Attention, new iMac owners: The M4 iMac sits upside down inside the box it comes in. This can be an unwelcome surprise if you open the box the wrong way — your new computer could tumble onto the floor on its first day, just like mine did.
Don’t fall for the picture on the front of the packaging, which shows the base of the iMac on the bottom. Follow these instructions on how to open an iMac box to avoid catastrophe.
Songs disappear from Apple Music all the time due to licensing problems or artists doing controversial things. Spotify found itself caught up in similar situation in 2022, losing Neil Young’s discography in a protest of the streaming service’s association with podcaster Joe Rogan. Luckily, there’s a way you can find out if any songs in your library have been removed from Apple Music behind your back.
If you own a Mac, you can quickly find out by building a special Smart Playlist. I’ll show you how.
November 8, 1984: After initial Mac sales prove disappointing, Apple CEO John Sculley dreams up the “Test Drive a Macintosh” marketing campaign to encourage people to give the revolutionary new computer a chance.
The promotional strategy advises people to drop into their local retailer and “borrow” a Macintosh for 24 hours. The idea is that, by the time potential customers need to return the Mac, they will have built up a bond with it — and realized they can’t live without one of Apple’s computers.
While 200,000 would-be customers take advantage of the offer, Apple dealers absolutely hate it.
Apple’s newest M4-equipped Macs — iMac, MacBook Pro and the redesigned Mac mini — reached store shelves Friday. Customers who placed preorders for delivery should receive their new computers today, too.
Apple announced its new Macs in the last week of October through press releases.
Some early reviews of the M4 iMac touch on how much more colorful the new version of the desktop is. But other reviewers had more to say about the performance boost from the Apple M4 processor.
Read on for a range of thoughts from reviewers on the 2024 iMac with M4.
Mac keyboard shortcuts are a great way to speed yourself up when you’re using your computer. Mastering them means more time spent getting things done and less time spent moving your hands back and forth between keyboard and trackpad.
There are the basic Mac keyboard shortcuts like Command-C and Command-V for copy and paste; Command-B, Command-I and Command-U for bold, italics and underline; Command-Z and Shift-Command-Z for undo and redo. But for a lot of people, that’s where their knowledge ends.
You can do so much more than you may know. Here’s a guide to the best Mac keyboard shortcuts.
Apple gave its MacBook Pro lineup an M4-focused refresh last week. From the outside, the new laptops might look the same as their M3 predecessors, but that’s not the case.
Look closely, and you’ll notice the M4 MacBook Pros come with subtle yet important upgrades. Read below to learn everything that’s changed between the M4 and M3 MacBook Pro family.
November 3, 2010: Apple prepares to launch the Mac App Store, publicly accepting app submissions from registered developers — and kicking off a gold rush among coders.
After witnessing the enormous sums of money raked in by early entrants in the iOS App Store, developers flood Apple with new Mac apps.
Apple’s next major MacBook Pro design refresh reportedly will arrive in 2026. It will apparently feature a new display technology and a 2nm M6 chip.
Early Geekbench 6 benchmarks show Apple’s new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips deliver major performance improvements for Macs. Most surprisingly, the M4 Pro chip outperforms even the previously top-tier M2 Ultra chip in multi-core performance, despite having fewer CPU cores. And the higher-end M4 Max proves even more impressive, of course.
So if you’re on the fence about upgrading to a Mac with either of these chips, these results should encourage you.
Apple’s announcements this week of the first M4 Macs were impressive and full of surprises. But if you don’t have time to sit through all three videos, totaling nearly 40 minutes, you can watch our edit of it all in just 90 seconds.
Apple took the wraps off M4-powered MacBook Pros on Wednesday. While the new laptops sport the same design as their predecessors, they deliver faster performance and a staggering 24 hours of battery life, the company said in a press release announcing the M4 MacBook Pro launch.
“MacBook Pro is an incredibly powerful tool that millions of people use to do their life’s best work, and today we’re making it even better,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering.
The M4 iMac that Apple launched Monday looks the same as its predecessor but brings some big changes internally. So, how does the M4 iMac compare to the M3 iMac, which arrived less than a year ago? Our M4 iMac versus M3 iMac comparison will show you how the 2024 model ups the ante on performance.
