Operating system updates can be an exciting time for users. There’s the potential to be more productive with new apps, interface enhancements that make your computer easier to use, and flashy new features that remind you how much of an impact technology can have on your life. If you want to get caught up in the excitement of an OS update, you should read Jason Snell’s. IOS 11 is where all the action is right now. But waitagoshdarnminute, this is the macOS High Sierra review.

You want to know all about Apple’s upgrade for the Mac. Well, you’ve come to the right place, but if you are expecting fireworks, you won’t find them here—though you might find them in High Sierra eventually. (I’ll explain later.) With macOS High Sierra (version 10.13, if you’re keeping track), life on the Mac doesn’t change dramatically. It doesn’t have a lot of new features that will widen your eyes in excitement.

But a lot of the changes are in the background and under the hood, and they lay a foundation for better things to come. With that in mind, let’s address the main question right now: Should you upgrade to macOS High Sierra? Despite what I just said about better things to come, there are several new features you can take advantage of now, mostly in Apple Photos. (I’ll provide an overview of the new Photos, but there’s.) Apple’s Notes and Mail apps get a few helpful tweaks, too. So there is something in High Sierra to get your virtual hands on. But these are things you don’t need to get to right away. If you want to put off upgrading to High Sierra, that would be fine, you won’t miss much—though the main reason to upgrade now is because High Sierra includes security fixes.

Other than that, these are changes in High Sierra that you’ll want to have sooner or later. Then you’ll finally get to see though fireworks—perhaps in virtual reality. MacOS High Sierra: Apple File System APFS (Apple File System) is the key under-the-hood feature of macOS High Sierra. Computers needs a file system in order to manage your data, and until now, that file system was HFS+ (Hierarchical File System).

IDG APFS is available when you format a drive in Disk Utility, but it’s currently only for SSDs. APFS was created because HFS+ was outdated—it was created in 1985.

Storage devices are much bigger now, and we create more files than ever (just take a look at your photo collection if you need proof). Developers have been aching for a new file system for a while, and Apple has finally answered their prayers. There’s a catch, though. APFS, right now, is only available if you’re using flash storage or a SSD (solid-state drive) on your Mac.

During the beta run, APFS could be installed on a hard drive or Fusion drive, but that support was pulled when High Sierra reached golden master status. Apple said that hard drive and Fusion drive support will be available in a future macOS update. The features of APFS include:. Built-in encryption and support for full disk encryption;. Snapshots, which used to record the state of your storage device based on points in time, helpful for backups;. Space sharing, which makes it easier to resize and mange different partitions;. Faster performance;.

The ability to better manage very large storage capacities and files. When you upgrade to High Sierra, the installer automatically coverts to APFS if you’re using a Mac with a SSD. I didn’t experience any problems that I could attribute to APFS while I used the High Sierra beta, but that doesn’t mean they won’t happen. With APFS released to the general public, it’s possible new problems could arise. This possibility would be the main reason why you might want to wait to upgrade until the first major High Sierra update is released.

MacOS High Sierra: Virtual reality and Metal 2 Virtual reality has made a lot of noise in the PC market, but you haven’t heard much about it for the Mac. Apple hopes that changes with High Sierra, which now has support for VR headsets like the. Apple also has VR partnerships with Valve, Unity, and Epic, and plans for 360-degree video in Final Cut Pro X and Motion. IDG / Hayden Dingman macOS High Sierra has built-in support for VR headgear like the HTC Vive. High Sierra also includes support for Metal 2, Apple’s graphics API.

In addition to support for VR and better performance, Metal 2 has support for external GPU hardware, which could mean you can boost your MacBook’s graphics performance by using Thunderbolt to hook up an external box with a top-end graphics card. You may not be able to take advantage of VR and Metal 2 support right away, though. Developers need to create Mac-compatible VR software, and software needs to be developed for Metal 2. Down the line, we could see some really cool stuff. MacOS High Sierra: HEVC and HEIF Apple has two new file formats that actually debuted in iOS 11: High Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC) is a new format for video, and High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF) is a new format for photos. HEVC, also called H.265, offers smaller file sizes than the previous standard video format, H.264.

