macOS Big Sur Review: Big Redesign with Big Performance Bummer?
By: Christopher Reno Budiman
Tags: Gadgets, Software, Mac, Apple, Technology

macOS Big Sur Review: Big Redesign with Big Performance Bummer?

With big design changes introduced in macOS Big Sur, it feels like Mac started to become like an iPad. But does it perform great just like on the iPad? Christopher Reno Budiman Follow Dec 19, 2020 · 5 min read

macOS Big Sur is the biggest Mac software update since the introduction of OS X. The macOS Big Sur finally turned to macOS 11 after series of macOS 10 updates. I had been using macOS Big Sur for almost a month now on my 2020 base model MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM (not the M1, the 8th gen Intel version). How do I feel about it? Let’s find out.

Design

With the new icon and design changes, macOS Big Sur looks more familiar than ever. Yes, because it introduces iOS design language that looks Mac more like an iPad, rather than a Mac.

Big Sur Control Centre that looks like iPad Home Screen. Captured by the Author

I am personally a big fan of this new design changes. It looks more familiar and uniforms with my other Apple devices. I don’t have to get confused looking at the Messages icon, since now it’s also a green icon with white bubble, unlike Catalina’s version that has blue bubble which doesn’t look consistent to other Apple devices.

Not many people are a fan of Skeumorphic icon design, but I loved it. Since iOS 6, I always love that traditional Skeumorphic Steve Jobs design, which looks great. With Big Sur, I love the way the combined these iOS 6 and iOS 7 icons to look more modern, yet still has that traditional feel to it.

Other than that, the system-wide design was pretty good. Finder, Mail, Notes and Photos look fresher than before. It is something that makes my Mac feel new again, although I had it six months ago. The addition of new wallpapers is fantastic, with more dynamic wallpapers available

Control Centre

iPad like Control Centre. Captured by the Author

The iOS influenced update also reflects on its new feature, control centre. Yes, it is useful, but I found it a little bit useless. With my 2020 MacBook Pro, I often use the Touch Bar to control volume, display and keyboard brightness, also playback button. It is way more convenient since I don’t have to reach with my mouse to change these settings. Moreover, I don’t have to go to this control centre to change the Wifi or Bluetooth settings, since it’s already present in the top bar, without even going to the control centre. It is a useful feature for iOS and watchOS with a smaller screen, but I don’t see the point why they add this to the Mac.

Notification Centre

Not just the control centre, Apple added a redesign notification centre, with the new widgets alike iOS. And now notification is grouped based on category, so it doesn’t clutter the whole side. A welcoming addition to the Mac.

Photo by Apple on Newsroom

However, the one thing that really bothers me is with the new notification centre, they got rid of the calculator widget, which I found very useful in Catalina. I was annoyed that I can’t no longer access to my calculator from the widgets, which I have to go the app itself to access the calculator. Hopefully, Apple will bring back calculator widgets in the future update of Big Sur.

Safari

My default browser is still Chrome, but I occasionally use Safari (when I’m watching Netflix because it’s more power-efficient than Chrome). Apple made changes with Safari in terms of privacy, with privacy tracking report that convenience users that Safari is safer than other browsers. Still, it doesn’t convenience me to change my default browser, because Chrome is still faster. I also notice that my Safari crashes sometimes when I’m loading streaming, apart from YouTube. It looks like some website has not yet optimised properly with Safari.

Photo by Apple on Newsroom

Safari also introduces direct website translation, which is pretty useful for some people. Personally, I haven’t tried this feature since I visited most English website.

Apple Maps

I don’t use Apple Maps, unfortunately. But it’s great that Apple made a big step to compete with Google Maps, although I still prefer Google Maps.

Performance and Battery

On a day to day use case, my MacBook Pro can run normally without any issue for writing, browsing and checking emails. Heavy apps such as Garage Band, iMovie or Djay Pro that has been optimised for Big Sur can run flawlessly. However, using most apps that have not been fully optimised with Big Sur, it may heat up quickly, such as using Discord or Zoom Calls. I understand that this is still the first release of Big Sur, we expect Apple to update its performance for the next few weeks or months. There are still many bugs and glitches that need to be resolved, therefore performance was worst than the latest version of Catalina. Geekbench 5 scores were relatively similar with Catalina, with 922 single-core scores and 3240 multi-core scores on my 2020 base-model MacBook Pro.

Geekbench 5 scores on 2020 8th-gen Intel MacBook Pro with 16 GB RAM. Captured by the Author.

Battery performance was worst than Catalina, especially apps that takes more energy and RAM, such as Chrome. Again, definitely, Apple will improve battery life for the upcoming updates. Speaking about battery, I love the new feature for optimised charging to prolong battery life. This feature will be better optimised for the M1 Macs that have better power management compare to Intel Macs.