A redesigned MacBook Air surely helped push up 2022 Mac shipments. Photo: Apple
Apple’s shipments of Mac desktops and notebooks grew modestly in 2022, according to market research firm. That’s in stark contrast to shipments of PCs that dropped enormously last year.
And Apple could have done even better if it hadn’t pushed back the release of new Macs past the fourth quarter.
Are we the only ones standing around with slack jaws wondering how Apple can make this headset desirable? Photo: Original photo: Uriel Soberanes/Unsplash License/Modified by Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The more we hear about Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset, the more we’re perplexed about who is actually going to buy one. We take a long, hard look at the latest leaks — and come up shaking our heads.
Also on The CultCast:
We might get a raft of exciting new Macs — including the first Mac Pro powered by Apple silicon — at a March event.
Apple’s Pro Display XDR and Studio Display get some high-end competition.
Sorry, voice actors. AI narrators look like the future of audiobooks (and Apple leads the charge).
Our final best-of-2022 picks.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
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Get yourselves organized in Notes and Reminders using these advanced features. Image: Fredericknoronha/Wikimedia Commons and D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Notes and Reminders, two stock apps that come with every iPhone, iPad and Mac, can do so much more than write shopping lists and apologies on Twitter.
With tagging, you can quickly filter and search through a big folder of notes or a long to-do list. You can easily put together a bunch of filters by date, location and tag to create a smart list of everything that needs your attention in Reminders. You can even set up template Reminders lists that you can copy at any time.
This year was good for Apple, but 2023 looks even better! Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We’re talking about all the Apple gear we’re certain will arrive in 2023 — and some we just hope will materialize.
Also on The CultCast:
An Apple Watch Ultra clone for less than $50?!?
More on Apple’s penny-penching strategy of skimping on cloud storage by serving up lower-resolution files.
Our picks for best of 2022 — part two!
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
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Apple chips keep shrinking, which makes them more efficient. Photo: TSMC
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company began cranking out chips using its new 3nm process Thursday at its Tainan plant. But, never one to rest on its laurels, TSMC is already laying the groundwork for 2nm processors.
Apple is expected to be among the first companies to benefit from the cutting-edge chips, which will be faster while requiring less power.
If starting up your Mac launches a plethora of windows you don't need or want, you may want to try our tips. Photo: David Snow/Cult of Mac
Years ago I was a regular Mac user who switched to PC for a long time. When I fully re-immersed myself in the Apple ecosystem, an old annoyance came right back — all those unwanted apps launching for no apparent reason on startup, slowing things down.
Like many folks, I don’t restart my Mac very often these days because Sleep mode has its benefits. So having to close a bunch of apps is not a massive annoyance. But for anyone who wants a fix, there are easy ways to disable startup items.
And if those don’t work, you can try a couple of tricks to get rid of hidden launch agents.
Apple will reportedly be one of the first companies in the world able to offer processors made with a 3nm process. Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac
3 nanometer chip production is about to begin at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. This is important news for Apple, as TSMC makes the CPUs for Mac, iPhone, iPad, etc.
Apple is expected to use 3nm processors in products launching in 2023, making the devices faster and more efficient.
At Cult of Mac we love retro Apple gear. Today’s featured setup pairs a powerful new M1 Max MacBook with a beautiful old Cinema Display plus the iconic Harman Kardon SoundSticks speaker system.
And if you love the old Cinema Displays but worry their resolution won’t cut it nowadays, read on.
New evidence points to the Apple M2 Max supporting much more RAM than its predecessor. Image: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Very early benchmark scores for what is apparently the 2023 MacBook Pro show buyers will be able to configure the laptop with much more RAM. And new details on the M2 Max processor were revealed, too.
The performance scores show a modest 14% increase over the 2021 version, but benchmark scores months before the release of any computer are of limited use.
These are the best Black Friday Apple deals you need to check out. Photo: Rajesh
Black Friday 2022 is now one for the record books, but you can still take advantage of hefty discounts on Apple products.
So, if you have been looking to buy a Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods or other Apple products for a while, take advantage of the best Black Friday deals on Apple gear right now. Just bear in mind that these deals can be slippery as an eel. If you see one you like, jump on it ASAP, because there’s no guarantee it will last.
Businesses are getting up to 10% off on the 2021 MacBooks Pros from Apple. Photo: Apple
Ahead of the holiday season, Apple is providing up to 10% discounts to businesses on 2021 MacBook Pro models. The offer is only applicable on bulk orders.
Apple rarely provides such deep discounts to companies, especially in the lucrative holiday quarter.
Siri could become easier to summon in the future. Photo: Apple
Apple is working on changing the “Hey Siri” hotword to just plain “Siri,” and the change could roll out as early as next year.
Introduced in 2015 with the iPhone 6s, the “Hey Siri” hotword remains unchanged to this day. You also can use the phrase to invoke Apple’s voice assistant on the Mac, iPad, HomePod and Apple Watch.
Rewind: Find anything you’ve seen, said, or heard. Image: Rewind AI, Inc.
