[seadog]

I have a 2009 (or so) 17"MBP: Model 5,2 2.66Ghz "intel Core 2 Duo" with maxed out 8GB ram, currently running Snow Leopard (10.6.8). LR5 requires Lion (10.7) or later OS version. I think this machine will accept Maverick (10.9?) But would I want to install that? I am concerned that it would be too much for this old machine and that Lion or Mountain Lion would work better for LR5 and CS6. I have ready access to Lion and Maverick. What are the opinions out there? I very much appreciate any suggestions here!
BTW, I will be getting the K-3 before too long with its larger files (shooting K-5 now). I would like to hang onto this computer for now to afford the K-3 if I can!

[Miguel]

So use Lion. It seems like the minimum OS to run all the apps that matter these days. When the piper calls and Mountain Lion is the minimum, then install that and see how it goes. This will give you time to save money and do research for your next computer. 17-in laptops are becoming endangered species, so enjoy yours still. The rub with upgrading to Lion is that any PowerPC-based apps that ran via emulation are toast, so be prepared to lose a few.

M

[monoloco]

I have a 2010 Macbook pro 2.4 Ghz Intel core 2 duo with 8gb of ram and it runs great with Mavericks. No issues what so ever.

[noelpolar]

Mountain Lion runs well on my 2008 IMac.....ugrading your HD to a SSD would be worth considering. I'm not going to Maveric as there seems to be some performance issues on slower machines....with no significant gains as I see it.

[seadog]

So there is one vote for each!
One issue that has been bothering me and maybe upgrading will help? On Snow Leopard running my external monitor really slows things down to the point that I only use it at the end for those images I will print. It would be nice to have that more snappy! I think I heard something about Mavericks improving that situation?
Is the interface with Mavericks quite different requiring a bigger learning curve?

[Miguel]

So there is one vote for each!
One issue that has been bothering me and maybe upgrading will help? On Snow Leopard running my external monitor really slows things down to the point that I only use it at the end for those images I will print. It would be nice to have that more snappy! I think I heard something about Mavericks improving that situation?
Is the interface with Mavericks quite different requiring a bigger learning curve?

The leap to Lion is the greatest relative interface change, which the others build off of. The OSes get more cloud-centric over time for better or worse. Each succeeding version also breaks more of Apple's own interface conventions, so bits of the elegance of Snow Leopard fall away. There is now built-in version control of some app's docs, which is good. Unfortunately, the dialog boxes around this are kludgy & un-Apple like. I've been using Macs since the beginning, so these changes are uninspiring.

That's why I recommend you go one OS version at a time--newer does not automatically equate better. You will surely figure out Mavericks, but I say enjoy the ride and each rest stop.

M

[monoloco]

The leap to Lion is the greatest relative interface change, which the others build off of. The OSes get more cloud-centric over time for better or worse. Each succeeding version also breaks more of Apple's own interface conventions, so bits of the elegance of Snow Leopard fall away. There is now built-in version control of some app's docs, which is good. Unfortunately, the dialog boxes around this are kludgy & un-Apple like. I've been using Macs since the beginning, so these changes are uninspiring.

That's why I recommend you go one OS version at a time--newer does not automatically equate better. You will surely figure out Mavericks, but I say enjoy the ride and each rest stop.

M

I went from Snow Leopard to Mavericks and didn't have any difficulty getting used to it. It has a lot of features that I really like. I just wish my old Macbook had USB 3.0 and supported Airplay other than that, it works pretty darn good for a 4 year old computer.

[IchabodCrane]

I have OS X 10.9 Mavericks and don't like it as much as 10.8. Supposedly 10.9 has some better memory optimizations/efficiency but I didn't perceive any difference there.