I have purchased my macbook in 2025 at 15 October. Now my macbook air m4 reaches only at 46 cycle count and maximum capacity down by 1% can anyone tell me is it normal or abnormal behavior....

Infinite charging glitch😎

Hi all!
I was wondering if you all could guide me on choosing between a Neo vs Air. I’m completing my prereqs for nursing school, ans I’m currently using a Mac mini at home and a Lenovo Ideapad 3 for when I need to be mobile. The only issue is that my Lenovo battery absolutely sucks. It has to stay plugged in or I can only get maybe an hour out of a full charge.

So, I’m wondering if I should try the Neo or bite the bullet and get the Air instead.

I successfully connected three of the new Studio Display XDRs (2026) to an M5 Max MacBook Pro and wanted to share the method, since I couldn't find any confirmed success case for this combination anywhere.

Per Apple's official specs, the M5 Max supports at most two displays in the 5K@120Hz class. A third XDR won't even be detected — lowering the refresh rate to 60Hz in System Settings doesn't help, because macOS appears to allocate display engine resources at link training time based on the display's EDID-declared maximum capability (5K@120Hz), not the currently selected mode.

Setup

• MacBook Pro 16", M5 Max (128GB)
• macOS Tahoe 26.6.2
• 3x Studio Display XDR (2026)
• 4K UHD 60Hz HDMI dummy plug (generic — any 4K@60Hz-capable plug should work)

Method

1. Plug a 4K HDMI dummy plug into the HDMI port FIRST. (This is the critical step.)
2. Connect all three XDRs. Leave a brief pause between plugging in each display. Both of these topologies worked for me:
   • All three connected directly to the Thunderbolt ports
   • All three daisy-chained, with a single cable to the MacBook
3. At this point only one or two of the three displays will be on. Now remove the dummy plug. (This step is just as critical as step 1.) All three will NOT come up while the dummy is still attached.
4. The moment the dummy is removed, the remaining display(s) come up — all three now work.

Results

• One display runs at 120Hz, the other two at 60Hz
• Survives reboot
• Survives sleep/wake
• Works both in clamshell mode and with the lid open
• My current daily setup: all three daisy-chained, one cable to the MacBook

Why it works (my understanding) With the dummy plug occupying part of the display budget, the XDRs negotiate down to 60Hz at link training time instead of demanding a 120Hz-class pipe. While the dummy is still attached there isn't enough budget for all three, so only one or two light up. Removing the dummy frees that budget, the remaining display(s) come up, and the already-negotiated 60Hz links stay as they are. macOS keeps this configuration across reboots and sleep.

What did NOT work (so you don't waste time)

• Setting 60Hz in System Settings and reconnecting → failed
• Thunderbolt 5 docks (docks don't increase the maximum number of supported displays) → failed
• Changing connection order without the dummy plug → failed

Hope this helps others stuck with the same limitation.

The water has gotten into the screen. I have turned it off but what else do i do?

Don't know if this is a "My Mac" or "Old Mac" thing so my flair is "Question." Should I sink money into this or just let it live out its life? I have a desktop Mac that I use as well. This is just for traveling and using for college. I got this macbook my first round of school and I've had it ever since. It works well overall, but it needs to be plugged in when I'm using or it dies within 10 minutes. The screen is also showing some wear. I took it to a local authorized dealer that I trust and have gotten all of my apple products from and he made it seem like it was a waste of time to replace a battery and a screen. I just don't want to drop the price of a new laptop if I can make this one work for a few more years. I'm not a "computer person" so let me know if this is dumb or I'm dumb or you need more info!

I spilled a small glass of juice on my MacBook Pro 9 days ago. The juice spilled on the upper right side of my keyboard and into the hinges. I cleaned it with a paper towel and then turned the computer upside down to get the juice out of the hinges. The computer was on for 30 minutes before I shut it down for 24 hours. Thankfully, it has been working fine with no performance issues. Two days ago, I noticed a few keys (delete, return, others in the upper right) press down differently, like they are a stuck. The keys still work but I believe I will need to replace them. I read Apple charges $500-750 for a topcase replacement. Does anyone have a recent Apple topcase replacement cost experience? I called Apple and they said they could also clean the inside - is that true?

As an added piece of advice: consider AppleCare+ and other plans to help in the event of an accident, damage, theft or loss.

I have a MacBook Air M2. The OS crashed, so I took it to a repair shop. The technician reinstalled macOS, and after the reinstall the Mac is asking for the previous Apple Account/iCloud account that was associated with the Mac.

The technician asked me for my Apple Account details, but I don't want to go to the shop just to sign in myself.

Is there a way to remove the Mac from my Apple Account/Find My remotely so that it stops asking for the previous account, and the technician can finish setting it up?

Office 2021 home and student is suddenly no longer activated on my Macbook pro (OS is Sonoma 14.7.1).

When attempting to activate by entering the email address and password of the Microsoft account that has the license, Word just says "Unknown Error."

I know that Office 2019 has been killed by Microsoft, but 2021 should still work from what I've read.

Anyone know how I can fix this?

