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OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 release nears with bolstered 4K display support

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Nearly two months after providing developers with the first beta, Apple is closing in on releasing OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 to the public. OS X 10.9.3 will mark the third point-release update to OS X Mavericks, which arrived on the Mac App Store last October. Earlier this week, Apple provided build 13D55 of 10.9.3 to developers, and Apple, today, provided employees with a newer 13D57 build. In addition to the increase in seed frequency, today’s internal seed includes a set of release notes. The inclusion of release notes in beta OS X releases typically indicates that a public release is close…

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Here are the release notes, per a source:

The OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Update is recommended for all OS X Mavericks users. It improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.This update:

  •  Improved 4K display support on Mac Pro (Late 2013) and MacBook Pro with 15-inch Retina display (Late 2013)
  • Adds the ability to sync contacts and calendars between a Mac and iOS Device using a USB connection
  • Improves the reliability of VPN connections using IPsec
  • Includes Safari 7.0.3

As we previously profiled, OS X 10.9.3 includes improved support for 4K displays. This means that a 4K display connected to the latest Mac Pro and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro models can push pixels in a “2X Retina” mode. The update also unlocks improvements to syncing contacts and calendars over USB from a Mac to an iOS device. Overall security and stability improvements are of course included. The last update to Mavericks brought a fix to the well-documented OpenSSL bug as well as FaceTime and iMessage contact blocking.

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Comments

  1. Saleem Waheed - 10 years ago

    i m waiting for the last update but so far the message didn’t cam up lol

  2. CC-Dog (@cc941201) - 10 years ago

    10.9.2 didn’t fix OpenSSL bug since OS X doesn’t have the OpenSSL bug.
    It’s a bug inside Security.framework and it is before Heartbleed.

  3. Greg Frith - 10 years ago

    Great, improved 4K support, that’s something the masses have been waiting for. How about some fixes to Mavericks Mail to enable GMail users to receive emails as soon as they hit their mailbox. I mean I can appreciate there are millions more 4K display users than GMail users, but still a mail fix would be appreciated if it could be squeezed in!

    :wq

  4. Dan Bennett (@DanBennett) - 10 years ago

    “Improves the reliability of VPN connections using IPsec” – Wait… IPSec or IPSec over L2TP? I’d love it to work with just IPSec but it bloody well doesn’t….

  5. Brian L Thomas - 10 years ago

    Since I am one lot the .001 percent that have 4k display I am eagerly waiting for the 10.9.3 release!

  6. Peter Roberts - 10 years ago

    Wonder if they have fixed the bug where canon scanners are not recognized in image capture, or the bug in the dual display that adobe CS6 apps do not work correctly. and what about that horrible color doc when on the left side. these are the important things. come on apple.

  7. willo (@mozfart) - 10 years ago

    I would like to know if the new Mac Pro has hdmi 2.0 support via 10.9.3? As HDMI 1.4 and 2.0 are identical hardware wise, does Apple intend to make Mac Pro support HDMI 2.0 with 10.9.3? I want hdmi 4k 60hz going forward.

  8. Oflife - 10 years ago

    Hopefully it also fixes these bugs that effect the Retina MacBook Pros, including mine. Each are mentioned elsewhere in forums. Further, some honest Apple staff have confirmed them to me and failed to fix them over the phone, despite hours of tests and experiments. Ready? Here we go:

    1. USB 3.0 chips causing USB devices to eject every time MacBook goes to sleep (such as my Canon LIDE 210 scanner and some other peripherals that worked fine on my old MacBook Air 13″). Happens whether device is connected directly to MacBook or via powered USB 2.0 hub.
    2. Bluetooth interfering with WiFi. (Repeatable major problem on both my recent Retina MacBook Pros.) Switch on Bluetooth, and WiFi connection is slow and unreliable. As an engineer, I believe this to be due to conflict between the frequency used for the latest Bluetooth and specific WiFi frequencies.
    3. A long term problem going back over a decade on all my Macs: When I wake them up, the login screen goes black and I have to type the password in blind. Happens almost every time on my late 2013 15″ Retina MacBook Pro. Have purchased and re-installed OS X, so know this not an issue with my machines only.
    4. Adobe Premier Pro (that I pay for through CC) crashes every time at launch, despite re-installing multiple times. IE, it’s useless. Not sure if this is an Adobe problem or Apple. FCP may solve that, but why pay £200 for something I’m getting included with Adobe CC?

    • siegzeit - 10 years ago

      That is so strange how the same machines can behave so differently for different people. I’ve had 4 MacBook Pros over the last 4 years, and one PowerBook before that, heavily used every day, going to sleep multiple times per day, and this is what I have experienced:

      1. Never happened to me. Not once, but I don’t plug in many USB devices on my laptop compared to my desktop.
      2. My Bluetooth is always on on my Retina MacBook Pro (15″). I use Wi-Fi continuously to transfer large files. I get about 12 MB/sec to an Airport Extreme N version through 2 walls. I shall try with Bluetooth off and see if that improves it.
      3. I have never had that happen except on my PowerBook. It happened infrequently, though, maybe 1 in 20 wake-ups. Apple then released an update that mentioned this issue, and the problem went away for good.
      4. My Premier works fine? I had some AU or other extensions that were causing problems on startup, but after I removed the outdated ones which probably don’t work anyway anymore, all problems went away.

