#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES HOW TO#
#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES UPGRADE#
#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES SOFTWARE#

Big Sur and an unspecified number of future versions will run on both Intel and Apple Silicon machines, but a few years from now Apple will stop making Intel Macs and we’ll all be using Apple Silicon machines. The first chips are here now, and they go by the moniker Apple M1. Part of the point of changing the public-facing version number is that Big Sur is the first version that runs under Apple’s new Macs based on what Apple calls “Apple Silicon” and everyone else calls ARM. (But advanced users who dig deep into Big Sur’s internals will find that, for the sake of compatibility, it tells apps that its version number is 10.16.) When you click on “About This Mac” from the Apple menu, Big Sur describes itself as version 11.0. The “X” in OS X meant ten, and Catalina, the previous macOS release, was version 10.15. Speaking of OS X-now called macOS-Apple is signaling the size of the shift Big Sur represents by increasing the main version number for the first time. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. ( Read our editorial mission (Opens in a new window) & see how we test everything we review (Opens in a new window).) Apple has mastered the art of improving its OS design without disrupting the basic design established by OS X. But, as with almost every other new version, the new features and conveniences in macOS Big Sur integrate so well into the familiar interface that existence users will face a minimal learning curve. (With Catalina, expert users could enable or disable it using a terminal command.) After Big Sur appears on the screen, you see the most radical overhaul that Apple has given its flagship OS in years. The first thing you notice when you start up your Mac running Big Sur is that the traditional Mac startup sound is back by default, though you can silence it from the System Preferences app.

#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES UPGRADE#

But upgrade you should, because Big Sur is a substantial improvement, even over the excellent Catalina. If you rely on third-party software, you may want to wait a few weeks or months for the first or second interim, or point release. If you’re running last year’s Catalina version and haven’t installed a lot of third-party, non-Apple software, you can upgrade immediately to Big Sur, though only after making a complete Time Machine or other backup of your existing system. Based on a three-month tryout in a series of public betas, Big Sur is quick, stable, impressively good-looking, and packed with subtle and significant improvements to the macOS interface. No touch-screen support, despite mobile interface elementsĪpple's macOS Big Sur is the latest version of its desktop and laptop operating system and the first to support both traditional Intel Macs and the new “Apple Silicon” Macs.Existing apps require updating security permissions.

#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES SOFTWARE#

Compatibility issues with third-party backup software.

#MACOS BIG SUR RELEASES HOW TO#

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