Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra performance on MacBook Pro 9,1 (15 mid-2012)

[edselhans]

My computer:
MacBook Pro 9,1 (15" mid-2012), 2.6 GHz i7, 16 GB RAM, 256GB OWC SSD, NVIDIA GT 650M (~1GB)

El Capitan is no longer supported for some of the software I need to use, so it looks like I have to update to Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave. I'm always remiss to update to a newer Apple OS on older hardware because it frequently results in performance dips on the machine.

From what I've read Mojave doesn't run well on this model of MBP because it leans into the GPU, and wasn't really designed to play nice with NVIDIA graphics cards. Technically it's supported, but poorly according to user reports. I've heard mixed reports about High Sierra, some saying it resulted in improved performance and battery life, others saying their system became sluggish. By all accounts Sierra was a mess, and should be avoided.

I'm wondering if anyone with a similar MBP has any experience running Mojave, High Sierra, or Sierra, and what their feedback is. Which OS will run smoothest on this model of MBP?

 

[pigoo3]

2nd thread removed. Not necessary to cross post.

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

El Capitan is no longer supported for some of the software I need to use, so it looks like I have to update to Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave. I'm always remiss to update to a newer Apple OS on older hardware because it frequently results in performance dips on the machine.

From what I've read Mojave doesn't run well on this model of MBP because it leans into the GPU, and wasn't really designed to play nice with NVIDIA graphics cards. Technically it's supported, but poorly according to user reports. I've heard mixed reports about High Sierra, some saying it resulted in improved performance and battery life, others saying their system became sluggish. By all accounts Sierra was a mess, and should be avoided.

I'm wondering if anyone with a similar MBP has any experience running Mojave, High Sierra, or Sierra, and what their feedback is. Which OS will run smoothest on this model of MBP?

It's really really hard to say in any sort of quantitative terms...how much performance difference (if noticeable) there is between Sierra, High Sierra, or Mojave...on a 2012 15" MacBook Pro.

Back in the "old days" when the "load" a new OS put on an older computer was more massive...it was a lot easier to say that a specific combination of OS & computer model wasn't a great idea. But in the last 5-7 years...the OS upgrades haven't really put that much more demand on older computer models. Maybe more recent OS upgrades are well written so that they don't bog-down older computers...maybe the older computers have extra untapped performance most users don't use & newer OS versions take advantage of that...or a combination of both.

I have a:

- 2011 17" MacBook Pro running Sierra
- 2011 13" MacBook Pro running High Sierra
- 2011 MacBook Air running High Sierra

...and all are very useable. The 2011 13" MacBook Pro is probably the slowest...but probably not primarily due to the OS...more because it still has the original spinner HD, less RAM, and only an integrated GPU.

We have lots of members here using all sorts of combinations of OS and computer model...and I can't really remember any single OS version being a real "dog". With your 2012 15" MacBook Pro...you got lots of RAM, SSD storage, and dual GPU...I would say upgrade to either High Sierra or Mojave. If the software you need to use is compatible with High Sierra...then install High Sierra & see how things go. If all is good...stick with High Sierra. If Mojave has features you would like (and a 2012 15" MacBook Pro supports)...then go with Mojave.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[Rod]

Pretty good advice from Nick I think. It really is hard to compare. I have a 13" 2015 MBPr with a Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB card and I'm running Mojave with only 8Gb RAM and 2,9 GHz Intel Core i5 absolutely fine. In my opinion its one of the best macOS ever. BUT I had to update all of my third party apps so its worth bearing that in mind.

I thought High Sierra was an improvement on Sierra but Apple introduced its own filing system in HS changing the old HFS+ system to APFS which may have accounted for some improvement but also required a few updates of existing third party apps.

My wife until this year was running a 2012 MBP, 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 4MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and 8Gb RAM although she had swapped for a 512Gb SSD after the HDD crashed which improved performance markedly. She also was running Mojave with no real problems except when overloaded with active apps or browser tabs.

Mojave is the last macOS to support 32bit apps after this it will be 64bit only so my advice would usually be to upgrade to Mojave if it doesn't present too many app compatibility issues. (This can be checked pretty easily online). BUT due to the graphics card issues you mentioned with the NVIDEA card and from what I can see its incompatible. see; Nvidia on Its Lack of macOS Mojave Drivers for Newer Graphics Cards: 'It's Up to Apple to Approve Them' - MacRumors this pretty much limits you to High Sierra.

 

[NSMacGuru]

I can also offer real-world feedback of Mojave on old hardware: My 2014 MBP died, and I fell back onto a 2013 MacBook Air, 1.3ghz i5 processor. Not exactly a powerhouse. Mojave performs ridiculously well, far better than High Sierra or even the default OS it came with (El Capitan, I think?).

Mojave seems to have had all the cobwebs cleaned out and a bunch of efficiencies added. I've since installed it on all of my compatible hardware.