The Mac is very much in a state of transition.
A new, thoroughly redesigned version of the
immensely powerful Mac Pro has been penciled
in for a fall release, while a refreshed MacBook
Pro is rumored for arrival at around the same
time. However, it’s hard to deny that today’s
computing world is largely a mobile-first one –
and so, ironically with a software update named
after an island, Apple is working to further
bridge the traditional gaps between the Mac
and Apple’s mobile devices.
That software update is macOS Catalina, which
takes its name from Santa Catalina Island, a
rocky island located off the coast of southern
California. However, the update itself marks a
decisive break from the last few years of iterative
refinements that have done little to remove the
shackles from the usually isolating feel of the
Mac experience.
Now, the question isn’t whether you should use
a Mac, iPad or iPhone so much as how you can
effectively use all of them – and further devices
- in tandem.
THE CATALINA IS OUT OF THE BAG
On October 7, Apple made macOS Catalina
publicly available as a free software update
for various Macs introduced since mid-2012. As a
general rule, Catalina can run on all of the Macs
capable of running the previous major release,
macOS Mojave, except for the mid-2010 and
mid-2012 Mac Pro models. Hence, all iMac,