macOS Ventura - Deep dive: Hands-on with the new operating system

Hot off the heels of the iOS 16 release and a slew of new hardware announcements, The launch of macOS Ventura brings dozens of new features designed to make our MacBooks, iMacs, and Mac Studios even more powerful and cutting-edge, including the cutting-edge Stage Manager.

GAME-CHANGING NEW FEATURES

Back in June, Apple hosted its annual Worldwide Developers Conference to show off the new software it had been working on behind the scenes. While it’s often iOS that receives the most attention, this year, Apple is introducing some game-changing new features that will make our Macs more powerful. And there’s a reason for it: Apple is defying the odds, and amidst falling PC and laptop sales, Mac sales remain strong, and their market share is up. The introduction of Apple Silicon back in 2020 has changed the way we think about the Mac entirely, and Apple has a renewed vigor and focuses that’s helping it carve out a new path for the once-fledgling brand. As such, we see more polished and refined OS updates to the Mac, and this year’s update, macOS Ventura, is no exception.

Perhaps one of the most exciting new features announced was Stage Manager, an all-new multitasking tool that organizes apps into a single view. Active apps are ‘center stage’, and other windows are collapsed and off to one side, making it easier to see what you’re working on and get back to your important documents, Photoshop, and browser sessions. The tool allows users to pair apps together for specific projects, and the best part is that this is coming to iPadOS, too, though there has been some controversy about its implementation.