A Mac OS question!

robwright

I have a 2015 MacBook Air running High Sierra. Should I (can I even) upgrade to Mojave rather than Catalina as I have heard that Catalina isn’t very stable. Fairly new to Mac so don’t want to jump in and regret it! 

Thanks 

octatonic

Catalina is very stable here, running it on 3 machines.

Yes, that computer will run Mojave.

robwright

Thanks for that - will give Catalina a try! 

A further question! My older MacBook (2012) is also running High Sierra and coping with multiple tracks running Studio One. Is there any advantage to upgrading that to Catalina or will it slow it down cos it’s 8 years old? 

Thanks @Octatonic! ;

octatonic

Need more info for that.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210222
this is the list of machines that can run Catalina.
You will need a fair amount of RAM.

robwright

Would Mojave be ok for both of them? I don’t really need to do anything I can’t do already with the 2012 MBP but the Air runs Office and ‘worky’ stuff. Noticed it’s been a bit slow lately but guessing that upgrading to a new OS won’t help that (probs make it worse???) 

robwright

Useful link - thanks 

Looks like 2012 one is on the cusp - it has 16GB RAM
and an SSD but I think I will stick with High Sierra and may go to Mojave for the Air (only has 4GB). 

fandango

I have a MacBook Pro from 2013 running Catalina. Easy. No problem. And very stable.

Wazmeister

Ive never had a Mac update that hasnt been very stable. 

NPP

my 2014 Air runs Catalina (and MS Office) with just 8GB, no problems

TheBigDipper

My MBP Pro is a mid-2012 model with 8GB RAM, a dual core i7 and runs Catalina without any issues - but it's starting to slow down in some areas. I'm thinking I'll do a reinstall (first one since new) and see what that does for it.

drofluf

Minor thread hijack. Anyone know where I can get a copy of Lion (10.7.5). Just dusted off my old MacBook and it looks like that’s the most recent version it will run. I’ve seen various download sites but don’t know how legitimate they are. 

spark240

Studio One def has Catalina issues, I think most are sorted now but I still haven’t upgraded yet.

octatonic

Studio One 4.5.4 works fine under Catalina.
Some Presonus hardware is still not supported... and some of it won't be.

octatonic

robwright said:

Useful link - thanks 

Looks like 2012 one is on the cusp - it has 16GB RAM
and an SSD but I think I will stick with High Sierra and may go to Mojave for the Air (only has 4GB). 

16GB should be fine- 8GB is ok, 4GB isn't something I would recommend.

octatonic

robwright said:

Would Mojave be ok for both of them? I don’t really need to do anything I can’t do already with the 2012 MBP but the Air runs Office and ‘worky’ stuff. Noticed it’s been a bit slow lately but guessing that upgrading to a new OS won’t help that (probs make it worse???) 

Hard to say- usually when a machine is running slow I BFR it (backup, format, reinstall all apps).
If you just upgrade the existing OS then you may inherit any issues you have- it depends on what is the case of the slowdown.

Check you don't have applications that will not work under Catalina.
I have only just upgraded my final machine to Catalina because I had a couple of apps I needed that were 32bit.
Even still I have a version of Mojave on an external drive so I can boot into it when I need to.

robwright

octatonic said:

Studio One 4.5.4 works fine under Catalina.
Some Presonus hardware is still not supported... and some of it won't be.

Really useful @octatonic - my Studiolive mixer uses FireWire and Mojave is as far as the support for that goes! 

Looks like Mojave for both then! It’s the desert for me - hope the mescaline supplies hold up! 

Thanks all - can always rely on the Fretboard family for ‘sound’ advice (did you see what I did there?!?!)

Kittyfrisk

@robwright ;  Personally I'd stick with Mojave until you can be certain that you won't lose compatibility by going totally 64 bit with Catalina. I still use lots of 32 bit stuff like Adobe CS suite, MS Office etc. that I'm not in a hurry to replace.

I run Mojave & it's been very fast & stable. 

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

octatonic

Good advice, actually ^^^.

I went to Catalina because I bought a new Mac Pro which came with it.
Fortunately everything worked, even Pro Tools HDX which wasn't certified but it was a risky thing to do on a primary machine.

Danny1969

drofluf said:

Minor thread hijack. Anyone know where I can get a copy of Lion (10.7.5). Just dusted off my old MacBook and it looks like that’s the most recent version it will run. I’ve seen various download sites but don’t know how legitimate they are. 

What Macbook is it .... the early A1181 from 2006 ish won't go far but the last ones from 2009 will run El Cap ... if you look up the serial number here  

https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/

I prob have a DMG of LION but your have to set your clock back to fool the identifier before installing it 

drofluf

Danny1969 said:

drofluf said:

Minor thread hijack. Anyone know where I can get a copy of Lion (10.7.5). Just dusted off my old MacBook and it looks like that’s the most recent version it will run. I’ve seen various download sites but don’t know how legitimate they are. 

What Macbook is it .... the early A1181 from 2006 ish won't go far but the last ones from 2009 will run El Cap ... if you look up the serial number here  

https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/

I prob have a DMG of LION but your have to set your clock back to fool the identifier before installing it 

Thanks @Danny1969 ;

It appears to be Apple MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.1 13" (White-08) so Feb 2008 to Jan 2009 so I guess one of the later model. 

Danny1969

@drofluf ;
Only the late 2009 ones will take El Cap in my experience as the earlier ones aren't 64 bit compatible ... I will see if I can find Lion