On my 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro, installation was simple and straightforward. The rest of us will have to click the Siri button like peasants. For that, you'll need a 2018 or newer MacBook Pro or Air or the iMac Pro. Apple details all its various requirements here, but the most restrictive is probably the 'Hey Siri' functionality. Not all features work with every computer, though. All models of the 12-inch MacBook should work as well. iMacs from late 2012 and later are supported, as is the 2013 'trash can' Mac Pro. If you have a MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac mini from mid-2012 or later, it will work with Catalina. Compatibility checkĪs with most new versions of macOS, Catalina is fairly well-supported on older hardware. I've been using Catalina daily since just before launch day, starting with the final public beta, and the good news is that it has proven to be a solid, stable update with a number of little additions that I find quite useful. Rather, it's about whether the changes Apple made enhance your Mac experience or hamper it. And perhaps the biggest change: 32-bit legacy apps are no longer supported, which could be disruptive if you rely on older software.Īs with all recent versions of macOS, Catalina is a free upgrade - so it's not a question of value. There's a host of significant new accessibility features. Sidecar lets you use an iPad as a secondary display or an external drawing tablet with the Apple Pencil. Apple finally removed iTunes, splitting its features into three new apps: Music, TV and Podcasts. Apple Arcade went live as part of the Mac App Store, and the Screen Time monitoring features that arrived last year in iOS are now part of the Mac experience as well.īut some changes are potentially more significant. As has often been the case, some features from iOS have been ported over to the Mac, including major updates to the Photos, Notes and Reminders apps. At first glance, Catalina falls into that bucket. That's not necessarily a bad thing there's something to be said for steady iteration.

Every fall, an updated version drops with a host of new features, most of which make life easier but don't radically change the experience of using a Mac. Apple has settled into a comfortable cadence for macOS upgrades.

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