Image used with permission by copyright holderApple’s new operating system, Mavericks, is now available for download from Apple’s App Store. This latest update, besides eschewing Apple’s big-cat naming scheme in favor of a gnarly new title, provides updates that blend mobile features with desktop functionality. While still undeniably a desktop operating system, Mavericks does not shy away from borrowing looks and features from the iPad, and it offers improved iCloud integration in a number of apps. Here’s what you need to know before you download.

　　

It’s Free!

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　　Yes, that’s right – free! Apple has always worked on a faster update cycle than Microsoft, and this has traditionally resulted in small leaps forward sold for between $20 and $30 dollars. The company has decided that that no longer makes sense, particularly since iOS updates are free of charge; from now on OS X will be distributed the same way. Anyone running OS X Snow Leopard or later can download the new version of OS X without paying a cent.

　　Users who have an older version of OS X will first need to purchase Snow Leopard, which is $19.99 on Apple’s official store.

　　

Compatibility

Updates to OS X often come alongside the sun-setting of older Macs which lack the features and processing power required to run the latest incarnation. Such a move would certainly sting with Mavericks, considering it’s free, but Apple hasn’t knocked any new hardware off its list of supported devices with this update. If your Mac can run Mountain Lion, it can run Mavericks.

　　For those unfamiliar with the compatibility break-down, here are the supported Macs:

　　iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, Early 2009 or newer)MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)Xserve (Early 2009)MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)Mac Mini (Early 2009 or newer)Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)While Mavericks will run on all the Macs listed above, some updates may be required before it can be installed. These should appear automatically under the Updates section of the Mac App Store.

　　

Finder Tabs

As predicted, Apple announced Finder Tabs. Working a lot like tabbed browsing in Safari, the feature has the ability to merge multiple windows into one with tabs, and new tabs may be added by clicking a “+” in the upper-right-hand corner. One of the coolest things is that the tabbed finder allows for easy drag and drop copying to other folders and to Air Drop. It’s a lot more elegant than trying to arrange multiple windows and dragging files between them.

　　

Tags

Along with tabs in the Finder, Apple has also added tagging. Now documents can be tagged to categories such as “In-Progress,” “Important,” or “School.” Tagging works everywhere across the Mac, and the tags appear in the sidebar of the Finder. The OS prompts you to add a tag when you save a document, but you can also assign tags by dragging and dropping files into a tag category folder in the Finder. Plus, the tags created on your Mac carry over to your iCloud, too. The tags are clearly meant as a more efficient way to both organize and categorize your files. Multiple tags may be added, plus you can search by tags. Of course, you can make things more colorful by color-coding your tags, too.

　　

Multiple displays

Another prediction we got right includes multiple display support for Mavericks. Instead of a secondary or “extended desktop display,” Mavericks treats your displays independently while still maintaining a relationship between them.

　　Each display has its own Mission Control, but you’ll be able to drag apps from one display to another without going through a bunch of window-resizing headaches. Full-screen apps will easily work in both displays, plus the menu bar and dock will appear on both. Users can independently swipe between Spaces on each display – so each display is truly independent of the other. The display isn’t limited to just monitors either. With Mavericks, users can output their Mac display to an HDTV using AirPlay and Apple TV.

　　

Safari

Safari just a got a whole lot faster in Mavericks. On the back end, the browser was retooled to decrease memory and CPU usage, resulting in a net increase in battery life. Apple claims that Safari is 1.44 times faster than Chrome in the Java SunSpider benchmark and 3.8 times faster than Firefox in the JSBench Suite Benchmark test. Safari allegedly smokes Chrome and Firefox, while using 1.28 times less memory than Chrome and 2.9 times less CPU processing power than Firefox.

　　But Safari didn’t just get better on the inside. It was also updated with social-friendly features including a sidebar for bookmarks, your Reading List, and Shared Links from social networks. While scrolling through links from your Reading List or Twitter and LinkedIn you’ll notice both accelerated, stop-on-a-dime scrolling as well as an endless scrolling feature. As you finish reading one item, the next shared link or item on your Reading List appears right below it. This has the potential to keep someone catching up on all of their saved articles for days.

　　

Notifications

OS X Mavericks includes new notifications that allow you to respond to texts, emails, and FaceTime calls right from the Notification Center in the upper right hand corner. You can choose to reply, delete or save it for later. Plus, iOS-like notifications will now appear on your desktop. For instance, a fantasy football app can now send you lineup reminders like it would on your iPhone. News websites will be able to send you breaking news notifications like they can on iOS, even if Safari isn’t running. Even better, apps from the Mac App Store will now update automatically. When you log back into your Mac in the morning, you’ll be able to see notifications for everything you missed on the login screen – just like on the iPhone’s lock screen.

　　

Calendar

The new Calendar has a cleaner look with continuous scrolling, so you can view the second half of one month and the first half of the next month, or quickly scroll through weeks at a time with the swipe of a couple fingers. Apple now integrates your Facebook calendar items for easy help remembering your friends’ birthdays and events.

　　When you create an appointment, the new Event Inspector will autofill suggestions as quickly as you type. Plus, it’ll let you know the weather for the location of the appointment and even show a map. One of the niftiest features is that you can call up driving or walking directions to an appointment and include travel time. The calendar will then notify you when you need to leave in order to make it to your destination on time. It’ll even suggest places to eat near your appointment.

　　

Contacts

The Contacts app has also been given a fresh coat of paint which aligns it with the minimalist design of iOS and Mavericks. A new photo picker gives users who have connected their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts the chance to choose which profile pictures should be imported. Google contacts now appear the moment a Google account is added to contacts, and any edits made in the Contacts app are synced with Google. Finally, a view maps button can now be found along side all addresses enter in contacts and will, unsurprisingly, bring up said address in the Maps app.

　　

Maps

Apple Maps has finally made the leap to the desktop. It has the same fancy 3D photo-realistic Flyovers we saw in our iPad, and it shows off a fantastic amount of detail, including the ability to turn the view from above to a view that’s nearly level with the ground. While Maps on the desktop is cool, it’s made exponentially more useful thanks to a button that automatically sends directions to your iPhone. Once you’ve sent it to your iPhone running iOS 7, you’ll get turn-by-turn voice navigation to your destination.

　　Maps is fully integrated into OS X Mavericks, with Maps popping up in Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. Apple continues to improve its geographical knowledge, too, with an improved point of interest search that integrates Yelp reviews. Maps has also improved in reporting traffic conditions and suggested alternate routes. Plus, it will sync your saved location bookmarks across all of your devices.

　　

iBooks

iBooks is also debuting on the desktop with all of the 1.8 million available iBooks on it. All of the iBooks currently on your iOS device will sync to your Mac and be instantly available whenever you need them thanks to iCloud. You can still zoom in and scroll through pages like you would on an iPad using the Mac’s trackpad. One of the best features is the ability to have multiple books open at once. For research and studying, it makes it easy to reference different sources without having to exit one before entering another. In our opinion, it makes it more like the spread of real books you would have laid out on a table.

　　Unlike a physical book, iBooks will automatically create a citation when you quote a passage. As anyone who’s suffered through MLA or APA citation styles will know, that’s a massive time saver. Other things you won’t find in a physical text book are interactive illustrations, photos, and videos, which many publishers have integrated into their iBooks textbooks.