Apple's new Macs include some of the best laptops available on the market. Not only their hardware tends to last for a long time, but they also receive software updates for many years. This gives these machines a fresh lifeline through the added features and changes that keep them fresh and exciting. Interestingly, users can get their hands on upcoming additions and tweaks early if they install the macOS beta. Though, expectedly, pre-release builds can be very buggy and unstable. After all, it takes Apple several months to optimize a major release and smoothen out its major glitches before making it available as a stable version for the public.

With macOS Sonoma betas now available ahead of the official release, you might be wondering if it's worth installing macOS beta for the new features' sake.

What are the risks of installing the macOS beta?

First, you must know that trying out the latest exciting additions comes at a cost. Shiny features aren't initially as shiny. The testing process is what smoothens them out. So if you decide to enroll, you will have to deal with bugs and instabilities that could potentially paralyze your workflow. So if you use your Mac for work or studies, it's a wise decision to refrain from installing macOS beta, especially in the early stages of a new major/annual release.

Personally, I've been on the macOS beta channel for years now. Yes, there are frustrations associated with these pre-release builds. However, none of them have been bad enough to make me roll back. You should also know that rolling back to a stable version on a Mac isn't as simple as doing so on an iPhone. Additionally, on rare occasions, a beta build could brick your Mac or even damage its hardware.

Now that you know the risks, you can decide if they're worth it or not. If you have a spare Mac that you don't depend on, perhaps you can install the beta on that machine instead. You can also join the Apple Developer Program for $99 per year if you want access to the betas before everybody else.