Apps that use Apple’s core graphics system will benefit without having to do anything. Metal replaces OpenGL and speeds things up. Part of that performance boost is the introduction of Apple’s Metal graphics system, which was first introduced with iOS 8. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The GuardianĪpple claims that speed has improved between 1.4 and four times the performance of OS X Yosemite, depending on the task, and in my testing I would say that the figure is about right.

Switching between apps is also faster, as is browsing large PDFs, documents and images.Īpple Maps gains public transport directions, mirroring iOS 9.

It’s difficult to actually pinpoint where the speed comes from, it’s just generally a lot more snappy.Īpps load and respond visibly faster, as do documents and emails. Big changes happen on the surface every two years with the tick updates with the following year consolidating and refining.Įl Capitan’s brief was pure speed and it is really noticeable, particularly on one-or-two year-old Macs. That’s because El Capitan is the “tock” in Apple’s “ tick, tock” two-year update cycle. Visually it’s almost identical to the current OS X Yosemite and you will be hard-pressed to see what’s changed other than the new San Francisco typeface from iOS 9. The latest version of Apple’s laptop and desktop operating system OS X 10.11 El Capitan will genuinely speed up your computer, particularly if you’ve got an older Mac.Īs with Apple’s other recent Apple software updates, El Capitan is very much a blink-and-you-miss-it update.

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