macOS 10.13 High Sierra

For Sierra, the only way is up

The next version of macOS, dubbed High Sierra, is in part about laying groundwork for the future – or bringing the Mac into line with other platforms, depending on how you look at it. For starters, it will follow in the footsteps of iOS 10.3 by replacing the Mac’s aging file system with Apple File System (APFS). Apple says this has performance and security benefits, and will enable further innovation for the future.

Like iOS 11, High Sierra adds support for HEVC, enabling up to 40 percent better compression of video you’re working with. Playback of 4K HEVC video requires at least a sixth-generation (Skylake) Intel Core processor, though.

Apple’s modern graphics API, Metal, reaches version 2, and adds capabilities needed by virtual reality content creators, plus support for external graphics cards on some Macs. There’s more to High Sierra than technological changes behind the scenes, though. Here are our highlights.