In addition to iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and watchOS 9, WWDC 2022 also offered a preview of the next generation of macOS. mac OS (13) fortune, named after a city in California, comes with the low-level Metal 3 API, which includes Apple’s answer to DLSS and FSR 2.0 with MetalFX enhancement. However, many Macs get nothing.
MetalFX Enhancement – Apple’s DLSS/FSR 2.0
MetalFX Upscaling is a scaling algorithm with a time component, similar to that offered by Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR 2.0. This means that the image rendered internally at a lower resolution is scaled to a higher resolution using past and future frames. Apple didn’t say anything in the WWDC 2022 keynote about whether AI can speed up the process, like with Nvidia. The Apple M1 and the new Apple M2, with their 16-core Neural Engine, basically have AI acceleration compute units like Nvidia Turing and Ampere, but they’re just part of the SoC, not specifically part of the GPU.
Fast Resource Loading – Apple Direct Storage
A second technical innovation in Metal 3 is already known from the Windows PC: fast resource loading. Like Microsoft Direct Storage (Nvidia RTX I/O, AMD Smart Storage), the new API allows the GPU to directly access system memory without overloading the CPU, which can enable faster load times and game worlds. larger with higher resolution textures and geometry.
Stage Manager organizes the desktop
Stage Manager is also new to macOS 13. As in iPadOS 16, the feature is also used in macOS to group and organize windows. The organization is automated by the operating system and must allow quick switching between different tasks, each of which can include different windows and applications. For the first time, windows can not only be placed next to each other as before, but also overlap.
The iPhone becomes a webcam
Apple certainly wouldn’t have come up with another innovation in the context of the appalling quality of the Apple Studio Display’s webcam. For the first time in macOS 13, users can use their smartphone as a webcam: Under macOS 13, the iPhone can become a webcam on the Mac. Center Stage can also be used via wide-angle optics, that keeps the user facing the screen in the image section at all times.
iPhone, iPad, and Mac are also more closely tied to FaceTime and other video telephony apps, which now also support Handoff. This means that the user can start the video call on one device and continue seamlessly on another.
In turn, the cooperation between the apps has optimized Apple’s Spotlight search, which now also finds photos with specific people or places; you can even search for text on photos.
Apple has one online Overview of all the new features in macOS 13 Ventura released. Registered developers can install a first beta version immediately. A public beta release is scheduled for July. The final version will appear in the fall.
These Macs and MacBooks will receive the update
After Apple released macOS Monterey a year ago as a free update for some very old systems, macOS Ventura excludes many older computers, like the infamous Mac Pro with a black cylinder design. But even with the MacBook, the cutbacks are drastic.
- iMac 2017 and later (Monterey: Late 2015 and later)
- Mac Pro 2019 and later (Monterey: Late 2013 and later)
- iMac Pro 2017 and later (Monterey: 2017 and later)
- Mac mini 2018 and later (Monterey: Late 2014 and later)
- MacBook Air 2018 and later (Monterey: Early 2015 and later)
- MacBook 2017 and later (Monterey: Early 2016 and later)
- MacBook Pro 2017 and later (Monterey: Early 2015 and later)
- Apple M2: More power with the same consumption
- MacBook Air: Apple M2, bigger screen and MagSafe cost more
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