I discovered OCLP last week, and I got excited about possibly bringing my MBP back to life.
I've been using my company´s Mbpro (2019 Intel i7) and my personal mbp went aside due to severe limitations in running High Sierra (10.13).
My Mbpro is a 6,2 Mid-2010 - i7 620m, Gf330m, with 8Gb of RAM and SSD.
I´ve installed 3 versions of OSx to test which worked better for me (knowing the severe limitations of my hardware) but at least to give a small life extension to it.
I'm a software developer, working mostly with Java in backend applications.
My previous use of this Mbp was with graphic applications (SketchUp, illustrator, etc) didn't have the time to test it in this review, but the graphics limitations are pretty severe. The team at OCLP did an awesome job making this old and "limited" non-metal graphic card work with the latest OSes.
My impressions:
Coming from 10.13 I was pretty limited when installing almost everything. Brew had a big alert of incompatibility, and I always had to search for a previous release of any dependency or application.
My external monitor is an UltraWide 25" (2560x1080 WQHD) that unfortunately didn't work well even in High Sierra. And my attempts were all unsuccessful due to changes in the system (I posted a question here). The external monitor works (through mini DisplayPort) but there are some glitches with the dock in the secondary monitor, and some windows disappear (you have to drag to another space to see it again). You can use it but it has its limitations.
My main goal was to run as many applications as possible, most naturally.
Sonoma: I´ve installed the first Sonoma (14) and the system worked great. The graphics were a little buggy (a known issue, due to the non-metal graphic card) but some bugs were annoying. I've installed almost everything I needed. And the system was as fast as this i7 1st gen can be. Way faster than running High Sierra. Yes, it's true.
Ventura: Tested because many users suggested it as best for older "legacy" hardware. The system indeed seems to work more smoothly. But I´ve noticed that some applications already ask for Sonoma or a higher version, but not many. But traumatized from High Sierra I didn't want to experience this again. Installation went smooth, boot seams a bit faster than Sonoma or Sequoia, but nothing big. Graphics also seem more stable.
Sequoia: After these two I´ve decided to go extreme. To deal with buggy graphics or hardware limitations, why not go for the latest? The overall impression is the same as Sonoma (including graphics bugs). Didn't notice any other bigger limitations or bugs. With the bonus of running almost everything for the latest os.
My suggestion is to use Sequoia. The boot times are "longer" but not unusable. I´ve deactivated all animations and transparency effects in settings. This makes the system faster and more stable. Didn't experience any crashes or panics in all these versions. For me didn´t make sense to use any older version, including the possibility of Ventura reaching its end of life.
I'm really excited with OCLP and thankful to all the involved community that made it possible, great to extend the life of a device that I have an emotional bond with. Shame on Apple, which prefers to retire a computer than to support any "lag" or slow experience.
ps. Sorry for any English mistakes.
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