The new Mac Pro looks like it should be ideal for Mac users who enjoy gaming. But despite its $6,000 price tag, game performance is surprisingly (but unsurprisingly?) awful.
If you don’t plan to upgrade the AMD GPU that ships with the machine, you would be better off playing your games on a Nintendo Switch.
At the end of November last year, I took delivery of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro. Around a month later, thanks to Apple’s generous holiday return policy, I returned it. You can read my first impressions, but they mostly remain the same after a month of use. In short, it’s a fantastic MacBook. But in my conclusion, I wrote this:
But really, this Mac is fantastic. My Cult of Mac colleagues tease me that I buy Apple gear, and then immediately send it back. This new MacBook is staying with me.
So, what went wrong?
Sidecar is the new iOS 13/macOS Catalina feature that lets you use an iPad as an extra display for your Mac. But it also lets you send any app off to your iPad. Then you can wander off and use that app on the iPad, pretty much independently, with the Apple Pencil.
This means you can use some high-level Mac music apps, like Logic Pro X and Ableton Live, on the iPad. There are a couple of catches, but it’s easy to use. In fact, Sidecar is so good that using Mac apps on the iPad like this is actually a viable, sensible option. It’s not just a neat trick that you’ll use once and then forget about.
Apple today made its first iOS 13.3.1 and macOS 10.15.3 betas available to developers.
The minor updates don’t have patch notes yet. But they likely fix a serious flaw in Communication Limits, which can allow messages to be received from unauthorized contacts, among other bugs.
New betas are also available for HomePod, iPad, and Apple TV.
There’s a brand-new version of the Opera web browser aimed at gamers — and it’s out today on Mac in early access. Opera GX offers a unique set of tools designed to enhance your desktop gaming experience.
The browser lets you free up important resources that you need while gaming. It can also put your favorite Twitch streams right on top of your games, so you can watch while you play.
While it is possible to get the Shortcuts app running in macOS Catalina via Catalyst, you can’t do much with it. But what about the next best thing? How about selecting something on your Mac, then tapping a shortcut on your iPhone, and then having the result show up back on your Mac?
I’ve been doing this for the past few weeks, and it’s not only a workaround, but a genuinely useful — and reliable — way to “run” iOS shortcuts on the Mac. Let’s get right into it.
Edison Mail, a popular third-party email client on iOS, is finally making the leap to Mac.
It ships with a number of nice features that give it an edge over the built-in Mail app. And it sports a cleaner, more modern user interface with a number of customization options.
There’s just one catch.
We will never see a touchscreen Mac. Apple has made this clear over and over. Whenever one of its executives is asked about a touchscreen Mac in an interview, the answer is always the same: macOS is for trackpads, and iPadOS for is for touch. Combining them would compromise both.
I agree. While I do catch myself tapping the Mac’s screen from time to time, there’s no way I’d want the Mac redesigned for touch. For one thing, you’d lose all the accuracy of the mouse, because clicking targets would have to be big enough for your fingers. But it doesn’t matter, because Apple has already made a touch option for the Mac. It’s Sidecar, and it’s amazing.
Apple has offered a fix for 13-inch MacBook Pro units launched in 2019 that unexpectedly turn themselves off.
It’s a pretty lengthy solution, but it should eliminate the issue on affected notebooks. Those who cannot rid themselves of the random shutdowns are advised to contact Apple Support.
Gamers using the Steam Link app on iOS can now enjoy multiplayer games with friends who use a PC.
Valve’s new Remote Play Together feature, announced last month, is already out of beta and available to all. And it works across Windows, macOS, and Linux — as well as Android and iOS.
Research by IBM found that its employees who use a Mac are more likely to exceed expectations on performance reviews than co-workers with PCs. Mac’s users also make larger high-value sales deals.
Long-time Mac users should find this delightfully ironic, as IBM helped popularize the PC back in the 1980s.
Apple failed to kill a bug in the Mail app for macOS for months despite its potential to expose private details in emails that the user thought was encrypted.
