The new OS X Yosemite has been touted as an elevated experience from previous OS. The design updates, simplified interface, and overall refinement are meant to provide the best user experience. With all these great new upgrades, OS Yosemite is sure to impress. But, before you upgrade, it’s important to make sure your machine is ready too.
After working with OS Yosemite, it appears the upgrades to the user experience do require increased amounts of memory. Ramjet+, a Ramjet Labs exclusive, tests Mac models to determine the maximum amount of RAM that can be installed. Many times this number surpasses Apple specs giving your upgraded device increased speed and performance. Higher performance is just an upgrade away - increasing memory to 4GB or 6GB will significantly increase performance in OS Yosemite.
Minimum requirements for upgrading to OS Yosemite as indicated by Apple are 2GB of RAM and 8GB of available storage space. To check how much RAM your Mac currently has, click on your Apple menu in the upper left-hand corner and click "About This Mac". The line that reads ‘Memory’ will tell you if your Mac has the necessary 2GB of RAM or if you will need to upgrade before you can install OS Yosemite.
Increase Speed for Older Models
For older machines, there are a number of troubleshooting suggestions that can ensure OS Yosemite is running quickly and smoothly. One of the most effective is disabling extraneous widgets and extensions. By accessing the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Extensions and deselecting options like Weather and Stock updates, the notifications panel will not need to be refreshed continually, increasing overall speed.
Alternatively, simple desktop cleanup can increase load time as each icon requires memory to store and load each time the Mac is rebooted or files are accessed. Utilizing external storage options, like Ramjet’s Thunderbolt Storage, can also be used to free up storage space on your bootable drive and increase user experience. Simple file organization and re-distribution can go a long way for increasing usability on any OS, and Yosemite is no exception.
Accessing the Activity Monitor (Command+Spacebar > Search “Activity Monitor”) will allow users access to information regarding CPU, memory or disk I/O. Apps, windows, and web pages that appear to be using more system memory than normal should be exited to free up space and increase speed. Keep in mind, some programs including mds and mdsworker will use significant amounts of CPU - this is normal as these programs will be running as they index hard drives. These should be left to run their course.
Read on to find out if your Mac's Model ID can upgrade to OS Yosemite.
