Is it safe and recommended to update from Mavericks to El Capitan 10.11.1?

nightcrawlernightcrawler
Posted:
in macOS edited October 2015

I use a mac mini 2012 with i7 quadcore and 16 GB. I remained on mavericks, because I don't like the flat UI that Yosemite brings to the table and I've read that it is more ressourcehungry and slower.

 

What about El Capitan 10.11.1? Sure, the flat UI remains which is a bummer, but what about performance? Is it leaner again and as fast or faster as Snow Leopard and Mavericks?

 

I use the macmini mainly for videoediting with Final Cut Pro X.

 

And what about stability? Can I just update it directly without fearing that things break down, like the OS not booting anymore?

 

Or should I wait for some more bugfix-releases?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    If you are really concerned about upgrading, the best thing to do is to use it from an external drive for a while. You can get a small SSD and enclosure if you don't have a spare external:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OAJ5N6I
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJ3UJ2S

    A hard drive isn't so good externally as it powers down and takes a while to spin up. You can then clone over the entire system if it fits or just the main system using either of the following:

    https://bombich.com
    http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

    When you boot from the clone by holding alt-key at startup, you can upgrade to El Capitan via the App Store and it will leave your internal alone. You can then use the new system that way and access projects from your internal to see how it runs. You can work like this for a while and if everything is ok, clone the internal again as a backup and upgrade the internal. If it's not ok and something breaks then you just revert back to your internal drive.

    Everyone has a different workflow so you have to decide what works best for you. The thing to always keep in mind is that Apple rarely goes backwards so eventually your system won't be able to run an app update and you will have to update when it's less convenient. You shouldn't have anything to worry about performance-wise. Quite the opposite in fact because they've introduced Metal to OS X, which speeds up some graphics rendering.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    joshajosha Posts: 901member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Nightcrawler View Post

     

    I use a mac mini 2012 with i7 quadcore and 16 GB. I remained on mavericks, because I don't like the flat UI that Yosemite brings to the table and I've read that it is more ressourcehungry and slower.

     

    What about El Capitan 10.11.1? Sure, the flat UI remains which is a bummer, but what about performance? Is it leaner again and as fast or faster as Snow Leopard and Mavericks?

     

    I use the macmini mainly for videoediting with Final Cut Pro X.

     

    And what about stability? Can I just update it directly without fearing that things break down, like the OS not booting anymore?

     

    Or should I wait for some more bugfix-releases?


    I've installed ElCapitan on an early 2009  2.0 C2D Mini. The oldest Mini supporting it.

    ElCap is definitely faster than Mav, which I had on it,

      but not surprisingly a bit slower than SL.

     

    I've only noticed a few minor functional problems, which weren't a factor in what I was doing.

  • Reply 3 of 3
    nightcrawlernightcrawler Posts: 643member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post



    If you are really concerned about upgrading, the best thing to do is to use it from an external drive for a while. You can get a small SSD and enclosure if you don't have a spare external:

    ...

     

    Thanks for the advice, though I didn't have the patience to set up such a cloned system, and I didn't want to buy a SSD with enclosure for this. Instead I used my spare 1 TB hd to backup all my files, including renderfiles and projects and just went for the update. 

     

    Since I still have my 2009 mac mini with Snow Leopard on it, even a breakdown wouldn't be a showstopper.

     

    But the update went smooth anyway, lasted about 40 minutes (+the time for downloading). I would say, El Capitan is a bit faster and snappier than Mavericks, but boy is the UI ugly (!). I could make peace with the flat dock, though I don't like it much, but what is with the new system font? And what's the deal with the ugly icon for folders?

     

    After installing and absorbing the shock of the new (mostly ugly) UI, I started Final Cut Pro X, my main-app, and there was the next shocker: It didn't want to start, it said it were not compatible to El Capitan and a new version were necessary. I updated it, and then it started. 

     

    I don't know if it's because of El Capitan or the new Final Cut Pro X update, but exporting videos is running faster.

     

    Safari is also new with this, and a bit zippier, but one important feature has changed for the worse: Private surfing as an option for all windows has vanished, now you can only open a new private window. But as soon as you open an additional window, the newly opened window is not private.

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