Select a region
For those Mac users feeling a little left out in all the new iPhone and iOS update madness of recent weeks, rejoice; the next version of OS X is nearly here.
OS X El Capitan – the latest version of the operating system for Apple’s Mac line-up of laptops becomes available to download from September 30 in the UK. The software, which received a major redesign last year, is getting some more tweaks in El Capitan.
Apple said at the first announcement back in June that the focus for El Capitan was on “experience and performance” and, with that in mind, these are some of the key reasons to consider upgrading.
One of those tiny details that can make all the difference, El Capitan introduces a new cursor feature that sees the pointer enlarge when you wiggle on the touchpad, making it much easier to find when you first wake the computer.
The main update in Safari is around something Apple calls Pinned Sites. These are smart tabs that minimise into icons that stay at the top of the safari page. Think of them like Favourites in Chrome.
Another clever edition is an audio finding tool, that kicks in when apparently random audio begins to play in one of the many tabs you have open (we’ve all been there). Click the new microphone icon in the search bar and you can mute it, or jump to the tab it’s in and close it.
The Spotlight search tool has also been made smarter, and can now recognise more colloquial language. Type in ‘documents I worked on last June’, and it will show you just that. The level of specifics are impressive.
A real screen tidier, a new three-finger gesture on the trackpad instantly pulls all your windows into a neat single screen – perfectly laid out like Tetris pieces.
An extension of the screen organising that Mission Control brings, Split Screen is much like the feature we’ve just seen Apple announce for the iPad Pro – enabling users to multi-task between two apps by splitting the screen in two.
Apple has made an effort to boost performance in El Capitan. In a nut shell, apps will open quicker, documents load faster, and thanks to their Metal API visuals are now sharper in editing apps as well as games.
OS X El Capitan is not the major overhaul that last year’s Yosemite was, but given the launch of iOS 9 for iPhone and iPad, this is the update Mac needed.