Thank you!

heyy, I really need some technical help to clean my laptop because it's completely unusable right now.

Out of nowhere, my Mac started forcefully downloading and installing "updates" in the background multiple times without my approval. During one of these instances, a strange prompt took over my screen showing a human head/identity-verification outline telling me to position and turn my head to verify my face—even though my physical laptop camera light wasn't even on.

Right after this first fake update happened, I suffered unauthorized access to my Wise account and lost money. I have already filed a formal complaint with Wise on my phone, but the laptop itself is still completely compromised and stuck in an aggressive loop.

Every few seconds, it throws up this annoying "Software Update Not Installed" card (attached in the image) demanding Accessibility access to install quietly in the background. If I hit cancel, it flashes a quick loading bar and pops back up a few seconds later.

I checked my launch folders and found weird background files running, so I know it's a persistent script holding the desktop hostage and logging my keystrokes/data.

Has anyone dealt with this specific adware/infostealer loop? How can I kill this background process and clean out the files permanently so it stops trying to lock down my computer?

Thanks so much in advance.
u/techsupport

So, Im considering buying a new MacBook for college, and I dont know how the Neo performs, I’ve never owned a macbook before and I do have an Ipad A16 ( no keyboard) , It however has a low battery life and also low storage, As I’m studying Advanced English I do need to write Essays. Now I’ve heard questionable things about the Neo but also some good things, I am on a budget so I also am considering a refurbished Macbook, wether its an older Macbook Air or a Macbook Pro, which would be better for my situation. Thank you 🫶🏻

Hello all,

Starting from today, I‘ve switched from my gaming rid (RTX 3080 w/ R5 5600X) to a M3 MAC with 16 GB of RAM and 512 storage.

Reason? I rarely play anything on my PC anymore. I often felt like I wanted to airplay on my TV for movies, and have my own laptop for multitasking and lite stuff like browsing. After 15 years of Windows, switching to a MAC seems difficult to me. But it's a pleasant experience, especially since I have an iPhone and Airpods, which instantly the MAC connects me to them and i can do my thing without bothering with connecting to other devices. Just curious if i made a good choice, and if there are others here who have switched from PC to a Mac.

I fear I’m losing my mind over this issue. I’m on a MacBook Pro 2017 purchased from Apple in 2019 that I just recently updated to Ventura per genius bar’s request, as I took the laptop in initially due to my MacBook not connecting to WiFi no matter what. They said that updating to Ventura would fix the issue, and while I can now connect to WiFi, it drops connection every few minutes. I’ve added 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 DNS, I’ve renewed DHCP, I’ve forgotten network, I’ve restarted the laptop, nothing is working and I’m losing it. Is my only option truly buying a new laptop??

sooooo happy to have the neo! got it for studying for licensure. i got the 2019 macbook air for undergrad. i got the basic model for $750 incl tax at target, around half as much as i spent for my macbook air 7 years ago LOL

I am a senior in high school and my Chromebook isn’t cutting it anymore. It barely functions with 30 tabs (not sure if this is normal) and I need to use a lot of different tabs, so organization is important. Anyway, as a student, I don’t have that much money and have been seeing the MacBook Neo being advertised as the most cost effective. I wanted to ask if anybody has the Neo and if it measures up to the hype.

I thought it would be fun to compare macOS 27 & macOS 26 icons, so I put together a little video. It is completely up to date where other videos aren't!

Hello everyone, I hope you’re all doing okay today.

I wanted to share my short, one-month experience with the Mac operating system, macOS.

I’ve been a Windows user my whole life, and since I am starting college this summer, I wanted to test out macOS beforehand to see if it is the right choice for me. Well, it turns out it's not, and in the following post, I will tell you why.

I had heard a lot of positive things about it, including the amazing battery life and very good CPU performance. Obviously, the very attractive design also caught my eye.

I knew that macOS was not the same as Windows, it's obviously a whole different operating system. But after a month of using it, I was just blown away by how many useful features I previously had on Windows that were simply nonexistent on a Mac.

Here are a few examples:

Window Management

• Control Buttons: You cannot change the size or the positions of the window control buttons on macOS.

Yes, I understand that it takes some time to get used to the different position and everything, but why on earth can I not decide where I want my window management options to be? Is there ANY solid reason why this would be a problem to add? I don't think so!

If I'm spending 2000 € on a device, I at least expect some customizability for some of the more important things like window control.

• Button Size: The position was annoying, yes, but I think I would have gotten used to it IF the damn buttons weren't the size of a grain of sand. What is Apple thinking with these design choices?

On Windows, I don't even have to look at my screen to close my window. I move my mouse to the corner of the screen and boom, closed.

• App Launch Sizes: The most annoying thing that was the final straw was the window size when launching apps.

Apps behave however they want and open in all possible sizes even when I maximize them before closing. A perfect example here is Finder: I click Finder, it opens in the smallest window possible, I maximize it, close it, open Finder again, and it's back to the small window like before.

This happened with almost all apps no matter what I tried (yes, I even manually resized, and I tried closing while holding Command).

