Should I updgrade software/osx on my macbook? Is it too late?

[1swt2gs]

Hey GH,

I have always been wary of updates, and tend to avoid them like the plague.

 I currently own a Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013

 
Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel Iris 1536 MB


Last time  I upgraded this thing was YEARS ago. Currently operating on 10.9.5. App store is showing 2 updates available, with the newest osx being high sierra. Would my macbook be compatible and can it run high sierra?

Edit: I should probably add , that I looked up the specs and see that is it compatible, but seeing user input on OSX sierra vs mavericks if its worth upgrading.

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP742?locale=en_US

[tp4tissue]

Tp4 recommends Windoz 10 !!

[Coreda]

I gave a family member a 2010 MBP that's running the latest OS and it's fine, though that machine is only used for browsing and light stuff anyway. A 2013 would handle it fine imo.

Must say though I've read of various users reports where updating specifically to High Sierra from older versions has caused some issues. I think I avoided this on the MBP install since I used a brand new SSD rather than upgrading in place.

For SSDs specifically it uses a new file system, APFS, which was optimized for SSDs though has had some criticism for issues with compatibility with various programs (IIRC Adobe CC programs were affected among others) and some other things I don't recall.

[pixelpusher]

I have the first retina MBP ever made (2012).  Just updated my OS to High Sierra last week.  Machine still works great.  I did have issues getting it to update at first (I honestly don't remember now... something about the HD being password encrypted), but I got it working fairly easily.  Took several hours to get it all done. 

Just run a time machine backup in case something goes wrong.

[1swt2gs]

Thanks guys.

Looks like I'll hold off on the update. Really not worth the trouble as I use Photoshop and light room currently A LOT, and don't want to have to deal with the trouble of incompatibility if I upgrade.

[ErgoMacros]

I'm using old PS (CS5) and High Sierra, works fine. Very few, all eventually resolvable issues for me, (YMMV) going from Mavericks to High Sierra.
Beware of Mojave though. I hear Apple is dropping 32-bit app support for that. In that respect, and to continue getting security updates I'd upgrade while you can.

At least download the High Sierra installer and save it away while you can. Later you can write it to a thumb drive and install if you need. Lots of instructions on the web.

'Luck

[Flame]

Personally, with your MacBook Pro Model (Late 2013) I wouldn't update to anything past El Capitan (10.11). El Capitan was a pretty solid OS though. I would definitely avoid Sierra/High Sierra like the plague. From my experience, there were way too many bugs and issues with those OS. My old MacBook Pro was an Early 2013 model, and I remember El Capitan ran well on it.

[Leslieann]

El Cap was probably the best as far as I'm concerned.
They have been removing features for a while, but after that they tightened security, breaking more and more things, Karabiner and key mapping, network shares, installing software from somewhere other than then Apple store... You can fix most of this stuff (still no boot from raid), but it just gets more and more difficult instead of easier and easier like it should. Try getting 5.1 or 7.1 surround on a Mac... Fun!

Honestly, I'm waiting for Apple to split either MacOS or the entire laptop division away from Apple, they've let both stagnate entirely too much and that likely has to do with it making up less and less of their bottom line. I have little doubt that IF they make a new Mac Pro, it will probably be the last and while they may not move everything to IOS (or so they claim), OSX will become more and more closed.

[rowdy]

10.9 Mavericks is the minimum version you'd want to run these days.

I've just upgraded most of mine to Mojave.  They all run a bit slower than High Sierra, although whether that's because they haven't settled down yet (backups, indexing, old crud) I don't know.  Not unusably slower, but it is noticeable.

The thing with Apple is that if you don't upgrade in their allotted window, you will lose the opportunity.  I have an older iPad on an even older version of iOS, and I cannot update it to the latest version supported on that iPad because Apple's update validation server or something for that version has been turned off/disabled.  And the iPad does not support the latest iOS, so it's stuck on the old version, which is just old enough to not run some apps that I wanted to.

[Leslieann]

The thing with Apple is that if you don't upgrade in their allotted window, you will lose the opportunity.

That may be true with IOS but not OSX, you can always download one of the last few versions to a thumbdrive and install that way.

[dndlmx]

Been running 10.14 for some weeks now, haven't experienced any significant problems. Mine is a late 2013 MBP. I guess it depends whether you mean the MacBook, or MacBook Pro. The MacBook seems to be the latest date on here:

Check compatibility
You can upgrade to macOS Mojave from OS X Mountain Lion or later on any of the following Mac models. Your Mac also needs at least 2GB of memory and 12.5GB of available storage space, or up to 18.5GB of storage space when upgrading from OS X Yosemite or earlier.

MacBook introduced in early 2015 or later
MacBook Air introduced in mid 2012 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in mid 2012 or later
Mac mini introduced in late 2012 or later
iMac introduced in late 2012 or later
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro introduced in late 2013, plus mid-2010 or mid-2012 models with a recommended Metal-capable graphics card.

[rowdy]

The thing with Apple is that if you don't upgrade in their allotted window, you will lose the opportunity.

That may be true with IOS but not OSX, you can always download one of the last few versions to a thumbdrive and install that way.

Good to know, but a while back I wanted to upgrade to Mavericks on an older Mac and had to jump through hoops to find some way to write Mavericks installation files to a USB drive.

Then I ran into the problem where the mac productivity apps (iPhoto) in particular were deprecated on Mavericks so I tried reinstalling from my original OS disks.  That might have worked if the optical drive in the Mac was still working, which it wasn't.  I tried copying the files off the DVD onto a network share, and even onto the Mac itself, but to no avail.  Never did end up resolving that one.