Q: Does anyone have any positive feedback after upgrading to Mavericks?

Giltai, this topic is a couple months old and was really not much more than a gripe thread, no matter how much some folks strove to provide assistance. I would strongly recommend that you start your own topic. But, to provide a quick and easy answer, try the suggestions in my Mac Performance Guide. My guess is that you have some outdated software installed that isn't getting along with Mavericks.

I have a MacBook late 2009 (4GB RAM) and a MacBook late 2008 (8 GB RAM) running Mavericks without any major issues. I'm using Mail.app with two IMAP and one Exchange Account without any problems. I like Mavericks because expecially on my late 2009 MacBook it runs much better than Lion.

The only thing I have to complain about Mavericks is that Mail window sometimes gets stuck so I have to restart the app. I have one special issue with my new iMac late 2013 in conjunction with its fusion drive - this constellation sometimes causes freezes of the whole USB subsystem...

Without the fusion drive, the Mail app can have this issue of "freezing" for a second or so too. Although the OSX with the fusion drive is even more susceptible for crapware than with the "normal" configuration, in this case it is in the Mail app.

I have set Mail to minimum 5 minutes to give it some "rest" between getting the mails.

Safari has it sometimes too, that it "hesitates" for a splitsecond to load a new page. I am not sure but I think it is the security which is better in Mavericks.

Mail app can have this issue of "freezing" for a second or so [...]

Safari has it sometimes too

I've never seen such a problem, and I don't have a fusion drive. I have a 2010 MBP with a traditional hard drive.

Giltai wrote:

 

... I've checked disk space, run programs to clean up the machine

I surmise that is at least one problem that may have led to poor results. Macs don't need "cleaning" and that is one of the most common reasons for problems reported on this site.

Mavericks absolutely, positively, will not cause a Mac to run "slow". It will increase performance on any Mac that meets its installation requirements. It has on every Mac I upgraded, which now include nearly three dozen portables and desktops of various ages and configurations. The performance improvements are quantifiable. Incompatible software, including system modifications incompatible with Mavericks, will make a Mac run slow or not at all. Most of those programs were poorly implemented to begin with, and are either poorly supported or no longer supported at all. Incompatible hardware modifications also exist, and can also explain poor performance. A very small number of problems occur when such an extensive upgrade exacerbates or accelerates an incipient hardware failure that already existed or would have occurred anyway. All of these things can be fixed.

all I want to do is switch the computer on and do whatever I want to do,

Then don't install or run programs to "clean up the machine." Let your Mac work as it is designed to work. All it requires is benign negligence and the occasional software update from Apple.

It's up to you to determine what programs or system modifications you install on a Mac, to understand their proper use, limitations, and potential adverse effects, and to update or uninstall them if they no longer perform. If you are interested in addressing the problems you are experiencing, please start a new Discussion.

Hi Thomas:

I said that it - in my opinion - is not caused by Fusion Drive. I do not have a Fusion Drive and avoided that "intermediate" phase of Macs as the plague.

I think, but do not know for sure, that it has to to do wth settings as "warn for fraudulent sites", "do not track me", and so, and maybe some extensions/plugins.

Have a good 2014

Lex

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro produced in Aug 2013, a late 2013 27 inch iMac, two external LaCie HDDs and a new Time Capsule.  Both computers are working great after upgrading to Mavericks with no problems accessing the LaCie drives.  I think both computers operate faster and I have improved battery life on the MacBook.  I have never used any 3rd party software on any external drive ever.  I always reformat external drives using Disk Utility before putting them to use.  To answer your question, yes, I have nothing but positive feedback since upgrading to Mavericks.

Just an update on my original post, I found some advice as to how to reload the Maverick OS without needing to re format the drive. It took about 6 hrs to do but now the computer is functioning as good as it was before the upgrade. His opinion was the system did not fully load with the original install even though it did not give me any error messages 

thomas_r. wrote:

 

Mail app can have this issue of "freezing" for a second or so [...]

Safari has it sometimes too

 

I've never seen such a problem,

Neither have I.