macOS High Sierra: A shot in the arm

The Cupertino-based technology giant started off as a computed manufacturer and is high up and running

With the focus being on iPhones and iPads and not on other Apple products, one often forgets that the Cupertino-based technology giant started off as a computer manufacturer. The macOS High Sierra is up and running. Here are the five things that Abhik Sen liked about the software that runs the latest Macs:

Gaming and videos

I love playing games on a Mac and while there hasn’t been a discernible improvement in graphics (because developers are still optimising games for the Metal 2), I did find performance to be better. Also, 4K videos run a whole lot smoother and there’s the added support for Virtual Reality.

Safari 11 

The browser, which I have been using on the MacBook Pro since 2016, is fast. It lets you customise video auto play (as well as muting audio) and permissions, block ads, toggle zoom levels, among other things, across websites. The latest version of Safari can also prevent “intelligent tracking” of web usage and I loved its “Reader” mode.

Photos 

Since I shifted to using an iPhone as my primary shooter, I’ve been using more of Apple’s Photos app. The macOS app for photos, though, isn’t that user-friendly. But the new Mac app is the closest it comes to the iOS app, and I daresay Google’s photo apps. 

Apple Files and Hindi 

I heard a lot about Apple’s new 64-bit file system but didn’t understand it till I used it. On the MacBook Pro, it seemed the SSD drive was on steroids while booting up, once I upgraded. Also, one can encrypt the drives. Partitioning the drives and backing up data get a boost, too. Best of all, High Sierra supports Hindi as a system language.

Spotlight, Siri and Touch Bar 

If you’re shifting to Mac from Windows, Spotlight is “search”. In fact, the Mac app does one better by letting you search for flight status. Siri sounds more human, and fills in as a disc jockey, using tunes from Apple Music. Also, I found that a lot more customisations are available with the Touch Bar. This gives the user access to more intuitive controls while using the MacBook to edit photos or play music.