It may be a free update for Mac users, but Mavericks delivers premium new features—here are ten of the most important.
iBooksThat book-reading software is the top-billed new feature in Apple’s new desktop software gives you a hint about the update’s evolutionary rather than revolutionary nature. That said, iBooks for Mac is a well-done piece of software, just as you’d expect from Apple. Like the latest iTunes desktop app, a button switches you between your library and the store, which boasts over 2 million books (compared with Amazon Kindle’s claimed 2.7 million and Barnes & Noble Nook’s 3 million). Look up words, make use of highlighting and notes, and rest assured that everything is synced among all your Macs and iOS devices.
Multiple Display SupportOne of Windows 8’s big boasts was its multiple display support, which allows users to show the taskbar on more than one screen, and even stretch a wallpaper across displays. Mac OS X Mavericks now follows suit, allowing multiple monitors to show the Dock and menu bars. It requires no configuration—for real: I plugged in a Dell monitor and immediately saw the Mavericks wave wallpaper. It also works with Apple TV-connected HDTVs as well as HDMI and Thunderbolt monitors. One Windows multi-monitor feature I missed, though was the ability to drag each screen’s position around: My mouse cursor entered the screen from the wrong direction. Another limitation I ran into was that I couldn’t span a window across
MapsPeople have been using maps on the Web for over a decade—first with MapQuest, then Yahoo, Google, and Bing Maps. But having a dedicated OS X Maps app adds some definite benefits, especially if you use devcies in the Apple ecosystem—iPads and iPhones as well as Macs. The Mac Maps app lets you route trip directions and send them to your iPhone for turn-by-turn audio directions once you leave. It also sports a dazzling Flyover view for a 3D look at the world.
CalendarThe updated Calendar app lets you search for addresses in appointments, set alerts based on the time it will take you to get to an event, and integrate with the new Maps app to show you the way. The app’s design takes a lead from iOS 7, but maintains color coding, multiple calendar , and subscriptions.
Safari 7Apple’s browser gets overlooked sometimes, with Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer making news more frequently. But Safari is a browser to be reckoned with, with plenty of its own. The version that comes with Mavericks brings HTML5 compliance among the leaders, with a score of 385 on HTML5Test.com. It also features an updated Top Sites page, to keep the design more in line with iOS 7. Speed wise, in preliminary benchmarking I saw an improvement on a 2.3GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro from 10757 to 15567—a pretty significant boost.
iCloud KeychainThe number of new Web and app sign-ins you need to take part in modern is ever increasing. PCMag has been exhorting readers to use strong password-management tools like LastPass for years, and the recent spate of high-profile breaches makes this even more essential. With iCloud Keychain, OS X Mavericks gives you a way to secure your passwords that works across all Macs and iOS devices. It also saves credit card numbers and Wi-Fi logins—just don’t expect it to keep out the NSA.
Finder TabsFor generations of Mac users, the desktop could easily become cluttered with multiple Finder windows, but Mavericks finally addresses the issue. Each tab can have a different view—list, icon, column—and you can drag and drop files between tabs. A new full-screen view for Finder makes all these tabs even more useful and easier to manage.
NotificationsMountain Lion introduced the new OS X notification center at the right side of the desktop, but Mavericks enhances it by letting you reply to messages and emails right in the notification. It also adds notification types, including from websites, system messages, and software updates. In another homage to iOS, notifications can now appear on the computer’s lock screen.
TagsSpeaking of managing files, this technique that’s been used by photo software for years as an organizing and finding tool now comes to all files thanks to Mavericks’ Tags feature. This lets you not only create a text description for any file but also lets you apply a color code to it. Your colors and text tags show up at the bottom of every Finder windows for easy filtering.
Enhanced Dictation OS X got the iOS-like dictation capability in Mountain Lion, but Mavericks improves on the feature in some pretty cool ways. With Enhanced Dictation (which requires a one-time 785MB download), you no longer need an Internet connection for the feature to work. Second, you can dictate in an unlimited stream of speech. And finally, you’ll now see your spoken words appear in a stream of text onscreen.
