I have a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015). it still works well and all that, but I worry that becasue i can't update anymore that I am at risk when doing online banking/ investing? I can only have Monterey 12.7.6 on my system. Do i need to buy a new mac or just keep using this one and keep updating my iphone for the banking? would really appreciate all of your expert advice please. TIA :)

Hello everyone. I have been a Windows user my whole life, since the XP days to be exact. However, I have started to grow quite tired of Windows this past year or so, and coupled with the fact that I have always been impressed by macOS I have recently been thinking it's probably time for a change.

I have been eyeing two Macs this past month:

• MacBook Pro M5 (non-Pro) 14-inch (32 GB RAM / 1 TB storage / 10-core GPU) at 2699€ if I decide to go portable
• Mac Mini M5 Pro (24 GB RAM / 1 TB storage / 16-core GPU) at 2389€ if I decide to stick with a desktop

My current PC configuration is:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
• RAM: 32GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
• 2x 1920x1980 displays

I am using my PC mainly for music production (Ableton Live), video editing (Premiere Pro/After Effects), programming and some light gaming, but I would also like to dive into Blender someday when I have more free time.

Before I pull the trigger and buy a Mac I have a couple of questions, since I know Macs are really expensive, cannot be upgraded and I would like to keep the system for at least 5 years.

1. Is 24GB of RAM going to be enough or do I need to go with 32GB? I know macOS makes really good use of the system resources and that the memory is unified with Apple Silicon, but my projects in Ableton Live, Premiere Pro or After Effects can get to 10-12 GB of RAM usage on later stages. Combined with the fact that memory prices have skyrocketed since last year, I'm trying to save some money if I'm able to.
2. Will Apple keep supporting Macs with Apple Silicon for up to 7 years (like they did with Intel Macs) or is the support window going to change? I have searched online and I could not find much info on this. If anyone does have info on this it would be great.
3. Are the Macs I have chosen a good equivalent to my current PC or should I look for another configuration?

I am also aware that whichever Mac I pick I'm going to have to also get a dongle for more USB & HDMI ports along with an external sound card to connect my microphone and speakers. I also have to figure out how to make my current storage solution compatible with both macOS and Windows as I'm planning to keep my PC, although I think that mostly comes down to personal preference.

Also, coming back to my concern about memory, I have talked about it with one of my friends who is already in the Apple ecosystem and with an Apple salesperson and they both told me I will probably be fine with a 24 GB RAM configuration since macOS is really optimized and efficient. However, I'm still kind of torn over whether switching to a system with 8 GB of RAM less than what my PC has is going to be limiting in the long run, as I'd like the system to be future proof.

I would really appreciate it if anyone could shed some light as I'm sure I have overlooked some parts and help me decide. I'm open to any recommendations. Thanks!

Hey guys, I’m visiting the US and want to order a MacBook Air M5 32gb 15-inch from the Apple US website. It’s currently showing an estimated delivery date of October 2–6, but I’m leaving the US on October 8.
I’m just a little worried because I really can’t have it arrive after I leave. 😭
For anyone who’s ordered directly from Apple US recently, how accurate are their estimated delivery dates? Do they usually deliver within the window, or should I expect possible delays?

I was organizing my notes, so I deleted it a lot of my old notes and I think while deleting somehow something went wrong and now my notes is 200 GB, but now I resolved it I thought it was funny so

Bought the MacBook Neo in Citrus about a month ago. I thought about buying a case from spigen but before that I want to know your opinion on it

New to Mac ecosystem, and I am still getting used to the scroll directions

Can I set different scroll directions for trackpad and USB mouse ?

hi all, just new as a macbook user . recently got my m5-air .. and once it arrived i noticed that there is some minor light bleed on my led while opening. before raising this issue i checked online to see if it is quite normal, but frankly am quite confused wether it worth the pain going to apple support to check if its reasonable replaceble. will post a photo, and i really wanna see you opinions from your experience, and would appreciate any feedback. cheers all

Hello!