Rewind is a Mac app coming soon that promises to create a searchable, rewindable index of everything you read online, write in conversation, work on or even say in meetings.
We’ve all had this happen: you remember seeing something that you want to share, but you don’t remember where you saw it nor enough details to find it on the internet. Rewind promises to make everything that you’ve “seen, said or heard” searchable.
The Mac was neglected today, but there's still some exciting stuff in the works. Photo: Apple
Apple’s “Take Note” product blitz on Tuesday did not include any Mac news. Instead, iPad stole the spotlight: a new iPad Pro with M2, a new entry-level iPad that isn’t actually priced at the entry level, a new Magic Keyboard Folio and yet another lease on life for the original Apple Pencil (now with a dongle!). A surprise entry is a new Apple TV 4K at a lower price with a USB-C Siri Remote.
But according to Bloomberg, new Macs are “highly likely to launch before the calendar turns into 2023.” What can we expect soon — and what’s on the roadmap?
A "how to" makes the process of setting up Time Machine to backup your Mac less intimidating. Image: Apple
Your Mac can automatically make copies of your files with Time Machine, software built into macOS. A new video walks anyone unfamiliar with the feature through the setup process.
Using Time Machine is highly recommended. Macs don’t fail often, but when they do it can be a disaster for the user if they don’t have backups of their important files.
Transform your old Mac into a Chromebook with Chrome OS Flex Photo: Google
Google’s Chrome OS Flex is now ready to revive Macs that are too elderly to run the latest macOS version. That includes models as far back as 2010. It turns the Mac into a Chromebook, but at least it’s an up-to-date one.
The free OS is targeted at businesses and schools, but it might become a way for individuals to bring some new life to their obsolete Macs.
There are very few reasons why anybody should buy the new MacBook Pro. Image: Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The first reviews for the new M2 MacBook Pro are … not good.
Also on The CultCast:
Benchmarks for Apple’s new M2 chip continue to impress, but you can expect even more amazing performance boosts later this year.
What the upcoming CarPlay update is really about.
Apple TV+ has another hit on its hands with For All Mankind.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video livestream, embedded below.
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Apple appears to want to broaden its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lineup to capture more market share. Photo: Apple
Apple is developing new form factors and planning upgrades for its MacBook lineup, Bloomberg reported Thursday. That should result in a 15-inch M2 MacBook Air and a new version of a 12-inch M2 MacBook arriving by late 2023 or early 2024.
And, likely sooner than that, we could see faster chips in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
It might look a little silly, but Camera Continuity could be a huge win for video calls AND video streaming Photo: Apple
Continuity Camera, a new feature coming in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, will upgrade video calls by bringing the iPhone’s pristine camera to the Mac.
“With Continuity Camera, you can use iPhone as your webcam,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering, during Monday’s live-streamed WWDC22 keynote. “It’s powered by the advanced capabilities of the iPhone camera system, letting you do things that were never before possible with a webcam.”
Don't miss a thing from WWDC22. Photo: Cult of Mac
One of Apple’s biggest events is right around the corner. This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote promises to deliver our first look at the company’s next-generation software updates for iPhone, iPad, Mac and more. And it’s all happening on June 6.
Just like past WWDC keynotes, this year’s will be streaming online, so you’ll be able to watch it in its entirety as it all unfolds. Here’s how.
Get the most battery life out of your Mac. Image: Apple
How do you kill that which cannot die? The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro boast industry-leading battery life. In the PC world, the high power consumption of Intel processors means you generally must choose between battery life and performance.
The latest MacBooks use Apple’s own custom chips, cut from the same cloth as the iPhone and iPad chips Apple has been designing since 2010 (and, in a roundabout way, the one they made for the Apple Newton in 1994). This is what powers them to last all day at full speed.
If you want to take your M1 Max MacBook Pro to the coffee shop to get work done, and you leave your power cable at home — even if you’re editing 8K ProRes video streams in Final Cut Pro — you still might be ordering lunch and staying through dinner. How could one possibly need more battery life, and how do you get it?
With the Anker 563 USB-C Docking Station, a MacBook with an Apple M1 processor can handle three external monitors – two more than Apple designed the notebook to support.
And the hub can do more than that. It also packs three USB-A ports and an Ethernet connection.
It could be a while before you can put a Mac Studio in your office. Photo: Apple
If you need a Mac Studio this autumn, it might be smart to order it now. You could find yourself waiting for up to three months for delivery of some some top-tier configurations.
The macOS desktop appears to be caught by the same assembly delays that are affecting MacBook Pro.
There's a light at the end of tunnel of long MacBook Pro wait times. Photo illustration: Cult of Mac
Everyone waiting for a new MacBook Pro to be delivered can take heart from a report that Quanta Computer has restarted assembling Apple notebooks. This comes after its assembly plant in Shanghai had been temporarily closed as part of the Chinese government’s attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
In the meantime, though, wait times for top-tier MacBooks now stretch into July.