I’m thinking of purchasing scrivener, but have questions about running it on a Mac laptop.
I want to purchase a refurbished old Macbook Air, but am a bit bamboozled by which model I get that will competently run Scriv. A lot of refurbed models I can afford are from roughly 2017-2020, and they don’t seem to have Mac OS 10.14 on them.
Will I be able to run Scriv on an older model and, presumbly, be able to upgrade to a newer version of Mac OS in order to do so?
Sorry- bit of a PC-tech question more than a Scriv one, I guess…
The one thing I would add is that you should buy an M1 Macbook Air (that would be the late 2020 model) if there is a way for you to afford it. It’s a much better machine than its Intel predecessors. Not necessary to run Scrivener, but better overall.
And watch out for RAM and SSD, as you can’t upgrade them.
The latest version of Scrivener (3.3.1) will run with any version of Mac OS from 10.13 forward.
The thing to watch for is the upgradeability of the operating system. Obviously the older the machine, the sooner it will reach Apple’s “end of life” and stop being supported by future Mac OS versions. Once that happens, we will eventually be unable to support it with new versions of Scrivener. For example, people with machines that will only run Mac OS 10.12 are “stuck” with the previous version (3.2.3) of Scrivener due to a change in the supporting frameworks we use.
A 2020-era machine may not ship with Ventura (Mac OS 13), but should be able to run it just fine. Mac OS 14 (Sonoma) is still in beta at this point, so you won’t find it on any newly purchased hardware. (Unless the vendor hates you.)
(Note that Mac OS 10.13 and Mac OS 13.x are NOT the same. Apple changed their numbering scheme when they added Apple Silicon support.)
seconding @suavito’s comment. the M! MacBook Air that I bought (secondhand which I got a great deal on) runs around 40% faster than the early 2020 MacBook Air I had before. but you don’t need it. just nice to have.
@synapse56: I have the same. it doesn’t feel entry level to me. so much better than the one I had before. (note: I always buy my laptops secondhand, so it doesn’t faze me to use technology from a few years ago. I expect I’ll use this one until 2025, when its AppleCare will runs out.)
I am also considering upgrading my old Macbook to a new one. Apple recently launched the 2025 version of the Macbook Air featuring the M4 processor. My primary intention is to use it for writing. There are various pre-configured options to choose from. Since it’s not possible to upgrade the hardware of a Macbook later on, I am pondering if opting for the M4 24GB/512GB model is excessive. Even if the processor and memory suffice for a long period, I am concerned that other components, such as the keyboard, trackpad, or LCD panel, might encounter issues first. Given this scenario, a more effective strategy may be to purchase only the minimum necessary and replace it at more frequent intervals.
Yeah, ditto what Mark said. I have an “old” Intel Air from 2019 with 8Gb that runs Scrivener just fine. Indeed, I often run with five or six projects – a couple quite large – without any difficulties. In use, it’s no slower than my 2024 Air. Just a bit slower loading – perhaps two seconds rather than one.
Xiamenese and Auxbuss, one thing I didn’t mention is that I like to keep a lot of different programs open at the same time and switch between them quickly. I also have the desktop version of Dropbox installed on my computer, in addition to iCloud. My current Mac M2 8GB/512GB often complains about running out of memory and asks me to close applications. At the time I bought it, only the 8GB model was available. If the 16GB model had been available, it would have lasted a lot longer. Otherwise, I have no complaints about it; the speed is sufficient.
My MBA has 8GB RAM, but 1TB SSID. It has Dropbox, Sync, Box and iCloud running, together with a fair number of other “menu bar” apps. I don’t often have a lot of other main apps running at the same time as Scrivener… Forklift, Airmail, Arc Browser (sometimes Brave as well) consistently. Others like Graphic Converter and Photos when needed.
The only program that has ever “complained” was Topaz Video AI, running on it’s own, but that now requires 16GB RAM minimum.
I suppose the 1 TB might help with more virtual RAM being possible.
Thank you. Have you noticed any problems with Dropbox, Sync, Box and iCloud syncing, such as slowness or syncing stopping? I’ve been thinking about getting also OneDrive on my computer, besides the ones mentioned earlier, but I don’t know if that will cause any problems?
The only one that is slow is iCloud, but that’s nothing to do with the machine or having the other ones running too; I have always found iCloud a bit unresponsive for many things.
I have had 200 GB iCloud for a number of years, but I recently decided to get 200GB on Sync and move everything there that I can; it’s a bit more expensive, but secure, and easier to see any uploading downloading going on (as with Dropbox). I’ll look to downgrading my iCloud, though at only £2.99/month, less than a cup of coffee, it’s not breaking the bank.
Note to anyone running multiple cloud services: make sure that only one service has access to any given folder. (This is especially an issue for iCloud, which likes to take over your whole machine.) If two services share a folder and either or both of them tries to store stuff exclusively on its own servers, you are practically guaranteed to run into problems.
Since turning off iCloud’s “Greediness” is a no-brainer for me, and the others, unlike the late, lamented Cubby, but like Dropbox require their own dedicated folder, that’s not a problem here.
The Sync folder can be anywhere on the drive; it’s not constrained like current Dropbox and Box.
But yes, anyone who is SSID-challenged in terms of size and so needs iCloud to store their documents and desktop folders, should make sure that any other cloud-service managed folders are not accessible to iCloud.
Mac’s Dropbox folder moved from Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox to UserName/Dropbox after a fresh install of a new laptop that excluded app transfers. Oddly, both laptops use the same OS, Sequoia 15.3.2. (By the way, I just got a MacBook Air M4 24GB/512GB, which feels great. Surprisingly, it remains cool even with heavy load—perhaps the 24GB of RAM plays a role—and its fanless design keeps it totally silent. Thrilled about it!)