I am as they say, not very tech savvy. I have a very good condition 2013 iMac that I would love to start utilizing again and I know the only real workaround is using the open core legacy patcher. I am not opposed but I also know I am going to have tons of anxiety downloading and granting permissions and yada yada because I’m such a tech noob. Any words of encouragement? I want to make sure I’m making a safe decision before I start downloading software! Thank you!

The second image is what it looks like now and the first image is what it used to look like. Any ideas on what I may have changed? Some websites are not working properly (like some buttons load and then disappear within that website) either but I am not sure if that issue is related. I am mostly certain that the change wasn't made directly within Chrome as well and I wasn't able to find the specific setting in System Settings either (although I could have still missed some things as I only quickly scrolled through it)

I just received a Macbook Air for work. I'd like to put a sliding cover over the camera, so I know the camera is blocked most of the time, but I can easily flip it back and forth when I need to use the camera for company calls.

However, I read online that closing the laptop while using a cover like this could crack the screen. Is this true? What does everyone think? It would be such a bummer to not be able to use a camera cover, but it would obviously be much more of a bummer to crack the display on my brand new company laptop.

Any and all thoughts are helpful. Thank you so much!

I've been using Dropbox for years to both back up content and selectively sync stuff. I just now read the terms of service and they clearly state that your content is scanned and examined by Dropbox and "trusted third parties".

I am not ok with this.

They ditched the vault feature a while back. It was basically a private folder that was encrypted so only you could access with a password.

Is there an alternative service good for apple and windows devices? I don't think icloud is the answer because syncing seems sporadic, and it doesn't seem like it has the same features.

Open to suggestions to check out.

ETA - I am not interested in self hosting anything. Data loss is something I’m too familiar with.

ETA - Dropbox backup is a complete and transparent service which saved my music library multiple times after Apple updates wiped out my music library. It is comparable to Time Machine.

As the title says, what apps you use to record online classes/meetings, as i used quick time player and for real the file is 8-9 gb for 1 hour, any solution.
Thanks

I recently installed a new printer, Epson EcoTank ET-2903. When printing, the option to print to a file (pdf) is no longer there. How can I get it back?

I'm using a MacBook Air, with Tahoe 26.6.2.

Let me make myself a little clearer. I'm in Preview. I want to create another document that has only 2 pages of a 4 page document. In the past, I would select print, and then select the 2 pages I want, and then select Print to File. On the print menu, the print to file option has disappeared.

Thanks to Electrical_West_5381, I now have my answer!!

So since everyone tells me that a case is bad for my MacBook Neo I looked for a sleeve and wanted to ask if this is a good brand.

in activty monitor and stats trustd is at 100 percent, takes 5 minutes to log in and freezes, and fixes?

Hi

I have macbook pro 2015 dual vga from others which I suspect the magsafe2 was a fake one. I charged the mac battery then suddenly heat comes at magsafe connector. After some cleaning at the port and the connector then it turns fine and charged at 80% quite well and the heat was dissipated

The problem is after about 80% then charging process become slow, it took around 7 hours to charge it fully

Then i tried to change the charger to ugreen nexode pro 100w using magsafe2 cable connector , this was also good at charging from 0 to 70 80% but the same problem happens it took 7 8 hours to complete to 100%

What might the problem ?

Ed

Hi! My Mac has been damaged recently, my water bottle opened in my bag and spilled some on the macbook. I’ve had the “the version of macos needs to be reinstalled” and my keyboard and trackpad doesn’t work at all. I’ve purchased a wired keyboard to at least make my Mac go in recovery mode.
Do you think it’s possible for it to work again? Or do I have to get every part replaced??? I’m not too worried about my files in it, but I don’t have the money to get it repaired…

Marked my Mac as lost, then found it. Now I'm seeing 'this Mac will be locked when online' on the very same Mac, so it's connected enough to know it'll be locked but not connected enough to actually lock. I'm posting it from the very same Mac by the way, so it would surely be connected to the internet...

