Mojave: The last great mac OS

[brianmowrey]

I will buy Mojave compatible macs from the refurb store going forward, but after that, its a bleak, sad desert. Either windows ... or 'silicon' macs I have no interest in.

Apple has been deprecating every design they've perfected in the name of "progress" since 2010: iPod and iPod Nano (2010), MBP 2nd gen form factor (2012, sturdy, repairable, though it wants better thermals), iPhone 5 and 6 form factors (2016), and now OS X (2018). The only reversal to this trend I can name was reviving the Vanilla iPad in 2017.

They are hostage to the stock price, even though stock price has been banking on services for the last year, so who knows why they still lean into this counter-productive "revolutionary leap every year" branding.

In the wreckage of all this, they've laid the ground for a healthy unauthorized refurb market, where, once the brand myth finally crumbles, anyone with the skills can profitably Frankenstein 3 dead Golden Age devices plus a new aftermarket battery into a machine better than what's on the Apple Store for half the price.....

 

[sgtaylor5]

Over the past year, I’ve been waffling between Sierra through Catalina for the best OS version for my late 2013 MacBook Pro. I probably would have stayed with High Sierra (no Catalyst apps), but it wouldn’t find my Bluetooth mouse. Mojave did. I didn’t want to consume one of my two USB ports for a mouse receiver and TB 2 docks are too expensive.

Catalina made my CPU PECI temps rise at times to the 60’s and 70’s and that hasn’t happened with earlier versions. I guess I’m staying with Mojave.

 

[Nicole1980]

Apple has been deprecating every design they've perfected in the name of "progress" since 2010: iPod and iPod Nano (2010), MBP 2nd gen form factor (2012, sturdy, repairable, though it wants better thermals), iPhone 5 and 6 form factors (2016), and now OS X (2018). The only reversal to this trend I can name was reviving the Vanilla iPad in 2017.

They are hostage to the stock price, even though stock price has been banking on services for the last year, so who knows why they still lean into this counter-productive "revolutionary leap every year" branding.

In the wreckage of all this, they've laid the ground for a healthy unauthorized refurb market, where, once the brand myth finally crumbles, anyone with the skills can profitably Frankenstein 3 dead Golden Age devices plus a new aftermarket battery into a machine better than what's on the Apple Store for half the price.....

I only buy refurbs from the apple refurb store, comes like new with full warranty. So I'm know I'm getting a solid machine. Then, of course, I'll swap out the sata hdd with a samsung 860 evo 4tb ssd ...
So I guess thats 'frankenstein-ing' it?

 

[nickdalzell1]

I am more a 'Mavericks was the last great Mac OS' because after Yosemite they were too much like iOS 7. So I'm likely to be the luddite here.

 

[brianmowrey]

So I guess thats 'frankenstein-ing' it?

I've been pro-apple.com/refurb for 10 years, seeing from the inside how liberally Apple support replaces new devices at the first sign of trouble - but I am using "Frankenstein" to refer to your local freelance logic board solder-er taking three dead machines into one live one. Still the idea that Apple leaves enough space for refurb to overtake new devices is a fairly fanciful prediction resulting mostly from a large amount of Captain Morgan that I drank

 

[JacobHarvey]

Mojave has been great and is definitely a keeper for me. Catalina added nothing of worth for my use case.

My plan is to keep it installed long term on my 2019 27 iMac for software compatibility with 32bit apps, and then install and run future macOS versions on my external Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD for continued security (when Mojave stops getting security patches).

 

[Naalsi]

Can I ask what kind of 32bit software are you guys running on a daily basis that you'd lose if upgrading?

I found that Logic Pro X (my workhorse) actually performs much better in Catalina and even Big Sur Beta, and the whole OS, at least the latter, feels much more fluid and a better manager of resources in general. Tested with huge projects.

What is keeping you from upgrading?

 

[nickdalzell1]

I don't know about the person you're asking, but I lost a ton of great 32-bit apps and games that made me buy a Windows 10 laptop to get them back given Windows at least supports both 32-and 64-bit. I don't know why Apple couldn't do the same myself. There's still folks who love playing Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2, or games like Sky Gamblers Cold War. All of those no longer work. They show up under 'purchased' and have install icons, but they never show up under the apps list, and looking in Finder they have circle with slash icons.

there is zero benefit to the consumer making an OS 64-bit only. I can't even think of a real benefit I'd even notice, just the costs, like the above mentioned games, still quite popular today, no longer being playable outside of Windows.

