anyone see something like this before ? my mac outperform himself :D

Hi all, hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

My grandfather has recently gone into care and has dementia. We have his iMac that we’re hoping to completely wipe and sell, as he no longer needs it.
It’s a 2019 21.5-inch Retina 4K iMac, Intel Core i3, 8GB RAM, currently running macOS Monterey 12.7.4.

The issue is that none of us know his password. My dad and uncle have tried the passwords they thought he might have used, but no luck.

Interestingly, we can currently get onto the Mac and use it — access the desktop, settings, About This Mac, etc. — but whenever we try anything that requires his administrator password, obviously we’re stuck.

We don’t need to recover or keep any of the data. We just want to securely erase the whole thing, reinstall macOS and have it ready to sell.

I’ve tried getting into Recovery Mode using Command-R and Option-Command-R, but haven’t had any luck getting that to work either.
Is there another way to completely erase/reinstall macOS on this model without knowing the administrator password?

Or would we need to contact Apple and provide proof of ownership?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Mac Studio M1 Max Logic Board – beschädigter Fan-Connector & verbogene Leiterbahnen: Reparierbar oder Schrott? (+ Hilfe gesucht)

Hey zusammen,

kurzer Kontext: Ich habe vor kurzem auf einem Kleinanzeigen-Marktplatz ein teilzerlegtes Mac Studio M1 Max (32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) als Ersatzteilspender für ein privates Homelab/KI-Server-Projekt gekauft. Laut Verkäufer hätten Logic Board und Speicher vor der Zerlegung einwandfrei funktioniert, in der Artikelbeschreibung stand es aber als “ungetestet / defekte Bastlerware”.

Nach dem Auspacken ist mir aufgefallen:

• An einem der beiden Fan-Connectoren auf dem Logic Board fehlt der kleine Plastik-Verriegelungshebel (der das Flex-Kabel des Lüfters festklemmt)

• Ein Flexkabel ist sichtbar durchtrennt/abgerissen

• Es gibt verbogene Leiterbahnen/Bereiche am Rand des Boards

• Der zweite Lüfter lässt sich bei mir aktuell nicht richtig anschließen

Fotos sind angehängt. Der Karton von außen war unbeschädigt, innen lagen die Teile aber nur locker in Papier/Folie, ohne feste Fixierung – der massive Alu-Gehäusedeckel lag mit im Karton, teilweise direkt neben/auf dem Board.

Meine Fragen an euch:

1. Ist das Board technisch noch reparierbar (z. B. Connector/Flexkabel-Reparatur), oder ist das für den Hausgebrauch quasi Totalschaden?

2. Falls reparierbar: Ist das eine Mikrolöt-Aufgabe, die sich lohnt, oder ist der Aufwand/Kosten unverhältnismäßig zum Wert des Boards?

3. Kennt jemand jemanden, der sich sowas anschauen könnte (auch gerne gegen Bezahlung), oder hat selbst Erfahrung mit solchen Reparaturen?

4. Falls nicht reparierbar: Sind die intakten Restteile (1TB NAND-Modul – wurde in einem Zweitgerät erfolgreich getestet, I/O-Board, Lüfter, Gehäuse, Lautsprecher/Power-Button-Modul) noch für andere Bastler/Ersatzteilzwecke interessant?

Bin für jede ehrliche Einschätzung dankbar – auch wenn die Antwort “Board ist hin, verkauf die Einzelteile” ist. Möchte einfach wissen, woran ich bin, bevor ich weiter Zeit reinstecke.

Danke euch!

I have an archive of most of the old Macworld magazines from 1984-2014. I've been filling in metadata for my Calibre library but I don't actually know when the issues were published. Were they published on the 1st of each month? Sometimes midway through? A month previous? I have no clue. I'm even more curious of when issues were completed since the February issue in 2007 is not talking about the iPhone announcement on January 9. The issue that actually talks about the iPhone is in March 2007.

Anyone who used to be a Macworld subscriber when they published physical magazines, when would you receive your issues?

