In 2001, Apple introduced Mac OS X, where X stands for the Roman numeral ten. So it was the tenth Pioneer A copy of its operating system. After ten eleven didn’t come as you might expect, but 10.1 and then 10.2. Apple kept it until 10:15 am, codenamed Catalina. Last year I finally got rid of 10.x and for good reason. With macOS 11 Big Sur, the look has changed drastically and it’s also the first version of the operating system to run on Apple’s own processor, the M1.
On the eve of WWDC, Apple’s developer conference, the company announced the successor to macOS 11. As with iOS, macOS no longer uses 11.x names; The successor to macOS 11 is called macOS 12. Codenamed Monterey, it’s an update that’s not as drastic as Big Sur, but it brings some interesting improvements to macOS.
Developers have been able to install the macOS 12 beta since the start of WWDC, and for the general public, Apple announced a beta release starting in July. Traditionally, the final version of macOS 12 will be available in the fall.
| Still on macOS 11 Big Sur | Getting the update to macOS 12 Monterey | |
|---|---|---|
| Macbook 12 inch | 2015 model | Model 2016 and newer |
| MacBook Air | 2013/2014 models | Model 2015 and newer |
| MacBook Pro | 2013/2014 models | Model 2015 and newer |
| Mac mini | Early 2014 model | Late 2014 and newer model |
| iMac | 2014/2015 models (except late 2015) | Late Model 2015 and newer |
| iMac Pro | – | everybody |
| Mac Pro | – | 2013 and newer |
While Monterey doesn’t seem to have any major changes, some PCs that have been upgraded to Big Sur won’t get the update to Monterey. In the past, Apple often dropped support for versions of macOS that included major updates, such as switching to Metal API in Mojave. That need doesn’t seem to exist now, and Apple hasn’t given any reason why the above models shouldn’t get an upgrade.
We installed the first beta version of Monterey on the MacBook Pro 2015 and MacBook Air with the M1 processor, and in this review we are trying out the new functions of the operating system. It’s still a beta program, so not everything is working as it should yet. However, the stability of the operating system is good and the main problem we encountered is that some of the features that Apple promised during the keynote are not yet integrated.
