Visionary’s Monterey Advice

Before I get to our guidance on the upcoming release of macOS Monterey, I’d like to take a moment and mention that the pandemic has caused major disruptions in global supply and delivery. As we approach the holidays and year-end spending, I felt compelled to mention that getting your orders in early will be critical. I foresee massive shortages this year in almost all product categories. Order early and we will do our best to fulfill demand as quickly as possible. 

Now onto Monterey. Sometime on Monday October 25th (or Tuesday depending on where you live and server demand) Apple will release the new Operating System. We’re in a familiar pattern of annual macOS releases. It's a tick and tock schedule where there is a minor release followed by a major one. That cycle continues. Monterey is a minor release as Big Sur last year was a major one. Don’t let that fool you into complacency. Any time you change your operating system, it’s invasive and can easily cause disruption in your life and workflow. To that end, we have some general advice which can help smooth the process.

1.) Backup - You have got to have a full and current Time Machine backup of your Mac before you even think about upgrading to a new OS. While reverting to a previous system is not easy, at least it’s possible so long as you have a full Time Machine backup. Without one, you are going for a deep space walk without a tether. Time Machine is easy and automated: all you need is a backup drive of some kind. Make sure you have one (or stop in and pick one up, we’ve got plenty in stock) and then check to make sure yours is operating correctly before you take the next step.

2.) Approach - Customers often ask how much the OS costs and, like Apple’s done for years, the OS itself is a free upgrade. However there are some real costs you need to expect. First, it will take time to learn the new parts of the OS. That will have an effect on your productivity. Second, while the OS may be free, many updates from 3rd party developers may cost money. Be prepared for that, especially if you are using non-current versions. Finally, you may need support from us or others and that support will have a real cost. Approach the upgrade with the right attitude and you won’t have any unpleasant surprises coming.

3.) Wait - This is the hardest one on my list - we live in a world of instant gratification! However, waiting a few weeks is likely the very best general advice I can offer to customers. Within a few days, millions of early adopters will have downloaded and installed Monterey, and they will no doubt uncover countless issues. Apple tweaked Monterey after the beta but before its commercial release. As a result, the version is actually 12.0.1 - the first update happened before it even got released to the public. Nonetheless, I’d likely recommend most customers wait until 12.0.2 or even a major update like 12.1 comes out before upgrading. It’s not just bugs, waiting gives 3rd party developers a chance to test and update their software as well.

Reading all this may make you leery to proceed with the upgrade. I think about it like changing the oil in your car. There are some people out there who do it themselves but most of us pay someone to do it even though we probably could do it ourselves. This is much the same. It’s easy enough that you can upgrade your macOS yourself but sometimes it just makes more sense to pay an expert to do it for you. We’ve all got our strengths in this world, let us handle the technology while you do what you do best. But if you feel up to it, macOS Monterey is a loaded with features which improve the Mac experience. 

Onward!

David Maffucci

Visionary Computer