*** The Official macOS Big Sur thread ***

Commissario
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Due for release in the Autumn, Big Sur is the name of the next version of macOS. As predicted by Steve Jobs, OS X has lasted around twenty years and now they're moving on to version 11.0.

kBKESuf.jpeg
 
Man of Honour
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I've got it deployed in a Fusion VM. I first installed Catalina and then upgraded to the beta. Unfortunately clicking on control center or anywhere top right logs me out so I need to look at that. The rest which I have seen looks good, it's a nice refreshing look but still familiar.
 
Commissario
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I might actually have a look at the public beta when it appears - I'll be running in in a VM as per you, @ChrisD. Does it have to be done as update to Catalina or can it be installed independently? I don't use Fusion so hopefully it'll work on Parallels.
 
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The supported method in VMware Fusion is to drag and drop the 'Install macOS Catalina.app' or whatever variant of macOS you're installing into the new VM window. It won't accept the beta for Big Sur so I had to go from Catalina. I believe Big Sur support is coming to Fusion at some point but I don't know when. I'm not sure about Parallels sorry, I used to run it but I get Fusion for free so that's what I use now.

A lot of online guides say to convert the installer into an ISO but that method actually isn't supported by Apple and it can produce all sorts of weirdness within the guest OS.
 
Commissario
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I'm not sure about Parallels sorry, I used to run it but I get Fusion for free so that's what I use now.
You work for them now, don't you (or am I thinking of someone else)?

I'm a bit loathe to spend out on another virtualisation method but I can't help thinking Fusion would be better for me. Do they have the same annual upgrade cycle as Parallels or does it tend to go a bit longer between versions?

I see there's a 40% off deal for Parallels licence holders which runs out tonight. Having just been made redundant, I'm really unsure as whether to buy it. Persuade me! :D. (or send me a key, lol)
 
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Yes, I work for VMware. I used to prefer Parallels, it seemed that I got better performance when using a Windows VM to code Powershell using ISE with the same VM specs. The VM in Fusion would cause the Mac's fans to spin up and the VM performance wasn't great. I migrated it to Parallels and it was much better. This is about a year ago I think. Since then I joined VMware full time and there was an update to Fusion and I ran two VMs in parallel and I didn't see much difference. Of course the Parallels renewal came up so I'm now fully Fusion as I get it for free. There are some things with Fusion that infuriate me and I seem to remember that Parallels was a little more fluid but it's been a few months since I've used them back to back.

Being honest, if you're used to Parallels then stick with it. It's a great product and if you've been using it before now with no issues I don't see any reason to change unless there's a significant monetary saving moving to VMware Fusion.
 
Soldato
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Will I still get security patches and important fixes on my late 2013 iMac with Catalina OSX?

I would move to Big Sur, but unsure if its possible, do Apple give you the option officially to update to it despite not "officially supporting my late 2013 iMac?

Don't wish to buy a new iMac just yet, will wait until they have moved across to Apple's own cpu.
 
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Just to update on the issues I've been having in Big Sur virtualised in Fusion, I've spoken with some of the Fusion staff and it's a Fusion issue rather than something I've done. It's not going to work until it's updated, so it won't be available publicly for a few weeks at a guess.
 
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I don't as a rule run pre-release software because I don't want to risk downtime as it's my main machine, same as my iOS devices are my main ones, but this is the MacOS I have been looking forward to most since Mavericks I would say.
 
Soldato
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Will I still get security patches and important fixes on my late 2013 iMac with Catalina OSX?

I would move to Big Sur, but unsure if its possible, do Apple give you the option officially to update to it despite not "officially supporting my late 2013 iMac?

Don't wish to buy a new iMac just yet, will wait until they have moved across to Apple's own cpu.

Catalina will continue to receive updates/security patches after Big Sur is released.

I’m in the same boat with a Late 2013 iMac, and not wanting to upgrade yet. Officially Late 2013 iMacs will not support Big Sur.

Apple will not let you just install it, with some tweaks Beta 1 can be made to work according to the Unsupported Macs thread over on the MacRumors forum. Wither this will be the case with the eventual full release of Big Sur is anyone’s guess.
 
Man of Honour
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Big Sur Beta 2 out.

I got Beta 1 running on my Mac Mini running ESXi - same issue as on Workstation. Going to see if Beta 2 plays more nicely on ESXi as a VM.
 
Soldato
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How does Mac OS handle ram quantities? Is it worth while to go up to 64GB on the likes of a Mac Mini if upgrading it using a third party kit? Dispatch times on 32 GB and 16GB kits may have me just stump up the cash for the 64GB and basically be done with it for the life of the machine (it's destined to be a server as the migration to arm takes hold and I decide which kit to buy longer term)

Main used will be photoshop / Lightroom and giving final cut a go
 
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Depends what software you're going to be using? macOS is very memory efficient. I just got a mac mini and upgraded it myself to 64GB for less than £300, takes about 30 minutes to do.
 
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