A Deep Look into Big Sur: Is it Worth it?

With the revelation of the Big Sur, Apple’s Senior VP of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi claimed it to be the biggest upgrade in the history of the Mac. Considering the history of over 20 years that the Mac shares, it seems like a pretty bold claim—but is it true? Is the newest iteration of the Mac, rightly called MacOS 11, or Big Sur—really worth it?

The Boot

This might seem like great news for veteran Mac users. With Big Sur, the classic Apple boot sound is back. While this might take the said veterans down memory lane, it is also bound to take the fanboys back in time when Wall-E was announced; after all, they share the same booting noise. Either way, this is also a clean addition on Apple’s part.

Mac OS Big Sur Boot

Shall I Wait or Downgrade MacOS?

If you happen to hear this noise on a loop, your Mac might have had some issues while installing Big Sur. This is why you are always advised to wait for a couple of weeks for the bulk users to help Apple report the bugs out. While you can obviously downgrade MacOS, it is more sensible to wait for the finer tuned version to avoid this altogether.

The Design

Once you have entered the brand-new world of Big Sur, you will notice a few design elements straight away. In all the newer design elements mentioned below, you will notice a common theme, which, in fact, extends to the iPhones and the iPads—consistency.

As an average viewer, consistency in design is key in determining the user experience. After all, what is consistent to the eye is pleasing to the mind. Big Sur incorporates a plethora of such design elements that are as aesthetic as are functional. These are a few of them, and are bound to please the general populace:

Control Centre

The control center has made its way from the iPhones and iPads to the Macs. You can now easily toggle between various functions with just a click of your mouse or trackpad. Much like the mobile devices, the control center on the Mac is placed in the top right section of your screen.

All you need to do is click on it, and you have access to various functionalities. From controlling your Mac’s volume to toggling battery savers, you are equipped with a plethora of functionalities using the control center, especially tailor-made for Big Sur.

Widgets

Yet another feature that has seeped from the mobile devices to the Mac is the functionality of widgets. Considering the fact that iOS 14 is the latest version of the said OS to receive it too, ardent Mac users are not far behind.

Mac OS Big Sur Widgets

Widgets allow you to have quick access to any app you want to—as long as Apple allows it. Be it changing tracks on Spotify with just a quick toggle, or checking the weather or news, Apple has made it possible for Mac users to get some additional functionality.

The Browser

Possibly the biggest upgrade of the Mac experience comes with the fact that Safari has been improved, exponentially. While even the most tech-savvy users who have sped up their Mac by various means were not able to get Safari working to its fullest, Big Sur has served it right at their plates.

The most noticeable improvement is in speed. Big Sur has been tweaked in such a way that Safari has blazing fast speeds, especially when loading pages and toggling between them. Additionally, Safari has improved on its previous efficiency measures, thereby providing the average Mac user no reason but to abandon Chrome altogether.

Chrome has always been notorious for data siphoning. After all, Google works on the idea of collecting data from users to provide the best-possible customized experience. This might be a big point of grievance for any user, considering how important factor security is.

With Big Sur, Safari has made even more improvements to its security. From providing sneak peeks into pages without loading them, to let the user know about possible tracking measures—Safari has never been more secure.

To Conclude – Miscellaneous Design Elements

While this might not be as significant a feature as the aforementioned ones, it does add to the overall design language of Big Sur. The overall shape of the icons, for instance, has changed to a more rounded-square shape, to feel more consistent with the iPhones.

The other important thing that Big Sur brings is app support—for the iPhones and iPads on the Macs. While this might sound counterintuitive, this actually expands the horizon when it comes to apps available on the Mac. Is this a sign for Apple to introduce more continuum into their ecosystem, or is a touch-screen enabled Mac imminent?