upgrading my Os

[Debbie]

I have a 2019 MacBook Pro laptop.  I am using Catalina 10.15.7.  I have not upgraded in a long time because of the problems I read about from others.  Talking to an Apple tech yesterday and she said I was opening myself up to malware and they are not supporting Catalina very much because it is so old.  My question is what OS should I upgrade to at this time.  Thanks so much for all your help.

[Brian]

Moving this to the Macintosh User's Group.

[Brian]

At this point, Big Sur is a mature OS and is running fine. That's what I'm running on my 2017 27" iMac. Before you take the plunge, how much free space is on your HD? How much RAM do you have?

You don't ever want to go more than 75% full on any Mac HD. If you have a stupidly small internal hard drive, like 256GB, we are going to need to be extremely careful before you attempt anything. A 500GB Internal HD will give you more wiggle room, but honestly? I like 1TB internal drives. Even then I want around 500GB free.

RAM...if you are at 8GB, you are really pushing things in 2023. You'll want at least 16GB or more. Unfortunately, Apple has made their current products from 2017-present to not be up-gradable after the initial purchase. If you want more, like a larger HD or more RAM, you are buying a new laptop as things are soldered to the board and aren't replaceable components.

So could you fill this out and post the results in this thread?

Details about your computer's health.

[Debbie]

I have a Mac laptop running Catalina 10.15.7 and Photoshop 23.1. It is over 3 years old (2019), and has 64GB of RAM. Its hard drive has 1.36 TB free out of 4 TB. The last time I shut down was more than 24 hours ago. I rarely run a cleanup program.

[Brian]

OK, you are the first person...I think, like ever...that I've dealt with that owns a robust MBP. 64GB is perfect and even though I think you need to move some stuff off of your main HD, yes...even though you have 1.36TB Free, when it comes to Macs you really don't want to go more than 70%-80% full because performance will take a hit. Yes, even if you have 1.36TB, it's a "Sliding Scale."

Anyway, I'm currently running Big Sur, upgraded to Catalina and am running the current version of Photoshop CC. Big Sur is a Mature OS, and I have complete confidence in it now, especially with a 2019 or 2017 Mac. Things seem to be working but I have noticed a bit of lag now with Photoshop than I did before, and that's due to the Video Card I have installed. When I bought my Mac in 2017, I went for a more robust Graphics Card, because I knew that Adobe was using the GPU over the CPU for a performance boost. But 2017 was about 6 years ago, well...at least when I bought my computer. Even though it's "fine" now, I suspect that won't be the case in a few years and I will need to upgrade to a new Mac. For now, Macs from 2017-2019-era should work, with one caveat, and I will cover that in the next paragraph. 

With upgrading to Big Sur, you will have access to the latest versions of Photoshop CC. We have had a bunch of Members have issues with the latest version of Photoshop and the Graphics Cards in their computers not playing nicely together. Error message after error message. So while it's awesome that you have 64GB of RAM and a 4TB HD, if you didn't spend the money and get the better Graphics Card, this could be an issue if you upgrade your Photoshop to the current version along with Big Sur. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the end of the world; if there are any issues, you will have to downgrade back to an older version of PS that worked well and stay there until you get a new computer. So it's something to be aware of, and you won't know how your computer will act until you try it for yourself.

This is how you update to Big Sur and this REQUIRES SAFARI TO ACCOMPLISH. No other browser will work. Period. No Chrome, Firefox, Edge, whatever. It MUST be Safari only!!

Copy and Paste the following URL into Safari:

macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132?mt=12

That link should open the App Store to the following Page:

It should Say macOS Big Sur. Click the "Get" button, download the installer file and go through the motions. I will warn you, this file is about 1GB in size and I would not have anything else open while you download this. When it comes to a OS Upgrade, it should be you, your computer, and the OS Installer. No Netflix or Spotify or Facebook or E-mail. Make sure your laptop is plugged in when you do this.

Good Luck!

 

PS: The Apple Rep wasn't lying, Catalina is slowly being forced out and is only a matter of time before it's taken behind the Proverbial Barn and Shot Dead.  

[Debbie]

Thank you very much.  I am so hesitant to upgrade because I get overwhelmed if there are issues.  I'll try this upgrade in a few days (as soon as I have time) and I'll let you know how it goes.  Thanks again for your help.

 

ps. I dont know what made me choose 64GB of Ram.  LOL.  I just kept running out of space because I am a photo hoarder and don't do a good job of culling.    

 

[Debbie]

Hi Brian, I updated my OP to Big Sur 11.7.7 per your instructions.  I am currently using Ps 23.1.0.  Should I stay with that version of Ps or upgrade it as well?

thanks for all your help,

Debbie

[Brian]

That’s a tough question. The reviews are mixed as the current version of PS really requires a beefy video card. We’ve had a up-tick with posts of our members having issues. Currently, you can no longer blindly click “update” in the Adobe Mothership App and call it good. Now you can open up a whole box of worms and issues. So unless you have a brand new computer, which you and I do not, I’d hold off. In reality, you aren’t missing much except for the new AI stuff. But even those brand new tools still need to mature; we are on Version 1.0 and they still have a long way to go. 

For me, I’m still on Big Sur and PS 23. I’ve have turned off Auto Updates within the Adobe Mothership App. The reason is, PS is acting a bit sluggish on my current 2017 iMac, and I have better things to buy rather than forking out $4600 for a new Mac setup. I do plan on upgrading in 2024 or 2025 though and am holding off on doing any major upgrades to PS. At some point, the gains do not outweigh the hassles and costs of inconvenience. 

[Debbie]

Thank you!  I have already turned off the automatic updates because of the issues I've read about in the past.  I am not confident in figuring out bugs when they occur with a new update.  There were a couple of other updates besides the new release for Ps.  They are Ps 23.5.5 and Bridge v 13.0.3, Bridge v 12.0.4 as well as Camera Raw v 15.3.1.  Should I upgrade any of those or just sit tight?

I really appreciate your advice,

Debbie

[Brian]

4 hours ago, Debbie said:

They are Ps 23.5.5 and Bridge v 13.0.3, Bridge v 12.0.4 as well as Camera Raw v 15.3.1.  Should I upgrade any of those or just sit tight?

Those are fine to upgrade. It's going from PS CC 23.xx.xx to PS CC 24 that will have the greatest chance of issues. But a routine update to the current versions should be fine.

[Debbie]

Thank you!  

[Debbie]

Ok, this morning when I went to check my Credit card statement, the bank says I need to upgrade Safari.  🤨 I checked my version currently on my laptop and i am using v 14.1.3.  Then i googled the updated version and found that for Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura I should be using 16.4.1.  Do I need to update safari as well?  That's why i don't like to update. LOL.  There is always something else to check because it affects all the other apps/programs.  Thanks again for your guidance.

Debbie

[Brian]

Yes, you definitely want to keep your Web Browser updated. 
 

Click the Gear icon on the Dock and choose software update. Now, it will ask if you want to upgrade to Ventura, don’t do that, but look below and you should see a blue link for Other Updates, click that.

You should see the Safari Update and possibly other ones in a list. Install those. I’m not at my computer, so I can’t give screenshots.