macOS Mojave requires at least 2 GB of RAM as well as 12.5 GB of available disk space to upgrade from OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra, or macOS High Sierra, or 18.5 GB of disk space to upgrade from OS X Yosemite and earlier releases. Some features are not available on all compatible models. Mojave installations convert the installation volume to Apple File System (APFS), if the volume had not previously been converted from HFS+.
macOS Mojave deprecates support for several legacy features of the OS. The graphics frameworks OpenGL and OpenCL are still supported by the operating system, but will no longer be maintained; developers are encouraged to use Apple's Metal library instead.
OpenGL is a cross-platform graphics framework designed to support a wide range of processors. Apple chose OpenGL in the late 1990s to build support for software graphics rendering into the Mac, after abandoning QuickDraw 3D. At the time, moving to OpenGL allowed Apple to take advantage of existing libraries that enabled hardware acceleration on a variety of different GPUs. As time went on, Apple has shifted its efforts towards building its hardware platforms for mobile and desktop use. Metal makes use of the homogenized hardware by abandoning the abstraction layer and running on the "bare metal". Metal reduces CPU load, shifting more tasks to the GPU. It reduces driver overhead and improves multithreading, allowing every CPU thread to send commands to the GPU.
Continuing the process started in macOS High Sierra (10.13), which issued warnings about compatibility with 32-bit applications, Mojave issues warnings when opening 32-bit apps that they will not be supported in future updates. In macOS Mojave 10.14, this alert appears once every 30 days when launching the app, as macOS 10.15 will not support 32-bit applications.
New data protections require applications to get permission from the user before using the Mac camera and microphone or accessing system data like user Mail history and Messages database.
Mojave also removes support for sub-pixel rendering of text. The feature was previously used on non-Retina displays to improve the appearance of text on screen.
The only supported Nvidia graphics cards are the Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition.
A new Screenshot app was added to macOS Mojave to replace the Grab app. Screenshot can capture a selected area, window or the entire screen as well as screen record a selected area or the entire display. The Screenshot app is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, as was the Grab app. Screenshot can also be accessed by pressing ⇧ Shift+⌘ Command+3.
Four new apps (News, Stocks, Voice Memos and Home) are ported to macOS Mojave from iOS, with Apple implementing a subset of UIKit on the desktop OS. Third-party developers would be able to port iOS applications to macOS in 2019.
With Home, Mac users can control their HomeKit-enabled accessories to do things like turn lights off and on or adjust thermostat settings. Voice Memos lets users record audio (e.g., personal notes, lectures, meetings, interviews, or song ideas), and access them from iPhone, iPad or Mac. Stocks delivers curated market news alongside a personalized watchlist, with quotes and charts.
macOS Mojave features a new Dynamic Desktop that automatically changes specially made desktop backgrounds (two of which are included) to match the time of day.
Mojave's new features were generally praised. Critics welcomed the addition of Dark Mode, although some noted that its effect was inconsistent; MacWorld's Karen Haslam noted that it did not affect the bright white background in Pages, for instance. Others noted that Dark Mode's utility was curtailed by the lack of third-party developer support at release.
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