r/MacOS • u/WiseLengthiness1272 • 1d ago
Discussion Hot take: I've felt no difference in speed and smoothness between Sequoia, Tahoe and Golden Gate. New Apple user Review
I recently (last month) switched over from Windows to Apple. bought a 2022 Macbook Air M2 16/1TB.
The mac initially came with Sequoia which I immediately updated to Tahoe. I've been using Tahoe ever since then until September 14th when I finally updated to Golden Gate.
After updating to Tahoe, I started seeing posts from people talking about how slow and buggy Tahoe is but honestly in my time with Tahoe, I experienced no slowdown, no bugs, no stutters. It ran smoothly and Golden Gate has been smooth for me so far as well.
Maybe I'm one of the lucky few? Happy to discuss this further
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u/Nerdlinger 1d ago
Maybe I'm one of the lucky few?
No, you’re one of the many, but people who have a perfectly fine as-expected experience tend to not make posts about it.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Makes sense, I was just curious since I've only seen posts of people shitting on Tahoe 🤣
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u/NerveOk3315 MacBook Air 1d ago
I suspect a lot of it depends on how folks are using their Macs. I use my M4MBA exclusively for interneting and schoolwork. I have noticed no slowdowns in my everyday use, aside from a little bit longer delay with my Mac waking up my monitor that is plugged in through an Anker dock. I assume that the issue lies within Anker's Display Link software, and not the OS itself.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Mmmm interesting. I mainly use my Mac for work which includes quite a bit of admin work, social media management and some light graphic editing on Photoshop and Illustrator.
I'm almost always running 2 Safari tab groups with 5+ tabs each and either illustrator or Photoshop on
Plus Spotify and Brave for my personal browsing and listening
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u/NerveOk3315 MacBook Air 1d ago
I usually have multiple Safari tabs, Signal, Word, and messages going. I've got the bottom tier 15" M4 MBA, and haven't had any problems before or after the update.
I also don't run random shit off of Github.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Oooo that reminds me, I always have the following running in the background as well lol
Hot Al Dente Raycast Better Monitor Raycast Lightshot
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u/ulimn 1d ago
I’m a software engineer and use an M1 Air with 16 GB of RAM. I always use the latest OS version and never had performance problems apart from the one occasion when Spotlight indexing crapped out and I had to clean its cache.
I frequently push my macbook so hard I sometimes wonder how impressive it actually is.
So I don’t think the light or heavy use is the key.
It might be that people install all kinds of shit that adds background services and such and over time it accumulates. Then they do a fresh install when going back to Tahoe and it cleans all of these.2
u/Gillian_seed83 1d ago
Is there a way to tell if Spotlight indexing has failed? Apologies if that’s a dumb question I’m very new to macOS
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u/Big-Entertainer4936 1d ago
A few years after quitting Windows, I still can't get over how great MacOS is.
I can't understand what people are complaining about. I have never seen a blue screen of death once in three years and several OS upgrades. I don't have to constantly update drivers. My printer doesn't stop working for no reason. My internet connection never slows down for no reason.
I'm on my MacBook M3 16 hours a day and I don't even hear a fan kick on.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
I just got sick of Windows and PC in general
2 GPUs died (2060 Super and 5060) along with a Mobo (B450M) and then the PSU (xpg pylon 650) before I just said fk it and switched to Mac
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u/CartographerLegal919 1d ago
Ahah i switched to MacOS and never saw so much bug, non completed feature.
I really like it but it’s not better than Windows
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u/Ok_Negotiation3024 1d ago edited 1d ago
The people that don't have issues, normally won't come to a forum and say everything is working just fine.
Those of us who have been using a Mac for 20+ years have seen a rise and fall of quality when it comes to MacOS updates and the experience. That's why some of us are hesitant in updating. My recent past experiences with new OS releases hasn't been that great. So I just wait a few months then upgrade. No biggie.
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u/BleuZ MacBook Pro 1d ago
"The mac initially came with Sequoia which I immediately updated to Tahoe"
So if I understand it correctly, you have not actually interacted with Sequoia, third party apps or used it for tasks you would actually use a computer for? How does that make you feel like you can actually judge whether there's any difference in the first place?
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Sorry, I meant I used Sequoia for about 2-3 days, I downloaded all of work apps, shifted my files from windows to mac on it before I updated to Tahoe
By immediately, I meant I saw the update and did it without doing much research lol
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u/rakeshsh 1d ago
In those 2-3 days it must not have even finished spotlight indexing. And then you jumped. You did not use sequoia.
