soyeso

Q: Should I upgrade from OS X 10.7.5?

I can find few reasons to upgrade my iMac from OS X 10.7.5.

I do not game, I do not do graphics work, I do not link to my Android phone.

I basically use the machine for internet and music.

I cannot find any significant reasons to upgrade. There have been some minor Apps I wanted which will not

run on anything below 10.8 or 10.9, but these are things I can live without.

Why do I not want to upgrade? I feel I would just be adding features which I will never use, and there may be some software issues with things which I have.

Any suggestions are welcome...

Tomas

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Sep 19, 2016 12:28 PM

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Q: Should I upgrade from OS X 10.7.5?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Sep 19, 2016 12:35 PM in response to soyeso
    Level 9 (58,598 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 12:35 PM in response to soyeso

    At some point Apple will stop issuing security updates to 10.7.5. In order to keep your system as up-to-date as possible it is wise to keep OS X up-to-date. This also may come at a price, that being that you may have apps that you use that are not supported on more up-to-date versions of OS X. You should check these prior to upgrading. You can use RoaringApps.com to do that.

     

    In addition newer versions of OS X need more RAM, so that may require a RAM upgrade too. If your machine has 4GB or less of RAM it should be upgraded to 8GB or more.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Sep 19, 2016 12:48 PM in response to soyeso
    Level 9 (54,086 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 12:48 PM in response to soyeso

    Until earlier this year I was using a Mac G4 running OSX 10.4.11. Even older than your 10.7.5.  Basically the same rationale as you.  I upgraded largely because I was given a newer used computer.  I ran the G4 over a decade and never felt particularly concerned about "security". In that regard, the much bigger population of newer Macs makes a nicer hacking target, and most security is personal behavior such as not clicking on unknown links in e-mails which can happen in any OS version.  From my perspective the only real reason to upgrade if you are mostly happy with your current software is if you do things online which require security.  Fortunately for Tiger OS a port of Firefox was available which was essentially a modern browser available for PPC Macs (so not yours   ).  I didn't even use it on a daily basis but started it when I needed to enter a credit card number or do online banking.

     

    You don't say anything about your computer either, other than it is an iMac. We don't even know if this whole topic is moot because you can't upgrade that particular machine anyway.  Another alternative would be to have a dual boot system and boot to something newer when you have to but otherwise continue with your old system.

  • by soyeso,

    soyeso soyeso Sep 19, 2016 1:26 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 19, 2016 1:26 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    Thanks. I will check out the apps.

    My machine is quad core i5 with 16gB RAM.

  • by soyeso,

    soyeso soyeso Sep 19, 2016 1:32 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 19, 2016 1:32 PM in response to Limnos

    My machine is quad core i5 with 16gB RAM, so clearly I can upgrade. If the security is much better it would be worth it.

    But then which do I go for, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 10.11? I just do not want to import useless bloat, unless the security benefits far outweigh the bloat.

     

    Thanks for your help

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Sep 19, 2016 1:39 PM in response to soyeso
    Level 9 (58,598 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 1:39 PM in response to soyeso

    I never said the security was better, I said it was kept up-to-date. You cannot upgrade to 10.8 - 10.10, as of today you can go from 10.7.5 to 10.11.6. Effective tomorrow (when Apple releases 10.12 (Mac OS  Sierra)  you would go from 10.7.5 to 10.12.

  • by soyeso,

    soyeso soyeso Sep 19, 2016 3:07 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 19, 2016 3:07 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    I have read that there are security advantages to the newer versions. I am also looking at options for more security.

    Actually the older versions of OS X are available from Apple but kind of tricky to find.

    I never get upgrades when they first come out. Too dangerous in my experience until they work out the bugs.

    Thanks

  • by rkaufmann87,Solvedanswer

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Sep 19, 2016 4:14 PM in response to soyeso
    Level 9 (58,598 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 4:14 PM in response to soyeso

    soyeso wrote:

     

    I have read that there are security advantages to the newer versions. I am also looking at options for more security.

    Actually the older versions of OS X are available from Apple but kind of tricky to find.

    I never get upgrades when they first come out. Too dangerous in my experience until they work out the bugs.

    Thanks

    OS X is the ONLY security you need. You are hinting at adding additional security, you cannot. What you can do is potentially damage OS X by adding cleaning, antivirus or other third party applications that allege to increase security. They do not!

  • by soyeso,

    soyeso soyeso Sep 19, 2016 4:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 19, 2016 4:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    OK, now I understand. I found this: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6839206?start=0&tstart=0

    When I start my computer in the morning it always seems to download something for less than a minute. Maybe that is the update. When Apple stops supporting 10.7.5, I'll have to upgrade.

    All clear. Thanks for the help

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Sep 19, 2016 8:12 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 9 (54,086 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 19, 2016 8:12 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    rkaufmann87 wrote:

    as of today you can go from 10.7.5 to 10.11.6. Effective tomorrow (when Apple releases 10.12 (Mac OS  Sierra)  you would go from 10.7.5 to 10.12.

     

    Are you positive about all those release constraints?

     

    Mountain Lion is still for sale:  Mountain Lion 10.8 purchase link U.S.A. - http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

     

    Do we know yet if El Capitan will be pulled?  It would be very unusual for Apple to do that. Sierra drops support for a series of machines and usually Apple will keep available the last software version to support a line of machines being dropped.  I know the computer soyeso is running can do Sierra but that is not saying soyeso has to go from 10.7 to Sierra.  The bigger the jump one makes in doing upgrades the more the chance that some software won't make it.  Going on past Apple behavior, El Capitan will likely still see security updates for a while.

     

    There are always security flaws. The thing about supported software is that something is being done about them as they are discovered whereas unsupported software has to live with them, and of course they are known to the world as no longer being patched.

  • by rkaufmann87,

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Sep 19, 2016 8:21 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 9 (58,598 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Sep 19, 2016 8:21 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos wrote:

     

    rkaufmann87 wrote:

    as of today you can go from 10.7.5 to 10.11.6. Effective tomorrow (when Apple releases 10.12 (Mac OS  Sierra)  you would go from 10.7.5 to 10.12.

     

    Are you positive about all those release constraints?

     

    Mountain Lion is still for sale:  Mountain Lion 10.8 purchase link U.S.A. - http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

     

    Do we know yet if El Capitan will be pulled? 

     

    Actually, no I am not positive. I guess time will tell though.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 19, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 7 (24,007 points)
    Safari
    Sep 19, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos wrote:

     

    rkaufmann87 wrote:

    as of today you can go from 10.7.5 to 10.11.6. Effective tomorrow (when Apple releases 10.12 (Mac OS  Sierra)  you would go from 10.7.5 to 10.12.

     

    Are you positive about all those release constraints?

     

    Mountain Lion is still for sale:  Mountain Lion 10.8 purchase link U.S.A. - http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

    As is

     

    Snow Leopard - here

    Lion - here

     

    Based on what year/model your Mac is - OS X versions and builds included with Mac computers - Apple Support - and which OS X versions were bought from the App Store (under Purchased), you can get 10.6 through 10.10. Also, Internet Recovery is a special case of offering you the shipped OS X version, not the currently installed one, on supported Macs. I also preserve old Installer Applications and Grey disks for OS X to have a handy copy.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Sep 20, 2016 7:52 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 9 (54,086 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 20, 2016 7:52 AM in response to Loner T

    Loner T wrote:

    you can get 10.6 through 10.10.

    You can't get 10.9 or 10.10 unless you already downloaded them at some stage in the past. Anything that can run 10.9 or 10.10 can in theory run 10.11 and Apple pulled 10. 9 and 10.10 as soon as each newer version was released.