The big spur updates

Apple'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. 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. 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. 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. But upgrade you should, because Big Sur is a substantial improvement, even over the excellent Catalina.

Pros

• Integrated iOS-like Control Center

• Improved and more-informative Notification Center

• Redesigned toolbars and menus for easier navigation

• Security audits in Safari and the App Store

• Improved Maps app

• Better support for Home devices

• OS files cryptographically protected from hackers

Cons

• Compatibility issues with third-party backup software

• Doesn't support 32-bit legacy apps

• Existing apps require updating security permissions

• No touch-screen support, despite mobile interface elements

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. (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. 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. Apple has mastered the art of improving its OS design without disrupting the basic design established by OS X.

Turning macOS Up to 11

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. The “X” in OS X meant ten, and Catalina, the previous macOS release, was version 10.15. When you click on “About This Mac” from the Apple menu, Big Sur describes itself as version 11.0. (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.)

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. The first chips are here now, and they go by the moniker Apple M1. 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. Apple's iOS devices already use Apple Silicon, and that means that many iOS apps will run perfectly on new Macs with Apple Silicon hardware. All you’ll need to do is download them from the Mac App Store

Big Sur will run on almost all Macs dating back to 2013, and the upgrade is free for the download. If you’re still running Mojave or earlier versions of the OS, keep in mind that Catalina and Big Sur won’t run your old 32-bit software, and you’ll need to open the System Report in the About This Mac app, and look at the list of “Legacy Software” to find out which apps you’ll need to replace with 64-bit apps if you decide to upgrade.

For corporate and advanced computing, Microsoft Windows 10 offers far more features and flexibility than Apple has ever managed, but I consider macOS more coherent and enjoyable. Windows offers convenient integration with Android devices (and minimal integration with iOS devices), but Apple’s deep integration between Mac computers and iOS devices is a major part of its consumer-level appeal.

The Big News First

The biggest changes in Big Sur are in the macOS interface, which benefits from dozens of refinements that make it more convenient and intuitive than ever before. Apple continues to make macOS look more like iOS, and many individual elements in the updated interface resemble those in recent versions of mobile OS. The overall effect remains familiar from earlier macOS versions, however.