OS X Mavericks vs Yosemite Performance

I am using a 2013 MacBook Air and considering to upgrade from 10.9 to 10.10. Is there a performance gain after the upgrade? Is Yosemite faster than Mavericks, say, regarding UI responsiveness?

Solution 1:

Quick answer: NO. Yosemite isn't faster than Mavericks.

I don't say that the performance is worse. The oldest is the computer most noticeable is the difference. But, on a 2013 computer, it should be the same, or nearly the same, on both machines. Anyway, there are things you can do to improve it (How to Improve OS X Yosemite Performance).

What I noticed, is that is quite more efficiently on batteries.

Solution 2:

I have recently upgraded a 2012 MacBook Air from Mavericks to Yosemite, and I have not noticed any change in responsiveness or speed. I didn't do any measurements, but the performance difference (at least on my system) is small enough that it is unnoticeable to me.

Solution 3:

UI responsiveness is worse or at least it's getting worse while my macbook is running without restart for longer period. Especially if you don't check the "Reduce transparency" option in Accessibility settings the performance is noticeably worse. (on macbook pro 13" late 2013)