More macOS Big Sur news: boot chime return, battery history and more

More macOS Big Sur news: boot chime return, battery history and more

The macOS Big Sur update brings many new features. Most of them were seen in the inaugural WWDC Keynote, but some appear as we can test and investigate operating systems. Among these new discoveries we see various changes in battery management, return of Chime sound on startup from the computer and the network utility disappears.

Battery: history and estimated time remaining

In the field of battery Big Sur brings two novelties, the sea of ​​interesting that we find in the section Drums of System Preferences. First, in the section Usage history we can see, as is already happening with the iPhone and the iPad, the battery level of the Mac in the last 24 hours.

This graph, in addition, is correlated with the use we gave to the computer, which appears in the lower graph. In this way, we can detect if the battery is too discharged in moments of inactivity, which could give us hints of a somewhat greedy application with the load of our Mac.

Along with this information, in the menu bar, Apple brought us back the estimate of the remaining battery life. Information that helps us an idea of ​​how much time we have left with the computer so as not to connect it formerly to a power source.

More details: Chime and network utility

Along with these novelties, we find some curious details. The first one, which is sure to delight many Apple readers and Mac users, is the return of the famous chime when the computer starts up.

This characteristic sound was removed from the 13- and 16-inch MacBook Pros introduced after 2016. The reason for its removal was that after opening the computer cover, the system automatically turned on, resulting in loss of sound. part of its function. Function maybe but the charm of Chime is something that many users appreciate and appreciate And now Apple has brought it back.

The option to activate it is in System Preferences > Sound > Play sound at startup, even if it is enabled by default. Definitely a much simpler option than the one we saw a few months ago in SamaGame.

Finally, Apple discontinued the app Network utility, which made it possible to use tools like netstat, ping, locking, tracetoute, who is or finger. When we open this app in macOS Big Sur, a message directs us to Terminal, where we can use these same tools, or Wireless diagnostics, if we want to check for an error with the computer’s Wi-Fi connection.

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It’s clear that with Big Sur, not counting the system’s readiness for Apple’s new silicon, the operating system changes are profound and interesting. Remember that, for now, Big Sur is available in beta for developers and that its final version will arrive in the fall.