After unveiling OS X Yosemite during WWDC 2014 in June and releasing it in beta form for developers and one million members of the public to test, the final version of the operating system has been released for all Mac users to download and install.
Apple recapped some of the new features in Yosemite, including its new design, new continuity features and app updates, during its 16 October keynote before revealing that it would be available to download when the keynote ended (though it actually didn't arrive until a few hours later, much to many Mac users' frustration). Also during the keynote, Apple unveiled a Retina iMac, a new Mac mini, the iPad Air 2 and an iPad mini 3.
OS X 10.10 Yosemite: How to get OS X Yosemite right now
As we mention above, Yosemite has officially launched to the public, and any owner of a sufficiently powerful Mac can upgrade for free. Now that someone in the Apple engine rooms has finally hit GO, here's how to upgrade your to OS X Yosemite.Go to Apple's site, and find the Yosemite page. Here's a direct link. Scroll down a touch and click the blue Upgrade Now button. Follow the instructions in the Mac App Store.
Yosemite will run on the following Macs:
- iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
- MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
- MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
- Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
- Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
- Xserve (Early 2009)
Mac OS X Yosemite: Design & new features
Apple's senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive and senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi have been working together on the redesign of Mac OS X in the run up to the launch of OS Yosemite. See: 22 Yosemite icons compared with their Mavericks counterpartsWith Jony Ive's expanded design leadership reaching the software side of Apple, we expected to see his influence prominently in the next Mac OS X, and it looks like this is the case. The new operating system certainly has a new look. See also: 10 new features in Photos for iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite
One of the biggest rumours was that OS X 10.10 would take a lot of cues from iOS for a more similar interface. During the lauch event Apple made various references to Continuity, with new features for integration with the iPhone. In many ways the Mac can become an extension of your iPhone - you will even be able to take calls on it
Safari has a new streamlined design and a cleaner interface.The Tab View gives you an birds eye of your open tabs so it's easy to find what you are looking for. It's possible to set up a window for Private browsing, and when you search the results are no longer just limited to Google. See also: 12 great new Safari 8 features you might have missed
Mail has improvements for editing PDFs and images, and sending large attachments. See also: 10 new Messages features in Yosemite and iOS 8
Find out more in our OS X 10.10 Yosemite review.
And find out how Yosemite compares to Windows in our comparison review.
For more discussion of Yosemite's new features, here's a video where we poke around the beta:
New features in Yosemite
You can read all about the new features in Yosemite over in our Yosemite Topic Zone. Including the following:- Photos for iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite
- New Messages features in OS X Yosemite and iOS 8
- Continuity in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- Calendar features in iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite
- Spotlight in OS X and Yosemite
- Safari 8 features in Yosemite
- Guide to Apple’s Health and HealthKit
- Apple iCloud Drive
- New features in Mail for OS X Yosemite
- How to make Notification Centre in OS X useful
Siri for the Mac
Many expected Apple to make Siri available on the Mac in OS X 10.9. Apple's voice technology was introduced more than two years ago on the iPhone 4S, and then on the iPad, but has yet to make its way onto the Mac. See also: Siri for Mac rumour round-upControl Centre
We were hoping Apple will decide to bring iOS 7's Control Centre to OS X 10.10. It could revolutionise System Preferences and make them more accessible for the less experienced user.Headline features are all well and good but it’s the little updates and tweaks that can turn using a new version of Mac OS X into a joyous experience. Below we look at some lesser-known tricks, tips, hints and hacks that might just make easier the transition from OS X Mavericks.
This might be a bug or it might be a feature but give a try and see what you think.
When using Spotlight in Yosemite, you can right-click (or Ctrl+click) the Spotlight icon at the top right of the desktop to make the window stay on top and not disappear in the usual way when you click outside of it. This way you can grab as much info as you need without the fear of accidentally cancelling your search.
The Spotlight icon will turn blue to indicate this new sticky mode (or grey if you use the Graphite colour scheme).
Subsequently, the only way to make the Spotlight window disappear is to left-click the Spotlight icon. Or if that doesn't work, cmd-space again.
Strangely, the Notifications icon at the top right will also turn blue if you right-click it, but this trick doesn’t work there — the Notifications area will still disappear when you click outside of it. Intriguing!
Strangely, the Notifications icon at the top right will also turn blue if you right-click it, but this trick doesn’t work there — the Notifications area will still disappear when you click outside of it. Intriguing!
Step 2 of 20: Network Disconnection
On Yosemite all you need do is hold down Alt (or Option on some keyboards) and click the Wi-Fi icon at the top right of the screen. Beneath the name of the currently in-use Wi-Fi base station will be a disconnect option. (This option also appears when you connect to an iPhone/iPad via Personal Hotspot, although in this case there’s no need to hold down Alt/Option because it appears in the main menu.)
Recording output