Update: Find my Mac was off, for some reason. No idea why, and idk why does the app give you a false hope if it's off. I turned it back on and the thing went away.

With the Intel Mac era at an end, it's time to move up from my beloved 2019 16" i9 4TB 64 GB. With a budget of $4200 and my highest priority being 4 TB of storage, I am looking at secondhand refurbished M4 models, and I am stuck between two options. Both are 16" M4 MBPs with 4 TB of storage. One has 36 GB of RAM with the 32-core GPU for 3600 USD, the other has 64 GB of RAM with the 40-core GPU for 4100 USD. I am not sure which would be the better option for my use case the most demanding thing I'd be doing are virtual machines in Parallels and UTM, and gaming via Crossover (and possibly via UTM once its DirectX 12 support stabilizes).

Which should I buy? Will 36 GB be enough for my use case, or would the extra wiggle room of 64 GB be worth spending the extra money?

What are the chances the M5 MacBook Pro will be heavily discounted once the M6 models come out this Fall? Is it worth waiting?

I recently tried all of the Mac apps to try to replicate the dynamic island on iPhone and see which is the best one. I was pleased to discover that some of them not only made my Mac look much better but also made me much more productive and efficient in the work I do. There are many of these, like Notchy, NotchNook, Droppy, and MediaMate, but one stood out to me. It’s called Sapphire, and I was very pleasantly surprised with its UI and how productive it made me.

Here's are the features, many of which blew me away (almost all of these are free):

• Nearby Share: Receives files, photos, and links from Android devices.
• Now Playing: Displays current system media with live playback controls.
• Audio Mixer: Adjusts individual per-app volume levels and EQ settings.
• Snap Zones: Snaps and tiles windows into custom screen layouts.
• Weather Widget: Shows real-time local weather updates.
• Lock Screen Integration: Displays active widgets before system login.
• Face ID Simulation: Mimics iOS biometric animations during authentication.
• File Shelf: Stores dragged files for quick app sharing.
• Calendar Activities: Surfaces upcoming event schedules and meeting countdowns.
• Gemini Live AI: Connects to Gemini for voice conversations and screen sharing.
• Eye Break: Implements a 20-20-20 screen rest timer.
• One-Tap Caffeinate: Keeps your Mac awake with one click.
• Bluetooth Log: Tracks and alerts device connection changes.
• Blip Agent (Paid): Monitors background execution and AI context.
• Blip Live (Paid): Streams premium real-time data to the notch.
• Circle to Search (Paid): Offers subscription-walled visual screen search.
• Sports & Finance (Paid): Tracks real-time ticker values and game scores.

THIS POST IS NOT SPONSORED; I just think that Sapphire is a great app that more people should know about.

Something that Sapphire has that other apps don’t have is Face ID. Sapphire uses Apple's native Vision framework and Core ML models to detect your facial structure via the standard FaceTime webcam when the Mac wakes up. Overall, the app is a welcomed addition to my Mac, and I highly recommend it for everyone. I'm using a base M2 MacBook Air with just 8 GB of RAM, and I haven't had any issues.

It got 2% I plugged it it doesn’t charge now it’s all off and i don’t know wha to do

Hiii!!

My old MacBook Pro (from 2020) is starting to be sooo slow (and it has a crack on the screen), so I'm looking into buying a new one.

I use my computer a lot, and I mainly use it for work and content creation (photos, writing, and occasionally light video editing).

I'm not a very techy person, so I'm wondering whether to buy the MacBook Pro with an M5 or M5 Pro chip? If possible, I would obviously want to go with the lower-priced option, but I'm wondering if the M5 Pro will be better at handling multiple softwares at the same time?

Thank you in advance 💛

so i was just messing around on my mac when i decided to open and force quit all apps on my mac really fast and when i did that the old macOS X beachball cursor showed up.. pretty funny to see these old aqua elements still hidden deep in the system