macOS High Sierra will turn your Mac into a blazing-fast VR machine

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wwdc 2017
macOS High Sierra was one laid back macOS update.
Photo: Apple

Apple’s next major update to macOS will be named… High Sierra. Seriously.

But don’t get hung up on the name, because there’s plenty to be excited about, including big improvements to Safari and Mail, support for the new Apple File System, and other big changes that will make your Mac a blazing-fast virtual reality machine.

Long before Apple Watch and the iPhone and the iPod, Apple’s desktop operating system was the focus of WWDC. Thousands of attendees flocked to California every year to catch a glimpse of the changes and improvements Apple was bringing to the Mac.

Today, the focus is on iOS and Apple’s more popular devices, but that doesn’t mean macOS has been pushed aside. Mac sales continue to defy the decline of the overall PC industry, with the macOS user base growing ever larger.

High Sierra is a massive update that will help maintain that trend.

The improvements Apple is making to Safari will make it the world’s fastest browser, the company claims. It will be up to 80 percent faster than Google Chrome, and it will offer built-in intelligent tracking prevention and autoplay blocking to kill pesky ads.

Mail is getting improved search thanks to Spotlight integration, and there’s a new Split View mode that lets you compose messages while keeping an eye on your inbox in fullscreen. Photos is getting better facial recognition, new editing tools, and enhanced syncing.

The real juicy stuff coming with High Sierra includes support for the new Apple File System, which we’re already enjoying in iOS 10. It will make your system snappier with substantially faster data handling.

Apple is also introducing Metal 2 with a 10x improvement on draw call throughput to even greater graphics. It will also support external graphics cards over Thunderbolt, and virtual reality. That’s right — Apple is finally embracing VR!

The first High Sierra preview is available to developers today. We will all be able to get our hands on it for free this fall.

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