Apple is anticipated to release macOS Ventura in October, but considering all the macOS Ventura features in macOS Monterey that was only available on Apple silicon Macs, could Intel Mac customers be left out in the cold once again this fall? Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around, since many of macOS 13’s biggest features are fully usable on both Intel and Apple silicon devices.
In reality, as long as your Intel Mac meets the minimal specifications for macOS Ventura, there will be virtually a few new features that you won’t be able to use. However, there are three exceptions that we’ve identified as being unique to Apple hardware.
macOS Ventura Features: Live Captions
Live Captions are available across all audio material in macOS Ventura, including FaceTime, letting you observe automatically transcribed conversations during talks.
Live captioning will be available in English and will be limited to iPhone 11 and later models, iPads with A12 Bionic and later models, and, of course, Macs with Apple hardware.
macOS Ventura Features: Reference Mode with Sidecar
You may utilize a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display as a secondary display with your Mac while using Reference Mode with Sidecar. In professional processes including review and approval, color grading, and compositing, “reference” refers to the correct and consistent portrayal of colors.
The core Da Vinci Resolve interface is exhibited on a linked Studio Display, with color grading scopes on a MacBook Pro screen, and the full-screen output image on an M1 iPad Pro in Sidecar mode, in Apple’s example.
macOS Ventura Features: Emoji Support in Dictation Mode
Dictation in macOS Ventura adds commas, full stops, and question marks to your text as you speak. You can even use your voice to enter emojis, however, Apple claims this capability is only available on Macs with M1 and later CPUs.
Dictation is offered in the following languages:
- English (Australia, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States)
- Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan)
- German (Germany)
- Cantonese (Hong Kong)
- French (France)
- Japanese (Japan)
- Spanish (Mexico, Spain, US)
Summary
As this brief list demonstrates, macOS Ventura has many fewer restrictions for Intel users than macOS Monterey. However, macOS 13 no longer supports some Intel Macs manufactured between 2013 and 2016, thus your model may have barely missed the cut for official compatibility.
Apple’s two-year move from Intel CPUs to bespoke Apple silicon chips in Macs is nearly complete, with the switch set to be completed when the Mac Pro receives the Apple silicon treatment later this year. From 2023 onwards, Apple is expected to withdraw software support for Intel computers at a quicker rate.
MacOS 13 Ventura is available to developers starting this week, with a public beta scheduled for July.