Security researcher Bob Gendler first discovered the flaw in July and notified Apple of it. Despite releasing four updates for macOS since that time, the privacy flaw still hasn’t been fixed. Apple says it’s working to resolve the issue soon though.
Microsoft is preparing to make its Outlook app for macOS better than ever. An overhaul will introduce new sync technology and big performance improvements, as well as welcome design tweaks.
Here’s what you can expect.
Another image of a new 16-inch MacBook Pro (above) has been leaked by macOS 10.15.1 Catalina.
The photo reveals a redesigned keyboard layout, with a Touch ID sensor separated from the Touch Bar. But it does not confirm rumors of a return for the dedicated escape key.
It’s also hard to tell whether this keyboard uses the dreaded butterfly switches that MacBook Pro fans want Apple to abolish. And we could be waiting a long time to find out.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s big beta dump, Apple is back with one more beta software update for macOS Catalina.
macOS 10.15.1 beta 3 was seeded to developers this morning, bringing a host of new bug fixes for the Mac following the public launch of macOS Catalina just earlier this month.
A seemingly small number of Mac users are reporting that their machines have been bricked after upgrading to macOS Catalina.
It is believed a potentially unsuccessful EFI firmware update is responsible for the issue. All affected users see nothing but a folder icon when attempting to boot up their Mac.
Are you maintaining a healthy Mac? It doesn’t have to be difficult. CleanMyMac X offers all the tools you need to ensure your machine is always speedy and safe.
The latest version of the app stops malware in its tracks, ensures your apps are always up to date, and keeps your Mac running as fast as it can be.
It also helps you weed out system junk from the darkest depths of your machine, and it’s three times faster than its predecessor.
Apple’s newest macOS Catalina upgrade has been causing all kinds of havoc for some Mac users. One issue seems to be killing certain eGPU setups — especially for those with a Mac mini.
Twitter killed off its desktop app for Mac in early 2018. Now, a year-and-a-half later, an official Twitter app has made its way back into the App Store.
And it’s all thanks to macOS Catalina’s Catalyst framework.
Apple has quietly delayed the release of a new file sharing feature for iCloud Drive.
File sharing was initially scheduled to release later this fall following the release of macOS Catalina on Monday. Apple is now saying we won’t get our hands on it until next spring.
The latest version of Final Cut Pro X is out now with a new Metal engine that promises a big performance boost. It also make optimizations for the all-new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR.
Apple is today bringing the same Metal engine to Motion and Compressor, too.
Thanks to the recently launched iPadOS, I can finally do simple things on my iPad that I’ve always been able to do on my Mac. Like opening multiple documents in the same app, or installing fonts.
Trouble is, while these things are easy to do on a Mac, they’re fiendishly difficult with an iPad.
In the early days, everyone celebrated the iPad for being easier and more intuitive to use than a Mac. But as Apple crams in more features, that is no longer true. iPad is still easier to use for simple things, but it is much harder and more cumbersome for performing advanced tasks.
Duet Display, the app that turns your iPhone or iPad into a second screen for your desktop, is finally on its way to Android.
You can use it alongside your Mac or Windows PC, and setup is quick and simple. Preregister your interest in Duet now ahead of its official debut later today.
Pocket Casts, one of the best third-party podcast apps on iOS, is now available for free.
It won’t cost you anything to download the app anymore, and you’ll get to enjoy some of its best features — like cross-platform syncing and the dark theme — for absolutely nothing.
An optional Pocket Casts Plus subscription, priced at just $0.99 a month, gets you even more.
Recently, I’ve been using my old Mac more and more, even thought I’ve long preferred using an iPad for both work (writing) and play (making music, and all the other dumb stuff you do on a computer when you’re goofing off).
And It’s gotten me thinking. Why do I prefer the Mac for some tasks? And I mean, strongly prefer. I’m so used to using both iOS and macOS that it’s not a questions of familiarity. Nor is it that I’m trying to squeeze the Mac way of doing things into the iPad, and vice versa — a common problem for new switchers.
No, my preference comes down to two small yet fundamental differences between the iPad and the Mac. These two features are present on the Mac, and will probably never make it to the iPad. What are they?