Macworld December 2016

It’s been rumored for some time, and it even made an appearance in the macOS Sierra 10.12.1 update (go.macworld.com/toolbarleak), but on October 27th Apple officially revealed a new MacBook Pro. The killer surprise-and-delight feature? It’s called Touch Bar, an OLED panel that replaces the row of function keys usually found on the top of the Apple laptop keyboard. The Touch Bar does a lot of things, but the headline feature may be support for Touch ID. When you encounter a process that requires you to show your fingerprint (such as Apple Pay), you place your finger on the Touch ID area of the Touch Bar. The Touch ID sensor is integrated with the power button. The functions provided by the Touch Bar change based on the software you are using. For example,…

After September’s annual iPhone-focused event, it was time for the Mac to have its turn in the spotlight. And boy, did we get some major Mac news on October 27: Apple revealed three new MacBook Pros (see page 7), two of them featuring the Touch Bar, Apple’s brand-new touch control panel at the top of the keyboard. The MacBook Pro got a minimal refresh in October 2015 to introduce the Force Touch trackpad, but it’s been a minute since the line has seen a major update. As new products come in, old products must go out—so Apple’s complete MacBook lineup now looks a little different. Here’s a look at each MacBook in Apple’s collection, including information on pricing and on-sale dates for the just-announced Pros. THE NEW MACBOOK PRO The 2016 MacBook Pro…

Apple’s never been shy about shaving off features in its quest for slimmer, faster computing. The new MacBook Pro lineup is no exception. Following in the footsteps of the radical 12-inch MacBook, the revamped MacBook Pro and its slick Touch Bar cull several old standbys from its design—and kill one of its siblings in the process. Here are seven technologies eradicated in the new MacBook Pro notebooks. For more details on whether we think the eliminations are worthwhile, check out Macworld’s MacBook Pro hands-on impressions (see page 79). MAGSAFE This hurts. This really hurts. The MacBook’s vaunted, brilliant MagSafe used magnets to gently attach your power cord to your laptop, rather than relying on a hard connector jammed inside a port. MagSafe clamped on tightly enough to stay stable under normal conditions, but…

PASSTHROUGH POWER WAS initially rare for USB-C docks, which were designed to extend the single port on a 2015 and 2016 MacBook. This was unfortunate, because a dock should be a way to get more out of a laptop without watching the battery drain. The Satechi Slim Aluminum Type-C Multi-Port Adapter ($60 on go.macworld.com/satechislim) is part of a wave of docks that started to appear in mid-2016 that are both affordably priced and can make use of an Apple or a third-party USB-C charger while offering extensibility. The Satechi is a neat combination of aesthetics and function. The rounded corners are nice for a unit you’ll drop into a bag, and the aluminum finish (available in four colors) can match or complement your Mac. Utility matters, too. The built-in cable has reinforcement…

EARLIER THIS YEAR I reviewed Disk Drill 2, a highly recommended utility for recovering data from any storage volume attached to your Mac, regardless of which file system it was created with. While the software exceeded expectations in terms of functionality, it was sorely lacking in visual flourish, with a user interface that seemed out of step with the current operating system. I’m happy to announce this grievance has been addressed with the new Disk Drill 3 (cleverfiles.com), which not only sports a much-needed fresh coat of digital paint but also nicely spices up the existing buffet of tools. iOS-FRIENDLY Like previous versions, Disk Drill 3 offers data recovery as a free download, which includes a handful of tools for monitoring disk health, identifying and removing unwanted files, performing data backups, and more.…

FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, the options for professional font-management utilities have been three: Extensis’s Suitcase Fusion, Monotype’s FontExplorer X Pro, and Insider Software’s FontAgent Pro (now simply FontAgent). Each caters to a different type (pun intended) of user, and FontAgent 7 seems squarely aimed at users who need to manage a sizable collection of fonts but don’t want to worry about lots of details. It also makes sharing a font collection among multiple Macs or members of a workgroup very simple. New to FontAgent 7 is an updated interface, new font previews, a dramatically improved font identification engine that eliminates the need for dedicated FontAgent libraries, auto-activation plug-ins for the latest design apps from Adobe and Quark, and a new way to share fonts. NEW INTERFACE FontAgent 7’s most obvious improvement is…