# OSX El Capitan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084 "2015-09-30T22:00:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/1 "2015-09-30T22:00:10Z")
I’ve read a few good things about it; what about the rest of you Mac users? Worth downloading? ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/2 "2015-09-30T22:22:11Z")
I’ll probably update my home iMac (a 5ish year old 27" i5 model) later tonight, but the work one will probably wait for a month or two. My wife has a brand new 13" Retina MacBook Pro, which I will encourage her to upgrade ASAP, but she probably won’t care enough to do it for some weeks 🙂 . The reviews seem good so far. ---
**Author:** ![Kiwi\_Fruit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiwi_fruit/32/12_2.png) [@Kiwi\_Fruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiwi_Fruit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/3 "2015-10-01T02:32:31Z")
I’m only just about to move to Yosemite on my 2014 iMac 21.5". What will El Capitan do for me? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/4 "2015-10-01T02:43:22Z")
Minimal functionality differences between Yosemite and El Capitan as far as I can tell. Performance is improved but my 2012 MacBook Pro has never seemed slow anyway. Certainly no problems and no reason not to upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![RickG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rickg/32/5174_2.png) [@RickG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickG)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/5 "2015-10-01T03:11:56Z")
Finished the upgrade. Seems fine. This is like a Leopard to Snow Leopard update–there’s not a huge difference in features, but they’ve done a lot of under-the-covers work. I’ll be going through the reviews at iMore and Ars Technica to get a better idea of the new functionality. Cosmetically, I’ve noticed the system font change, and the Spinning Beachball of Death no longer looks 3-D (it’s been “flattened” to better match the rest of the OS). So far, the only thing that hasn’t worked is an older version of VirtualBox, for which I got a kernel extension compatibility warning. The latest version installed successfully. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/6 "2015-10-01T22:34:17Z")
> [@RickG](#): > > Finished the upgrade. Seems fine. This is like a Leopard to Snow Leopard update–there’s not a huge difference in features, but they’ve done a lot of under-the-covers work. I’ll be going through the reviews at iMore and Ars Technica to get a better idea of the new functionality. Cosmetically, I’ve noticed the system font change, and the Spinning Beachball of Death no longer looks 3-D (it’s been “flattened” to better match the rest of the OS). > > So far, the only thing that hasn’t worked is an older version of VirtualBox, for which I got a kernel extension compatibility warning. The latest version installed successfully. VirtualBox likewise needed a reinstallation on Windows 10. I think it just makes low-level modifications that get undone by the OS upgrade. That kernel warning sounds like OS X upgraded the kernel, and so the previous kernel extension by VirtualBox was no longer valid. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/7 "2015-10-01T22:46:24Z")
I’m still on Mavericks. I’ve been reluctant to switch because of the change in looks. The 10.10 icons and such look stupid and childish to me. And I’ve heard the fonts and colors are less readable, especially on non-Retina screens. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/8 "2015-10-02T00:45:13Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > I’m still on Mavericks. I’ve been reluctant to switch because of the change in looks. The 10.10 icons and such look stupid and childish to me. And I’ve heard the fonts and colors are less readable, especially on non-Retina screens. What I found interesting is that after a very short while of using Yosemite, the earlier UIs started to look very old-fashioned to me. I do think that some of the UI elements don’t have as much contrast as I’d like, but overall, it think it’s an improvement, ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/9 "2015-10-02T05:45:22Z")
Works fine for me. Pretty similar to Yosemite, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![tafowler87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tafowler87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tafowler87)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/10 "2015-10-03T21:27:44Z")
Still trying to justify the 6 GB of space required for this update. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/11 "2015-10-05T00:59:08Z")
> [@tafowler87](#): > > Still trying to justify the 6 GB of space required for this update. What are you installing it on, a Powerbook 180? And, it’s not 6GB of additional space - it’s a 6GB download that gets deleted after installation, and after it replaces your current OS. I don’t know what the size differential is, but I can’t see it being a significant issue. ---
**Author:** ![tafowler87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@tafowler87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tafowler87)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/12 "2015-10-14T18:28:55Z")
> [@Kiwi\_Fruit](#): > > I’m only just about to move to Yosemite on my 2014 iMac 21.5". What will El Capitan do for me? Im not sure that the update is really worth the GB storage it requires, but updates to apps (ProApps) are pretty neat (more capability) and the main installment is the split screen capability. There are a few things like settings, display options (new pictures), visual designs in the platform and a few minor changes in iTunes. I do not like that the Trash no longer has the option of Securely Emptying it and there is a new gesture option for the trackpad. Other than these I cannot recall any other obvious change… ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/13 "2015-10-14T20:09:02Z")
There’s an interesting discussion about the removal of “secure empty.” It has to do with the way Flash drives work, and the fact that if a document is sensative in the trash, it should be encrypted when it is NOT in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osx-el-capitan/733084/14 "2015-10-15T02:12:31Z")
> [@tafowler87](#): > > …and the main installment is the split screen capability. I’m a bit disappointed by the split screen. It’s essentially two full-window mode windows side by side, whereas I would have hoped for full-window mode on one side, and a freeform desktop on the other. It’s still useful, but it’s not all that I’d hoped for.