Inappropriate prompt to upgrade to MacSierra

[Gonzalez49]

I have a MacBook Pro late-2011 model. At the time it was a full spec model. I have progressively accepted all the prompts to update the operating system, including MacSierra. I was also running Parallels with Windows 10, and had done ther necessary upgrades to ensure that the operating system was in balance. Result - a MacBook that froze and was desperately slow. The poor old machine was expiring, blowing the fan full pelt nearly all the time.
Finally, I decided to scrap the Parallels/Windows option, because the few apps I used that had required Windows were now available in Mac versions.
I should mention that I have had terrific help from another forum member, honestone. Thanks, honestone! And the performance of my MacBook improved enormously. However, it still took at least 30 minutes to start in the morning, not quite what one expects.
I took my machine into my approved Apple dealer hear in Luxembourg. They advised me immediately that my computer should not have an operating system later than Yosemite! It is one generation from vintage! It is not able to cope adequately with El Capitan, and certainly not Mac Sierra.
So they have changed my HDD hard disk for a 500GB SSD hard disk, and installed Yosemite as the operating system. They were kind enough to put the 750GB HDD in a little case so that I can access it as an an external drive, and transfer data and applications to the new machine. The machine is fast, the fan has stopped, and I am very pleased. It has cost me very little money.
Imagine my shock/horror when within a couple of hours of setting up the new machine I received a prompt to tell me that an upgrade to the new operating system was available!!!!!

I really am appalled. OK, I know that there is a commercial interest for Apple to move people on to the latest operating system and the latest hardware, and I confess that I am tempted by the new MacBook with Touch Bar etc. Money no object, what? But Apple should not be encouraging people to update their operating system beyond what the machine can cope with. If they are not able to identify what machine one has (although they seem to be able to identify lots of things remotely) they should indicate clearly that you should not upgrade if your computer is of a particular generation, and that if you want the latest operating system then you should upgrade to the necessary hardware. I got myself into the mess by upgrading because I was prompted incessantly to do it , with no warning of the problems.

In the meantime, how do I get rid of these annoying prompts to upgrade the operating system?

 

[honestone]

First, regarding which machines one can run Sierra on, here is the "official" list:

http://osxdaily.com/2016/06/14/macos-sierra-compatibility-list/

Hence, your machine would be included within the first "group" on that list, ie,

• MacBook Pro (2010 and later)

Secondly, even though an OS can be used on a machine, there are other factors to consider. Probably the two most important are 1) how clean one's system is, and 2) the type of internal disk the machine has. For #2, in your case, here is (I believe) a valid, detailed description of your machine:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...2-15-late-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

(If you can tell me the exact model of your Mac, that would help). The 750 gig HDD that came with your machine was (most likely) a slow, 5400 rpm one. (I believed I mentioned something about this before when I was working with you). Even if it is one that spins at 7200 rpm, it is still going to slow. My late 2012 Mac Mini came with a slow, 5400 rpm 1 TB drive. But after 4 months, I replaced it with a fast, 256 gig Samsung 840 Pro SSD, and the performance difference was/is phenomenal! Think (as Tom Cruise said) "I have the need, the need for speed".

Now, unless one needs all the latest "bells and whistles" with an OS (and better Safari "support", especially in relation to Security Updates), Yosemite is most likely good enough. For me, though, given that I use some critical third party applications, it is getting to the point more and more that such software (plus others) are being updated (and in a lot of cases, for security reasons) for compatibility for newer versions of the Mac OS. In actuality, there is no "break through" feature for me in Sierra (the same was true for El Capitan), but again for my third party apps, keeping up with new versions of the OS is necessary.

There is also the issue of "upgrading in place", so to speak. When one receives an alert to upgrade to a new OS, I suspect most folks here just accept that "as is", and have the new OS downloaded, and installed on top of the current one. While some folks claim that might be OK, my opinion is that it is questionable with one upgrade, but when it is done for more than one OS upgrade, degradation "rears" its ugly head, and things slow down after the new OS is "installed". I also suspect a number of folks are lazy, and don't want to go through the longer (but safer and more solid) process of doing an Erase and Format of the internal drive, a clean, "virgin" installation of the new OS, and then using Migration Assistant to "migrate"/copy needed stuff from a backup (folks are doing backups, right?). I have been doing that longer procedure for at least the last 4 Mac OS upgrades, and I rarely (if ever) have issues. But, to each his/her own.

Another example (although not so "directly" related to the version of the Mac OS) is Office for Mac. Up until October, I had been using Office 2011 (and Outlook 2011 the most out of the apps Outlook, Word, and Excel). But, with Microsoft most likely to drop support for Office 2011 "soon", I "moved" to Office 2016, and thus am somewhat "safe" for a while. Yes, there are other alternatives for each such app, and especially Outlook. But, Outlook 2011 and Outlook 2016 have served me well, and I have read too many "horror" stories on these forums about folks having issues with Apple's Mail program. I guess if I were to use another EMail program, it would most likely be Thunderbird.

Regarding Safari, sometimes Apple will update prior versions for security purposes (but not always the case), but of course there are other browsers available that resolve that issue. I do not use Safari, as it is too slow. I like and use Google Chrome (definitely a speed demon!), and also getting to like Opera more and more. Both of them are secure enough for me.

As I mentioned to you before, though, even with my SSDs inside each of my Macs (and keeping them "lean and clean"), Sierra still loads somewhat slower (I don't have anything selected to load at Start up), and at times, somewhat slower when shutting down. But, it is OK for me.

Finally, this link explains how to turn off those "annoying" alerts from Apple:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-disable-os-x-update-notifications-493961.

 

[honestone]

Oops! I missed where you stated that "So they have changed my HDD hard disk for a 500GB SSD hard disk". One would expect Sierra to run better with that SSD. Do you happen to know the model and brand of SSD they put inside?

Again, though, if Yosemite satisfies your needs, fine. Also, even though you have an SSD, it is still necessary to keep it "lean and clean". And of course the need for backups is still there. Now that you have the 750 gig HDD inside an external case, you have a device for backups.

Additionally, you state above:

"But Apple should not be encouraging people to update their operating system beyond what the machine can cope with. If they are not able to identify what machine one has (although they seem to be able to identify lots of things remotely) they should indicate clearly that you should not upgrade if your computer is of a particular generation, and that if you want the latest operating system then you should upgrade to the necessary hardware."

I actually don't know if Apple sends out such upgrade messages for folks with incompatible machines. And while on the surface that would be bad, it's like anything else in this world: one needs to check some things out on their own. There have been times where I have researched for automobile parts, and a site/vendor states that a particular part is "compatible" with my automobile. But, upon further research, that was not the case. The same is true here.

But, in your case, your machine is compatible with Sierra, so as the old saying goes, "Buyer beware". It all comes down to how much effort one is willing to make to learn about the products they are using. I'll bet you that even the next Mac OS upgrade will work fine on your machine. But, if you don't need it, then just skip it.

One other point is this notification "business". In my post above, I provided a link for you to turn off such notifications from Apple. But there are a number of folks who most likely cried "foul" when Apple was not providing such notifications (can't actually remember when that started happening via the App Store). There si so much demand these folks from folks who insist on being kept up to date with events, no matter what they are.