How to prepare your Mac for OS X 10.10 Yosemite

[travelin cat]

What to know before you attempt to upgrade to Yosemite.

According to Apple, the following are the supported models for Yosemite:

iMac (Mid-2007 or newer)
MacBook (13-inch, late 2008 aluminum, early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, mid-2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (15-inch, mid/late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)

[cnet.com...]

[weeks]

OK, that was nice to know. Thank you.

I'm ready to upgrade. Will I? Nope, not for months, if then. My attitude now is "you go first."

I got Maverick installed during a slow time this spring and it was annoying to learn its "new features." Few helped me get my work done (such as the changes in TextEdit). I'm still getting upset with that at times. The one (not minor) benefit was being able to use some helpful apps, such as Volia (costs about $15, but much better than the free Skitch) that required 10.9. That, of course, is why we upgrade.

[lucy24]

I upgraded to 10.9 (from 10.6) when it was free. Biggest mistake ever. I briefly forgave them when I discovered it came with a clutch of new fonts (Fonts! Yay! Can never have too many of 'em), but I came to my senses again within about 48 hours. Sigh. If I'm ever in a position to buy a laptop, I'll look for an oldish one running 10.6 (last version to support Rosetta) or even 10.4 (last version to support Classic).

[weeks]

The visual changes are also why Yosemite may feel like a more significant upgrade than Mavericks. For people who value being on the cutting edge of both fashion and technology, this will make Yosemite more attractive. For others, it will inspire some additional upgrade caution. Among the biggest curmudgeons, Mavericks may even become the new Snow Leopard: the last “good” release before Apple ruined everything.
[arstechnica.com...]

OK, I read much of this review. It attempts to be positive but the facts keep getting in the way. Put me in with "the biggest curmudgeons." I will NOT be upgrading any time soon to Yosemite, if ever. Apple is solving problems that don't exist these days. (i.e., Apple Pay)

1. See-through windows? Really? This is only a negative. It's a tool. It's not about them, it about the web or the user. Why would I want to the look to change this much?
2. Spotlight as is something I use most every hour. It's the Mac's biggest plus for me. And, it appears to work better on Maverick. Now, with Yosemite it is going to have it give me results from the web? Why would I want that? It's a tools to tell me where stuff is on my computer, easily and fast.
3. Linking my iPad and Powerbook is not something I want; they are different experiences for me. I can see this being useful for some, maybe, but it's less than worthless for me.
4. I don't want more channels to connect. I want less. (I have mostly closed my Facebook account, I use it only for testing web apps or to see pages I need an account to view. It's email or phone for me today. FB takes up too much time and isn't professional or even polite.)

[not2easy]

From what I have read, this is the "removing options" upgrade. Do not want. I am still on 10.7.5, when I go up that road it will be kicking and screaming. Not everyone wants all that integration and if I wanted a tablet, I would be using one. Giving up useful, functional tools - or making it a workaround to use them just to get features you don't want or need only reminds me of what I disliked about that other system.

[Samizdata]

For people who value being on the cutting edge of both fashion and technology

I have never in my life been interested in the cutting edge of fashion.

So, as with Mavericks, I downloaded a copy for potential future use.

A free operating system is not to be sniffed at, after all.

But the cutting edge of technology requires investment in hardware.

...