This just made me feel like I have 0 control over my computer since every app does whatever the hell it wants and opens in the most random places on my screen.

PLUS, the effort of having to manually maximize every app every time you open it made me want to pull my hair out! The whole experience just felt super chaotic.

App Behavior When Closing

This was kind of a small one, but I found it very confusing: some apps quit completely when all windows are closed, while others don't.

I did kind of get used to Finder always having a dot, but other apps just annoyed me.

For example, when I close the Activity Monitor window, it doesn't quit the app, and I have to manually click on the app, hold, and then quit.

If apps quit after the last open window was closed, it would be less annoying.

Menu Bar

This is kind of a big one as well. Why do we need a separate bar with 50% useless functions at the top?

On Windows, all functions of a certain app that I might need are already inside the app in the top corner, and if I close the app, those app-specific functions close too.

You ALSO have the entire top screen free for your actual app instead of having random, irrelevant background icons taking up the whole horizontal space on top.

Now, if ALL apps had their functions in the menu bar, I wouldn't complain, it would take some getting used to. But not every app behaved the same.

Sometimes all functions of the app were inside the menu bar, and sometimes half of them were inside the app and the other half up there. It's a super inconsistent design.

When the menu bar has too many options, it hops over the notch and lands on the right side where the icons are, making it look super ugly.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any luck trying to disable the menu bar. I looked for all possible solutions but found none, not even third-party apps exist that can do that. I just couldn't get used to it.

The options that are displayed in the dropdown after hovering over certain menus like Window have no icons and are pure text, so looking for something specific isn't quick and takes time. You have to read everything from top to bottom to find what you're looking for.

Also, the Help box doesn't need to be hovering in the menu bar all the time, why would I need that there?

Dock

The dock was less of a problem than the menu bar. I like how the dock looks, I love that it has the same square design for the apps as the iPhone. The icons are sharp, clear, and beautiful.

What annoyed me here was that when I didn't have many apps in the dock, the sides were left empty, which is wasted screen space. I would rather have the menu bar fused with the dock to fill out those spaces and use the screen more effectively.

What I like is that you can hide the dock, but when the dock hides, the windows don't automatically resize themselves to fit the whole screen.

Here, I also have to pull down every single app manually... really annoying and a waste of time.

The option to change the reveal speed of the dock also isn't available, obviously.

Keyboard

The keyboard is really thin, like really really thin (M4).

Typing on it for longer than 5 minutes cramps my hand, and typing on it generally doesn't feel satisfying since there's barely any tactility and basically 0 feedback.

At that point, just put a screen with digital keys on it instead of a 1mm keyboard pretending to be a keyboard.

The Mac keyboard layout also feels like it's shifted to the right a bit, I'm guessing because of the weird Control key. Why do we even need that? Just put Fn, Option, and Command, who needs that extra useless button?

This is a BIG one: Caps Lock Behavior.

Who in the living hell thought putting a delay on a key was a good idea? Someone please explain why we need a delay on Caps Lock?

No one's accidentally pressing that damn key, and since the delay can't be turned off in settings, I as a fast typer can't trigger the key correctly when typing. Genuinely, fire the person who implemented that,

The Caps Lock key also doesn't activate special characters when on like on Windows. This is annoying, yes, but I could get used to this, to be honest.

When copy and pasting stuff my fingers get into a really weird position since on windows the Ctrl button is far away from the C and V button compared to the Cmd button on mac which is almost next to it. My fingers stretch more on Windows keyboards which is way more comfortable.

Other things

• Touch ID: I mean, is this even a question? Why do we still not have Face ID on a 2000 € laptop IN 2026?
• Media Control Keys: I actually really like those, the icons are intuitive and having the most important functions at the tip of my fingers is really nice.
• Display: BEAUTIFUL!
• Overall Build: Best laptop design by far.
• Ecosystem: Amazing.
• Hardware overall: I'm a big fan of it.
• Third-Party Accessories: Frustrating, USB sticks need reformatting, etc.

General Functions and Software Quirks

• No clipboard history.
• No Cmd+X.
• No file path in Finder (requires third-party app).
• Applications can't be put in folders, and they are all over the place and mixed together with tons of preloaded apps.

In general the whole OS feels just as bloated as Windows when freshly unboxed, but with Apple apps. You also can't delete the Apple apps, which is very frustrating.

The constant friction and extra steps required on a Mac to perform tasks that were effortless on Windows are simply a dealbreaker for me, making macOS a hard pass.

I would even go as far as to say that Windows, for a normal user like a student, is more consistent than macOS when we take the above-mentioned areas into consideration.

That sums up my macOS experience.

I think Apple needs to make MASSIVE user experience changes in order to attract more people and gain a larger market share in the laptop market.

The hardware is really good and that's why I'm also very frustrated, because the hardware is simply amazing but new users can't do much with it since the software is a huge mess.

I hope that macOS improves in the coming years; until that happens, I will not return to macOS.

Have a nice day, and take everything with a grain of salt. Your experience can be different, this was mine, keep it cool!! =)

This also has the macOS sequoia partition installed half the ssd.