Apple MacOS Sierra review – CNET

The Good Apple’s new Mac operating system, MacOS Sierra, adds space-saving optimizations, Siri support, and closer ties with iPhone and Apple Watch.

The Bad Setting up the Apple Watch unlock feature is complex and time-consuming. Space-saving features push towards buying extra iCloud space.

The Bottom Line This free OS update for Macs launches a new era, tying Apple’s computer OS more closely into iOS and WatchOS.

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Even without new hardware (yet), there are a lot of changes coming to Apple’s Mac line of computers. The operating system that powers MacBooks and iMacs (as well as the Mac Mini and Mac Pro) has gotten a big new refresh. So big, in fact, that it now has a whole new name.

Out is OS X (pronounced oh-ess-ten), followed by an ever-increasing version number, currently 10.11; in is MacOS, a new name that’s much more in line with Apple’s other operating systems, which include iOS (for iPhones and iPads), WatchOS (Apple Watch) and TVOS (Apple TV).

It’s yet another step in a long path to a grand unified theory of Apple operating systems, and it highlights increasing cooperation between Macs and other Apple devices and services. The code name for the first version of MacOS is Sierra, and it’s available starting today as a free update to current Mac owners (for all Macs from 2010 or later, and a handful of 2009 systems), and will come preinstalled on Mac systems going forward.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The last couple of near-annual Mac operating systems upgrades, 2015’s El Capitan and 2014’s Yosemite, were less an overhaul and more a collection of handy features and enhancements. MacOS Sierra takes that a bit further, adding new features that are inspired by iOS or are designed to help Macs work better with iOS products, adding further incentive to keep your hardware inside Apple’s walled garden, which includes the iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac computers.

Siri on Mac

Voice assistants are hot right now, from Alexa on the Amazon Echo to Cortana on Windows to the original, Apple’s Siri. Once restricted to iPhones, she’s now ready to move into your Mac.

It’s still the same familiar Siri voice (depending on your region), and she does most of the same things as the iOS version. You activate Siri through a keyboard command, Cmd+Space, or by clicking the Siri icon in the dock, then simply speak your query.

CNET/Dan Ackerman

All the standard things — weather, news, local shops and landmarks — work as expected. You can pin results, from sports scores to stock prices, to the notifications panel and see them anytime. That’s a handy extra if you find yourself looking up the same info over and over again.

More about MacOS Sierra

• How to download MacOS Sierra
• What to expect from a new MacBook Pro
• All you need to know about MacOS Sierra

The most useful new trick with desktop Siri is for searching files, which you can do by type, by date, or by keyword. For example, you can easily call out all spreadsheets, or all image files from the last two weeks with the word “screenshot” in the title. It’s a handy way to zero in on files, especially if, like me, you’re not very good at keeping files organized.

New sharing and optimization in iCloud

Using iCloud for storing and sharing photos and files is well-established at this point, and people use Google Drive, Dropbox and other cloud services for similar purposes. But, by checking off a new checkbox in the iCloud settings menu, files on the desktop or in the documents folders of multiple Macs can now be automatically synced. That’s handy if you have, for example, a work and home Mac that you need to jump between easily.

Drop a file or add a screenshot to the desktop of one MacOS system, and a few seconds later, it pops up on the other ones. The documents folder, the other place you’re likely to store important files, works similarly, but each machine gets a named folder within the documents folder on its sister machines.

CNET/Dan Ackerman

There are plenty of ways to sync files between machines, but I liked how effortless this was, and especially how it gave me access to identical desktops (where I keep a lot of in-progress files) across different Macs.

A handful of new optimized storage options can keep more files on the cloud, rather than on your physical hard drive. For example, MacOS can be set to automatically delete iTunes movies and TV shows that have been watched, keep larger mail attachments in the cloud, or to clear items from the trash folder after 30 days.