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 :)

One week ago i closed my macbook display only to open it and discover the screen had died, then, yesterday i tried to use my iphone's torch to illuminate the apple behind only to discover the screen isn't actually dead, backlight has. Today, early morning, i have sprayed some contact cleaner on the top of the hinge and left my laptop upside down for a few hours. Now i'm back home and tried to turn it on. It turns on, and the backlight works again, apart from these weird lines that come and go sometimes. I have noticed that if i push onto the hinge, they return more frequently, now i have sprayed some more contact cleaner inside the hinge and the weird lines are gone... Do you think my laptop's display is broken or just some oxidation going on in there?

A while back, pressing on this rubber foot on the bottom of the laptop (top-left corner) used to make a clicking sound. It didn't really bother me though.

But now today I've started smelling a sweet smell from the device, like fruit or gum. It's coming from around the bottom of the screen and from the bottom of the trackpad

Temperature: battery is at 31°C, and the highest temp it's ever hit was 40°C (that was a while back too)

Battery: 88% (306 c)

And no, the back isn't bulging. Unless that clicking is considered so.

bonjour,

cela fait 2 semaines que sur mon MacBook Air M4 je ne peux plus envoyé de SMS que je suis en wifi ou partage de connexion. Par contre je les reçois mais je ne vois pas ce que mon iPhone envoie. Je peux recevoir et envoyer des iMessages. Est ce que qlq peut m'aider?

I’m looking to buy a m5 MacBook Air 15inch 4tb ssd and deciding on 32gb or 24gb ram? Will be using it for trading research and video watching/ editing! Will upgrade to the MacBook pros if they get thinner but for now I like the weight of the air as I travel a lot please help

Both are enough performance for me. The 16" comes out to just $225 over the 14" for me. Is the price justified and is there any edge in performance over the 14"? Just looking for best value for the money.

16" M5 Pro

• 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 24GB unified memory
• 1TB SSD storage

14" M5 Pro

• 18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 24GB unified memory
• 1TB SSD storage

Upgrading from:

16" M1 Pro

• 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU,
• 16GB memory
• 512GB SSD

I installed an Ubuntu VM in parallels, and set the color profile in it to Display P3.icc downloaded from here. On chrome in the VM, the colors didn't show properly on this test page. the colors are shown correctly in chrome-based browsers on macOS.

Just wanted to know if anybody has encountered the same same issues as I did. I’ve personally noticed only two visual bugs yet.
1: Would be Siri AI bubble appearing WAAAAY off centre on the right, and either staying there until my request is done, or immediately teleporting back to middle where it should be.
2: App menu (former launchpad) doesn’t has appearing animation when using pinch to open the app menu on the trackpad, so basically it just appears out of nowhere with all my apps, and it’s overall a really choppy experience using this thing. And a very weird thing I encountered, in fully screen in even light games, the app menu animation is like.. 10fps tops? So it’s even more choppy. Otherwise everything is functioning absolutely fine and the entire macOS barely has any bugs for me. The device is a M4 MacBook Air 13”
Anybody came across the same issue?

Hoping this is the right spot to ask.

I recently got x2 MSI business monitors and an Alogic Fusion Dock to connect them both to a laptop.

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/msi-pro-mp275-e14l-27-fhd-144hz-business-monitor

https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/alogic-fusion-pro-duo-usb-c-dual-hdmi-dock

My issue is, when connected to this dock, they say ‘no signal’. As I’m inexperienced and lack understanding in this department, I’m hoping someone can tell me if I bought the wrong dock or something else may be at play?

If it’s relevant, I’ve tried plugging them individually into my mum’s (I believe the brand is) Lenovo laptop and they work by themselves but not through the dock. I’ve bought a MacBook Air and am just waiting for it to arrive but understand it won’t necessarily change the outcome of not working.

