Table of contents for June 2017 in MacFormat

$1,100 PRICE OF AN APPLE-BRANDED SAILBOARD Back in 1986, Apple needed some new product ideas – so it launched its own line of branded windsurf sails. $1,100 would let you ride the ocean waves in geek chic style, complete with huge Apple logo adorning the sail. 40MB BASE HARD DRIVE SIZE IN MACINTOSH IIVX 1992’s Macintosh IIvx came with a 40MB hard drive, upgradeable up to 400MB. It was also the first ever PC to come with internal space for a CD-ROM drive. 25MHZ SPEED OF PROCESSOR IN THE eMATE 300 Everyone knows about the Apple Newton, but not everyone knows about the eMate 300. It was a low-cost laptop made by Apple that ran the Newton operating system. Costing $799 at its March 1997 launch, it lasted less than…

There are few things in life as divisive and polarising as an Apple product. While many people laud the latest iGadgets as revolutionary must-haves that will change your life for good, there is an equal number who condemn them as overpriced walletgougers made to milk the ‘sheeple’ dry. The focus of this consumer ire is often Apple’s near-obsession with minimalism. Every product refresh seems to see iPhones, MacBooks and more getting thinner and lighter (so much so that the Air range, once the definition of laptop lightness, now looks almost obsolete), and if that means ports and standards have to be ditched, or certain tech has to be foregone – well, so be it, says Apple. Got a peripheral device that uses a legacy connection? There’s an adaptor for that.…

Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com LETTER OF THE MONTH! Retina eye test I’ve found a flaw in Apple’s Retina screens. It doesn’t matter how crisp the detail on the screen is, it’s only as sharp as the user’s eyesight! Apple should force purchasers to undergo an eyesight examination prior to buying retina-screen products. Okay, I’m jesting, but it’s something potential buyers should consider, based upon my own recent experience. I bought a new 27-inch iMac last June, and while I liked the screen, I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. But last week, following an eye test, I was advised to have a pair of glasses for computer use as well as distance. Only when I put on these dedicated computer specs did…

Ikea Tradfri Floalt From £50 ikea.com Ikea’s new Tradfri range of smart lighting kits starts at £15 for a basic white bulb. Our favourites though are the Floalt panels, which you can mount on a wall for striking effect. The panels come in three different sizes, costing £50-100. Nanoleaf Aurora £180 nanoleaf.me Nanoleaf’s Aurora disco lights are a bit over the top, but they’re also terrific fun. The kit includes nine triangular panels that you can link together in different shapes; the Nanoleaf app lets you control the colour of each panel. Osram Lightify Starter Kit £60 osram.co.uk Osram has finally brought this affordably priced starter kit to the UK. The kit includes one colour bulb and the Gateway controller, but additional bulbs only cost £20-30 each, and Osram makes…

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to record audio on your Mac YOU’LL NEED OS X 10.9 or later, Audio Hijack Thanks to the clever CoreAudio system that Mac OS X uses to manage the handling and routing of sound inside your Mac, applications like the excellent Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba are able to intercept and record almost any kind of sound. Think of it as introducing a recording device between the source of the sound – an application – and the destination, which is your Mac’s speakers or your headphones. Because it’s done digitally there is no loss of quality. Plus, you can encode audio as it is recorded, so even long recordings won’t use up much space. The most obvious use is to record…

IT WILL TAKE 1 hour YOU WILL LEARN How to create a precise room layout with Concept’s tools YOU’LL NEED iPhone/iPad running iOS 9 or later, Concepts app, stylus (optional) Concepts provides a variety of drawing tools, with guides to work on If you’re looking for a design app that bridges the divide between rough sketches and pinpointaccurate plans, Concepts could be for you. It provides a variety of drawing tools from freehand brushes to predefined shapes, and offers a choice of grids and guides to work on, coupled with precise measurement tools, multiple layers and the ability to share your finished work. Concepts is free to use, but there are several in-app upgrades. The Pro upgrade (£7.99) isn’t required for this project, but you might want to shell out…

