I bought a refurbished MacBook Pro

Mavericks may be available to you if you previously downloaded it under your own AppleID (perhaps on another Mac). If so, whilst logged in with that same ID, go to the App Store>Purchases tab and see if it available to you.

Failing that, as you've discovered, Mavericks is no longer available from Apple. El Capitan is the latest operating system, replacing Yosemite - could that be an option for you?

You cannot downgrade without first erasing the drive. Did you do that? You cannot re-download any prior version of OS X except what had been originally installed on the computer new from the factory. Today you can only purchase Lion (which will not work on that model) or freely download El Capitan. Mavericks and Yosemite are not available any longer.

The following is the correct way to reinstall OS X. If you did not re-partition the disk, then there is a Recovery HD still installed as it was when Mavericks had been installed.

Install or Reinstall OS X from Scratch

Be sure you have backed up your files because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears.

Erase the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the

left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on

the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on

the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should install the version of OS X that you had installed.

If you are able to re-download Mavericks, then open the App Store, click on the Purchases page icon in the toolbar. Look for the entry in the list and click on the Download button on the right.

The instructions I posted include how to boot from the Recovery HD:

Boot to the Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears.

Every installation of OS X Lion or later includes the creation of a small partition on the drive that contains the Recovery HD. It is the first thing that the OS X installer installs.

In reality Yosemite was faster than Mavericks, and El Capitan is as fast as Yosemite. This has been shown in benchmarks. If your computer is slow, then you need to define that very specifically. In almost all cases not involving a failing disk it is the user that causes the slow computer. So, if you want to look at the facts then I suggest you peruse this item:

Ways to help make a slow Mac faster

17 Reasons Why Your Mac Runs Slower Than it Should

Slow Mac Performance? This Article Solves It!

Fix slow start-ups in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

How to fix slow shutdown and startup times. | MacTip.net

6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

Avoid using any third-party software that claims to clean up your computer. Usually this software does more bad than good. Furthermore, you don't need it. Note that all computers will become slower over time even under normal use. Experienced users typically erase the hard drive and do a clean install from scratch at least once a year or whenever installing a major OS upgrade. Of course doing so also means you must maintain regular and multiple backups.

Add more RAM or cut back on the number of concurrently running applications and utilities. Remove unnecessary software such as anti-malware and software that promises to clean your Mac. Check for runaway processes: Runaway applications can shorten battery runtime, affect performance, and increase heat and fan acti… Also see:

Pre-Mavericks

Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the Processes dropdown menu. Click twice on the CPU% column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of CPU time (>=70,) then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

Mavericks and later

Open Activity Monitor in the Utilities folder. Select All Processes from the View menu. Click on the CPU tab in the toolbar. Click twice on the %CPU column header to display in descending order. If you find a process using a large amount of %CPU, then select the process and click on the Quit icon in the toolbar. Click on the Force Quit button to kill the process. See if that helps. Be sure to note the name of the runaway process so you can track down the cause of the problem.

The Ultimate Fix

Backup everything, erase the drive, reinstall OS X, and restore your data from the backup. Reinstall third-party software from original media/scratch.

attret wrote:

I should mention that I had upgraded the memory from 4gb to 8gb which is the maximum for this unit. Thanks for the quick reply.

My older 2011 15" Macbook Pro has been upgraded to 16GB, so I'm very confident that 8GB is not the maximum you can install.

You might be able to make a Genius Bar appointment at a local Apple Store, and they "May" be able to get them to install Mavericks.

Most people that have problems with El Capitan, have lots of 3rd party apps installed that hinder the operation of the operating system. These include any and all Anti-Virus apps (just say no), Mac cleaners (use a lot of system resources for not appreciable benefit, and often negative impact), and finally memory cleaners (they fight the operating memory management causing more disk usage, which draws more power, which drains the battery faster, which eventually reduces the life of the battery, and as a side benefit, makes the Mac hotter, which causes the fans to run, which draws more power, which ...)

How does Mac OS X protect me?

<http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/>

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.

Etrecheck – System Information

attret wrote:

Thanks Bob. I don't have any anti-virus or memory/computers/3rd party apps installed on my MacBook Pro. In checking online about the amount of memory the system will support, everything I've found so far states that 8gb is the maximum. However, since you have 16gb installed, it seems that the info I've found may be in error. I will get with Apple and verify. Thanks for the heads up. Since my post, I went in to the App Store Purchased section and found that I could still upgrade to Yosemite. So, I decided to try that to see what happened. I'm still evaluating, but have found that the Chrome Browser is faster than Safari....at least on my computer. I've been using Safari to see if the "beachball" still happens after the upgrade to Yosemite. I'm also still looking at the links provided by Kappy as well. Thanks again for your input.

Check at MacSales.com (OWC) - besides being a reliable memory vendor (along with Crucial.com), MacSales tends to show the maximum a Mac can hold, not the original specified amount when memory was more expensive in the high density 8GB cards.

Chrome is faster, but it is also very resource intensive. So if you are having performance issues, try quitting Chrome and see if the problems resolve. Although 8GB should be sufficient, even for Chrome.

I downloaded and ran EtreCheck, but can't figure out how to paste it to this reply. Using the "Edit" function and Copy/Paste, nothing happens.

Then just Command-V (paste it into a forum reply)

If your MBP came pre-installed with OS X Mavericks when you bought it refurbished from Apple, did you try an Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R)?

You need a reliable Internet connection either WiFi or ethernet. This will boot to Apple's Recovery servers and should show you the most recent version of OS X that came pre-installed as the 2nd option in the OS X Utilities menu. Maverick's icon would be a white circle with a green X.

Recovery Mode (Command+R) only uses the Recovery HD on your internal drive. What you want is the Recovery system on Apple's servers.

If Internet Recovery shows you the icon for OS X Mountain Lion then you may want to contact Apple Support or a local Apple Store and let them know you expect Mavericks as that was pre-installed on your refurbished Mac.

I had a late-2012 refurbished MBP Retina that came pre-installed with OS X Mavericks. I was able to install OS X Mountain Lion manually because the hardware supported it, but when I used Internet Recovery, it always showed OS X Mavericks as the OS to reinstall when resetting back to the factory installed OS.

Firstly congratulations on having your own Mac! You will come to love it. You did not mention if it was your first?

Your MBP will also run El Capitan very well. Especially if you go the route with the upgrade in RAM and a SSD. El Capitan is much more energy efficient than the OS's before, with a lot of great capabilities. The disk Futility is a badly executed mishit, but the rest are great. Fortunately there are some workarounds on this. SL was an absolute golden standard, but Apple seems to be moving towards a new apex and Yosemite, El Capitan points towards this.

Leo