As widely expected, Apple today unveils the next version of Mac operating system – macOS High Sierra (version 10.13) at the keynote of WWDC 2017 in San Jose, California. Now, macOS High Sierra beta 1 is available for developers, and a public beta will be accessible in late June. Apple announces the public macOS High Sierra will say hello to us this fall.
With no doubt, macOS High Sierra is a huge update with new file system, High-Efficiency Video Coding(HEVC), updated Metal 2 with VR support, enhancements to Safari, Photos and Mai apps, and more intelligent Siri. Apple concludes that new core technologies at the heart of macOS High Sierra will make our Mac more reliable, capable, and responsive than ever.
Now, let us take a close look at top 4 new features of macOS High Sierra.
- Top 1. New Apple File System – manage data in a more efficient and safer way
- Top 2. High-Efficiency Video Coding(HEVC) – up to 40% better compression
- Top 3. Updated Metal 2 with Virtual Reality support – take visual experience to a higher level
- Top 4. An expanded sidebar in Photos app – more ways to edit, organize and share pictures
Top 1. New Apple File System – Manage Data in A More Efficient And Safer Way
New Apple File System (APFS) was firstly introduced to iPhone iPad in iOS 10.3. Finally, Apple seeds APFS to macOS High Sierra, which is regarded as the most big change in this update. Based on advanced flash tech, APFS offers a more efficient and safer solution for storing and managing Mac data, with the ability to support new 64-bit architecture, backup data in a simplified way and protect data from crash.
With new file system, Mac users may gain more storage space and see improvement of data security.
Top 2. High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) – up to 40% Better Compression
High-Efficiency Video Coding(HEVC), known as H.265 – a new standard for video compression is updated in macOS High Sierra. Compared with the previous H.264, Apple says HEVC can achieve 40% better compression of videos. In this way, we are able to save high quality videos with less space on our Mac. And there is no need to worry videos of large data size will take up much space of Mac.
Top 3. Updated Metal 2 with Virtual Reality Support – Take Visual Experience to A Higher Level
Apple also announces Metal 2 in this macOS update, the new version of its graphics. The focus of the latest Metal 2 is virtual reality, machine learning, and external GPU support for apps. Especially, its support for Virtual Reality takes visual experience to a higher level. Additionally, Metal 2 provides enhanced tools to help developers to create and optimize software in a simpler way, and lets them embrace the emerging techs in their apps.
Top 4. An Expanded Sidebar in Photos App – More Ways to Edit, Organize And Share Your Pictures
In macOS High Sierra, a new sidebar is added to Photos app as we show below. With the always-on sidebar, it’s handy for us to quickly find wanted pictures in Albums and access managing tools like Imports and Hidden.
In addition, there are new editing features such as Curves and Selective Color to make your pictures look better, plus it supports to edit images in third-party editing apps like Photoshop and Pixelmator directly from Photos app. And these edited pictures will be auto saved in your Photos library. In a word, there are more ways for you to edit, organize and share your pictures in macOS High Sierra.
Besides top 4 new features that we list above, there are also a bunch of small enhancements in macOS High Sierra, like Safari speed improvement, more intelligent Siri with natural voice and music capability, flight status information in Spotlight, etc. These enhancements let you use Mac in a more convenient and efficient way.
The Bottom Line
Does macOS High Sierra surprise you with its new features? You are warmly welcomed to share your opinions and feelings about this new update in comment section.