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Fortyniner1340

Q: Am I safe upgrading to El Cap on a 2009 Macbook Pro?

I've read a few reviews in the ApStore on El Capitan and am concerned over running it on my 2009 MacBook Pro.  I know I'm not going to be able to run this thing forever but I am very proud of the fact that its as quick now as it was fresh out of the box 7 years ago.

 

Anyone out there running El Cap on an older MacBook?

 

Thanks,

p

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3), Built Aug. 2009

Posted on Apr 16, 2016 8:05 AM

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Q: Am I safe upgrading to El Cap on a 2009 Macbook Pro?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Csound1,Helpful

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 18, 2016 4:17 PM in response to Fortyniner1340
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 18, 2016 4:17 PM in response to Fortyniner1340

    I run ElCap on an 09 MBP, it runs fine.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Apr 16, 2016 8:08 AM in response to Fortyniner1340
    Level 7 (31,893 points)
    iPad
    Apr 16, 2016 8:08 AM in response to Fortyniner1340

    If it can run Yosemite, it can run El Capitan. However, the way RAM is used has changed and you should have an absolute minimum of 4 GB - 8 would be much better. Also note that the newer OS versions run best on newer, faster processors, graphics cards, etc, so it won't be completely ideal.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Apr 16, 2016 8:16 AM in response to Fortyniner1340
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Apr 16, 2016 8:16 AM in response to Fortyniner1340

    I've been here over 15 years and every Mac OS upgrade has its vocal naysayers yet those having no issues have no reason to post. Judging the success of any software by the complaints on a company's forums and web pages is like surveying the health of the nation by only visiting the intesive care wards at hospitals. If you do that you will conclude that 99 percent of the population is seriously ill. Same with forums--people having real problems come here; people with no problems don't need to. That skews the results.

     

    My MBP is a little newer than yours but I saw no change in performance or stability when I upgraded from 10.10 to 10.11. I believe that if you have no issues with OS 10.10 at this point and have a least 4GB RAM, you will do fine with El Capitan.

     

    A friend recently inherited an entry-level 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro (2.66 ghz Core 2 Duo processor) upgraded to 8GB RAM. It runs El Cap without issue.

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Apr 16, 2016 8:44 AM in response to Fortyniner1340
    Level 9 (52,101 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 16, 2016 8:44 AM in response to Fortyniner1340

    If the bank account is fat, an SSD would also help performance.  OWC and Crucial SSDs are my recommendations.

     

    Ciao.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Apr 16, 2016 1:59 PM in response to Fortyniner1340
    Level 9 (70,028 points)
    iTunes
    Apr 16, 2016 1:59 PM in response to Fortyniner1340

    One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install the new OS, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. By doing this, if you don’t like it you won’t have to go though the revert process.

     

    Check to make sure your applications are compatible.

     

    Application Compatibility

     

    Applications Compatibility (2)


     

    El Capitan 10.11 Compatibility information

    Open Disk Utility, select your hard drive (step 1), then the Partition tab (step 2), and select the partition. Using the /// at the bottom move it up (step 3) until the size box decrease by about 50 GB. Select the newly created space and hit the + button (step 4). Name it something and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format (step 5). Then hit the Apply button(step 6). Download the installer from the App Store and when it starts, point it at the new partition. You might want to make a copy of the installer outside the Applications folder to avoid having to re-download it in the future. Once installed, go to System Preferences/Startup Disk, select the new partition and reboot. Test away.