After waiting on the fence since its release last October 17th (UTC+8), I've finally given in to upgrading my MacBook to Apple's latest operating system – the OS X Yosemite. First off, before you proceed in reading this post, kindly note that this ain't an in-depth review of the OS. There's already too many of that online. I won't be going through each of Yosemite's features and highlights.
- Is my Mac compatible for Yosemite? Here is the List. IMac (Mid 2007 or newer) MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) Xserve (Early 2009) Need to know which model is your Mac?
- Then I downloaded Yosemite, and my MacBook went insane, as did I. At first, I just thought it was showing its age. It took over 90 minutes to install Yosemite, a suspiciously long time.
My Mac is a 2009 MacBook white model. It has a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the stock hard drive. It is one of the lowest to support Yosemite, so how does that affect performance? Below is an updated list of all of the weekly Grand Theft Auto 5 updates for Grand Theft Auto Online. Each week Rockstar releases new cars, modes, missions.
Why the wait?
The reason I've waited this long to have a taste of Yosemite is because of one primary reason… Adobe Creative Suite. With every new OS X upgrade comes a plethora of bugs, incompatibilities and patches for us graphic designers and our apps. I wanted to make sure that this time around my workflow wouldn't get disrupted with such nuisance. There's also the fact that I was a little apprehensive about running Yosemite in my half a decade old Mac. Yes… five years old, that's like 50 in human years. I got it back in October of 2009. So far my unibody MacBook have housed a total of five Operating Systems: Snow Leopard (which came out of the box), Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks and Yosemite. So far, this is my longest lasting, most reliable and most used computer ever. No major crashes, no BSoDs, never overheated, never got f*cked up by any viruses, never got serviced for being ‘unusable'. The only three separate times I tinkered under the hood is when I upgraded its RAM to 8GB, upgraded my SuperDrive into an SSD and when I replaced the battery. By now you could just imagine how much I'm taking good care of this baby.
Patches, patches everywhere…
Adobe officially announcing that Photoshop (and other CS apps) are working properly with Yosemite was all the reason I needed to upgrade. And so I did. They did note in the forums that after upgrading to OS X 10.10 you'll have to update your Java in order to launch Illustrator, well that's true. Right after I launched AI it prompted me to update my Java. No biggie, I just followed the Java download link from Apple that AI provided and followed the installation wizard.
Another issue that came up, which OS X actually caught and notified me with, was that my Wacom tablet driver was incompatible and cannot be used. I knew from the moment I started using a graphic pen and tablet that I'll be getting driver updates from time to time (specially during OS upgrades), so I already had the Wacom tablet driver download page handy in my bookmarks.
Another satisfied customer
Haters often say that Apple computers are overpriced, underpowered and overly-hyped pieces of trash. But what I often notice is that most of the people who say these kind of things are users who haven't actually used a Mac for an extended period of time, enough to actually incorporate the machine into their workflow and in their everyday lives. Yes it's true that for half the price consumers can easily buy a PC or a laptop with the same or even better specs. But it's not always about spending big money for the highest specs, with Macs its more about paying a premium for the assurance that all of your machine's components will work seamlessly and not collapse overtime and that you'll get the support you need—when you need it. Take my experience for example; how many laptops have you owned that lasted you five years that you can still use for professional work and a little bit of gaming?
With all that said, I've upgraded and I'm happy with how seamless and fast everything is. Back when I upgraded to an SSD with Mavericks, booting up the Mac took less than 10 seconds but somehow shutting down was a drag… it took somewhere around 30-45 seconds. I don't know why, but it was inconvenient specially when I'm nearing my bus stop and waiting for it to finish. But now with Yosemite it's surprisingly quick. Shutting down takes less than 3 seconds! I was so surprised the first time I shutdown my Mac, I thought that it crashed or something ominous was brewing, I had to boot it up and shut it down again just to make sure everything was fine and it's just the way it is.
Apple released OS X 10.10 Yosemite yesterday, and I take a look at their latest offering.