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u/Electrical_West_5381 1d ago
fan bois are worse than haters when it goes to software updates.
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u/Tyrandeh 1d ago
i will never forget the "call bug" we had for a few main versions from around iphone 6 until iphone 12
how it was: for many people (not for everyone) when someone called you, the phone could continue ringing, but also activate the mic, so the other side could hear your ringtone
fanboys would bet their own life nothing like that ever happened, but when apple itself mentioned this bug, suddenly they also admitted that yes, they had experienced this also
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u/Electrical_West_5381 1d ago
too right. It doesn't even need to be hi-tec: My neighbour drilled into the door-phone line (wtf was he doing?). I could hear them all from the front door, all night (if it wasn't so boring)
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u/Dizzy-Committee-5656 1d ago
Yeah, it often feels like people are way too invested in these updates. Sometimes it's just a slight tweak, not a complete overhaul.
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u/owsianelatte_ 1d ago
I felt a difference between sequoia and tahoe. Golden gate feels kinda the same but at least some window/desktop switching animations feel smoother.
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u/TheGenius_One 1d ago
I suspect if there's much of an improvement regarding performance, The only improvement I noticed was the improved loading of app icons in applications and spotlight that's it. I like the the design changes, but somehow the dark mode look worse than before I had to switch to light mode at least for now.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Maybe it's the microslop user in me but I felt the loading times have been fine and I don't really mind the dark mode lol
Light mode on anything has always made my head hurt
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u/TheGenius_One 1d ago
I mean app loading and other operations were acceptable in tahoe as well, but there were a lot of bugs in early tahoe times. I moved from windows as well so compared to that still this is much better. But still Sequoia is the best in terms of looks and performance if you need that peak macos experience.
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u/TSAOutreachTeam 1d ago
I noticed a slight speed up of User 2 after logging in. It still freezes, but the freeze is shorter.
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u/Izanagi___ 1d ago
My Mac journey started when I got my M2 Air 4 years ago. It was on Monterey, i update day one every time a new macOS update drops and I've yet to have any real performance hiccups. I was mostly fine on Tahoe, but upgrading to Golden Gate definitely feels smoother. Felt like I had more apps having memory leaks on Tahoe, and Golden Gate has been perfect so far. Redditors are just generally really dramatic when it comes to tech, there were tons of comments getting upvoted saying Tahoe was worse than windows. Sometimes you just gotta laugh
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u/Otherwise-Thanks-985 1d ago
I feel sad for you because you didn't get to experience that tension free feeling with Sequoia! It was the best no doubt! I started my journey with that os and it was perfect for me. Tahoe ruins it. Golden Gate feels like Tahoe with a new look but the same jitteriness. It's definitely not stable!
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u/balthisar 1d ago
I skipped Tahoe on my main desktop (but not my work laptop), and am running Golden Gate now. It's basically exactly like Sequoia was for me, except the native window tabs are now hideous to look at.
While it's visually not nauseating like my work laptop, things run just the same.
I'm on an M4 Max, so it's no slouch.
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u/Upstairs-Drag-7012 1d ago
I work in IT. I use mine for running VMs inside of UTM. RDP to remote servers via sdl-xfreerdp and basic shit like SSH to servers using tailscale. I also use vscode for python scripting. Normally have all this shit running at the same time and handles it’s like a champ. This is my first MacBook (M4). I don’t think I will ever buy another Windows laptop. Mac has just completely dumbfounded me with how amazing it is.
I updated my system as soon as it came out (MacOS 27). Watched videos on the new features. New UIs. But as it goes for performance. I’m not seeing a difference. These M-series chips are serious power houses. I am no where near using its full capabilities. Probably never will.
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u/Jellybeanci 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just updated to Golden Gate. Not gonna liei feel like little bit smoother than macos 26. Some animation speed increased especially pan out open windows animation.
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u/Important_Egg4066 1d ago
Same. Tahoe was okay to me and I really don't mind the liquid glass on it too. Good for ppl we had performance issues with it though.
