New Mac User With Questions

Have a look here: https://www.applevis.com/new-to-mac

Hopefully that will help. If you have any specific questions or things you are struggling with then please ask on here.

I'm not on the latest 26 yet. Big Sur was a few years ago - I think it was version 11, but then the version before 26 was 15 (also known as Sequoia). They only recently decided to use years as the numbers.

AppleVis offers everything you need to get started with your Mac, along with a supportive community of fellow Mac users ready to help whenever you need it. Wishing you an enjoyable experience with your Mac, and a Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

26 has a lot of bugs.

I would always upgrade there are some people that won't upgrade because of bugs. You will always have bugs. There are important security fixes.

I upgrade at the end of each operating system cycle since that's when the operating system is the most stable, with most of its bugs having been removed.

The OS (operating system) cycle goes from September to September. In other words, every year, Apple releases new operating systems like MacOS 26 in September.

Everyone agrees that newly released operating system are the most plagued by defects. This is when Dennis upgrades. Dennis likes bells and whistles, He enjoys playing with new features. he likes to test and evaluate the new software, and bugs are just part of his daily life.

However, something wonderful happens as each year goes by. During the course of the year from September to September, Apple repairs the bugs users report. Thus, by the next August, Apple is virtually finished repairing that year's operating system. Smile. This is when I upgrade. Fewest bugs! Fewest problems! Least hassle! Think of it this way -- although we like dessert as much as the next person, grown ups wait until the meal is over before enjoying it

One September I had my dessert as soon as Apple released its newest Mac operating system. I didn't wait. I upgraded.

Disaster! The new MacOS was incompatible WITH MY AUDIO/DIGITAL INTERFACE, EQUIPMENT I used every day in my recording studio, sOmething my studio couldn't function without. WORSE BY FAR, I COULDN'T USE my audio/digital interface for THE NEXT 9 months! (The interface is what recording engineers use with their Mac to produce original music.).

Dennis will tell you that my experience is rare, that most if not nearly all external device manufacturers take care to be sure their devices are up to date and compatible with operating system upgrades. However, this isn't entirely true. I have heard of others who had the same experience. More, it is up to the user to contact the external device manufacturer to be sure the upgrade won't cause any problems, which is time consuming and not entirely reliable. Sometimes, the manufacturer thinks it is compatible but it is not, which users find out afterward to their sorrow. They have to wait until the manufacturers fix the problem.

Even worse, I once upgraded my iPhone to a new September release of IOS, only to discover with horror that in the new IOS, voiceOver focus was jumping all over the place, or up to the top when it wasn't supposed to. This focus jumping caused a great deal of grief for many blind users, myself included. All of a sudden Safari was unusable. Apple Mail was next to impossible. All our time was spent trying to get focus back to where it had been before spontaneously leaping away.

These experiences taught me that waiting until the last, most stable, least bug ridden operating system revision each year was wise, whereas leaping off the cliff like some people do with brand new September releases is not. I don't care for grief. Who wants grief if they can avoid it?

I am smiling, and my hat is off to Dennis. I hope he finds the fewest bugs. I hope he understands better now, too.

Bruce

Again, the number of bug and security fixes that are made throughout the year — by doing it where you wait, you are putting yourself at risk. Every piece
of software will have bugs. There is no such thing as bug-free software!

Dennis is correct in saying we cannot avoid all risk or all bugs. Security updates on older operating systems continue for years, however, certainly long enough to wait until the next September, which is when I normally upgrade. That would be august, which is when one finds the least number and severity of bugs in the latest revision of the previous September's release, too. smile

Happy New Year!

Bruce

Bruce has the right idea here. Sequoia will get patches until July or August 2027, so as long as automatic updates are disabled, he can manually install those patches rather than upgrading to Tahoe. The cycle repeats itself with Tahoe, except you add an extra year to the support timeline.
If you have a new Mac, it should have come with either Sequoia or Tahoe, unless you got something like a used M3 or M2. You can always check what version you're running by going to the Apple Menu and selecting About This Mac.
Tahoe is version 26, Sequoia is 15, Sonoma is 14, Ventura is 13, Monterey is 12, Big Sur is 11, etc. The current version of Tahoe is 26.2.

It’s always a personal decision whether somebody wants to update or not. No one should be told that they’re wrong to update right away if that’s what they choose to do. But then again nobody should be told that they’re wrong to wait either. Everybody has a different use case and there’s different bugs that will be more of a problem for everybody in individually. It’s updating as a personal choice. Hope that you will enjoy your Mac. And I hope that you could find all the guides and things that you need to help you. I’ve never used to act myself, but I hope that you can get all the help that you need here and update whenever you’re free running.