Essential Apple User Magazine March 2022

James Gale Managing Editor How about a games subscription service for quality, big-name franchise games like GTA, CoD and FIFA? Games people actually want to play? Martin Smith Group Senior Designer How about a solar-powered MacBook Pro, or at least one that has solar charging capability? It would be pretty good environmentally. Alan Hulme Staff Writer A rocket to take Tim Cook into space. Jeff Bezos has done it, Richard Branson has done it, Elon Musk has done it; why doesn’t Apple do it too? David Hayward Staff Writer I want some smart glasses with a built-in camera. It’s not a new concept, but no one’s got it right yet. Could Apple be the first? I honestly think that it could. Ian Osborne Editor A roof-mounted wind turbine for Domestic…

Do you need a Chromebook? At first glance, it’s a stupid question. If you already have a Mac notebook, why on Earth would you need a far less powerful Chrome OS laptop? But how many times have you left your expensive MacBook at home because you didn’t want to risk taking it with you? Maybe you were going camping, and felt uncomfortable about leaving it in your tent. Or you wanted to use it on the beach, but couldn’t risk getting sand in the keys. Or maybe… you get the idea. There’s any number of situations where you don’t want to risk your MacBook, but wouldn’t mind using a much cheaper Chromebook. In this issue’s cover feature, we take a look at how a Chrome OS-powered Chromebook might stand in…

We know what you’re thinking. ‘Why on Earth would I need a Chromebook when I already have a MacBook?’ But would you take your MacBook, which could well cost up to £2000, on a hiking holiday when you might be trekking through the wilderness in the rain? Would you work on it in a coffee shop or down the pub? Would you take it camping for watching movies in the evening, knowing it would spend most of your vacation in your tent? Or maybe you only have a desktop Mac; would you buy a Mac notebook just to use on the occasional trip? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘No, it’s too expensive and/or valuable to risk,’ you might want to consider a much cheaper alternative; a…

It’s time to take the plunge and get started with our Chromebook. For our experiment, we chose an Acer Chromebook 314, featuring an Intel Celeron N4000 processor with Intel UHD graphics, a 14-inch Acer ComfyView LCD screen, 4GB of memory and 32GB of storage. It has Wi-Fi ‘ac’ and Bluetooth 5.0 for communication, and for connectivity, two USB 3.0 ports and two USB-C ports. There’s also a microSD reader, and a 3.5mm jack port for headphones or external speakers. Charging its 12.5-hour battery is through USB-C, and the bundled transformer is fairly small and light, so it won’t take up much room in your bag. The Acer Chromebook 314 costs just £220/$196/240 € on Amazon, which gives a good balance between price and performance. It’s possible to buy Chromebooks for…

Picture the scene. You’re at a factory or building site, and need to incorporate some new figures into a spreadsheet and email it back to the office. You left your MacBook at home as you didn’t want to risk damaging it, so how will your Chromebook cope? Should you be worried, and if so, what about? One thing you definitely don’t need to be concerned about is battery life. A combination of a low-powered processor and a minimalistic operating system combine to give Chromebooks an amazing power efficiency. The model we’re using, the Acer Chromebook 314, runs for over 12 hours on a single charge, beating the 16-inch MacBook Pro and being not too far behind the 13-inch MBP and the MacBook Air. It charges through a USB-C cable, so…

To tether with an Android phone, open Settings and click Connected Devices. Next to Android Phone, select Set Up and follow the on-screen instructions. To use tethering in this way, you need to be running Chrome OS 71 or later; open Settings and click on About Chrome OS to find out which you’re running. If you’re on an iPhone it’s a little more complicated, but not too difficult. On your phone, open Settings, tap Personal Hotspot and switch on Allow Others to Join. Note the Wi-Fi Password underneath. On your Chromebook, open Settings, click Network and then click the triangle to the right of your current wireless access point. Choose your iPhone from the list of local SSIDs, then enter the Wi-Fi Password from the Personal Hotspot page on your…