Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

Seems like good advice there thanks both. M1 iMacs still miles out of a conceivable budget for me atm but thinking maybe a Mac Mini could be worth looking into?

I was going to mention a mac mini, some good deals on refurbished/second hand ones, as long as you've got a keyboard and monitor. External storage should be factored in to, as finding ones with 512gb/1tb does shift the goalposts in terms of price.

Lovely, thanks for the advice – will keep an eye out for one of these I think.

Also while we're here, what do people generally think of programmes like CleanMyMac for improving performance on computers struggling like my MBP is? Worth the money or?

as mentioned above, make sure you're getting one of the m1/m2 mac mini's rather than the intel ones.

If you can, just blat it and re-install everything from fresh.

They're all a scam.

How exactly is your machine struggling?

..as you mentioned in your earlier post that your mac is "very full" I'd try to delete as much big files (movies, big downloads, etc.) and empty the thrashcan afterwards to free some space, likely this will speed the whole machine up a bit already (macs like to have at least 20% free space to run smoothly).

I also think CleanMyMac etc. and the like are not worth it.

OnyX is a good tool, but one needs to know what exactly the optimizing features are doing to not do any harm.

To be frank I'd start with the weeding out of old big files, as you probably want things sorted / tidy when you get the new mac anyways 👍

Is there any value to the logic pro 8 software for mac? Or obsolete so maybe charity shop or recycling bin.

More memory, bigger ssd hard drive.

Macs aren't like PCs.

The only app in this general category that is worthwhile is AppCleaner, and even then it isn’t super important unless you’re a neat freak like me.

Make sure the SSD isn't more than about 80-90% full. If it is, unload some files on to an external hard drive.

Make sure to turn the Mac off and on every day. Otherwise the RAM will fill up, and you'll have lots of SWAP being used too. Turning it off and on again resets this and clears the SWAP.

Use Edge browser. Do not use Chrome. Uses less RAM. Set the idle tabs to "sleep" in the Edge settings. The privacy settings on Edge are much better too.

Do not buy M2 with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. Will be slower than M1. Get at least 512GB and 16GB, and M1 instead of M2.

This is mostly nonsense I’m afraid…

Turning off and on ‘to clear RAM’ is not only unnecessary, but completely negates the sophisticated OS-level caching mechanisms that are designed to use and manage all available RAM to speed up app launching, document opening etc, resulting in a slower experience until the cache is re-populated. Free RAM is wasted RAM.

Safari is the most lightweight browser on MacOS, with superior hardware acceleration leading to lower battery usage.

While it’s true that the single NAND chip on the base-spec M2 results in half the sequential SSD speed of the base M1, unless your workload depends on peak sequential R/W performance, the M2 pisses all over the M1 in most real-world usage metrics. Especially if you do any kind of video work; the M2 has a media engine which accelerates multiple channels of ProRes/HEVC/H.264 in hardware… the M1 does not. M2 over M1 is a no-brainer.

Agreed that it’s best practice to allow for ~20% free storage space to allow SSD garbage collection/wear-levelling algos to do their thing.

"Turning off and on ‘to clear RAM’ is not only unnecessary, but completely negates the sophisticated OS-level caching mechanisms that are designed to use and manage all available RAM to speed up app launching, document opening etc, resulting in a slower experience until the cache is re-populated. Free RAM is wasted RAM."

Mmmm I have the same laptop as the person asking the question, an early 2015 MBP, and I can tell you right now, running with Swap once the RAM fills up makes the fans go crazy and things will slow down. Turning the laptop off and on solves this. So not sure if you are speaking from experience or not.

"M2 over M1 is a no-brainer."

Disagree, especially as many people will just buy the cheapest / base spec, where the M2 can be significantly slower. Have you seen what happens to the M2 base models once you try even light multitasking? Performance tanks. M1 is cheaper, and already more than fast enough for 99% of users. Personally I think M1 Pro refurbished is currently the best option.

Alright then, "Do not use Chrome, and try Edge or Safari" - How's that? ;) Most people use Chrome and it's a RAM hog. Might be easier to migrate to Edge too, but can't say for sure.

I have the same laptop as the person who asked the question, and I am telling them what works for me, so I'd say that "mostly nonsense" comment is untrue. If you have better suggestions, outside of dropping £1.5-2k on an M2 machine with a few basic RAM and storage upgrades, then please feel free to contribute.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/multi-monitor-wallpaper/id504284434?mt=12

Not quite what you asked for but might be an option ?

"the M2 pisses all over the M1 in most real-world usage metrics. Especially if you do any kind of video work; the M2 has a media engine which accelerates multiple channels of ProRes/HEVC/H.264 in hardware… the M1 does not. M2 over M1 is a no-brainer.”

But the leap from M1-M2 is nothing compared to G5 to intel and Intel to M.
I use an M1 Mac Studio and to ‘upgrade’ to M2 just doesn’t make any sense as any gains are not going to impact on my usage (professional photographer/retoucher dabbling in video and animation) to say it’s a ‘no brainer’ only really works if your usage can show a consistent saving in time that makes sense for your business.

I have upgraded many times in the past and it’s the leaps in processor technology that gave me a huge jump in productivity literally saving me hours of time enabling me to earn more or work less.
M1-M2 isn’t going to do this despite it’s ‘metrics'.

thanks for the suggestion, not what I need though

Not a Logic user, but I'd say a DAW from 2007 is probably not worth very much. On the flipside I know of one professional producer who uses a 2007 version of FL Studio.

But yeah, not likely to fetch much money on a current market I'd say.

On a separate note, I just found out that there's an inbuilt 'caffeinate' function on OSX these days. No need to install third-party apps like Amphetamine anymore.

https://www.macgasm.net/news/tips/terminal-command-will-caffeinate-mac-keep-sleeping/

Cheers everyone for responses. Much to learn. Will start by trying to bring the current one back to life a bit as it would be nice if I could just get a decent external screen to run it through.

We’re talking about the base M1 vs M2 (not Pro/Max/Ultra); your Mac Studio will have either M1 Max or Ultra, which both have ample RAM, SSD speed and media engines to be enough for most tasks.

Base M2 over M1 however genuinely is a no-brainer for the vast majority of use cases, especially video editing. We have a fleet of M1 and M2 (non-Pro) Mac Minis at work (as well as many flavours of Mac Studio & Apple Silicon MacBook Pro); I dictate the purchasing of these machines based on real world price/performance, and have put them all through the wringer. My advice is based on experience, not on any notion of newness.

The base spec M2 Mini can often be found for under £600 inc VAT new, will run rings around most Intel MacBooks and is very good value for what it’s capable of. No need to upgrade the RAM/storage for most tasks.

CleanMyMac

...works fine for me, and saves lots of time futzing over stuff to delete in the Finder. For that alone it's worth the (not very great) cost

I don't use either, but if you're going to use something like that you might as well use OnyX which is free instead of CleanMyMac which is $40 a year.

@beseku is right and AppCleaner is worth using, it saves a lot of time over manually hunting down the shit apps have left all over your computer.

Ah apologies, that makes sense re the base spec mini and it’s ram/video specs.
Mine is the Max as the ultra made no sense for my use apart from the more ram available as that makes a bigger difference to me than any extra video or processor cores.
Think the difference in cost between the Max/Ultra nearly paid for the MacBook pro I recently bought, a refurb M1 pro with 32gb ram which is noticeably slower than the Studio but I no longer need a laptop for heavy lifting just tethering a camera to and light video/PS use.
a huge improvement over my 2016 15in/intel MBP.

on the Apple architecture

Bites tongue.