Mac users - have you downloaded OS X Yosemite? How's it working for you?

[IBrakeforPastry]

I've been hesitating to download Yosemite because of all the negative reviews. I don't use my computer for work, just personal stuff, and while I think I can use it reasonably well, I don't know enough to troubleshoot and therefore I didn't want to get stuck with this new update if it didn't work.

Yesterday I took the plunge and downloaded Yosemite. It took a while, but it seems to be working...intermittently. Sometimes it's fast, and other times I get a blank screen. And that spinning beach ball has been showing up a lot. I can't even look at my photos now until I download the new iPhoto software.

I'm not sure if I'm asking a specific question. Maybe just to hear other people's experiences. Maybe some suggestions or advice? I wonder if it settles down after a while. Thanks.

[rebeccaC]

Make sure you’ve done the updates! I’ve heard it can be slower on older mac’s but it works very well on my 2014 mac book pro. A 3+ year old mac also won’t be able to use some of the new features. The continuity features that let your iphone/ipad work as an extension of your computer are seamless with mine and being able to use your iphone as an internet hotspot is a good feature. For those that use a lot of social media and/or icloud the integration is better. For specific problems I'd look through the apple forums for, hopefully, good feedback.

[zoom-zoom]

I'm trying to download it right now...and it's taking FOREVER!! My machine is 5 years old and already slow as molasses. I cleaned a LOT of stuff off the HD and deleted tons of old emails, but it didn't really help. It's definitely time to upgrade to a new machine (I'm on my 2nd Mini and will probably go that route again, as they've worked well for my needs).

[IBrakeforPastry]

I think my mini is 5 years old, also. I bought it right around Thanksgiving, but not sure what year. The download took just about an hour (as expected) then the install took about another hour. I was concerned when the status bar said "22 minutes remaining", so I went and did some stuff, came back, and then it was "21 minutes remaining". It stayed like that for a while, then it caught up to itself.

I think I have all the updates. I was thinking of getting a new computer this year. I wonder if this is their way of encouraging me to make a new purchase? I also need a new camera, tv, and some work done on the house

[Crankin]

I have it. It did take overnight to load/install (or some portion of), but it seems OK. I don't do anything weird on my MacBook Air, which is about 5 years old, maybe 4, so perhaps I am not the best judge. I have about 2,000 emails in my trash folder, but no media stuff, except about 100 photos. I don't watch videos or TV shows on line, either, or listen to music. So, basically, my computer is for what I consider to be computer stuff: email, web sites, Outlook, and I do receive texts on my computer if I get one while I am on it.

[zoom-zoom]

I may give up on it. It keeps stalling-out. I have 65mb of available space on my HD, so it shouldn't have issues with that. But I keep checking my ISP speed and it's intermittently terrible. Charter guarantees "up to" 30mbps, which gives them an out when it frequently falls <1mbps. Really irritating. We never had issues before we dropped cable TV. They clearly are throttling us, because of it. That BS should be illegal.

[Crankin]

It sounds like it's your provider, then.

[zoom-zoom]

It sounds like it's your provider, then.

Yup. A LOT of people in this area have issues with Charter, but they're still the best option for broadband...which is sad. They pretty much have a monopoly.

[OakLeaf]

I just got a new MB Air with Yosemite pre-installed.

Whatever you do, do NOT turn on encryption (FileVault). There is a bug that causes encryption to hang, leaving half the hard drive encrypted and impossible to turn off or even erase.

After all was said and done, I wound up having to re-install the OS TWICE, including downloading a fresh copy once. I've got decent internet here and it "only" took about four hours. If I'd had to do it in the sticks though, I would've had to drive it up to the Apple Store and swipe their bandwidth. In the country, we have Windstream which the FCC has documented as being the slowest least reliable internet company in the USA. We can't even watch video clips or stream music. Probably going to switch to Exede next spring ... but that's another thread ... (but Kirsten, you might look into Exede also if your options are limited - the only trouble with satellite service is latency on the uplink can be long, pretty much rules out most realtime gaming, but if your internet is slow anyway you're not losing anything, and at least you'd get GREAT downlink bandwidth).

But anyway ... it hasn't even been 24 hours since the reinstall, but all seems good so far. Prior to the crash it was not doing anything weird like you describe. Sounds like you've got some system extension conflicts. That's one thing that Apple Support is usually good at helping troubleshoot. (Unlike mine, which was just annoying until Apple Support gave me instructions on how to brick it and DH had to bring it back to life because all they wanted was for me to shelve it for two weeks until there was an appointment available at the Apple Store!)

Were you coming from Mavericks, or from an earlier OS? I skipped right over a whole bunch, my old computer still has Snow Leopard (and once I get everything squared away with the new one, I'm thinking I might update the old box to Yosemite). Anyway, DH took two of his computers from, I think Lion, or maybe Mountain Lion, to Mavericks, with no trouble at all, and with a noticeable performance improvement even on older hardware (though he did also replace the HD in one of them with a SSD, which obviously gives a HUGE performance improvement).

[OakLeaf]

It keeps stalling-out. I have 65mb of available space on my HD, so it shouldn't have issues with that. .

I thought you needed like 5 GB???


Anyway ... if you are running Snow Leopard or earlier, for security reasons you really need to update your OS. Drag your computer along the next time you go someplace that has an Apple Store and you can use their bandwidth for free.

[zoom-zoom]

I thought you needed like 5 GB???


Anyway ... if you are running Snow Leopard or earlier, for security reasons you really need to update your OS. Drag your computer along the next time you go someplace that has an Apple Store and you can use their bandwidth for free.

Oops, fingers and brain weren't playing well together. I meant GB. So ample room. Running Mavericks right now. May give up on trying to "upgrade" to Yosemite. It keeps timing-out or something if I leave my computer for more than 15 min.

[rebeccaC]

I wonder if this is their way of encouraging me to make a new purchase?

well it is apple

kirsten.....performance with 65gb left can depend on how large a hd you have. even with a 1tb ssd i'm using
external hd's to keep my processed photos on to keep my macbook running quickly.

[zoom-zoom]

After >12 hours of downloading and countless restarts (I suspect our ISP is to blame) I finally was able to get Yosemite installed. So far, so good. This is the fastest my computer has run in probably 6 months. Hopefully I can massage at least another 3-4 months out of this >5 year old machine. Our checkbook has been hit REALLY hard in recent months.

[IBrakeforPastry]

After >12 hours of downloading and countless restarts (I suspect our ISP is to blame) I finally was able to get Yosemite installed. So far, so good. This is the fastest my computer has run in probably 6 months. Hopefully I can massage at least another 3-4 months out of this >5 year old machine. Our checkbook has been hit REALLY hard in recent months.

Good! Mine's running better today. I'm playing around with the settings until I get used to the new look.

[OakLeaf]

I'm just curious what new look/what bad reviews?

Aside from the brand new hardware and the very aggravating bug that is now HOPEFULLY dealt with ...

the only real difference I've noticed between Yosemite and Snow Leopard is trackpad dragging, where in Snow Leopard I could tap once and then drag, in Yosemite I have to three-finger drag, and to bring up the drop-down menu on an alarm I haven't figured out how to do that without physically clicking on the button vs tap to click (which just snoozes for the default five minutes in Yosemite).

Other than that (okay, that and the backwards scrolling that was introduced several OS versions ago, and I knew right away how to turn that off), I have not seen any difference at all.

What am I missing?!