Smaller file sizes are important, since we’re now living in a world of 4K video—and if you've ever made a 4K video on your iPhone, you know that the files can get pretty big. HEIF does a similar thing: it makes file sizes smaller than compared to JPEG compression. IDG Both of the videos in this still image were encoded at 1080p at 400 kbps. The top video (706KB file) used HEVC (a.k.a.

The bottom video (751KB file) used H.264. Click to enlarge.

Sample files available at. With support for these formats built into High Sierra, you’ll be able you read the HEVC and HEIF files from your iPhone (provided that you have one that can create HEVC and HEIF files).

Macs with a Skylake processor or newer will be able to provide hardware acceleration for HEVC; Macs with an older processor can still play HEVC, but playback is software-based and performance may be affected. Sometimes it can be scary to use new file formats, especially when the new formats replace ones that are ubiquitous. You can decide to not use the new formats on your iPhone, as.

HEVC and HEIF do offer significant benefits, and Apple has made provisions to make sure you can export your HEVC videos and HEIF photos into H.264 and JPEG, respectively. MacOS High Sierra: Safari 11 Finally, something in High Sierra you can really get your hands on: new Safari features. There are several new features in Safari 11, but there are a couple that stand out.

The first is control over media auto play. You know those annoying auto-play videos that appear when you visit a website (like Macworld.com)?

Safari 11 now gives you the option to stop those videos from automatically playing. Or you can let the video play, but mute the auto. You can create a list of websites with each site having its own settings. With auto-play videos so prevalent on the web now (despite the widespread dislike of them by users), it’s a feature that’s long overdue. We have details on.

IDG Safari 11 allows users to stop auto-play videos in their tracks. The second feature is Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Tracking is used by third parties to aim their advertising at you. The most obvious example of this is when you buy something on the web—say, a salad spinner—and then when you visit other websites, you see salad spinner ads all over the place. ITP prevents this tracking from happening, so you’re no longer creeped out when you’re on the web after shopping.

This is another great feature, and you can use our to properly activate it. Safari has a bunch of other cool features, like an, persistent page zoom, notification controls, and improved performance. Excited about the Safari 11 features? You don’t need to upgrade to High Sierra to get them. Safari 11 is also available for macOS Sierra; you can install it by performing a software update. If you want to wait to upgrade to High Sierra, you can still get Safari 11.

MacOS High Sierra: Photos Macworld’s column fields support questions from you, the reader. About 20 percent of the questions we get are about Apple’s Photos app—sometimes it’s a lot more when a new version is released. So I think it’s fair to say that Photos is popular, but people wish it were easier to use. Photos is the one app in High Sierra that gets the most changes. It has tweaks to the sidebar and toolbar, drag-and-drop organization, imports history, improved accuracy with the People album, and more. The Edit mode is redesigned with better access to tools, Live Photo support, and there are also new filters. Photos also has new Project Extensions, so you can use third-party services to create websites, books, and other goods.

The changes and new features in Photos are too numerous to go into any great detail in this review. Instead, we’ve dedicate a whole article to the new Photos. Roman Loyola Photos’ Project Extensions allow you to create photo books, cards, mounted pictures, and more directly in the Photos app. MacOS High Sierra: Siri Siri made its debut in. I don’t find myself using Siri nearly as much as I do on my iPhone; that’s just the nature of how mobile devices are used versus laptops and desktop computers.

In High Sierra, Apple has improved Siri by making it sound less robotic and more like natural human-speak. It’s a very noticeable change to me, and I guess there are folks who appreciate it. But Siri’s robotic expression never bothered me, and I really don’t think this is a big deal. I have never once thought, “You know, I’d use Siri more if it sounded more like a person.” Below is a sample of how Siri now sounds. What prevents me from using Siri more is that I consistently have a hard time trying to get Siri to understand me.

I still can’t get Siri to regularly understand me saying, “Send a text to my wife.” (And I have to use “my wife” because Siri always misunderstands my wife’s last name, and I have multiple contacts with the same first name.) I know I have a terrible voice, and my enunciation needs work (I’ve been told this for years by various professionals), but even if I try my hardest, Siri misunderstands me more often than anyone would like. Since this issue for me hasn’t gotten better, I have to believe that Siri has reached peak comprehension, so I need to change. And I’ve tried, but the only real change I’ll probably make is to not use Siri. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use Siri on a Mac. There are big fans of Siri and it works well for them.

