Should I go to the M1 chip?
15/01/21 Filed in: purchase recommendations | security
What's the latest version of Catalina currently? Should I go to Big Sur? Do I need to go to the new M1 chip for extra security?
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10.15.7 is the highest. Apple will probably roll out 2 more updates before stopping development on Catalina. Catalina is a very stable operating system and there’s no need to move to Big Sur anytime soon. If you had the M1 chip then maybe but considering what we just went through, I’d stay in safe harbor Catalina for now. Big Sur has several new layers of security that sound great on paper but are proving to be a very big pain. The more secure something is, the less convenient it becomes. I don’t mean internet security. I’m talking about if someone steals your computer and wants the data, or just wants to wipe the machine (just like me last night) Apple has new steps in place with Big Sur that basically goes scorched earth if someone tries to steal someone else’s device. The iPhone has had this approach for several years now. Problem is, when someone runs into a standard issue they can sometimes not boot from an external drive, mount in target disk mode, change the password, wipe the computer etc... all for the sake of “security”. Think of it like this: say you upgrade your front door locks to 15 dead bolts instead of 1. Then one gets stuck and you can’t turn it as deadbolts sometimes (but rarely) do. You’ve just increased your chances of not being able to open your door 15 fold when one deadbolt was just fine for security in the first place. All this extra security is great if you are working for Space X but the spies from Blue Origin are after your industrial secrets but for the rest of us, a simple password on our machines is plenty.
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10.15.7 is the highest. Apple will probably roll out 2 more updates before stopping development on Catalina. Catalina is a very stable operating system and there’s no need to move to Big Sur anytime soon. If you had the M1 chip then maybe but considering what we just went through, I’d stay in safe harbor Catalina for now. Big Sur has several new layers of security that sound great on paper but are proving to be a very big pain. The more secure something is, the less convenient it becomes. I don’t mean internet security. I’m talking about if someone steals your computer and wants the data, or just wants to wipe the machine (just like me last night) Apple has new steps in place with Big Sur that basically goes scorched earth if someone tries to steal someone else’s device. The iPhone has had this approach for several years now. Problem is, when someone runs into a standard issue they can sometimes not boot from an external drive, mount in target disk mode, change the password, wipe the computer etc... all for the sake of “security”. Think of it like this: say you upgrade your front door locks to 15 dead bolts instead of 1. Then one gets stuck and you can’t turn it as deadbolts sometimes (but rarely) do. You’ve just increased your chances of not being able to open your door 15 fold when one deadbolt was just fine for security in the first place. All this extra security is great if you are working for Space X but the spies from Blue Origin are after your industrial secrets but for the rest of us, a simple password on our machines is plenty.
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