Q: Do you recommend Mavericks?

Yes. Mavericks is great on my MacBook Pro 8,2. Fast. I also like iBooks and the iCloud Keychain.

There are some things you should be aware of before you install it, though:

1. Make sure your mac is compatible with Mavericks. OS X Mavericks: System Requirements
2. Make sure you have a good backup before you install Mavericks. Always a good idea with a new OS.
3. If there is any software that you use that is very important to you, check first to make sure that the version you plan on using is compatible with Mavericks.
4. If you have crapware on your computer, for example, "cleaners", "optimizers", or "defragmenters", this stuff will not work well with Mavericks. The problem is not Mavericks; the problem is that these "utilities" are bad software to begin with. Prime examples are MacKeeper and CleanMyMac (which should really be called TakeABigShitOnMyMac.) This stuff is all unnecessary and often harmful. I'd remove it before you install Mavericks. The same goes for antivirus software, which is of minimal, if any, benefit on macs, and often problematic.
5. RAM: make sure you have enough ram. Apple says 2 GB is enough. 4 is a more realistic minimum for acceptable performance. You will want more if you are doing memory-intensive work on your computer, like audio or video editing. If you're doing audio or video editing, you'll probably want a SSD too.
6. Printers: If you have a vintage printer, make sure it is compatible with Mavericks. There are many reports of printer and scanner problems after the switch to Mavericks, and these are usually caused by the printer manufacturer "utilities" not being compatible. Easily fixed by just uninstalling these "utilities". This should ring a bell- the crapware bell.
7. Before you install, it's a good idea to:
   1. remove all the crapware
   2. repair your hard drive and permissions with Disk Utility
   3. reboot in safe mode Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?
8. The Mavericks installer deletes itself from your Applications folder after you install it. If you want to make a bootable USB flash drive (nice to have for reinstalls), you can use DiskMaker X and an 8 GB thumbdrive to make one, after you download the Mavericks installer but before you do the installation.

If you like, use EtreCheck  Etresoft: EtreCheck  to generate a system report on your current system and paste it in a response here, and I'll see if I can spot any potential problems that might arise with Mavericks.

Unfortunately, regarding audio and video playback, Mavericks is posing quite a lot of problems, including stuttering audio, loss of thumbnails, loss of the possibility to preview files by hitting the space bar, and loss of the possibility to play files in Quicktime without a prior, most inconvenient conversion of such files. For video and audio professionals, it is quite a nightmare.

There are a few threads talking about this. Here is one of them: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23808263?ac_cid=tw123456#23808263

It works fine on my late-2008 MBP (2.53Ghz core 2 duo, 8GB RAM).

NO, or well ...Maybe?

it all depends.....if you use photoshop....all I can tell you is NO NO NO NO NO do not do it !!!!!!

Alejoviade2,

Could you explain please? I use Adobe Creative Suite 6 for work on my MacBook Pro 2011 (Lion) and my Mac Pro 2008 (Snow Leopard).

I never install a "dot zero" release, but was going to install 10.9.1 now that Apple have had time to iron out some bugs and the likes of Adobe have released patches. As a self-employed designer, I cannot afford to take risks with my kit, but at the same time, I don't want to let my Macs become vulnerable to malware by running old operating systems.

What, in particular, was the problem with Photoshop (version no ?) under Mavericks (version no?). Was this one of the early problems with 10.9.0 and Photoshop before the patches? Or are you still having problems even as at 10 Dec 2013?

I don't recommend you to install mavericks so far. It is still giving plenty of trouble. Check: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23808263?ac_cid=tw123456#23808263

Regarding the adobe suite, we have just moved from adobe cs6 to Adobe CC. In our computer running Mountain Lion we have been able to install it with no problem. In the computer running Mavericks, after effects will not install. Te adobe guys have been trying for days (they connect to my computer via Team Viewer), so far to no effect. It may be an issue related specifically to our computer, but I am pretty certain it has to do with mavericks as well.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll steer clear of 10.9 until they've got things a bit more under control. I'm in no rush, unless Apple decide to force the issue by not providing security updates for SL.

hotmetal_UK wrote:

 

I'm in no rush, unless Apple decide to force the issue by not providing security updates for SL.

Doh!

But seriously, these forums are for people having problems. The vast majority of people are having no problems with Mavericks whatsoever. This same Mavericks that people are fuming about will transform into the bestest, most stable OS version every by this time next year, just as each OS does as soon as the new version comes out.

etresoft wrote:

 

hotmetal_UK wrote:

 

I'm in no rush, unless Apple decide to force the issue by not providing security updates for SL.

