Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I'll chip in with anybody got a keyboard and/or track pad lying around doing nothing?

And in other news, I bought an LG Ultrafine monitor for my WFH setup. However, no matter what I do, I can't get my MacBook Pro to play nicely with the monitor.

It's supposed to be a one cable solution, for power and for the display, however neither works no matter which device or cable I use. The monitor is supposed to be supplied with a thunderbolt 3 cable, and I've tried with my MacBook pro cable which came with it too. But no joy. So, I've now ordered a thunderbolt 4 cable to see if that might work? Any other suggestions?

MBP cable isn’t thunderbolt 3.

I would try buying a different cable before you give up

MBP cable isn’t thunderbolt 3.

Ah, okay. Well, ordered thunderbolt 4 cable. Hopefully that might work?

Fingers crossed.

Have you checked if you need to enable PD in the monitor’s settings? Sometimes it’s disabled by default.

Have you checked if you need to enable PD in the monitor’s settings?

What's PD? I honestly have no clue.

The frustrating thing is that I have the same monitor at work and it's just plug and play. I now have two here (one 27" and one 31.5) and neither will work with my MacBook Pro. The 31.5" charges but doesn't display anything and the 27" does nothing at all. Unfortunately the tech guys set everything up at work for me, so I've no idea if they ordered a special cable or not. Such first world problems!

Power Delivery

Some monitors have the option to disable power delivery on the USBc port and just have it as a display / data cable.

Such first world problems!

Yea, but still it baffles me how it sometimes is so fucking hard to connect a display to a computer and have it actually display something, I mean seriously fuck all this shit.

I've just checked the settings and it does look like the LG monitors have this. At least that's one less thing to check!

it baffles me how it sometimes is so fucking hard to connect a display to a computer and have it actually display something

I am finding this out the hard way. It works fine with USC-C to HDMI, but then I have to have a separate cable for charging, and the whole point of spending this much was to have a one cable solution.

Haha sorry, 2008 as I recall

Dad-iPhone trouble shooting....

It an iPhone 6 (I think).

When you call (normal old fashioned calling) the recipient can't hear him and he can't hear the recipient.

The call is being connected, and it's not aeroplane mode.

Apparently mute is off and volume is up.

Any ideas?

Cheers.

Software 12.5.5
Model iPhone 6

Bluetooth connected? Headphones connected? Phone thinks headphones are connected?

You can tap the speaker button in call to see available devices.

Cheers. I'll give that a go. Plus tyrjng it off and on.

My mum has fixed it

1. Aeroplane mode on
   
2. Restart
   
3. Turn aeroplane mode off
   

Various different Apple watches, is there any reason to go above the series 3 if you're not looking at cellular? Aside from the different hardware, what are the benefits of the more expensive ones (or is it all just hardware features that differentiate them)?

Do they tend to be on sale (given I'm looking at getting one for a christmas present) anywhere or just at the Apple price?

Cheers

The Series 3 has a much slower CPU. As in slower than it needs to be run the UI. The "SE" is a Series 5 (CPU wise) and much better value.

If you're not expecting the giftee to interact with it very much (i.e. just use notifications and Apple Pay) it might be ok.

New Apple stuff is rarely sold for less than RRP.

I have a series 3 (my third) and it’s good for what i use it for - fitness tracking and telling the time. Also, changing music tracks. If I was buying one for my wife, it would be a 3 as it’s cheaper and works. I can’t comment about the newer versions.
You can raise the cost with stainless or a fancy strap but mine is standard cheapest one.
Be warned - they don’t like being dropped on tiled floors or banged heavily against a door. (Hence I’m on my third one)

The current SE is a rebadged 5 without ecg. The thing with ecg is that after the novelty wears off you will never use it. I have a 2, 5 and 7. There is no major difference between 5 and 7, my reason for getting the 7 is that the 5 battery was running down and would go into power reserve if I had a fairly active day of biking, canoeing etc.
having two is a game changer as I can wear the 5 as a sleep tracker and for any sports where I risk smashing it up and keep the 7 in better condition for longer.
They run the same OS and both do pay, music and all the notification and workout stuff that you actually need.

I wouldn’t buy a series 3 today, it barely keep up with itself now, and sometimes has issues even with updating the OS because the onboard memory is small/limited.
The SE is a much better deal in terms of longevity of using it, and as it also has a bigger screen for the same size watch.

Will I find an M1 MacBook Pro with 8GB ram a disappointment or downgrade coming from a 2019 intel MBP with 16gb ram?

I typically run lots of diagraming apps, different browsers with a billion tabs open and an IDE. Don’t do any intensive graphics work.

You’ll be absolutely fine. I had 4 desktops with outlook (10-20 emails), two teams instances, 5-10 excels, 5-10 PowerPoints, safari (2 or 3 tabs), chrome (1 tab), iMessage & Sonos controller open constantly.

Sometime a 5 sec delay logging in from Lock Screen or disconnecting from HDMI (4k screen) but otherwise actual use was flawless.

What is the limit of a 2019 16" MBP in terms of resolution it can send to a projector?
Or are there other limitations / pitfalls with connecting MBP's to projectors?

I know nothing about these things, basically - just wondering if this is as complicated as connecting external displays (there will also be the issue of getting a USB-C to HDMI adapter / cable that, erm, works, I imagine?)

It can drive a 4K monitor so I doubt it will be the limiting factor driving a projector. Yep you need an adapter but other than that it should be plug and play.

Thanks for the feedback!
I also now learn that some of them are WiFi capable, which would of course be even better than cables & adapters..