During the format process in Windows, an error is encountered or the format does. Answer ID 1211: How to low level format or write zeros (Erase) to a WD hard. My passport won't format. Jun 22, 2017 - Hello all, Today I bought the 4tb 'My Passport' from Best Buy. I came home to set it up and backup my computer (a 2015 MacBook Pro running.

You’re lucky. You’ll be able to take advantage of Siri’s new integration with Apple Music.

Say, “Play some music” and Siri will play songs, and if you want to skip a song, you can say, “Play next” and Siri will play the next song. You can even tell Siri to play specific genres or artist, and even ask for some background information, like “When was this song released?” Have fun with that. MacOS High Sierra: Other changes. The Top Hits feature in Mail displays how much you’ve read an email, past searches, and a message’s relevance to VIP or Favorite contacts to make it easier to find what you need. Spotlight search now can provide flight status. The iCloud setting in System Preferences has been redesigned so you can manage your Family Sharing. MacBook Pro users will find TouchBar improvements.

The Notes app now has support for tables and pinned notes. IDG Spotlight in macOS High Sierra can access flight information, so you don’t have to bother with Safari and going to your carrier’s website. Bottom line macOS High Sierra may not be chock full of juicy new features you can’t wait to use, but that’s OK. What’s more important here is that Apple is setting up the Mac for the future, with APFS, Metal 2 and virtual reality, HEVC and HEIF, and more. If you want to put off upgrading until the first or second major update, that would probably be fine, though consider that upgrading now will install important security updates. Regardless of how you view the new features, the future of macOS looks bright.

Mac High Sierra Review

You’ll need to your Mac to be up to speed to take advantage of it all.

There are dozens of new features coming to macOS Mojave. Some are immediately noticeable, like the new Mac App Store and dark mode. Some are under the hood and you might not even notice (except for the faster, smoother performance. Here's a list of all the major changes in macOS Mojave you can read about while you're downloading the update on your Mac.

What's the latest news with macOS Mojave? September 24, 2018: MacOS Mojave is now live in the Mac App Store! MacOS Mojave is now available in the Mac App Store as a free update. Make sure you've backed up your Mac before downloading the update. July 9, 2018: iTunes gets AirPlay 2 support in macOS 10.13.6 Over a month after the HomePod received AirPlay 2 support, iTunes 12.8 finally has it in macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. You'll now be able to wirelessly stream your tunes to your stereo-paired HomePods or to other AirPlay 2-enabled speakers around your house. The macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Update adds AirPlay 2 multiroom audio support for iTunes and improves the stability and security of your Mac.

This update is recommended for all users. This update:. Control your home audio system and AirPlay 2-enabled speakers throughout your house.

Play music at the same time on multiple AirPlay 2-enabled speakers in your house, all in sync. Other improvements and fixes:. Fixes an issue that may prevent Photos from recognizing AVCHD media from some cameras.

Fixes an issue that may prevent Mail users from moving a message from Gmail to another account. March 29, 2018: Apple rolls out macOS 10.13.4 with eGPU support! Apple just rolled out a point update (big, but hot huge) that adds a few new features, most notably, support for eGPU processors. 10.13.4 also includes support for Business Chat in Messages, something also new in. There are a few behind-the-scenes updates, too, like bookmark sorting in Safari and Apple's privacy policy clarification when one of its apps or features asks to use your data. Here's the rundown of what's new in macOS 10.13.4. The macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 Update improves the stability, performance, and security of your Mac, and is recommended for all users.

This update:. Adds support for Business Chat conversations in Messages in the U.S. Adds support for external graphics processors (eGPUs). Fixes graphics corruption issues affecting certain apps on iMac Pro. Allows jumping to the rightmost open tab using Command-9 in Safari.

