Review Subscribe

So it’s here, your yearly dose of OS X goodness but this year it’s better than ever considering you don’t have to pay a penny for Apple’s latest operating system update. That’s right, as we all know at this weeks keynote we were treated to Apple’s new aggressive pricing structure and a word we rarely hear from them, -free!

So as soon as Cook, Schiller, Ive and co had instructed us how we’d be spending our hard earned funds for the next 12 months I searched out the download and hastily installed it on my main production machine a 2012 Macbook Air. Now considering that I initiated the download within half an hour of the close of the keynote I expected a bit of a wait but the 5 odd gig of data streamed down pretty rapidly so I don’t know if Apple have improved their services after the problematic rollout of iOS 7 or if people just weren’t rushing out the grab the update at that time but within 25 minutes I had it and began the install. Now at this stage I did just do it as an upgrade but I will be backing up and doing a clean install once I’ve written this as it’s always the best way to go. The install process took about 35 minutes and then I was up and running.

One of the first things I was presented with was Apple’s new iCloud Keychain which I duly opted into. All they really wanted me to do was to sign into my Apple account and provide them with a 4 digit security code and I was done. At the same I time I updated my iPhone and iPad mini to iOS 7.03 which after they had completed gave me the option to use my Mac as the authentication device to allow them to access my keychain which is a nice feature so at least I can keep up to date with which devices have access to my passwords. Keychain itself is pretty nifty and certainly makes me feel more secure online especially since I’ve never actually used a password manager in the past.

The one thing that I have noticed is performance. My Macbook Air certainly seems much nippier. Mavericks introduces the ability to cram 6GB of data in 4GB of RAM using their compressed memory feature. Mavericks is also more clever than it’s feline predecessor when it comes to graphics and allocates memory in a much more efficient way and I’m definitely seeing this on a day to day basis.

Battery life is also improved. Nothing huge but I do notice that I’m now going longer between charges probably due to the timer coalescing and App Nap features where Mavericks can tell when an app is hidden or not being used and basically slows it to preserve that vital energy. Apple actually claim that you can gain over an hour of additional use on it’s latest mobile OS X devices.

Mavericks is also improving the way I use my Mac. I’m mad about tags especially as I do loads of writing and I can easily categorise things that are either work or pleasure so I can just bring up the things I need depending on the situation I’m in at the time.

The other great feature are finder tabs. I’m sure that we’ve all been frustrated when navigating the file system of OS X and having to go to the effort of opening another Finder window when you want to compare data, well now I can do it all in one window which saves more time than you’d realise.

Mavericks also comes with some new custom apps in the form of iBooks and Maps. Now I’m not a big iBooks user but I can see the advantages and it syncs with your other Apple devices so you can pick up from wherever you left off wherever you are. I am loving the desktop Maps app though. I was never a fan of it on iOS especially after the initial teething troubles it had but looking at 3D maps and flyovers is amazing. Last night me and the wife were reminiscing about our recent trip to Paris and it was great to navigate around the places we visited. The one thing I would say is that desktop Maps is made for a trackpad. Just so much fun to use and now you can get directions on your Mac and send them to your iDevice which is ace and will probably push this to be my primary maps app over Google.

Now the things I’m not keen on. The new Calendar app is more of a downgrade than an upgrade. The old version wasn’t brilliant but the new one just looks cluttered and confusing. Also I was hoping that Apple would do a lot more with dock icons as they did in iOS 7. Some off the apps such as Mail, Calendar and System Preferences still seem old and outdated.

But on the whole I’m really impressed. I would have happily paid the upgrade price if there was one as it brings so many improvements but the fact that it’s free makes it even better and the fact that it covers so much legacy hardware is great for users because now nearly everyone can have the latest and greatest innovations. A really decent effort.

Mavericks is a free upgrade via the Mac App Store.

Author

Paul Wright

Gold Subscriber : $20.00 USD - monthly Silver Subscriber : $10.00 USD - monthly Bronze Subscriber : $5.00 USD - monthly