If you like the look and feel of Mac’s OSX operating system, the latest version, Yosemite 10.10.1, is totally worth downloading. Three reasons:
- It’s free. You’ll find the free download in Mac’s App Store site.
- It has a cleaner look and feel and devotes more attention to ease in operation and navigation. The 3D icons on your Dock are flatter and far less obtrusive than before.
- While not a complete user-interface revamp like Windows 8, there are a few notable improvements that make moving to Yosemite worthwhile.
Said improvements include:
- Spotlight now searches everything on the Mac as well as outside resources like Wiki. Search results come up in a tidy new window with suggestions as well as instant file previews.
- The Safari web browser has lots of new and redesigned features. Its streamlined toolbar and stunning “smart-search” is as slick and quick as the new Spotlight. Better tabbed browsing, improved privacy and overall better performance all make Safari the browser of choice for Mac users.
- New features in the Mail app include hidden gems like Mail Drop for large attachments, smarter searches and improved typo detection. You can also add shapes and text to your email attachments by selecting the Markup option on the open email draft.
- A new day view feature in Calendar and some tweaks in the Notification Center panel.
Yosemite also has some continuity/sharing benefits for users of other Mac devices. Yosemite runs fine on older Mac computers, but if you are going to take advantage of the following features, you’ll need a MacBook Pro/Air or Mac mini built during 2012 or later, or a Mac Pro from at least 2013. Those new features include:
- The ability to receive and send phone calls and texts from your Mac computer.
- An improved and more agile instant hotspot — also included iOS 8.1 — where you can use your iPhone as a hotspot for your Mac. The new feature automatically disconnects your iPhone when not in use and delays heavy downloading tasks and updates until you’re back on Wi-Fi.
- The new “Handoff” feature lets you start a task on one of your devices and finish it on another.
- AirDrop now allows you to share files between iOS devices on a peer-to-peer connection.
- iCloud Drive gives you 5 gigs of Cloud storage accessible from all your devices. Somewhat of a hybrid of Dropbox and Finder, all you need do is drag and drop files into previously designed folders.
- Family Sharing is a brand new feature for making family App Store purchases using up to six separate accounts. Want to prevent the youngsters from racking up online purchases? Just go to System Preferences, iCloud and set up the “Ask to Buy” feature.
So if you liked the new features in Mavericks, Yosemite goes a step or two further. Yosemite is sleeker and builds on the incomparable OSX platform. Download Mavericks and seamlessly extend the reach of Apple computer to your iPhone and iPad.
Contact us. We have the Mac gear and the local service and training you need to take advantage of Yosemite’s great features.