Enables sorting of Safari bookmarks by name or URL by Control-clicking and choosing Sort By. Fixes an issue that may prevent web link previews from appearing in Messages. Helps protect privacy by only AutoFilling usernames and passwords after selecting them in a web form field in Safari. Displays warnings in the Safari Smart Search field when interacting with password or credit card forms on unencrypted webpages. Displays privacy icons and links to explain how your data will be used and protected when Apple features ask to use your personal information. What's new with systemwide dark mode for macOS Apple finally gave us a full, system-wide Dark Mode for Mac, not just for the Menu bar, but for built-in apps, and the Mac App Store! What's new with the Mac App Store The Mac App Store is getting a complete overhaul.

Mac High Sierra

It's got all the great content that the App Store on iPhone and iPad has, like a Discovery tab with editorials about great Mac apps, personal stories from industry professionals that use Mac apps, and a list of the most popular apps you can get right now. There's also a dedicated Rating and Reviews center where you can read reviews, write your own reviews, and see responses from developers. What's new with privacy controls You can now control permissions for more apps, like the Camera and Microphone, in addition to things you already control, like locations, reminders, contacts, and more. Cookie tracking - Safari will 'shut down' tracking when you like, favorite, and comment on an article, allowing you to decide whether to allow websites to track you after you react. Fingerprinting - Just like you can be identified by a fingerprint, your device can be identified by a unique set of configuration.

Like fonts, plug-ins, and configurations. People can track you based on these assets. Mojave will only show built-in fonts, basic system configs, and it hides plug-ins so websites can't track you. The new Home app on Mac The Home app is finally available on macOS. It has all the same great features as the iOS app, but it's on the Mac! What's new with Siri on Mac Because there is.

Now a Home app on macOS, you can use Siri on Mac to control your HomeKit connected devices. You can ask Siri to turn on the lights, lock the doors, and a whole lot more. News app on Mac The News app is now on Mac with Mojave. It's all the same great features in the (also updated) News app in iOS 12, but dedicated on your Mac. In addition, the Stocks app is now on Mac.

Mac High Sierra

The Stocks app got a major update with integration of the News app, customized with business and financial news. Desktop Stacks Desktop Stacks lets you stack your desktop icons automatically into stacks by kind, date, or tab. You can click on the stack to see whats in it. Double-click on an icon to open it.

Drag an item to your desktop and it'll automatically jump into the stack. New features in Finder A new Gallery View has a big preview up top and thumbnails across the bottom. With images, you can get new details in the sidebar which supports full metadata. New Quick Actions lets you rotate, markup, or access more things you can do in Preview.

Quick Action area is contextual. You can create a new PDF by grabbing multiple single PDF files and images. Run custom Automator actions. Quick Look integrated with Markup. When you Quick Look at a PDF you can access markup without having to fully open the document in Preview. Rotate crop images, crop images all in Quick Look. New screenshot tools You can double-click on a screenshot to automatically jump into Markup and access different tools right in the screenshot.

There's going to be screen capture for video, which will allow you to grab a screenshot of a video. You'll also be able to drag screenshots (and videos) into a new document. New Continuity Camera with iPhone, iPad, and Mac With macOS Mojave, you can select an object in an image editing app. Then, take a photo on your iPhone.

The image will appear directly in the document you have open on your Mac. The same works for scanning documents.

Your Camera scans the document and the scan goes immediately into the program you're working in on your Mac. Voice Memos on Mac Apple brings Voice Memos to Mac in Mojave. It's just like Voice Memos on iPhone and iPad, but on Mac! You can drag your voice memo files directly into apps like Garage Band. Stocks on Mac Apple has also added the Stocks app to Mac in Mojave. In iOS 12, Stocks gets a really nice update with an integrated business and finance news feature. This same content will appear in the Mac version.

FaceTime on Mac FaceTime gets Messages integration, filters, and more. APFS for Fusion Drive APFS now supports Fusion drives in Mojave. And a whole lot more! Apple mentioned a few more major features coming in macOS Mojave, like CoreML 2 and CreateML, plus some smaller features we're excited about. Keep checking back with us to find out everything that's new in macOS Mojave. If you have any questions, please put them in the comments section and we'll try to answer them as best we can, as we learn more about macOS Mojave.