 

[loby]

I don't know about the person you're asking, but I lost a ton of great 32-bit apps and games that made me buy a Windows 10 laptop to get them back given Windows at least supports both 32-and 64-bit. I don't know why Apple couldn't do the same myself. There's still folks who love playing Half Life 2, Portal, Portal 2, or games like Sky Gamblers Cold War. All of those no longer work. They show up under 'purchased' and have install icons, but they never show up under the apps list, and looking in Finder they have circle with slash icons.

there is zero benefit to the consumer making an OS 64-bit only. I can't even think of a real benefit I'd even notice, just the costs, like the above mentioned games, still quite popular today, no longer being playable outside of Windows.

to apple you are a small segment and to them not worth the extra work to allow old apps (especially games) to work. Apple has never really been into allowing “old” software to work. Part of the culture and general philosophy.

 

[brianmowrey]

to apple you are a small segment and to them not worth the extra work to allow old apps (especially games) to work. Apple has never really been into allowing “old” software to work. Part of the culture and general philosophy.

Exactly. It's far more important that Macs are able to churn out nonthreatening, glossy ad content to sell chaff than play some dumb old grungy physics engine masterpieces

 

[Hombre53]

Mojave the last great Apple OS? Nah, that belongs to Snow Leopard (10.6.8). SL was the greatest OS Apple ever produced. No contest. Mojave is a distant 2nd, but I'll take it since everything else Apple is total crap. Steve Jobs must be rolling in his grave. RIP...

 

[Hombre53]

So I downgraded back to 10.14.6, let's see if I actually find it to be faster or just placebo

No, you actually upgraded back to Mojave if you came from Catalina. Catalina is Apple's answer to Windows "Vista". Good work, Apple.

 

[Fishrrman]

Question:
"What is keeping you from upgrading?"

32 bit apps I use that aren't going to be upgraded:
- Mailbox Manager -- for previewing/deleting junk/spam email before you download it from the server
- Picasa -- old google photo viewing/editor (I've found nothing I like better)
- Cubase -- older versions
- Classic Menu -- older version without upgrade
... among others.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Wait? Picasa still exists? I was under the impression Google killed that service years ago, since none of my Samsung phones seem capable of syncing to it anymore from the Gallery app.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Picasa still exists?"

The Picasa app still exists.
It seems to be downloadable from here:

Picasa for Mac

Picasa for Mac can transfer, find, organize, share, print, and edit images, all with this easy-to-use product. Watch Picasa automatically organize all your pictures into elegant...

mac.filehorse.com

I never used any of its "cloud features" -- I only use it "locally" on my Mac.
(I don't use the cloud at all)

 

[nickdalzell1]

Neither do I, but like most Google apps, I thought they required some sort of internet connection or cloud-sync in order to run at all? Even Google Reader required phoning home to Google.

 

[yukari]

After the last update fiasco with Mojave, I've finally decided to give Catalina a try. Except for one or two 32-bit programs that I have, it seems Mojave is not the be-all-end-all to OSX.

I think I will stick with Catalina until Big Sur drops. Although I am tempted to try the beta version of Big Sur, I will wait for the GM or the official release version.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Although completely broken in Catalina, there appears to be some sort of rudimentary support for 32-bit apps, as I'm running a 32-bit version of Firefox on Big Sur just fine.

 

[Ritsuka]

I doubt it. Firefox has been 64bit for almost ten years anyway.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Not the version I'm running. It's so old even the extension store doesn't work, had to sideload the old archived version to get adblock and so on to work. It is a version dating back to Windows 7, or 2009. To me it is more geek friendly and less dumbed down, unlike *cough* Quantum.

 

[trevor2522]

Mojave is the last OS which will support MT4 & MT5 for financial-chart trading. I have BigSur which my broker says will not handle Metatrader due to 32-bit / 64-bit incompatibility. Says options are either downgrade to Mojave or use a Windows VPS. Mojave (2018) will not enjoy support for long, being 2 systems old. So which is my best option here? Thanks.

 

[Ritsuka]

Metatrader seems a Windows only app, and seems to require Wine on Mac. CrossOver can run 32bit Windows app even on Catalina and Big Sur.

 

[trevor2522]

Yes, so they claim. Price is £32 - £48 in the UK (depending on support-level). Sounds like a magic solution, thanks!
Do I still need Wine to run Metatrader on Crossover, or is Crossover self-supporting?

 

[Ritsuka]

Only Crossover. Crossover uses wine, but it contains a lot of enhancements too. Try the trial.

 

[juan985_Spain]

Big Sur is working great for me. Tried Catalina several times, went back to Mojave. So far no issues with Big Sur. Battely life and temps are great.

MacBook Pro retina 15" mid 2015.