Mac Owners Can Now Download Apple's OS X El Capitan

Yosemite is old news. El Capitan is the newest Mac operating system and Apple is releasing it on Wednesday.

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Announced back in June, OS X El Capitan will be available as a free download in the Mac App Store. Anyone with a Mac released in 2009 or later will be able to use it, as will some Mac owners who bought top-of-the-line models in 2007 and 2008.

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"El Capitan refines the Mac experience and improves performance in a lot of little ways that make a very big difference," Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, said in a statement.

Is El Capitan worth downloading? Apple thinks better performance and some new features will convince Mac owners that the answer is yes.

Spaces

Mac owners can now create multiple desktops, or "Spaces," where they can place different documents and apps. "Mission Control" is the place where users can see all of their desktops at once and switch between them -- a strategy that might help Mac owners tired of dealing with overly cluttered screens.

Split View

El Capitan lets users have two app windows open at the same time, much like iOS 9 does for the iPad. Is one app more important than the other? Users can adjust the size of each window as they see fit.

For Subscribers

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Related: Apple Sells a Record 13 Million iPhones in First Weekend

Spotlight

As with iOS 9, El Capitan users can enter a search term in "Spotlight" and get back results pulled from the Internet, as well as apps, emails, news sites and other sources.

Metal

El Capitan includes new graphics technology called "Metal" that Apple says boosts rendering by 50 percent and efficiency by 40 percent. Essentially, that means graphics in apps and games should run faster and more smoothly.