Should I Upgrade to MacOS Sierra?
Dear Lifehacker, Sierra is out today and some of the new features like Siri look pretty cool. Sure, this seems like a small enough update, but that doesn’t mean things won’t go badly. Have you already used it, do you think? Update or wait?
Regards, Sierra Nevada, updates
Dear Sierra! Despite ditching OS X in favor of macOS, Sierra is one of the least significant updates we’ve seen in recent memory. This is not a bad thing, and in this case it means that there is not as much stress in the upgrade as in the past. However, it does not appear that problems will not arise. Let’s take a look at the details.
Who should upgrade right now
If your Mac is less than a few years old and you’ve invested heavily in the Apple ecosystem, then it’s easy to switch to Sierra right now. The upgrade process runs smoothly, the changes are minimal enough not to impact anyone’s workflow, and overall the new features are good for everyone.
If you love Siri on your iPhone, you’ll love it on your Mac too. With a quick keyboard shortcut or mouse click, you can bring up Siri, ask her for whatever you need, and finally make your dream of talking to your computer come true. Likewise, if you’re using Apple Photos, you’ll be happy to see some much-needed improvements, including photo search and facial recognition, which are finally included in the app. Only they are worth updating if you are an avid Photo user.
Likewise, if you invest heavily in the Apple ecosystem, with a newer Mac, new iPhone, and Apple Watch, you will benefit the most from the upgrade. So you can do it as soon as you can. For example, if you own an Apple Watch, being able to unlock your Mac with it sounds pretty damn cool, so the update certainly makes sense.
Who should abstain for a while
We haven’t had any issues with any software, and for the most part, the bug reports we’ve seen in Sierra are pretty mild, but that doesn’t mean problems won’t show up.
If you use your Mac for work or need certain software on a daily basis, it’s usually best to wait a bit so that the third-party software developers have enough time to release updates. Sierra may seem like a small update and it isn’t, but that doesn’t mean it won’t potentially break the six-year-old time management software you rely on every day. So, before you do anything, check out the Roaring Apps Compatible Software List .
If there is any major complaint about Sierra, it is the gatekeeper settings change. Gatekeeper is a system-wide setting that prevents unapproved applications from being installed on your Mac. In a previous version of macOS, you could change the default Gatekeeper setting to allow any application to run from anywhere. Now you only have two default options: downloaded apps from the Mac App Store and Apple-approved apps. This is annoying for developers who open unapproved apps all the time. One workaround is to right-click the app , but it’s still a little annoying if you do it often.
If you want to revert to the old “Anywhere” option in the Gatekeeper, you will need to dig in the Terminal. Enter this command in Terminal:
sudo spctl --master-disable
You can now change your gatekeeper settings as always. This is an edit to your Mac’s security file , so only do this if you’re comfortable with making system-level changes to your Mac.
Who shouldn’t update at all
Sierra is one of the first Mac operating systems in recent years to drop support for older Macs. So, if you’ve updated your old MacBook during Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan, you need to take another look at the new system requirements. Here’s the Mac model you need to use Sierra:
- Mac Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
- iMac (Late 2009 or newer)
- Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
- MacBook (Late 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
However, this is not the end of the story. Sierra’s many new features, including a neat universal clipboard and Apple Watch unlock, only work on Macs with Bluetooth 4.0, which means they need a newer Mac to take advantage of the new features:
- Mac Pro (Late 2012 or newer)
- iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
- Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
- MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
- MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t update just because you don’t get new Bluetooth features, but it’s a much less interesting update for older Macs as the only major new feature you’ll get is Siri. We ran Sierra on an old 2009 iMac and it works great in terms of performance, but it’s barely noticeable as an upgrade from El Capitan as most of the features are incompatible.
Bottom line: take your time, but this is a solid update for most
Sierra is a pretty straightforward update when it comes to features, but that means it’s also a pretty safe update for most users. As of now, the public beta has been available for several months, which means that most of the major issues need to be addressed. If you’re concerned about performance, a clean install can help clean up the junk on your system, but beyond that, a free update will benefit everyone.
With that said, there is no reason to stop what you are doing to update. Apple’s servers are likely overwhelmed right now as a lot of people rush to download Sierra, which means it can take a while to download. There is nothing revolutionary about Sierra, so take your time to upgrade and wait until you have a day off to launch the upgrade.
Regards, Lifehacker