Q: Are all of these failures of El Capitan normal for a new OS X?

cats.pt wrote:

iMacs 2010 accept a maximum of 16Gb, implicit but not explicit, 4Gb memory modules, all slots.

I am not sure what you mean about this not being explicit. Apple publishes tech specs for every model, for example this page for the iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010) model, which clearly shows the maximum supported memory is 16 GB. It is true that third party sources like EveryMac.com or MacTracker include an "Actual" listing showing 32 GB for the 27" (but not the 21.5") models, but that is not something Apple officially supports.

Beyond that it is reasonably well known that as more advanced, higher performance versions of the OS are released they often expose weaknesses in "bargain brand" (& sometimes well known third party vendor) memory modules that do not quite meet Apple's specs. That is why you so often see recommendations in these & other forums to stick with well-known memory vendors, ideally those with lifetime free replacement policies -- there is nothing harder to diagnose than intermittent problems caused by marginal memory modules, particularly when ones that were just able to handle a prior OS versions demands can't do so for the latest one & it isn't immediately obvious that is the source of the problems.

As you noted, you can't reasonably blame Apple for that since they have no control over what end users install in their Macs.

Please start your own thread. You'll have a better chance of getting help that way.

Although I agree that you should start a new thread, while I'm here, go to the Apple icon at the top left corner of your screen, then pick About This Mac.  Then click on "Memory" which is one of the tabs across the top of that window.  You'll find that window useful, but then, at the bottom of that, there's a choice "Memory Upgrade Instructions." Click on that and then scroll down and find your computer, and you'll see very clear information as to what the specific rules are for memory for your computer.

You are right, it's explicit, I was quoting it for you (still convinced I was right) but a second reading shows i've read it too fast. Sorry.

I can only comment in terms of how I use my Mac, which had El Capitan Email send problems which suddenly stopped.  Unlike your comments, as a Mac user since they were first introduced in the mid-80s, I don't load in all kinds of strange, dangerous apps, especially in recent years where I mainly focus on the basics (Safari, Mail, MS Office 2011, Quicken 2015, Photos, etc.)  I believe that my problems, and those of others I know up who had mostly mail-related issues, was due to something inside of El Capitan that caused an issue upon install. My problem, and those of many others, stopped suddenly after continuing for days on end, and the posting of new email problems tied to El Capitan also seems to have mostly gone away. It could well be something totally unrelated, such as something tied to iTunes, iCloud, etc. or who knows what else, that Apple suddenly realized was causing problems totally unrelated to those applications.  I even have a parallel, since suddenly my condo started to have noise, which the staff here was convinced was just me hearing the wind! After 2 days of my complaining, it turned out that when they converted the complex over from central air conditioning to central heat for the season, they forgot to turn off some type of motor.  My guess is that El Capitan did something similar, not obvious, and that Apple finally noticed that and switched something on/off.   On the other hand, I do agree with your comments about readability of various resolutions, and occasionally grab a nearby magnifying glass to read something on the screen because of the issue you pointed out.

Whickwithy wrote:

 

The only thing that drives me batshit (is that appropriate language?) is the fixed size of the menu/toolbar/tabs text.  Yes, I can go to some lower resolution and lose all of the reasons that I bought a 4k UHD TV.  That's not a solution.  Funny thing is that is exactly what you have to do with Apple's own 5k display.  Sad.  Apple must realize that 8k and 11k resolutions are coming quickly.  What a waste if you have to go to 1920 x 1040 or something just to read the menus and tabs.  There are so many ways the could fix this well.  Ah well, I hope they fix it soon.  I can't quite afford a 100" display, which is what would be needed for me to have to seldom use zoom.

Are you using one of the HiDPI resolution settings? Hold down Alt and click on "Scaled" in System Preferences > Displays, and you should get many more options, including "Retina" resolutions, called "HiDPI". That should make the menu bar bigger, but keeping the hi-res of your display.

I am glad you see this post as helpful.
I attempted two times to give more information related to this post. Unfortunately, both  were censored because of a perceived violation of the Terms of Use. Apple was not prepared to discuss this by phone, it is impossible to ask them by email. I will stop using this forum.

Have you tried the HiDPI settings?

As I said, if you hold down ALT while clicking on "Scaled", that should reveal more options -- even on a non Retina display.

If your monitor has sufficiently high pixel density that objects like menubars and text are too small, then you would benefit from trying out the HiDPI resolutions. This does not mean that you will lose the detail in your hi-res desktop pictures: it just means that the OS redefines the "pixels to the inch" for the display.

Please try it, and then come back and complain.

Whickwithy wrote:

I can read all six of them just fine - except for the menu bar, toolbars, tabs, and other things that Apple restricts ...

I know what you mean -- even on my non-retina 27" iMac some of these things are hard for me to read.

However, I'm not sure what Apple could do about this without some very significant changes to the GUI. Obviously I hope, if they make the text bigger, there will be less room for more of it on the display, so either we would have to put up with truncated versions (like Finder does with long filenames), or a 'more' or ">>" button to see the items that won't fit across the screen, or maybe a rollover magnifier like the Dock can have.

It also should be something that doesn't tax the resources of older Macs too much; otherwise, owners of those machines would be unable to upgrade to the latest OS version.