How Much Space Needed For Os X Yosemite Full Complement Of

Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others.

Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10) was the last version of the operating system to be compatible with older Mac computers.

With Yosemite, Apple made sure that if a Mac could run OS X Mavericks, it could run Yosemite without performance penalties.

If youre making the switch from Mavericks, here are the OS X Yosemite requirements youll need to know.

Here are the system requirements for running Mac OS X Yosemite.

For a basic installation, with only the default apps plus one or two of your favorites, 16 GB is a practical minimum.

How Much Space Needed For Os X Yosemite Full Complement Of

If you want to test Yosemite with a full complement of apps, additional storage space is needed.

At least 40 GB to 100 GB of available space is recommended for a clean install of Yosemite.

The extra space should allow you to either install the apps you need or use the OS X Migration tool to bring apps over from a previous version of OS X.

If youre upgrading from a previous version of OS X, the minimum free space should be all you need to install OS X Yosemite.

Having additional free space available on the Macs startup drive is always a good idea.

If the startup drive is close to full, consider adding an external drive to store some of your data.

Running OS X Yosemite on a pre-2014 Mac does not require any new hardware requirements.

Continuity, or more specifically the Handoff feature that lets you pick up where you left off on another Apple device, requires a Mac with Bluetooth 4.0LE.

If your Mac does not have Bluetooth 4.0 hardware, you can still install and run OS X Yosemite, but you wont be able to use the new Handoff feature.

If you want to use Continuity with your Mac and your Mac doesnt include Bluetooth 4.0LE support, you can add the capabilities with an inexpensive Bluetooth dongle that supports the required Bluetooth 4.0LE standards.

If you plug in a Bluetooth dongle, the Mac can use the dongle.

However, it wont recognize the dongle as a native Bluetooth 4.0LE device, and it wont turn on Continuity and Handoff.

With the activation tool installed, you can use all the features of OS X Yosemite, even with older Mac models.