Apple unveiled the radically redesigned Mac mini on Tuesday, with versions powered by the M4 chip and a new M4 Pro chip. The smaller-than-ever desktop computer features a new design with convenient ports on the front and back, faster processing speeds and, for the first time, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and a carbon neutral guarantee.
“The new Mac mini delivers gigantic performance in an unbelievably small design thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative new thermal architecture,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a press release.
The faster Mac mini is available for preorder now, with a release date of November 8.
A product-comparison chart published Monday on Amazon.com accidentally leaked the redesigned Mac mini, which will feature an all-new design and Apple’s M4 chip. After the M4 Mac mini leak, the machine could go official as early as Tuesday.
According to an image in the chart, the new Mac mini looks like a smaller Mac Studio and sports two USB-C ports on the front.
UDATED: M4 Mac mini is out!
Apple launched an upgraded iMac with an M4 chip and support for Apple Intelligence on Monday, calling it “the world’s best all-in-one for AI.” The new computer looks like the old iMac it replaces but packs major internal upgrades. Thanks to the M4 system-on-a-chip, the 2024 iMac brings a notable leap in performance over previous iMacs.
“With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence, and the powerful performance of Apple silicon, the new iMac changes the game once again,” said iMac product manager Sree Panuganty in a launch video released Monday.
October 21, 1991: Apple launches its PowerBook 100 series. The lightweight laptops quickly become one of the most important tech gadgets of all time.
These devices will almost single-handedly turn notebook computers into mainstream technology. Apple’s subsequent success in this category — whether it’s the current MacBooks or even the rise of mobile devices like the iPhone — owes a huge debt to the PowerBook 100 series.
To heck with “go big or go home” because there’s never been a better time to go mini: these Mac mini deals are the cheapest way to buy a new Mac.
The Mac mini is a desktop computer, so you’ll need to supply your own display, keyboard and mouse. It seamlessly replaces an aging PC and its diminutive size fits on any desk.
And even though Black Friday sales are still weeks away, now is an ideal time to buy. Apple’s smallest Mac carries big discounts. The entry level (and current) M2 and M2 Pro models at least 12% off, while the prior M1 model can be had for $400.
October 19, 1992: Apple launches the Mac IIvx, the first Macintosh computer to ship with a metal case and, more importantly, an internal CD-ROM drive.
The last of the Macintosh II series, the Mac IIvx experiences one of the more notorious price adjustments in Apple history. Within five months of shipping, Apple slashes the computer’s launch price of $2,949 to $1,899. That’s one way to reward early adopters!
October 17, 1996: Apple launches its Performa 6360 Mac in North America, sold elsewhere as the Power Macintosh 6300/160.
An impressive multimedia Mac, the Performa 6360 comes bundled with a TV/video card. It also lets users make phone calls, listen to CDs, and watch television — all of which seemed amazingly futuristic at the time. As Macs went, it was pretty affordable, too.
It’s easy to rename multiple files at once on a Mac using the Finder’s batch rename tool. If you have a big series of pictures, videos, screenshots or documents in a series, you can use this feature to rename them all in a similar format and sequence.
You don’t have to take on such a tedious task by hand.
October 10, 1993: Apple ships its Macintosh Color Classic II, the last of the 9-inch compact Macs.
Also known as the Performa 275, the Color Classic II will eventually become something of a collector’s item, since Apple released it only in Canada, Asia and Europe.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: If Apple does host a big October event, M4 Macs and iPads likely will steal the show. We talk about what to expect from the upcoming Apple products.
Also on The CultCast:
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.
So, you accidentally disabled Bluetooth on your Mac, and now you can’t use your wireless mouse or trackpad. You could dig out a wired mouse to reenable Bluetooth, but that’s a lot of effort. Instead, just use your keyboard to turn on Bluetooth on your Mac without a mouse.
We’ll show you how to get out of this computing pickle.
Looking for a powerful, affordable second computer? This grade-A refurbished 2019 MacBook Pro might be the one for you, and it’s available for only $449.99. Whether you need it for work, personal use or entertainment, it delivers much of the performance and style of Apple’s premium laptops — at a fraction of the price.