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I know there are folk on here that know their Macs, and I don't, so….
I have an old Macbook Pro… a mid-2010 13" with the 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo. Mostly just for browsing, casual photo tweaking and so on. I'm planning to perk it up with an SDD and 8gb RAM. Should be whizzy. Whoopee!
Until now it's been on Snow Leopard, never had any trouble with it, but browsers are no longer unsupported. So... an update. I can get a clean install of any OS I fancy. This MBP will handle up to High Sierra (which will lose my old version of photoshop, but I s'pose I could switch to Gimp or similar).
Should I go for it? Or hold back to say Sierra, or even El Cap?
Am I over-thinking this?
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Comments
Installing High Sierra on my 2012 MBP was a nightmare from start to finish.
I'm not worried about finding a photo editor TBH... more wondering if High Sierra is just too bloated, and whether an old Core 2 Duo Macbook like mine might prefer a sleeker older OS.
My old 2009 MBP was the same spec as yours, but I gradually took it Mountain Lion until software 'upgrades' forced my hand.
I took out the DVD (used externally in a £3 USB housing) & fitted an SSD to boot from, plus a 1TB Toshiba hybrid drive.
Thought about making a Fusion drive, but couldn't see any real world advantage to me.
Installed El Cap. & everything was smooth & stable. The Core2 always ran hot, but did not run any hotter or slower than with earlier OS's. Booted in about 10 seconds.
I always lag back an OS release or two & let the early adopters sort out the bugs
Good luck & make backups first
Manual is the best way
El Capitan security patches are gone though (Sierra runs out late this year, High Sierra late 2020). Should I be worried?
I even found the means to upgrade to it from 10.9.5 was a nightmare - the official Apple update from the Apple Store at the time was a corrupted file. I had to find an alternative download to create a bootable USB.
I use El Cap. with VPN, ad blockers, anti pop ups, script blockers etc. etc. & regularly run antivirus scans but I accept this is less than perfect & maybe a bit complex.
If security is your main concern, then try updating regularly to the most recent supported OS & security update that your Mac will support.
This is an interesting article https://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/how-to-keep-older-macs-secure-a-geeky-approach/
Cheers.