photo credit: http://www.macworld.com
Once, Mac computers were the exclusive province of students and graphic designers. However, thanks to award-winning hardware and the advanced OS X operating system, MacBooks, iMacs and other Apple computers are becoming more and more popular in the business and commercial real estate worlds. Apple's September 30, 2015 update to OS X -- OS X El Capitan -- brings a range of new features that will make CRE practitioners more efficient and effective.
Better Native Applications
Many of the changes in OS X El Capitan are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Apple has enhanced the Notes, Mail and Photos applications to make them more functional.
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Mail offers enhanced ability to swipe (like on your iPad and iPhone), better integration with Gmail and an enhanced full-screen view.
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Notes offers better integration into the cloud, making it more comparable to third-party tools like Evernote. It also adds a tool to make checklists and a special search engine just for attachments.
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Photos makes it easier to sort and organize your property photos and to use third-party plug-in apps to enhance them.
Split View
The new Split View tool in OS X El Capitan makes it easier to use a widescreen display to look at two windows, side by side. For instance, you could scroll through two leases right next to each other and do a line-by-line comparison. Alternately, you could have a window open for research right next to Notes so that you can jot down thoughts, ideas and information without having to obscure either window.
New Public Transit Aware Mapping
As more and more tenants and employees pay attention to proximity to public transit even outside of the CBD, the new mapping module in OS X El Capitan should prove useful. Apple has added the ability to build and display routes including public transportation. This will help you to not only navigate yourself more efficiently but also to see how your listings fit into their cities' public transit systems.
Spotlight Search
Apple has also enhanced the OS X El Capitan Spotlight search module. With the ability to query more data sources that ever before, it puts more useful information at your fingertips. Spotlight's enhanced file searching capabilities also make it easier to find your files and documents by using the kind of natural language that you might use to ask your assistant to, for instance, find the lease abstract I created yesterday for Steve.
Enhanced Performance and Security
Behind the scenes, OS X El Capitan also represents a significant improvement. If you are doing graphically intensive work -- like displaying 3D renderings from architects or editing photos and video -- the new Metal graphic system enhances graphics performance by up to 50 percent. In addition, the operating system itself runs much faster than previous versions of OS X. Emails can open in one-half the time while PDF previews can open in as little as one-quarter the time of previous Mac operating systems.
Apple has also enhanced the security in OS X El Capitan. These low-level coding changes make it harder for malicious code to run on your system. A safer system means better performance, less down time and better security for your clients' sensitive documents.
Install Guide
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