Macworld April 2021

For all the great and revolutionary products and features Apple has released over the years, there are just as many head-scratching decisions that have taken away or ruined things we love. They’re usually gone forever, like USB-A ports or headphone jacks, but every so often Apple hears our wails and reverses course. It happened most recently with the butterfly keyboard. Way back in 2015, Apple shifted away from its very excellent scissor-switch keyboards to a proprietary “butterfly” model that was thinner than its predecessor. Apple claimed it was superior, but unhappy users loudly complained about the keyboard, which was so prone to sticking and unresponsive keys that Apple launched a service program extending to every butterfly MacBook ever made. Apple finally retired the butterfly keyboard once and for all in 2019, and…

If you have a newer Mac, it likely uses a speedy solid-state drive to store files, apps, music, videos, and other important stuff. But there’s one thing you may not know about SSDs: They wear out over time. Since the SSD is such a vital part of your Mac, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on its health. While it usually takes a really long time to wear out an SSD—likely far longer than you’ll keep your Mac—problems can arise. Most recently, users started noticing that new M1 Macs and some Intel-based ones are showing advanced wear after just a few months of use, a troubling sign that could cause drives to burn out years before expected. So even if you have a brand-new M1 Mac, you might want to check…

We’ve heard rumors for about a year or so that Apple is on the verge of launching some products with Mini LED display technology. It could come to MacBooks, iPads, iMacs—really anything with a display, though it’s quite unlikely to ever end up in Apple Watch or iPhone (which use OLED displays). What is a Mini LED display and what exactly will it do for you? This short explanation may help you understand why this technology could represent such a big step forward into the future for Apple’s products. A BETTER BACKLIT LCD To understand Mini LED, you first have to know the basics of how a traditional backlit LCD works. That’s what we have in all our iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs today. It can get complicated, but in short, there’s a backlight (usually…

No matter what Apple product you were lucky enough to get this holiday, you can be assured of three things: It’ll “just work” out of the box. It’ll do exactly what you want it to do. And it’ll last as long as you need it to. That’s the not-so-secret secret to Apple’s success. Apple might sell more devices than ever, but it’s never going to be like Google or Amazon and blanket the landscape with products, so the ones it makes are built to have an instant impact. Instead of cramming as many features as possible into the latest iPhone, for example, Apple chose the features that will matter most, even if it means lagging behind its competitors in terms of features like super zoom and 120Hz displays. It’s all part of…

I have two desktop Mac setups, one at home and one at the Macworld office (ah, going to the office, those were the days). Both those setups have Logitech mice. My work setup has the Performance Mouse MX that I’ve been using for over ten (!) years. At home, I have the original MX Master, which I’ve been using for four years. Suffice to say, I love these mice. They have a similar design that fits my hand beautifully, they feel great, and they’re highly functional. Logitech recently released the MX Master 3, the latest entry in its MX series that also works with the iPad. It has many of the same features as the two mice I’ve been using, but it has one design change that’s an improvement, making it…

Modern digital photographers have plenty of options for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom plugins, including my longtime personal favorite, Tiffen Dfx. Following the release of version 4.0 in 2014, the future looked uncertain after the software was sold to Digital Film Tools, which was in turn acquired by leading visual effects publisher Boris FX last year. Despite changing hands, the heart and soul of Dfx thankfully remains intact under a new moniker. Billed as “visual effects for photographers,” Optics 2021 retains everything that was great about Tiffen Dfx (including the intuitive user interface), infusing it with a liberal amount of the Hollywood magic Boris FX is known for. A standalone application that doubles as an Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom plugin, Optics offers 160 filter types across nine categories, each with a ton…