not a bit buggy, but I've seen 5x more bugs on my rMBP than any of my older macs... I'll just wait for a point update and clean install. Its been buggy since day one on Mavericks when I got it .

 

[theLimit]

Late 2009 unibody Macbook. Yosemite runs smoothly, best update since Snow Leopard. I need to upgrade to 8GB RAM though because 4GB just isn't quite enough.

 

[DaKKs]

Mid-2009 White Macbook (MB5,2) w/ 4GB ram (soon 8) and a Crucial 240GB SSD. Runs perfectly acceptable. Not blazing fast by any means, its an ageing C2D after all. But you don't get the "Oh come on, do it already" feeling.

For the record. DO NOT UPDATE. Do a fresh install with a recovery usb drive. It will be slow as hell otherwise. Dunno why.

 

[Meinlsync]

Mid-2009 White Macbook (MB5,2) w/ 4GB ram (soon 8) .

Running the same as you, how are you (did you) get 8gb of ram to work in this thing? I have a beastly Hackintosh but would love to give my Macbook more power.

 

[DaKKs]

Running the same as you, how are you (did you) get 8gb of ram to work in this thing? I have a beastly Hackintosh but would love to give my Macbook more power.

With the newest firmware, (maybe older ones too, i dunno) it works OOB. Just threw in the two 4GB modules and it ran fine.

 

[Meinlsync]

With the newest firmware, (maybe older ones too, i dunno) it works OOB. Just threw in the two 4GB modules and it ran fine.

Awesome, I remember looking a few years ago and people were saying it was a hardware limitation.

 

[DaKKs]

Awesome, I remember looking a few years ago and people were saying it was a hardware limitation.

The chipset itself has always supported it. Most people just assumed this was just the normal Apple way of doing things. Just coming up with an arbitrary number to mess with people.

The 6GB limitation doesn't make sense from any kind of technical standpoint.