Upgraded only one year after its predecessor, OS X Mavericks, Apple’s new OS X Yosemite update includes new features such as a design revamp, greater iCloud sharing capacities, increased storage and improved spotlight functions. Although some students have updated their Macbooks without any major problems or difficulties, others have revealed that the recent upgrade has been the source of some technical issues.

“Whether OS X Yosemite is good or bad is definitely a subjective matter, depending on how it works for our Macbooks, but I actually think that it offers major visual benefits that help with how I organize my laptop files,” said Sarah Hahn (11), OS X Yosemite user. “Of course, Yosemite is not perfect, but most of the problems we see are common bugs shared by most softwares that exist today.”

Though Yosemite provides certain sets of improvements and functions that were not available with Mavericks, such as storage and device-to-device communication, users such as Alan Kim (10) have noticed technical problems that hinder efficiency after upgrading.

“Although the new OS X design has become much more sophisticated and to some extent, more appealing, there seem to bugs that I have noticed after upgrading to Yosemite,” said Alan Kim (10), OS X Yosemite user. “For instance, my computer has actually gotten much slower in both booting and connecting to the Internet. These issues are not substantial, but they indicate drawbacks of the new technology.”

According to Paul Kang, IT Coordinator, many of these problems are caused because the current SIS image, or the content of all SIS devices, is not formatted according to Yosemite’s new functions. Because students may not be experienced in dealing with such technical difficulties, they should think cautiously before choosing to install the update.

“It is not so much that the IT staff cannot fix OS X Yosemite problems.” Mr. Kang said. “We can fix them, but we just want students to be aware of the damage that could arise before they upgrade. Apple releases upgrades annually. To accommodate, we usually create new images within a year of the upgrade release, so by the end of the year, we will most likely have the functions necessary to ensure that Yosemite works for most, if not all, students.”