mac os high sierra update for macbook air

#Mac os high sierra update for macbook air full#

Right now, it's limited to the HTC Vive using SteamVR - sorry, Oculus Rift fans. Thanks to Metal 2, Apple's updated graphics API, macOS can finally handle virtual reality.

Another helpful upgrade: Third-party companies can now create extensions for Photos, which allows you to do things like prepare photo books without leaving the app. That includes smarter people-recognition (which can sync across all of your iCloud-connected devices), more automatic Memories options and a wider assortment of photo filters. They're not groundbreaking effects, but they finally make Live Photos seem useful rather than a waste of space.Īll of other Photos upgrades from iOS 11 also show up in High Sierra. You can choose from Loop, which just repeats the clip Bounce, which moves it back and forth in time and Long Exposure, a unique effect that mimics the dreamy photos you can get by manipulating exposure settings on bigger cameras. Just like in iOS 11, you can now turn Live Photos into short animated clips that resemble GIFs. But after testing the OS for the past few months, I ended up appreciating the new Live Photos capabilities the most. Photos upgradesĪs we covered in our preview piece, the Photos app got a slew of tweaks. Apple also claims Safari will let you browse the web for two hours longer than the other two browsers, as well as watch Netflix for four hours longer. That's something you can do only with Chrome through settings hacks or by installing third-party extensions. You can also enable the cleaner 'Reader' mode automatically for specific sites, or have it automatically turn on for every website that supports the feature. While Safari tended to load some sites faster, that wasn't enough to make me switch over.Īs for other tweaks, Safari 11 mutes autoplaying web videos by default, which should help bring some peace as more sites push unwanted video on their readers. And Firefox is typically the browser I use for dealing with anything related to work (it's helpful having two browsers open at once for managing multiple Google accounts). Some of Google's services, like Hangouts, work only on Chrome. Even so, I still found myself relying on the other browsers most of the time. Safari clocked in with a score of 176.8, while the other two browsers came in around 129 (and yes, higher is better). My testing with the JetStream benchmark confirmed that it was faster than both Chrome and Firefox on my MacBook Air. A better SafariĪpple claims that Safari 11 in High Sierra is the world's fastest web browser. But with High Sierra officially launching today, it's worth highlighting the handful of notable features.

#Mac os high sierra update for macbook air full#

Since there's not much you'll actually notice, and barely anything has changed since we published our extensive preview, we won't be doing a full review of the new OS. At the same time, it also lays the groundwork for bigger changes down the line.

As we covered in our preview of Apple's new desktop OS, it's mostly focused on refining its predecessor, last year's Sierra. MacOS High Sierra was never meant to be truly transformative.