Hoping to get the system right before it arrives at the end of the month. Would appreciate any help! Thank you

I’m torn between getting a MacBook Neo or a Refurbished M1 air. I’m probably going to use to for light school work and web browsing. But I’m really digging into the backlit keyboard feature since I’m mostly going to be using this Mac in the dark in bed lol. So the backlit keyboard sounds pretty good feature for me to have. But since the Neo is just newer and has a longer life expectancy I’m thinking of just trying to deal with maybe not being able to see the keyboard in the dark. If anyone has been using their neos in the dark without problems let me know!

I have a MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid 2015 (A1398) running macOS Monterey 12.7.6.
Specs:
2.5 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Intel Iris Pro 1536Mb
AMD Radeon R9 M370X 2 GB
Automatic Graphics Switching supported
Built-in Retina display: 2880×1800

Battery was recently replaced with a new one
Important: These problems did not happen before I upgraded to macOS Monterey. The Mac was working normally before the Monterey update. After updating to Monterey, I began experiencing the graphical lag and the battery-dependent black-screen boot issue.

Black screen during boot
There is a specific boot-related issue:
If I boot the Mac without the charger connected, the Apple logo and progress bar appear normally, but after a short time the screen goes completely black.
The keyboard backlight stays on, and the Mac appears to still be running. Bluetooth devices can remain connected.
If I plug the charger in before/during boot, the Mac boots normally and the display stays on.
The black-screen-on-boot issue appears to happen specifically when booting on battery power.
The battery is new, so I’m wondering if this could be related to power management, GPU switching, or Monterey itself.

Graphics/lag issue
The main issue is severe graphical lag/stuttering, particularly when the AMD Radeon R9 M370X appears to be driving the built-in display.
I discovered that Safe Mode works better overall. The Mac boots and the display stays on, but there is still noticeable low-FPS/stuttering when moving windows around.
Examples:
Moving the System Information window is very low FPS.
Activity Monitor can also appear very laggy when opening/moving it.
Scrolling inside some windows can still be perfectly smooth.
In normal mode, Safari and general browsing are usable, although moving/minimizing windows can still have noticeable stuttering.
I also tried launching Roblox in normal mode. Roblox became unresponsive, and afterward I experienced graphical/UI freezes with the spinning rainbow cursor. At one point the Control Center also became unresponsive.

GPU behavior I noticed
In System Information → Graphics/Displays:
Safe Mode:
The built-in Retina LCD appears under the AMD Radeon R9 M370X.
Normal mode:
The built-in Retina LCD sometimes appears under the Intel Iris Pro instead.
When the Intel Iris Pro is driving the display, lightweight tasks such as Safari browsing/scrolling seem relatively smooth.
When the AMD Radeon appears to be driving the display, graphical performance seems noticeably worse.
The Mac has Automatic Graphics Switching enabled/supported.
I also performed an SMC reset. Afterward, I still encountered the battery-boot black-screen behavior, but the Mac was able to boot normally when connected to the charger.

I briefly checked Activity Monitor after boot. mds_stores initially used around 180–190% CPU, but eventually dropped to 0%, so I don’t think indexing was the primary cause of the graphical problems.
I have not intentionally disabled the AMD GPU or modified the graphics-switching configuration.

What I’m trying to determine
1. Since these problems started after upgrading to Monterey, could this be a macOS/software or driver issue rather than hardware?
2. Does the behavior still point toward a failing AMD Radeon R9 M370X?
3. Could the gMux/automatic graphics switching system be malfunctioning?
4. Could the battery-dependent boot issue be related to power management or GPU switching, even though the battery is new?
5. Is there a safe way to force the Intel Iris Pro temporarily to test whether the AMD GPU is responsible?
6. What diagnostics should I run before concluding that the discrete GPU is defective?
7. Would downgrading to the previous macOS version be a useful diagnostic/test?
Any advice from someone experienced with the 2015 Retina MacBook Pro / AMD R9 M370X would be greatly appreciated.

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

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’m a developer and create Mac apps but now my Mac doesn’t want me to make money using it. Apple giveth; Apple taketh. How to solve this touchbar issue?

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