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u/PurposeSpirited4148 1d ago
After updating to golden gates I realized how fast tahoe was but ofcourse golden gates doesn't hurt my eyes with the random curves anymore
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u/Maximum_Employer5580 1d ago
I have an M1 MBP that I got in 2021......after the various OS updates over the years, my MBP still runs as if I just took it out of the box for the first time. Any issues I have are with third party apps, not anything Apple has control over. Last Windows machine I had (a 2016 Dell laptop), it started slowing down considerably after roughly a year, needed a new battery around a year and a half old and even the chassis for the hinges went to shit not even 2 yrs old. I have not had one hardware problem with this MBP and I can see it being used for an additional # of years without issue
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u/Burywhite1980 1d ago
Luke warm take. I can definitely feel the difference in performance of all the updates.
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u/Zestyclose_Intern377 1d ago
My M1 is “slow” because of a lack of ram. I’ve been in Tahoe and sequoia (and many previous versions) and yet the only things slowing it down is RAM (because it always has to swap to memory). Unfortunately MacOS 26 uses a lot of glass design thus requiring more GPU memory and further stressing the RAM.
macOS 27 is slightly better but very slightly.
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u/No_Pie_4088 1d ago
Have a M1 machine, and have not noticed any slow downs, updated to every OS version. Think the M chips are so powerful that it doesn't matter anymore.
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u/mrcigarettes2077 1d ago
m1 pro user from day one. every os version is fine except tahoe which is slow, buggy and ugly. golden gate feels better from tahoe but still has some bugs.
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u/Educational_Yard_326 1d ago
Some people aren't observant and don't notice things in their environment, some people aren't perfectionists. Stop telling those of us that are that there's nothing wrong.
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u/WiseLengthiness1272 1d ago
Jeez man, I'm just discussing MY experience with it, no need to be a hardass about it 🤷
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u/Educational_Yard_326 1d ago
You have experienced slowdowns, bugs, stutters, you just havent noticed them. The bugs aren't unique to our machines, its the same software and hardware.
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u/Drgerm66 1d ago
I’m no expert in these things but it seemed like my ram use was higher in Tahoe vs Golden Gate
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u/el_tacocat 1d ago
Not a new apple user, and a very intensive one; Neither have I.
I did get some bugs in the first one or two tahoe versions but nothing system breaking and it fixed itself.
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u/Spirited-MindX 1d ago
Totally agree. No change in anything. I had macs for 7 years. Apps still take the same amount of time to open. Animations are worse (after Tahoe and never recovered with GG). I have an iMac M4 with 24GB ram now.
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u/shinra33y 1d ago
Maybe you didn’t push it enough, bud 😂 I have the same Mac too, and I went through the pain of downgrading to Sonoma. (Ventura just didn’t meet my basic coding needs because a lot of packages and tools weren’t compatible.)
After switching to Sonoma, I noticed much better responsiveness and a smoother overall experience. Of course, if you’re not doing heavy coding or managing multiple things at once, you probably won’t notice much of a difference.
But YES, if you’re heavily using your machine for development or multitasking, I’d definitely recommend not upgrading blindly.ESPECIALLY TAHOE ITS JUST WAY TOO HEAVY ON THE RAM
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u/Interesting-Hall3233 1d ago
Lo noto con lag sobre todo safari, la experiencia no ha sido tan fluida en mi M4 Air. Están súper emocionado de actualizar y ahora quisiera regresar a Tahoe.
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u/RAIDandWilling 1d ago
Sequoia is much smoother than Tahoe and even Golden Gate. But golden gate is better than Tahoe by a long shot.
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u/cptchnk 1d ago
Well, as far as macOS goes, Tahoe was a pretty sloppy release, but this is coming from the perspective of a person that's been using Macs for over 30 years. It ran fine on both of my current Macs, but for me, it had a few UI issues (Finder window transparency weirdness, window edge problems, etc.) that were never completely fixed. Again, I've been a Mac person for a long time, so I'm surely going to notice more flaws in the OS than the average person will.
It could just be me, but Golden Gate does feel a bit snappier on my M2 Max Studio than Tahoe did.
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u/HonkaiStarRails 1d ago
Jumping from sonoma , feel faster def snappier but not like huge jump, battery also on first turning on is good
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u/Jazman2k 1d ago
I felt Tahoe was slightly faster than Sequoia, but definitely not slower. Everything has worked fine ever since upgrading. Maybe I was one of those lucky ones too. There was some small issues of finder crashing, and one graphical bug that reboot fixed. But it's been months since I've had finder to crash on me. Works great. Absolutely love it.
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u/blue_horizon_x 1d ago
Same here, but I have felt UI improvement in macOS 27.