MacOS Catalina

[BeachOrCity]

Any comments on performance of Catalina on a MBA of 2014 vintage, with 8GB and a 1.7GHz i7, by chance?

I have a 2014 8gb mba. Not sure on cpu.
Performance seems the same but the only thing that ever lagged were huge excel sheets. Since my excel was 32 bit I switched to libreoffice which seems fine and is probably more optimized for Mac than excel anyway.

Note I tend to have 20 web browsers open at once but I am not heavy gaming or graphics.

 

[ncbill]

Any comments on performance of Catalina on a MBA of 2014 vintage, with 8GB and a 1.7GHz i7, by chance?

Don't upgrade unless you need a feature that is only in Catalina.

I have no plans to upgrade from Sierra on my 2012 MBP until the browsers stop working.

 

[Ronstar]

Don't upgrade unless you need a feature that is only in Catalina.

Good advice. I now have at least one application that is no longer usable because of my upgrade to Catalina.

If you want to upgrade, take the necessary steps to backup your system in the event that you find out later that you want to go back to your previous os.

 

[Chuckanut]

I think the increased security is worth the upgrades. The bad guys are getting sneakier and sneakier every day. Security threats only get more sophisticated.

Application makers have known for some time that 32 bit is doomed. Like others here I will be going to Libre Office. I really can't see paying for MS Office now that I don't use it for work.

The only big problem I have heard is with PhotoShop. PS always seems to have some issue with new OS releases. No surprise here.

I'll upgrade but I will wait a bit longer and let others die on the bleeding edge of technology.

 

[mpeirce]

Application makers have known for some time that 32 bit is doomed. Like others here I will be going to Libre Office. I really can't see paying for MS Office now that I don't use it for work.

Another option is the Apple's free quartet of "office apps:" Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

That's what I use and they fill my needs. They are kept up to date and are free.

 

[braumeister]

Good advice. I now have at least one application that is no longer usable because of my upgrade to Catalina.

If you want to upgrade, take the necessary steps to backup your system in the event that you find out later that you want to go back to your previous os.

See post #2 in this thread for a good option. Using Parallels on my Mac I can switch with just a click between Catalina, the previous OS, and Windows.

 

[steelyman]

See post #2 in this thread for a good option. Using Parallels on my Mac I can switch with just a click between Catalina, the previous OS, and Windows.

That’s slick. I didn’t know one could put multiple OS versions under Parallels. I just forge ahead with the latest come what may.

 

[bolt]

FWIW theres a Catalina install and another Catalina upgrade immediately.
IME....last 10days and its still needs TLC .

 

[bolt]

FWIW theres a Catalina install and another Catalina upgrade immediately.
IME....last 10days and its still needs TLC .

ncbill says!
Originally Posted by camfused View Post
Any comments on performance of Catalina on a MBA of 2014 vintage, with 8GB and a 1.7GHz i7, by chance?
Don't upgrade unless you need a feature that is only in Catalina.

I have no plans to upgrade from Sierra on my 2012 MBP until the browsers stop working.
=============
Wow....thats way back but, everyone's different!
Yes, some hardware will not accept NEW OSX!

 

[Ronstar]

See post #2 in this thread for a good option. Using Parallels on my Mac I can switch with just a click between Catalina, the previous OS, and Windows.

That’s a good idea! I was running parallels w/ OS and Windows on my last Mac. I never knew thought about using it for two different Apple OS’s.

 

[camfused]

Another option is the Apple's free quartet of "office apps:" Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

That's what I use and they fill my needs. They are kept up to date and are free.

And I might add that you can read/write Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files using these apps.

 

[camfused]

...
Wow....thats way back but, everyone's different!
Yes, some hardware will not accept NEW OSX!...

My 2014 MacBook Air, which I bought used (with low battery cycle count) a few years ago, works perfectly fine for my usage, which is mostly surfing, spreadsheets, and Quicken. DW has one too.

I'll keep using it until Apple no longer supports it with macOS, at which time I'll buy a used current MacBook Air.

It works a whole lot better that any Windows machine I ever had. Ok, I will duck now while the Windows people throw tomatoes (or maybe apples).

 

[steelyman]

There have been mentions in this and other threads of failures when using a Time Machine backup to roll back to a previous version of MacOS.

I’ve not had to do that but it’s a concern. Yesterday I’d opened Time Machine preferences on my machine and saw a checkbox to request that system files are not included in backups. It’s unchecked on my machine and there’s also an informational message saying that if you exclude system files you may not be able to restore through Time Machine but may have to resort to Migration Assistant.

I’m wondering if anyone who experienced restore failures with TM had it happen even though system files were included in their backups.

Time Machine gives you a sense of security, which is nice but only if reliable!

 

[GalaxyBoy]

And I might add that you can read/write Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files using these apps.

I've been using the Apple suite of programs and have gotten along just fine for the most part, but I've found that not all Excel files work with Numbers. One in particular which I downloaded (and paid for) would work with Libre Office.

