Apple OS X El Capitan: 5 Reasons to Upgrade

— -- Apple is putting the focus on power users with OS X El Capitan, the latest Mac operating system update which is available today as a free download.

While the operating system has the design of Yosemite, it packs some changes to help with productivity.

"El Capitan refines the Mac experience and improves performance in a lot of little ways that make a very big difference," Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said in a statement. "Feedback from our OS X beta program has been incredibly positive and we think customers are going to love their Macs even more with El Capitan."

Available in the Mac App Store, El Capitan supports all Macs introduced in 2009 and later with the ability to support some models from 2007 and 2008. Here are five reasons why getting the update could be worth your while.

Smarter Search

Smarter search capabilities in Spotlight let users ask questions or deliver commands using natural language, such as "Find me John's resume" or "How did the Yankees do last night?"

Balancing Act

Apple designed this update with power users in mind: You can now work in apps positioned side by side. Mission control springs into action with a simple swipe, arranging everything a user has open in a single layer, saving the nuisance of searching for a window. Lose your cursor on a crowded screen? No problem -- just shake it and it will get bigger.

Powerful New Notes App

A more powerful Notes app lets users quickly turn a to-do list into an interactive checklist that can be made on the Mac but accessed on the iPhone, thanks to iCloud. It also includes the ability to add photos, video and maps to your notes, making them useful when you're out and about.

Your Favorite Sites

Pin your most visited sites in Safari, letting you get to where you want to go even faster.

Mute Audio

It's even worth appreciating the little things. You can now click a mute button in Safari to keep sound from annoying videos or advertisements from interrupting your workflow.