Doh!

 

But seriously, these forums are for people having problems. The vast majority of people are having no problems with Mavericks whatsoever. This same Mavericks that people are fuming about will transform into the bestest, most stable OS version every by this time next year, just as each OS does as soon as the new version comes out.

Er, thanks. Your "Doh!" just links back to the top of this thread. I don't know if you were trying to link to a discussion that indicated that security updates would indeed be withdrawn from older systems. If that is the case (I read it somewhere), then I would think it's a good idea to update my system. However, I cannot risk downtime as it impacts directly on my ability to earn a living. Obviously I will be taking the usual precautions, TM backup, bootable clone etc, but I'm not a super-techy power user who can interpret crash logs and fix stuff easily, I'm just a designer that relies on the tools of the trade, and I'd really like to be wised up to the potential pitfalls first, before taking the plunge.

I do take your point about forums being for people with problems, and I know hospitals aren't necessarily the most dangerous places on earth just because they're full of sick people, but I still want to get a handle on the sort of problems that the (small number of?) people who *are* having problems are having. Just trying to gauge the risk-level.

Would I recommend Mavericks?

Yes and no. It depends what you do with your computer(s). If you're a retiree with not much else to do except fiddle about with your computer all day in your den, and play at being a Mac guru, or if you're a Mom or Dad with just your local church event announcements to create in a word processing document, then you're probably fine, and will probably not run into any problems.

If, on the other hand, you're an intense user involved in complex workflows using "out of the ordinary" combinations of software that all need to work together (for example, Photoshop, Vectorworks, and Rhino sending very big files to remote large-format plotters located miles away and requiring an entire weekend to print), accessing large amounts of data from hundreds of different storage locations, interfacing with other team members, all working hard to produce stuff that has to be absolutely perfect and must be delivered on time (because it's how you make a living) then you need your operating system to be absolutely reliable at every stage of your workflow. For this type of user, I'd say Mavericks should be kept in the "experimental" department until version 0.3 or 0.4 some time in 2014 (hopefully).

Cheers Tom, my thoughts exactly. I'm kind of part way between the two, in that I do need my Mac to earn a crust on a daily basis, and cannot spend a day or two reinstalling stuff and troubleshooting. My workflow is not quite as complex as the one you describe but all the same, mission-critical and time-sensitive. So I think I'll wait it out a bit, maybe 10.9.3, or until someone can tell me for sure that Snow Leopard is now no longer going to receive security patches.

Hotmetal - you'd be safe moving up from SL to Mountain Lion, which following a number of initial glitches now runs as smooth as silk and is 99.999% reliable - although you would not be able to run any older PPC applications in ML.

Tom, yeah, I was thinking that. Maybe that's the smartest move. It seems a shame to pay for an old OS when the new one is free. But then twelve quid isn't much for a tried and tested recent OS and would be much better than a massive headache with a "public beta" like Mavericks seems to be for some users. I'll give that some thought if I decide to update. OTOH, I might just wait for 10.9.3 anyway. I remember there was just the same hoo-ha when SL came out, and 10.6.3 was deemed to be the first reliable version for most people. I know *most people* probably have no probs with 10.9.1, but I don't think I'll risk it just yet. I just thought maybe the Christmas break might be a good time to try 10.9.1 while I have a few days to fix stuff *if* it goes pear-shaped. But I've lost my bottle now!

Yes hotmetal - I too was thinking of trying out Mavericks at home over the Christmas break, when I would have a bit of free time.

I was going to first clone my existing system from my Macbook Pro to an external hard drive, so that when I'd finished with Mavericks, I could just clone my existing system back to the Macbook Pro.

But then I found out (by reading this massive thread) that as soon as you plug any external hard drive into a Mac with Mavericks installed on it, there's a chance that the external hard drive might be wiped clean. Some people are saying it only happens with Western Digital drives, and others are reporting that it also happens with Seagate drives. The fanbois and know-alls are denying that it happens or are claiming that the users themselves are doing something wrong.

If that happened I would lose my clone and would be stuck with the physical impossibility of ever getting back to where I was !

So at the moment I can see no easy way of safely plugging an external drive into a Mac with Mavericks on it. I suppose I could partition the drive in the MBP and install Mavericks on that, but it would be a bit of a hassle.

It will be Easter before I have another chance to play around with Mavericks. Hopefully by then all of the glitches (including this very serious one) will be resolved.