Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

I’m on a series 4. Had since launch, battery still fine for a day (just) but I think this is the last year of updates for it.

still no garmin watch!?

Why are email accounts so shit?
for some reason i now have double the amount of accounts in the connection doctor, i.e. duplicates of my .com and .co.uk emails that are POP and IMAP and SMTP?? one SMTP account is logging in and working correctly, i’m being asked for password on the main account which I enter and it’s being rejected.
Something tells me i’m going to have to delete all my account and add them again FFS.

Anyone know of a service where they remote access your mac and sort this shit out for you?

EDIT: so a new credit card meant the payment for e-mail had not gone through but the only way of knowing this is looking in the depth of ionos app that i never use which then fails to load properly the safekey page for Amex to unfreeze the mail.....

Anyone got a Studio Display? Currently on a shitty Dell screen with my Macbook Pro that's doing my head / eyes in, and feeling tempted. Seems to be very few second-hand options out there, too – which I'm sort of seeing as a good sign...

What do you need from a monitor?
They are not for me as colour accuracy/calibration is not good enough and the dot pitch is too fine but the apple screen gets good reviews.
There’s probably similar spec from Asus/Ben-Q/Eizo out there for cheaper.

I need sharper text display and have had my head turned by retina. Decent camera / speakers also a plus due to increasing amount of time spent on calls. Appreciate similar specs available, but ECOSYSTEM init.

Anyone got a Studio Display?

I do. It’s lovely. I upgraded from an LG 24” Ultrafine for mac screen. The camera is really good, particularly the tracking / following function, sound is great. We also use it to watch films, as a second TV.

Second hand LG 5k. Great screen for a fraction of the cosst, but the stand is wobbly.

Thanks for sharing this link, I've finally got around to attempting to update my Mac OS using the OpenCore patcher.

Slowly working through it, and no doubt will be writing here for some tips.

2014 13" Macbook air trying to download Ventura as Sonoma isn't compatible it seems. Currently running OS X Yosemite

Yep! It’s plugged into a 27” iMac too. Noticeably better than the iMac screen, so it gets used for the more visually critical stuff.
The stand is of course really good but it can be a bit of a faff having two cameras when dealing with Teams etc.

So I've downloaded the OS installer and Opencore patcher and got to the step where it tells me to write it to a usb disk that's formatted to exfat. Ok done.

The next step on this page is to use Opencore to select the existing installer, but nothing comes up on my machine, only as pictured. Any ideas? do I need to install El Capitan instead of Ventura? if so I'd assumed that would have been suggested before this point in the process.

Looks like Opencore only goes as far back as Big Sur.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

2 Attachments

Could be you need the MacOS installer downloaded and ready to go. Try this to download older versions: https://github.com/scriptingosx/DownloadFullInstaller

Well after many hours of back and forth I'm running Big Sur, and have updated chrome and a few other vital things. Now I can browse the internet properly again. No need to spend money upgrading my laptop. What a win!

Thanks @Fox @mattioats & @ectoplasmosis

Edit: Does this mean I can now update to Ventura or Sonoma? and if I can, is there any point?

I have one too. I use it with an M1 Macbook Pro, and it's excellent. Great picture, great speakers. I don't really use the camera, but the followy thing is cool.

I guess that depends on what you’re using it for and whether it’d make a difference, with new features etc.

I used opencore to upgrade my 2012 Mac mini to Sonoma, which worked mostly but I hit bugs with WiFi, so I just downgraded. That Mac is just for watching tv on, so wasn’t worth the fight.

We've talked mice here before no? Is the Logitech MX Master 3 the go to option?

My wrists needs a rest!

Yes. 3s if you can - it has silent clicks - so much nicer.

Thanks (and @Well_is_it & @Muppetteer). Basically the confirmation bias I was hoping for.

I've had an MX Master 3 at home for a couple of years. Got a 3s for work a few months ago. Wouldn't go back to a regular but don't really mind either way about the s but.

After all the chat of this apple studio monitor makes me want one

MX anywhere most of the fun in a better (to me… entirely subjective) form factor as well if you don’t need the second scroll wheel.

my old macbook pro has finally officially karked it so i'm cleaning out all the old peripherals i have no other uses for.

have an apple 0.5m thunderbolt cable (boxed, used once) and an apple thunderbolt 3(usb-c) to thunderbolt 2 adapter (boxed, used once) and a thunderbolt to ethernet dongle that either came with my macbook or i bought it from apple.

anyone interested in £30 posted for all three?

How long are iPad Air 4s (March 2021) meant to last?
Mine is ok so far but don't want to lose data like I did last time...

Whatsapp...

My wife wants to get rid of her iphone (not because she smashed the screen) but because she spends too much fucking time on it. Which is a fair assessment. She'd like to replace it with some kind of non-smart phone. The bits holding her back:

Whatsapp - we do home ed so there are lots of whatsapp groups which are handy to keep an eye on. Fucked if I'm joining them, so how can she keep up to date? Presumably not possible? (i.e. you can get whatsapp etc on a browser but you need the phone to link in the first place).

Music - she was thinking of using an apple watch and earbuds for music when running but again, presume you need an iphone to set it all up? Small MP3 player instead until buds have 5G streaming or memory function built in?

Banking - presume you don't need a smartphone to do online banking apps on an ipad? Even to set up as they have lots of biometric hardware already?

Her phone goals are: sms (some sort of group function wouldn't hurt)/ calendar / phone. Probably in that order.

I haven't used an iphone for years so am zero help.

Edit: she doesn't have the capacity to just uninstall distraction apps or set timers etc.

WhatsApp and banking she could do off any iPad, suppose an MP3 player or an old iPod for music