The home for all things macOS on LW.
Rules:
M1 MBP owner here. Been running the 27 Developer Beta since the first release and I can confirm it looks and performs better than Tahoe.
Apple promised many improvements with speed being one of them. Thus far I can confirm it’s snappier with an improved UI.
Do you think you'll keep upgrading over the years as much as possible, or that you might hold back on a snappier release?
As a rather involved Apple users since the mid 90s I plan on updating my Apple devices until they are deemed end-of-life by Apple.
The last MacOS update is the first genuine dud I’ve experienced and since the management person who led that design initiative is no longer with Apple I cannot see my behavior changing.
FWIW, Macs don’t tend to get slower with time like similar Windows computers. The software or technology might get more resource-intensive, but the computer/OS combo mostly retains their original processing power.
What you might read or experience in the Windows world (see Windows 11) does not happen with MacOS.
Thanks for the detailed response! I've often heard it said that Macs don't slow down, but I also had a 2011 MacBook Pro. The machine did slow down over the years. I attribute that to the updates since the applications on it didn't change much in the later years. I don't know.
My iPhone also slows down gradually each release (animations, apps loading, running out of memory etc).
The apps you use continue to get updates and take more resources, which is what you’re noticing.
That sounds very plausible.
Here is the Golden Gate release date.
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/10/macos-27-golden-gate-release-date/
I have managed Macs by the thousands. Literally. Always update as long as hardware is supported.
That’s hard to argue with. Would you say the slowdown on my 2011 MBP was due to hardware or software?
Software. Browsers and email clients get heavier. There have also been several generations of architectural changes between that model and what is out now.
I'm completely up to date, but I'm dreading them dropping support for TextMate. I'll probably try to stop short of that version.
Or I guess find another text editor.
Apple doesn’t release giant new features with a release. When they get to a X.3 version they introduce new features and then polish them for the next release, which will likewise introduce some new features. 27 contain most of the code that is found in 26. System requirements don’t increase as fast at they used to.
I'm an M2 user but I want to reply, I'm using Sequoia but when Sequoia starts to get abandoned at all (even security updates) then I'll switch to Tahoe.
Do you have any criteria for a stopping point, or will you upgrade every year until there are no more supported releases?
I think I'll always stay in oldest version gets security updates. If there's no update available, then I'll just install Asahi
I'm also hoping Asahi can extend the life of this thing. I don't want to loose the current OS for that, though. On my 2011 MacBook I managed to dual-boot Ubuntu with macOS fairly easily. That works well, but it's an Intel device.
Asahi is not for Intel Macs. You can just install regular Linux on it
Yeah. I have Ubuntu on the old Intel laptop. I’ll check out a few videos on Asahi to get a feel for installation process on the M1.
Just to go Asahi website there's a lot of info. If you want to watch a video about that, you can watch Veronica Explains' video about it.
Her video is a great recommendation. Thanks! I love the way it uses macOS native tools to make the installation less tense. I’ll absolutely be installing it when the time comes. Thanks again!
What do you mean by macOS Native Tools?
Using Linux tool to resist partitions and install a boot loader can back fire sometimes if the original system doesn’t play nice with it.
Avahi uses macOS own partitioner via command line. You can switch back and forth between the two systems easily and not worry so much about losing access to one or the other after an update.
I installed NixOS with Asahi kernel manually, I partitioned free space given from Asahi using cfdisk and there's no problem about that.
Good to know.