NEW SECTION Your dedicated guide to getting more from macOS Sierra macOS Sierra requirements macOS Sierra works on Macs dating back to 2010, and MacBooks and iMacs to 2009. You need to be running Mac OS X 10.7 or later. You need 8.8GB of available storage. Back up your Mac before upgrading; go to support. apple.com/en-gb/HT201250 for advice on using Time Machine. Go to the Mac App Store and download the free macOS Sierra upgrade. The benefits of running macOS Sierra macOS Sierra introduces Siri to the Mac. You can use Apple Pay on your Mac with macOS Sierra. Picture-in-picture – extract a video from a website and watch it from your desktop. By default, Desktop and Documents folders are uploaded to iCloud Drive. macOS offers the smartest continuity features to…

Networking quick-fire questions How reliable is the new Touch Bar? Apple hasn’t revealed how many MacBook Pros it has sold, but there are now lots of them with Touch Bars in daily use. Reports of hardware problems are remarkably uncommon; as they don’t have any moving parts, they should age well too. Software issues are more common, but improved by the macOS Sierra 10.12.3 update. How to run diagnostics with a wireless keyboard? Connect Apple’s rechargeable wireless keyboard to a USB port using its charging lead, which turns it into a USB keyboard. If you have any other wireless keyboard, you’ll need to get a cheap USB keyboard for this purpose. Keep it handy in case you need to enter Recovery mode. Unexplained shutdowns Q Although my Mac mini seems…

IN PRINT ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 312 MAY 2017 Detox your Mac: refresh your OS Apple AirPods: rivals tested New look iPhone 7 & new faster iPad Find your way with Maps in iOS 10 ISSUE 311 APRIL 2017 New Apple gear for 2017! Do more with Apple’s built-in apps Smart sensors to secure your home Turn an iPad into a Touch Bar for Mac ISSUE 310 MARCH 2017 Become a Mac Genius Multi-monitor setups made easy Get smart: automate your home Use an old Mac as a Time Capsule To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/macformat_back or phone +44 (0)844 848 2852 and we’ll post them out to you. Download back issues onto your iOS device at any time and keep them forever in…

£219 (starter kit) FROM Devolo, devolo.co.uk FEATURES 5GHz Wi-Fi, five Ethernet ports per unit (one Gigabit) VERDICT GigaGate will solve networking issues if you can’t get Wi-Fi to stretch far enough. + Super strong Wi-Fi − Expensive solution J oining the growing band of home ‘mesh’ networking devices is this kit. There are only two devices (a base station and a satellite) in the starter kit. GigaGate is designed to extend the range of your network into areas of your home where your standard router’s connection is poor. Obviously, it’s worth seeing if you can upgrade your router (unless you have an especially large house) before buying gear like this, as it really is meant for exceptionally large or tall homes. Alternatively, it can also be used to share internet…

£5.99 FROM Fortyfour, vantage-app.com NEEDS iOS 9 or later VERDICT Visual flair without sacrificing familiar features, but the iPad version needs work. + Colours, fonts, stickers − In-app purchases Vantage Calendar’s main view looks like a Star Warsstyle opening title crawl in reverse. It has the current day’s activities at the bottom, grouped into stacks that scroll into the past or future. You can scroll through connected iCloud, Google, Outlook or Facebook Events calendars with a horizontal swipe across the top grid, followed by a tap to jump to a specific day. A tap on any event expands to fullscreen. Events can be assigned colours, fonts, and stickers. (Such embellishments currently won’t sync across to other calendar apps.) Vantage Calendar also includes weekly summary and hourly schedule views, as well…

Few tech devices have had such a long and varied life as Apple’s iPod. Born as a simple way to put 1,000 songs in your pocket, it diverged simultaneously into a tiny clip-on music player on the one hand, and a full-on pocket computer on the other. We track the story of a modern icon. Design classic The iPod, with its click wheel, quickly became a design classic, as did the TV adverts that went with it. The adverts often featured silhouetted dancers. The silhouetted figures emphasised the white iPod earphones, which quickly became an important part of the iPod brand, living on today in all Apple’s earphone products, which are still only available in ‘Apple white’. iTunes With the MP3 player sorted, Apple needed a way for people to…

