Apple announced today that OS X 10.10 Yosemite was going to be made available immediately, and that it is free. No big surprises there. Yosemite is quite a visual refresh for Apple’s Mac operating system, but it’s much more than that. By working with iOS 8 and showing just why owning the entire stack is so important, Yosemite ties into iPhones in order to offer a seamless experience across the two. That experience includes the ability to start a task on one device while finishing it on another as well as being able to send SMS messages and make phone calls from the Mac via your iPhone. It’s like magic, it really is.
Additionally, Apple isn’t phasing out any Macs with Yosemite, so if your machine is running on Mavericks, it’ll have no problem updating to this all-new release. Check your Mac compatibility for OS X Yosemite here:
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
OS X Yosemite includes an all-new aesthetic somewhat in line with what Apple did to its mobile software with iOS 7. UI elements appear flatter and cleaner, and as well as imparting an impression of minimalism on the user, draws a degree of parity with the interface of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
You can download OS X 10.10 Yosemite right now from the Mac App Store, and follow the steps below to update your Mac from Mavericks.
Speaking of iOS, that too is getting an update. We’ve already been playing around with the iOS 8.1 betas, but the final product will go live on Apple’s servers this coming Monday, meaning that everyone will be able to gaze upon their Camera Roll once again. A slew of bug fixes are included, and Apple’s iCloud-based photo management system is going into full-on public beta at the same time. Be sure to keep proper backups though – it’s beta for a reason.
Apart from the above mentioned niceties, Apple Pay will finally make the cut to the masses with the release of iOS 8.1.
27-inch iMac With 5K Retina Display
First up, and the most exciting to us is the new iMac with Retina display. Packing a 27-inch 5K display and some pretty hefty innards, the new $2,499 iMac is quite the monster. Much debate is currently raging online as to whether this is a real competitor to Apple’s own Mac Pro, which should give an idea as to how impressive this thing is.
iPad Air 2
Two new iPads are going up for pre-order on Friday, with shipping set for the following week. The new iPad Air 2 is thinner than you would think possible while also gaining some considerable grunt at the same time. It’s the most powerful iPad yet and, from the demonstrations given on-screen, it’s not going to disappoint as far as sheer processing ability is concerned. It has also got some new cameras too, which make those people using iPads to take photos less loony than they were yesterday.
iPad mini 3
There’s a new iPad mini 3 also, though disappointingly it’s not been given a speed bump and still has last year’s A7-powered guts. That’s a real shame, even if it does mean we won’t have to massage those credit cards quite so hard this year.
Both new iPads gain Touch ID and Apple Pay for online payments, too.
You can watch the keynote in all its glory below:
As promised by Apple at the event, the iWork suite for iOS and OS X both got a significant update, bringing with it Handoff and Continuity features along with support for iCloud Drive.