Consider

The editor weighs up High Sierra’s pros and cons.

Apple’s round of operating system updates for 2017 is complete, and this issue’s cover feature will help you to discover many great additions in the last of them to arrive: High Sierra. If you haven’t installed it already, and were to read Apple’s web page about it, you might not think there’s much reason to bother – but I urge you to read our feature and reconsider.

Do you think you already know all that High Sierra has to offer? At WWDC in June, Apple mostly talked about underlying technology changes, which is understandable for a keynote address that’s as much about rallying developers behind those moves as it’s about exciting Apple fans with new features. What has surprised me since High Sierra became available on the Mac App Store is that interesting enhancements, such as the ability to copy and paste files using Universal Clipboard, aren’t mentioned on Apple’s web page that markets the system update. Granted, that one isn’t really a groundbreaking feature, but it’s a practical enhancement that some of you will at least make good use of. You’ll find a lot more detail about High Sierra in this issue’s cover feature. Let us know if you’ve discovered something else in the system that you think other Apple fans should know about.

You may have a very good reason not to upgrade to High Sierra just yet, though. The common trouble for any operating system upgrade is incompatibility with apps and devices. Perhaps you’re just cautious until a few minor updates have been released. Apple has already issued a few of those for High Sierra – and iOS 11, too – fixing some of the big outstanding issues, and two embarrassing oversights that managed to survive the developer and public beta programs over the summer. You can learn more about these in this issue’s Start section.

If you’re ever unsure about installing a macOS update, bear in mind that a complete Time Machine backup enables restoration of your Mac to an earlier state – even to an older OS.