But it promises to be more transparent to end users than past transitions. That’s not to say this transition won’t take time it definitely will. There’s also a great deal more that is abstracted from hardware now than in past generations. And the platforms on which this is built have been something Apple has been working on for years – with developers being generally pulled along for the ride. Developers have had access to the new hardware architecture for longer than consumers. There’s also something different about this transition. The ‘walled garden’ of Apple is arguably more walled than ever – but with the line between Mac and iOS blurring at the same time. This is an unusually active year for Apple – one of the biggest hardware and OS transitions in a generation, with both the availability of Apple Silicon on macOS, and a major OS update. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t reason to be optimistic – if you can also be, you know, patient.

And yes, it is too early to judge M1 Apple Silicon-based Macs or even to ask if your favorite software is optimized yet. No, you should not update to Big Sur right now.

Native instruments battery 4 big sur