upgrade mid-2009 MacBook Pro from Yosemite to El Capitan?

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Level 1

4 points

upgrade mid-2009 MacBook Pro from Yosemite to El Capitan?

Hello.

Is there any reason NOT to upgrade a mid-2009 MacBook Pro from Yosemite (OS Version 10.10) to El Capitan (OS Version 10.11)? My understanding is that latest OS I can upgrade to is El Capitan; my MacBook Pro will not upgrade to Sienna (OS Version 10.12).

My laptop is older and kinda slow, but works fine with Yosemite. The main reason I want to upgrade the OS is to get a better version of iMovie. I currently have iMovie Version 8, which came w/ my laptop's original OS, and I find difficult to work with b/c of the wrapping timeline in the upper left part of the screen - as opposed to an expanding/contracting linear timeline on the bottom of the screen (as with AVID and Adobe Premiere). I would like to get iMovie (Version 10), which I believe has the linear timeline I prefer, but requires OS Version 11 (El Capitan).

The info for my MacBook Pro from "About this Mac":

OS X Yosemite
Version 10.10.5
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memoy 2 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

I keep all my iTunes music and iPhotos pictures & videos on an external drive, so there is ample room on the internal HD. I will also keep the iMovie content on the external HD. I understand the upgrade to iMovie Version 10 in my situation will not be free; I will have to purchase from the Apple app store ($17.00 I think).

This is my first time asking a question in the Apple community. I may already have my answer, which after reading some discussions is that it's OK for me to upgrade to El Capitan. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something important (if my laptop would run slower/not as well w/ the upgrade, has enough memory, etc).

Thank you so much for your help!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Jul 30, 2017 12:25 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Jul 30, 2017 2:10 PM in response to Editdroid77

Hi,

No reason I can think of, except the possibility that you may have to upgrade some apps or replace them with something else. See http://roaringapps.com/apps to check compatibility.

El Capitan is the highest OS you can upgrade to: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

You should not notice a performance difference between Yosemite and El Capitan. El Capitan is basically a "refinement" of Yosemite, not a major overhaul with additional features like Sierra is. As with (almost?) any Apple OS upgrade, security is improved. As you know, you may have to purchase newer apps for El Capitan. Some apps which come with the OS will offer updates once you upgrade to El Capitan.

Whether you stay with Yosemite or upgrade to El Capitan, you should upgrade your RAM to 8GBs, the maximum it will allow.

If you decide to replace your aging HD, consider a SSD for much improved read/write performance.

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Answer 2

Editdroid77 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 30, 2017 9:36 PM in response to Editdroid77

Thanks for all the info, tjk.

I checked the link w/ all the apps. I really only use Safari (and web-based utilities within Google Drive, for example), iTunes, Photos, and will be using iMovie. Do you know if I would have to pay to upgrade iTunes or Photos? As with upgrading to Yosemite, I would assume those are free.

Considering the age of the laptop, and how much more life I can get out of it, I'm hesitant to add RAM or upgrade the HD to a larger SSD. Aside from taking the cost into consideration, would I need to have this work performed at an Apple store?

Thanks.

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Answer 3

tjk

Level 9

51,192 points

Jul 30, 2017 11:26 PM in response to Editdroid77

iTunes and Photos are free. RAM is relatively inexpensive, and I recommend it, but you can keep an eye out for RAM usage which will give you some idea if you could benefit from more or not: First, go to Utilities and open Activity Monitor > run for awhile as you normally would, with same apps open, browser tabs open, etc. > click on the Memory "tab" > click on Memory just underneath it > click as needed to bring the highest RAM usage to the top of the list > look to the bottom where it says Memory Pressure and Swap. If the Memory Pressure is up beyond green, then there is more Memory Pressure than is desirable. If there is any Swap Used, then the OS is out of RAM sometimes and is using the much slower HD as "RAM" and this greatly slows things down. (Posting a screen shot would be helpful.) It means you don't have enough RAM for the OS and apps to do what you want them to do.

The RAM is considered easy, the HD moderate. See step by step illustrated directions here: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2009 Repair - iFixit

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