OS X El Capitan – Faster, Smarter

Apple announced their latest version of OS X yesterday morning at Apple’s WWDC. Building upon last year’s release of OS X Yosemite, the latest version is named after the landmark rock formation in Yosemite national park. Much like the latest iOS update, iOS 9, El Capitan focuses less on adding fancy new features, and more on performance and stability upgrades.

According to Apple, users will notice quicker app launching, which has been sped up 1.4x. They also noted that switching between apps will be 2x as fast, and opening a PDF in the Preview app will be up to 4x as fast. The introduction of iOS’s Metal graphics technology can improve the performance of graphically intensive apps up to 8x. Overall, users will be treated to a faster, smoother experience with El Capitan.

Performance enhancements aside, Apple never releases a new OS without a couple of snazzy new features. Apple introduced several new features that make everyday use a bit easier.

Safari now allows you to quickly mute any tab that is playing audio or video via the address bar, and users can “pin” favorite and frequently visited sites to the upper left corner of the browser. The Spotlight search function also sees a couple of new tweaks – the results window can now be resized and moved, wand Spotlight now delivers instant results for weather, videos, sports scores, and stocks.

A more natural language can be used in searches now, as well – a search for “emails from David” will yield exactly what you’re looking for. A new “split view” feature displays two apps side by side, taking up the full screen. Several new gestures were introduced, and the Mail app sees several improvements as well. The entire package is wrapped in a beautiful new font called “San Francisco.”

Any Tab Making Noise Can Now Be Quickly Muted in Safari

Although El Capitan doesn’t introduce any blockbuster new features, the minor tweaks and performance upgrades should equate to a very pleasant user experience. El Capitan was made available to developers this morning – a public beta will be available in July, and the official release will be made available to the public this fall.