What Mac OS version is Classic happy with? Should I upgrade?

[Steve Gandy]

I used to keep up with all things Mac but my image making, Lr/Ps skills and photog jobs take precedence now...

I'd love to hear from our community here what MAC OS version is "smart" to update to. I know Adobe says Ventura v13 is compatible. But we all know the "compatible" doesn't always mean that the user will be "happy".  I'm on Big Sur v11 now and it feels like I had better catchup. What do you think?

I feel like this could be a continuing thread with upgrade advice.

[dj_paige]

I know Adobe says Ventura v13 is compatible. But we all know the "compatible" doesn't always mean that the user will be "happy". 

By @Steve Gandy

If that's your point of view, the never upgrade anything. There are always a small number of users who are not happy. Every operating system causes a small number of glitches and has a small number of bugs. No one can give you a guarantee.

Most Lightroom Classic users who use the current version of Mac OS are without serious problems. You can tell, because they're not here in the forum complaining.

[Steve Gandy]

Gee, thanks for the pointed reply. Congratulations, you are the first reply I've ever seen on this forum that seemed intended as a dig on the other person chatting.

However, I was not talking about minor glitches. I was asking if the current system is reliable for Ps and Lr. From your answer I am assuming so. FTR, a few OS updates back....maybe 2019 or so, I don't remember exactly, the OS upgrade totally degraded my experience with all the Adobe products that I use.  And there were a lot of reports on this forum about it. I had to roll back my system, reinstall everything and it took hours to get back to normal. With that experience, I think most would agree that asking my question is quite normal.

[GoldingD]

A large issue with many members having LrC issues revolving around the OS turns out to be how good they are about OS updates. A larger issue is how good they are about GPU driver updates. For Windows users those are two separate computer management issues as the GPU driver update is separate from OS updates. For MACOS users, the GPU updates are via MACOS updates. So if your MACOS is out of date, your GPU driver is probably out of date.

A separate problem with MACOS is MACOS cyber security measures (and that is addressed in this community)

And yet another issue with Apple, is the CPU, M1 vs Intel. but that is not your issue, and has more to do with older versions of LrC.

So, a question is, why still on High Sierra?  Does your MAC support Monterey? see:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212551

Not saying you need to upgrade to Monterey before upgrading to Ventura. Just thinking, hmm, did not upgrade to Monterey, why?

Lot fewer problems with Monterey than Ventura, and yes it is an Apple caused issue.

Most Ventura issues are addressed in the following link:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/p-mac-ventura-known-issues-please-read-...

Next up, MACOS Ventura compatibility:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264

Admittedly, from that one, I cannot have any first hand experience.

[Steve Gandy]

Good info all around, thank you. As to your question, I didn't update to Monterey because I didn't need or want to risk it. I think I will go to Monterey first after reading the Lightroom Queen's page on Ventura. 

[Conrad C]

I don’t rush into OS upgrades until I’m confident that every part of the imaging chain (camera/scanner drivers, calibration software, printer drivers) has updated software available. macOS Ventura itself is probably in good shape now after a few updates from Apple, but I haven’t upgraded from macOS 12 Monterey yet. I tend to wait 6 to 9 months before I move up, which is often enough time for everyone to release their compatiility updates.

Adobe (sometimes) publishes OS compatibility info that’s more specific than the general system requirements. Below is the current Lightroom Classic compatibility information from Adobe that has not yet been linked to in this thread. I look for this document after every new major release of macOS:

Lightroom Classic and Ventura | macOS 13

It may not look like much, but there were more issues when Ventura was first released. As they get resolved by Adobe or Apple, the document gets shorter.

Additionally, The Lightroom Queen is tracking Ventura issues, including some potential issues that Adobe or Apple might not have verified or addressed yet:

Lightroom and macOS 13 Ventura Compatibility

If none of the issues listed there would disrupt your workflow, then maybe Ventura is worth a try now.

[Steve Gandy]

Good info all around from you too, thank you, Conrad. As to your question,  I think I will go to Monterey first after reading the Lightroom Queen's page on Ventura. And,  I like the 6-9 months strategy, seems very wise!