It’s a good time to make use of a Mac, Apple is churning out some top-quality {hardware} and software program. However there’s nonetheless loads of life in even an “outdated” Mac, as our most-read articles of 2024 present.
Over time, your Mac could cease receiving necessary safety patches and updates from Apple. On this case, as a substitute of retiring your laptop computer, you could possibly improve its performance by putting in another working system, like Linux or ChromeOS.
Amidst the thrill of an improve, it may be tempting to place your outdated MacBook right into a drawer and neglect about it (we’ve all accomplished it). However Vinayak Guhanarayan exhibits us that there’s a greater method (seven of them, in truth). These vary from repurposing the show through Display screen Sharing to turning an unused MacBook right into a Plex or file server.
By Vinayak Guhanarayan – Printed Jan 12, 2024
For many customers, a middle-of-the-road MacBook Air is extraordinarily succesful and greater than sufficient. The MacBook Air and MacBook Professional are related total when performing each day duties for the overwhelming majority of customers. Apart from particular use circumstances, intensive initiatives and workflows, or fans who need the newest and biggest, the Air is all you will really want.
Deciding that you really want a brand new Mac is straightforward, however choosing one from the lineup is difficult. It may be simple to imagine that you should spend large on a “Professional” mannequin however, as Cory Gunther explains, this isn’t true for the overwhelming majority of individuals. The efficiency, show, and construct high quality of a MacBook Air gained’t disappoint, and also you’ll avoid wasting cash too.
By Cory Gunther – Printed Apr 15, 2024
Ever really feel such as you’re working out of keyboard shortcuts? You may at all times use an extended modifier mixture like Management+Choice+Command (and even add Shift), however issues get sophisticated quick. A better methodology is to make use of the Hyperkey app to repurpose your Caps Lock key as a “hyper” key that triggers these modifiers for you.
macOS is a good working system, and there are a wealth of apps on the market that make it even higher. A few of my favourite Mac apps do just one factor, however they do it very properly. I’m speaking about tweaks like forcing the media keys to manage solely Apple Music or Spotify, repurposing the Caps Lock key into one thing extra helpful, and working an web velocity take a look at from the Terminal with one command.
By Tim Brookes – Printed Aug 16, 2024
Except you forked out for the next quantity of storage while you purchased your Mac, the primary {hardware} limitation you are prone to face can be working out of area. There’s nothing extra annoying than consistently having to juggle information simply to maintain working usually.
At How-To Geek, we love producing guides that enable you get as a lot life out of your outdated tech as attainable. However nothing lasts perpetually and, finally, an improve turns into inevitable. Right here, Andy Betts lists the 5 warning indicators that your Mac wants changing (fortunately there are many methods to repurpose that outdated mannequin).
By Andy Betts – Printed Jan 21, 2024
If you happen to’re in search of a very free Dynamic Island implementation, look no additional than Boring.Notch. Don’t be delay by the identify, your MacBook’s notch is much more boring with out this app put in. The app is underneath lively improvement, and lots of options aren’t prepared but, however what’s there may be good.
The Dynamic Island is Apple’s try to show the iPhone digital camera cutout right into a helpful characteristic, and now you are able to do the identical in your MacBook. These third-party apps flip the notch on the high of the display right into a Now Enjoying widget, file storage tray, calendar, and extra. Better of all, the animations are simply as slick and seamless as Apple’s.
By Tim Brookes – Printed Oct 1, 2024
I’ve a Contact Bar timer app put in, so after I’m working, I can control the duties I am performing without having it to take up area on my 13-inch show. I additionally discover that the controls for brightness and quantity are extra intuitive to make use of than bodily buttons. Even the pop-up controls for controlling apps like Spotify work properly in my expertise.
Ben Stockton purchased his Intel-based MacBook Professional in 2019, a 12 months earlier than Apple introduced its large transfer to ARM-based Apple silicon processors. Whereas this would possibly sound like a tough deal, Ben doesn’t see it that method. His outdated laptop computer continues to be going robust, runs macOS 15 Sequoia, and he’s fairly keen on the Contact Bar that Apple dropped in subsequent fashions.
By Ben Stockton – Printed Sep 30, 2024
After utilizing a MacBook for over a month, my Floor laptop computer now feels notably sluggish. With a decade of expertise utilizing numerous Home windows laptops, together with the Microsoft Floor Laptop computer 3, I can confidently attest that none has supplied the identical stage of stability and efficiency as my first MacBook.
The “disgruntled Home windows consumer to MacBook proprietor” pipeline is well-documented, and this 12 months it claimed one other How-To Geek author. Shan Abdul waxes lyrical about what prompted the change, the rapid advantages, and why a return to Microsoft’s desktop is unlikely.
By Shan Abdul – Printed Might 1, 2024
If you happen to use a MacBook, you do not have to surrender your Android cellphone. Sure, you’ll lose out on a number of the tight integrations you get between both Android and Home windows or iPhone and macOS, however I have been utilizing each for the most effective a part of 15 years and it is solely actually iMessage that I miss and need was obtainable on Android.
It’s no secret that Apple designs its gadgets to enhance each other, however that doesn’t imply that the Mac and iPhone mixture is crucial. You may reap the advantages of Apple’s desktop and retain the flexibility of an Android smartphone. Andy Betts explains how they deal with file transfers, messaging, media, and extra whereas bouncing between the 2 ecosystems.
By Andy Betts – Printed Aug 17, 2024
If all you need is a Mac on which to browse the online, reply emails, and do a little bit of workplace work, the M4 is overkill. There’s nothing improper with having loads of grunt underneath the hood simply in case you want it, however you must ask your self whether or not you’d fairly have the money in your pocket as a substitute.
The M4 Mac Mini was arguably Apple’s greatest launch of 2024, providing an enormous improve in efficiency and a brand new type issue on the identical nice value because the earlier mannequin. Regardless of this, I nonetheless suppose the outdated Mac Mini provides the most effective bang on your buck (if you could find one).
By Tim Brookes – Printed Oct 30, 2024
By putting in Linux, you may rework your outdated Mac that may have been gathering mud into a quick, dependable, and extremely customizable machine. As an alternative of discarding it, you’ve harnessed its potential, proving that even getting old tech may be helpful with the proper instruments.
Generally Home windows customers leap ship to macOS, and generally Mac customers dabble with Linux. When Matt Klein realized they might repurpose a crusty 2014 MacBook Professional as a devoted Linux machine, they jumped on the alternative and documented the advantages, course of, and troubleshooting suggestions discovered alongside the way in which.
By Matt Klein – Printed Nov 30, 2024
With a lot consideration on Apple Intelligence in 2024, it’s fascinating to see that so lots of our most-read Mac articles centered on older {hardware}, saving cash, and making do. Thanks for becoming a member of us in 2024, why not try our most-read iPhone articles of the year when you’re right here.