      Some people claim their Windows is super stable. I found crashes and weird errors almost every time I use it. Maybe they really do have minds of their own? :P

      • Oflife - 10 years ago

        I’ll try to find time to make a video recording of ALL of these issuing occurring and see if I can upload it to YouTube and share here. Note that Apple staff have seen this in store when I visited. If there are three of you saying you’re not experiencing this, (good!), it doesn’t mean anything at all. I’m an ex electronics/firmware test engineer and current software designer/(testing comes as part of my job), and combinations of factors/genuine faults and more can lead to such problems which will tend to effect a % of products, unless an inherent and serious fault introduced in mass production. Note, as mentioned before, these issues are ALL listed in the Apple forums, and some go back a few years.

        I have nothing to gain by mentioning these issues. Been an Apple lover since the beginning (although less of a fanboy now) and these issues are causing a lot of disruption and time wasting. IE, I just finished scanning in thousands of photographs from my pre digital past, and evert single time my MacBook went to sleep, when it awoke, I had to unplug and re-connect my scanner and re-launch the scanner app. IE, every 30 minutes or so. Tried everything. (Don’t forget, I’m a 5 year experience test engineer.) Apple even swapped my MB Pro for a new one, no questions asked. Fixed some (other) problems, but not the above.

        It’s probably a combination of factors or a flaw in machines produced in a specific production run.

    • multiplexxer - 10 years ago

      Hi there,

      I have a Mac Book Pro Retina 15″ (Late 2013) and a Mac Book Pro Retina 13″ either but do not have these issues.

      I am using Bluetooth with several gadgets – nevertheless my WiFi-connection (5 GHz) is extremly fast and very reliable. Never had any problems.

      I do not have a black screen after waking up my Mac Books from standby or deep standby. Not a single one in the last six or seven months, actually since I bought ’em.

      Adobe Premiere CC is working fine on my Mac Books, it does not crash when I am firing it up. Although I prefer to work with Final Cut Pro, it’s easier to handle than Premiere. But that’s ony my opinion.

      Best regards
      pit

    • multiplexxer - 10 years ago

      @Oflife

      Hi there,

      I have a Mac Book Pro Retina 15″ (Late 2013) and a Mac Book Pro Retina 13″ either but do not have these issues.

      I am using Bluetooth with several gadgets – nevertheless my WiFi-connection (5 GHz) is extremly fast and very reliable. Never had any problems.

      I do not have a black screen after waking up my Mac Books from standby or deep standby. Not a single one in the last six or seven months, actually since I bought ’em.

      Adobe Premiere CC is working fine on my Mac Books, it does not crash when I am firing it up. Although I prefer to work with Final Cut Pro, it’s easier to handle than Premiere. But that’s just my opinion.

      Best regards
      pit

    • I have a late 2013 Retina MBP as well, and yes – I experience the black login screen. If I don’t get the password entered correctly it becomes a cat & mouse game of plugging/unplugging cables, turning display on/off, etc. So far it’s only happening to me with an ASUS 24″ HDMI-connected display attached. Displayport-attached Dell 2408 did not exhibit the problem. In my case, it might well be the ASUS display. It’s a temp to tide me over to the next Apple 27″ and I don’t know if there’s something in how they implement sleep/wake in their HDMI that could affect this.

      The only other correlation that I have are – with the HDMI-attached display, if I explicitly put Mac to sleep (as opposed to letting him screen save then fall asleep) – it doesn’t seem to happen on wake up..

      HTH.

      • siegzeit - 10 years ago

        It might be specific to the port then, as I have an Apple Thunderbolt monitor, and no problems here.

    • siegzeit - 10 years ago

      Hi Oflife, I think it’s because of how your post was worded, “bugs that effect the Retina MacBook Pros, including mine” it made it seem like you were generalizing that ALL Retina MacBook Pros have these bugs. That’s why I mentioned that mine doesn’t have that problem, to show that not ALL of them have bugs. I did hear a lot more problems with the 2013 Retina’s. I have a 2012 Retina, got it as soon as it was released and it’s been flawless. None of those ghosting issues or anything I read about in forums before I got it. I swapped it for a 16GB RAM model a couple weeks later, and it’s been flawless as well. (Knock on wood).

      So, I’m not saying you are wrong, I’m sure you have those issues. No need to video tape them unless you want to get Apple’s attention (sometimes manufacturers are reluctant to believe consumers, thinking it’s due to user error, which often times it can be). Hope you have better luck with other Apple products, though, because I think they’re great (for now).

  9. drtyrell969 - 10 years ago

    So funny. I designed the control zoom feature back in 03. At least to got my QuickView in.

  10. Tim Brown - 10 years ago

    Greg Frith that is the funniest thing i have read today but I’m completely with you, and hang on Apple i spent £5k on my mac pro in late 2012 have you already abandoned me !!! you can go off people you know !!

  11. ShanyG (@shanytc) - 10 years ago

    The Macbook Pro with Retina (15″ or 13″) can’t even push its own Retina display, let alone a connected 4K screen…

    • Scott Barnhill - 10 years ago

      Wow! Have you even touched a rMBP? I’m running one right now no problems with a 28″ Samsung 4K monitor. Why the harsh put down on the most capable laptop around. I use it for FCPX, Photoshop, Lightroom and Logic Studio with awesome performance after loading the beta OSX 10.9.3 the 4k enhancements.
      Retina 15″ 16GB RAM