Hello everybody,help me please.Macbook pro 2011 late,i have samsung ssd evo and 16gb ddr3
So my choice is El Capitan (10.11.6) or Sierra (10.12.6).Now i use Mavericks (10.9.5) and i need to find the optimal update for music production.Also so that the battery does not dry out quickly.
I did reset PRAM and SMC,do I have to do it again after the installation clean instal OSX?
P.S Is it possible to use such programs for example "macfuncontrol" or "TG Pro" and what is better for us?

 

Last edited: Jan 17, 2018

- Install the newest OS you can (new Logic updates and sometimes other plug-ins/daws restrict old macOS versions) so I'd go with Sierra.
- battery will last OK on either OS (assuming is still in decent condition), but definitely not for making music (rather for web browsing, document editing for school etc.)
- you only need to reset things if something goes wrong - so no reset after os install
- I won't recommend to use fan control software - the OS will manage them perfectly fine. If you turn the fans silent on high CPU usage the OS will slow down the CPU drastically so you won't be able to work on it. By the way, clean your mac every 8-10 months, inside, carefully with a vacuum cleaner, dust gathers quickly and the fans will spin non-stop on high speed.

 

Do NOT go to High Sierra on your audio workstation.
I have a dual boot machine with 10.13 and Kali but it's a hack box and the only reason I did it was for the almost instant file transfers/volume creation.
It WILL fnck with your DAW in weird and wonderous ways and downgrading macOS from APFS to HFS is a complete bitch that requires reformatting, restoring and somewhat cumbersome terminal commands to completely delete the logical volumes and containers it creates.

Sierra, however, runs like a champ.

 

if you have 8g ram or less i advice you to install yosemite, the reason is because as higher it is more ram it takes, but yosemite is a good one in my opnion and experience,sierra sometimes loads a lot of unecessary things.

 

You can upgrade up to High Sierra if you want to, but I would suggest upgrading to Sierra. So far it works fine.

 

Thank you very much guys.But i decided to stop on El Capitan for me,for battery and good work of coolers.Some vst not working on Sierra,and this system is just have Siri,WTF Apple.
My benchmark - Mavericks - 2763/10389 vs El Capitan - 3070/10605 vs Sierra - 2876/10620

 

from my experience el capitan was the first really "heavy" os in the series for a semi-old machine. its graphics is seen as more demanding, then sierra even a bit more.

so, the os version before capitan or el capitan are the ones i would recommend because if you go further back then you have a big chance of getting all sorts of compatibility problems with modern gear, drivers etc and sierra is most probably to heavy for your machine and has really nothing to offer when it comes to audio work

 

Last edited: Jan 17, 2018

Thank you

 

I was about to adviese Yosemite - I have a Macbook Pro with identical specs. El Capitan runs the latest version of Logic Pro X, and you'll be safe with your plugins and other software not being outmoded by the change in O/S (though some things might not survive). El Capitan is the best compromise, the "sweet spot," at present, and probably for quite a while longer.

 

I have hesitated long enough, compared 10.9, 10.10 and 10.11, and it seems to me that 10.11 is more efficient than 10.10 - Somewhat unexpected but true. Dunno how well your 2011 MBP runs in terms of graphics, but if it was mine, I'd definitely give it a try.

 

anything fine here(Hackintosh 10.13.2), nothing fucked. btw you can install macOS StonedSierra even with HFS+

 

yosemite actually has memory and cpu problems, i went to 10.11 recently and it's a world of a difference. and this was on a 2009 macbook pro

 

what macbook are you using?

 

ummm like i said in my initial post: macbook pro 2009

 

take care with the last update in El Capitán 10.11.6, I have a macbook pro mid 2012 quadcore, 16gb ram and ssd. With 10.11.5 i have no problems but the last update turns easy the fans to 6200rpm in logic and Chrome

 

Use SSD fan control

https://exirion.net/ssdfanctrl/

 

did a research and as i thought EL CAPITAN has CPU problem and kernel problems, depending on the machine you may be lucky, but thats up to you

 

Exactly el capitan thats one of his issues

 

from my own experience, ive NEVER noticed any whatsoever improvement from this kind of "tweaks". ive been working with both macs and windows in studios, with networks with stationary and personal machines and have gone through all these nonsense tweaks up and down in and out over 20 years and they are all just smoke.

these tweaks will make you feel good but will not make a noticeable significant difference, not that will affect your audio works capability in any significant way. back in the days people went crazy trying to find the last drop of juice from their machines in the "pentium" times.

mostly they were chasing their own tail, just refusing to acknowledge they were on slow machines, end of story. (now, real changes like changing clock of the cpu etc that is another story)

nowadays you can turn on any freaking function and service and if your system hasn't serious other software and/or hardware conflicts you will notice nothing at all. audio glitches and shit depends on OTHER sorts of actual conflicts. today's situation is, in a other-ways healthy machine/os brute cpu force and makes everything work pretty stable they are quite invulnerable from been affected by any proggies running on the side.

when you push your machine and you really reach the limit, you have reached the limit. you will not gain any meaningful margins by closing any startup program cleaning your browser etc etc. and definitely not emptying your cache daily, those are totally naive "tips". you can do them but its like a tidy desk, its just nice.

real problems depend on drivers conflicts and bad installs and hardware conflicts. the rest is just wanting to play sherlock and wasting our time.

 

Last edited: Jan 21, 2018