 

[dixonge]

Picked up a refurb 2017 MacBook Air a couple of days ago. It had Mojave, went straight to Catalina. Zero problems so far (that I know of).

Caveat - I haven't had an Apple computer for around five years, so no legacy apps to worry about...

 

[braumeister]

Time Machine gives you a sense of security, which is nice but only if reliable!

It's as reliable as the hard drive it's on, so take that as a caution to not depend on it alone.

I have done a complete restore to a MacBook Pro from a Time Machine backup and it worked perfectly, so there is no inherent problem.

 

[steelyman]

It's as reliable as the hard drive it's on, so take that as a caution to not depend on it alone.

I have done a complete restore to a MacBook Pro from a Time Machine backup and it worked perfectly, so there is no inherent problem.

My backups alternate between two external drives (4 and 10 TB), so that redundancy helps. I’ve also been checking drive health in two ways: SMART and file system (fsck). If the house burns down I’m SOL.

Not everyone has had success with restores apparently, so I’m curious about reasons.

 

[mpeirce]

My backups alternate between two external drives (4 and 10 TB), so that redundancy helps. I’ve also been checking drive health in two ways: SMART and file system (fsck). If the house burns down I’m SOL.

Not everyone has had success with restores apparently, so I’m curious about reasons.

I've never encountered problems with Time Machine really.

Over the years I've done a couple of full restores - for me that means installing a fresh OS on a disk, then using Time machine to restore my user account.

My main use of Time Machine is to grab random older files that have been deleted either on purpose or by accident. It's handy to be able to look back at a document I've changed and see the old versions while inside that app.

 

[steelyman]

I've never encountered problems with Time Machine really.

Over the years I've done a couple of full restores - for me that means installing a fresh OS on a disk, then using Time machine to restore my user account.

My main use of Time Machine is to grab random older files that have been deleted either on purpose or by accident. It's handy to be able to look back at a document I've changed and see the old versions while inside that app.

Good to know. I think your main use for Time Machine matches what I expect mine to be (file-by-file recovery).

 

[ncbill]

I think the increased security is worth the upgrades. The bad guys are getting sneakier and sneakier every day. Security threats only get more sophisticated.

Application makers have known for some time that 32 bit is doomed. Like others here I will be going to Libre Office. I really can't see paying for MS Office now that I don't use it for work.

The only big problem I have heard is with PhotoShop. PS always seems to have some issue with new OS releases. No surprise here.

I'll upgrade but I will wait a bit longer and let others die on the bleeding edge of technology.

10.12 (Sierra) still gets security updates.

Also, I think people don't understand how permissions work on the UNIX-based Mac operating system...unlike another popular OS your Mac computer cannot get infected simply by clicking a hyperlink or opening an email.

Running a VM as others here do is probably the best option...I can see running 10.12 in a VM if I ever upgrade my hardware.

 

[camfused]

...It's as reliable as the hard drive it's on, so take that as a caution to not depend on it alone...

And as reliable as the machine it is running on. See early on in this thread. I run TimeMachine on my Synology NAS. I am looking into a more reliable solution (micro SD cards in the card read slot instead).

 

[braumeister]

Yes, as I've posted before, I depend on my machine for many things, so I'm a bit over the top when it comes to backing up.

Time Machine runs on it's own external drive.
Carbon Copy Cloner does a nightly complete backup to another external drive.
Carbon Copy Cloner also does a nightly complete backup to a NAS.
SuperDuper does a nightly complete backup to another external drive.
Once a week, another external drive gets a complete backup and is stored in the fire-resistant safe in the basement.
Once a month, another external drive gets another complete backup and is then taken to an offsite secure storage site where it replaces the previous month.

Every now and then I think about cloud storage for backups, but I just can't bring myself to trust it.

 

[camfused]

^^^^^ I use iDrive for offsite backups. Works well and I think is secure.

I have several family members using it for their Windows machine backups. DW and I are on Macs, and I have a Mac mini. I have the TM files being sent up to the iDrive once per week, via the Synology Hyper Backup program. I am going to have to figure out something different when I switch to the micro SD cards for TM. I guess I'll install the iDrive client on the Macs to do this.

 

[camfused]

^^^^^ Not sure anyone is interested, but upon further reflection, I think I will set up Automator to, once a week, copy the TM files from my micro SD card to my Synology NAS. I already have a Hyper Backup job on the Synology to copy files up to my iDrive.

But back to the original subject, I currently plan to wait until 10.15.1 before I try going to Catalina again (of course, AFTER a successful TM backup). My Epson printer and Epson scanner now support Catalina. I think these were going to be the biggest issues.
Hopefully, 10.15.1 will come out soonish.

 

[homestead]

I only have one bug left with Catalina. In the photos activity section some pictures have bright yellow stair steps going across the picture. If you double click the picture it goes away.
Catalina fixed my emoji corruption and I was able to fix my Thunderbird email problem by downloading the lastest verson.