macOS 26 Tahoe: The Ars Technica review

The last time Apple gave macOS a fresh design was in 2020's macOS 11 Big Sur.

That release was relatively light on new features and heavy on symbolism. Big Sur is also when Apple finally jettisoned the "10" in Mac OS X after two decades. More importantly, it was the first release installed on then-new Apple Silicon Macs, the culmination of a decade-plus of in-house chip design that began with single-core, low-power iPhone and iPad chips and culminated in something powerful enough for the Mac Pro.

Today's macOS 26 Tahoe release holds up a translucent, glassy mirror to the Big Sur update. It comes with an all-new look, one that further unifies Apple's design language across all its operating systems. And it even throws out the old version numbering system and introduces a new one.

But if Big Sur was the beginning of an era, Tahoe is the end of one. This will be the final release to support any Intel Macs at all—and it runs on just a bare handful of them, ending support for all Intel MacBook Airs and most other Intel Macs besides. Starting with next year's release, Apple will be able to start jettisoning all Intel code from macOS, including (eventually) the Rosetta translation technology that allows Apple Silicon Macs to run Intel code.

As we do every year, we'll look at, and underneath, the shiny surface of the new release. If you have an older Intel Mac that isn't supported, is there anything here that might make you want to upgrade? Is Liquid Glass disruptive or revelatory or just another layer of cosmetic polish on top of the Mac's familiar time-tested Macintosh interface? Let's dive in.

System requirements and compatibility

Tahoe drops many 2018, 2019, and even 2020-vintage Intel Macs that could run last year's Sequoia, plus the late 2017 iMac Pro.