Another year and another free version of OS X. Some says it a good thing, and some say it is just a way round Apple releasing a new version so quickly.
It's free so – as always – I was quite excited and decided to be an early adopter. There are those who tend to wait until the first point release or to ensure their software is supported.
For me, I have no patience. I wanted it straight away. I have very little in the way of software on my Mac, so I didn't see there was going to be a big problem with compatibility. Besides, it has been a long time since a new OS X broke any software I used.
Download
The Apple site was showing Download Now within a very short time of the live event. However, it seems the Mac App Store hadn't quite caught up. Eventually it popped up, offering a download and set it off downloading.
Mine took a very painful 11 hours to download. I know my internet connection is working fine, so I can only assume it was crowded servers. I left it going over night – and still a way to go when I got up this morning.
Installation
After the lengthy download time, the usual install screen popped up. Normally at this point I would have cancelled it, grabbed the DMG for future use, and created a bootable USB stick.
However, this time I decided to upgrade over OS X 10.9 Mavericks. After all, it is how Apple prefers it, and my Mavericks was only reinstalled a few weeks ago.
Installation was fairly quick and painless. Once you set it going, it was case of leaving it to do its thing.
First Impressions
Yosemite seems to be getting the same reaction iOS 7 did when it was first released. There are those who like the bright, bold new look and some who claims it looks quite childish.
I do like the new look, with its funky bright icons and flattened look, but I can see that could detract from the fact that this is a serious and professional operating system.
I have been running it now for a few hours and have had no issues so far. The upgrade went without a hitch, and all the apps I had in Mavericks appear to be working fine.
Twitter, Cyberduck, Bean, OpenOffice, TextWrangler, Burn, Audacity, VLC, HandBrake, MacTracker, VirtualBox and UnRarX all work fine.
Tiny Umbrella required a Java installation, but once installed worked fine.
New Features
Apart from the new look, Yosemite has new basic features such as a revamped Spotlight and the dark mode, which turns the menu bars, menus, and dock background dark. I prefer the normal mode.
Then there are the HandOff/Continuity features, which means you can work on your iPad or iPhone, and as soon as you get close to your Mac, it will pick up where you are and you can continue straight with your Mac. I have yet to try this.
The one feature I was looking forward to, but seems like I will have to wait until iOS 8.1 (scheduled for 20th October) is released is the ability to SMS anyone from my Mac and not just iMessage recipients, as before.
General Speed
Macbook White Yosemite 10.10
My Mac is a 2009 MacBook white model. It has a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, and the stock hard drive. It is one of the lowest to support Yosemite, so how does that affect performance?
I have played with the public betas and was seriously impressed with the speed. The final seems no different. It is very fast. It is without a doubt faster than Mavericks. Navigating around the Finder and opening apps has definitely improved – and the general usage in apps seems a lot snappier.
Time Will Tell
You cannot judge an OS totally within a few hours – although you do get a general impression. Apple os x 10 6 8 download. It would be interesting to see how it goes over the next few days, whether I run in to any glitches with app and how it affects battery life on my MacBook.
First Few Annoyances
Whilst checking out Yosemite and writing this article, I have stumbled across an annoyance and a bug.
- I couldn't find my Bookmarks Toolbar anywhere. I thought I had lost it. However, it seems if you highlight the text in the address bar and clear it – or click in the address bar if it has no text in it – then the bookmarks that used to sit in your toolbar will pop up in a panel.
- When opening TextEdit and then selecting Open, the box pops up with your documents. These are iCloud documents (not iCloud Drive documents). However, every time you scroll down to reach the documents further down, it springs back to the top. I had to type the first letter of the document I wanted open and press Enter quickly to get it open.
Yosemite Macbook Wallpaper
This is a first release, and you do expect a few bugs or glitches.
Conclusion
Macbook White Yosemite Webcam
Yosemite is shaping up to be a great version of Mac OS X. It seems very fast so far – even on my older hardware – and I personally like the new look.
Another great, free offering from Apple.
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