Apple OS X Mavericks upgrade

libra10

Wondering if Apple users could help.

I am using a Macbook Pro, Mountain Lion, and last week received an email from Apple about upgrading to their new Mavericks system.

The computer is about 8 months old now, and seems to be set up alright, although it has become slower starting up and especially shutting down.

Has anyone done the upgrade, and did it improve the computer, or is it best left alone?

If recommended, I will install at weekend, but not being techie, don't want to do any damage!

Thank you for advice.

WTFH

Yes, I upgraded, no problems at all. Just make sure your computer is plugged into the mains. After the software has downloaded it only takes about 10 minutes for the system to install - you don't need to do anything during the install. It all just works.

libra10

Thanks very much WTFH, much appreciated.

Is there anything different with the new system or just improvements on the present one?

Thank you

securityguy

libra10 wrote: »

Thanks very much WTFH, much appreciated.

Is there anything different with the new system or just improvements on the present one?

Thank you

Battery life is better. Dual monitor support is better. Ability to run Time Machine backups to two destinations "out of the box" is worth having. Staying on the latest bits is very worthwhile with Apple, as they are not remotely interested in supporting old releases like Microsoft do.

securityguy

libra10 wrote: »

The computer is about 8 months old now, and seems to be set up alright, although it has become slower starting up and especially shutting down.

Why do you shut a Mac down? Close the lid: it sleeps, and hibernates if the battery gets a bit low (and you can, if you want, set it to hibernate after a few hours anyway, in which case the battery drain drops to zero). Open the lid: it wakes up. I rebooted my machine a couple of weeks ago to put the 10.9.1 update on but I think that prior to that it hadn't been rebooted since putting 10.9 on.

swvillafan

The only time I ever reboot mine is sometimes when I get a lock up on remote desktop. Other than that like securityguy says I just close the lid and it hibernates, much quicker!

Mr_Toad

I upgraded both my MacBook and iMac and would recommend it. As WTFH says, you don't need to do anything, it just works.

I also agree with securityguy, I rarely shut either of mine down and only reboot when an upgrade requires it.

Although after upgrading the hard drive in my 2009 MacBook Pro to a 500GB SSD I used to shut it down simply because the start up was so quick but I soon grew out of it and went back to just closing the lid

libra10

Thanks everyone for your comments.

It sounds like the new Maverick system is good and will upgrade at weekend.

Regarding shutting down when I've finished using the Mac, I suppose it's habit. Used to always shut down when using PCs, and have continued while using this computer. Also shut down mini iPad when finished using.

I think it's habit more than anything else, maybe saving resources, etc.

Really appreciate everyone's advice and opinions, much appreciated.

WTFH

Mr_Toad wrote: »

Although after upgrading the hard drive in my 2009 MacBook Pro to a 500GB SSD I used to shut it down simply because the start up was so quick but I soon grew out of it and went back to just closing the lid

17" MBP with 8GB RAM, non-reflective screen and 512GB SSD, bought in 2011. 7 second boot up time when new, 7 second boot up time now. Shame I don't use it as much as I should.

libra10

The boot up time is incredibly fast. My Macbook takes a little longer than that, but shutting down takes much longer than when new.

Any ideas why that should be? Haven't installed many programmes, is there any regular 'maintenance' I should be doing? I clear History regularly, also cookies, but not sure what else I should be doing.

securityguy

libra10 wrote: »

The boot up time is incredibly fast. My Macbook takes a little longer than that, but shutting down takes much longer than when new.

Quite a lot of applications take quite a bit of kicking to get them to shut down. They're told to shut down nicely, don't, so after a while are shut down more forcefully. That's because shutting down isn't at the top of anyone's priorities, because no-one does it anyway.