When the Mojave public beta started I quickly installed it on my MacBook Pro. I always like to test what’s coming soon. I wrote about things to check out right before Mojave launched. It’s been a month since.
I’ve installed Mojave as the main operating system on my 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina. Apple continues to support these older macs, and I appreciate it. Mojave gave my 2013 laptop a new lease on life.
So after a month, does it hold up?
Speed
Apple doesn’t make any claims about improved performance on the Mojave website, but I noticed the speed of the system more than anything else.
A computer ages quickly, quicker than dog years. Five years can mean a completely new inside of a computer. A 2017 MacBook which works on a chip much smaller and “slower” than the chip inside my MacBook can run pretty close to my 2013 in speed. Having my computer pick up speed just by installing some free software is a Godsend.
Things really do feel snappier when in use, but the age of my system does still show itself, especially when browsing the web. Browsing the web shouldn’t be taxing the system, but some website still can gum it up. A phone can run the same pages without stuttering.
I’m ready for an update. Hopefully soon
Dark Mode
After I talked about Dark Mode in my hands-on, I made myself use it more. I wanted to see if my opinion changed after forcing myself to use it.
It is beyond me, why Apple didn’t include the ability for the system to change the mode as the day goes on. It made wallpapers that have the ability to change with the day, but not the system.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
My only guess is that they will be releasing an updated system (maybe the new Macs that might get announced next week) that will use something like the True Tone sensor to control whether to use light mode or dark. For now, the user must choice or force the change.
For now, I’ve found NightOwl. It automatically changes light and dark mode based on time of day.
Since I’ve enabled the app, I’ve gotten more accustomed to dark mode. I actually hardly even notice the difference now. Before, the giant white space on most web pages really stood out to me. Now, it doesn’t and I feel like dark mode can be easier on the eyes at night or in a dark room.
More apps are being updated to support dark mode. It can be jarring to use an app that hasn’t been updated to offer a dark mode with all the white space. Some websites are also allowing you to change if you view in a dark mode. I bet that dark mode will take over everything pretty soon.
I’m really coming around to using dark mode more. I don’t have to think about changing it or leaving it on one anymore and more apps are set up for it.
Little things
Stacks
I never touched on Stacks or things that were new to the finder in my preview. I didn’t mean to not talk about them, they just weren’t the things at the forefront of my mind when I wrote about. Stacks is a small feature that doesn’t really do much, but can still make your life better.
I use Stacks on my desktop and I appreciate it. Stacks takes the files on your desktop and arranges them into… stacks. So if you have lots of PDFs on your desktop they will be in one stack. You click on the stack and it expands to show you all of them. It really helps declutter a cluttered desktop.
Its a nice refinement if you use it.
Finder
I haven’t really used the new stuff in the finder even to this day. I’m sure there are people that will use the Gallery View but my workflow hasn’t really needed it yet.
I didn’t even really notice that there were quick actions either, although I think I used markup once or twice and didn’t even realize it was new. I just felt like it was always there.
I liked that markup was added to QuickView though. QuickView is the peak you get at the document when you press spacebar on a file in the finder. That was a really nice, and small, addition.
Screenshots
Oh man do I love the new screenshot system.
The old system is still there. You hold the same buttons as before (cmd+shift+3 for example). Now you can press cmd+shift+5 and you get a toolbar that pops up.
Inside the toolbar are options to take a screenshot, take a shot of the window, or capture a selection. You can also record video of the screen and selection here as well. The system then saves the picture or video to your desktop.
Along with screenshots comes the Continuity Camera. In certain apps like Pages if you find you need to take a picture you can right click and select Continuity Camera. This will allow you to take a photo on your iPhone that will go right into the app.
I think it’s a cool concept, but I have yet to use it. Right now, I take a picture on my phone, let it upload through iCloud Photo Library, and then attach or add it.
macOS apps
iOS apps have invaded macOS now.
Apple hopes that allowing iOS apps on the Mac App Store will revitalize it. It definitely may do that, but for now, these apps aren’t great.
I’m happy to have the Home app on the Mac. I can now control my Home automation stuff, but the app isn’t any different than the iOS version minus the usability.
The date picker is the most obvious flaw right now since it spins like the wheel on iOS instead of having a date picker. There still needs to be some tweaks to the system for these apps.
I haven’t opened Stocks or Voice Memos since I don’t ever actually use those apps anyway.
News, I’ve opened it, and it doesn’t appear to be too bad. It is what it is though. I’d like some refinement on it before I use it all the time.
The Mac App Store
The new App Store looks much better. The editorial content that they’ve brought to the Mac is nice too. It can’t hurt to have more apps being exposed. But more apps need to come through the store. I know that developers have desires to fix the store, but I’m not sure that will ever happen.
Maybe the iOS will save it.
There are new categories and more structure to the Mac App store, but for now it isn’t flowing with new apps like on iOS.
Other things
Mojave embraces privacy like no macOS before it. Now if an app wants to access certain parts of your system or information, you have to give it permission.
Safari has a new system that will prevent tracking on the internet (ads target you if you didn’t know. They follow you around the web). Your make now suggests stronger passwords when you need to create a new one, and it will remember it too! It can also help you audit the passwords you already have.
It also has the password and passcode autofill enabled. Now when you get texted a passcode, it will offer to autofill it for you.
Battery life on it seems about the same. I’m rarely far from a charger when I’m on my laptop though.
So far, I haven’t had any problems with app compatibility yet. I think the underpinnings of the system are still intact enough to not need a recode or anything just yet.
Wrap up
Mojave does lots of little things that add up to a great user experience. If you haven’t updated yet, I’d recommend it. Mojave is free after all.
If you are dependent on an app to do your work, you might check to see if that app works on Mojave or has been updated to work on Mojave before you do it. But really, I haven’t had any problems with it just yet.
What are you opinions of Mojave so far? Have you updated? Any issues?
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