Apple hasn’t updated the Mac Pro range since 2013, and technology has moved on a lot since then. With no word on the future of the high end Mac for years, many had assumed its time had come and gone. But in talks with tech journalists, Apple’s Phil Schiller confirmed the Mac Pro was still an important product. “We are in the process of what we call ‘completely rethinking the Mac Pro’ ” he explained, saying a new model would be out some time after 2017. The current Mac Pro was thermally limited to the extent that it was difficult to upgrade, according to Apple. That will change with a new modular design; Apple wants to “do something that can be supported for a long time with customers with updates…

[MOVIE] THE DISCOVERY NETFLIX When the afterlife is proven to exist, huge numbers of people kill themselves to get there. But the truth is much more complicated. [PODCAST] PAGE 94 FREE Private Eye hits the airwaves in its everirreverent manner. Hilarious, cutting and deeply interesting, you will both laugh and cry at the state of the world. [TV SHOW] WAR & PEACE NETFLIX The BBC’s adaptation of the classic novel by Leo Tolstoy is a triumph of period drama, full of spellbinding wit, action, emotion and humour.…

One notable inspiration was architect Joseph Eichler. “His houses were smart and cheap and good,” according to Jobs. “They brought clean design and simple taste to lower-income people.” Following Eichler’s lead and creating great design for the mass market “was the original vision for Apple,” said Jobs. “That’s what we tried to do with the first Mac. That’s what we did with the iPod.” Other influences included the typography classes he took at Reed College in Oregon. “If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts,” Jobs mused to his biographer Walter Isaacson. “And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them.”…

When Apple buys a company, it’s hard not to turn into an amateur seer. In theory, you can’t read too much into its future by looking at the businesses it acquires, but sometimes the tea leaves indicate something more clearly than others, especially if the acquisitions are in areas that seem to be a slam dunk for Apple to be getting into. When it bought Siri, for example, the animal entrails pretty clearly spelled out ‘built-in AI assistant’. Apple’s latest purchase is a similar story. Workflow is an app that many iOS power-users have come to love very dearly. It’s a bit like Automator, in that you build up workflows of tasks for it perform in a particular order, pushing a piece of data between them, but it works across…

LIVE SMARTER The smart home is here – live the Apple dream today! Lighting was one of the first smart home products to take off in a big way – even if some sceptics did dismiss them by asking ‘how hard can it be to turn off a light bulb?’ The answer to that is – well, just ask the parents of any teenager who wanders around the house leaving lights on in every room. So the first advantage of smart lighting is simply to save money by allowing the lights to turn themselves off automatically. There are other advantages too, including the ability to control all the lights in your home from your iPhone all at once, or slowly dim the lights in a child’s bedroom at night. It’s…

By default, cloud services such as Dropbox will only sync files you put in their dedicated folder on your Mac. Some folders, such as your Desktop or Pictures, cannot be moved there. You can get around this issue with MacDropAny, a tool which creates a ‘symbolic link’ between these kinds of folders. Visit zibity.com/macdropany.html and click Download MacDropAny to get started. Move the downloaded app to your Mac’s Applications folder, then open it. In MacDropAny’s window, choose the folder you want to sync, such as your Pictures folder; click Choose a Folder, navigate to and select the one to sync, then click on Choose Folder. Next, click on the menu next to ‘Choose a cloud storage service to sync with’ and choose your provider. Click Sync at the bottom right…

When choosing RAID storage, ideally find a drive which supports connecting via Thunderbolt as this will make for much faster data access speeds. Most modern RAID drives support both RAID 0 (striping) and RAID 1 (mirroring), but check carefully with the manufacturer to be sure the device supports the latter to keep your data safe. RAID devices usually pack multiple disks into one enclosure, as is the case with the WD 4TB My Book Thunderbolt Duo. Check the product specs to see how many physical disks are inside. If you don’t want to trust your data to a single array, you can create a virtual RAID drive using the hardware RAID device and another external drive. Simply follow the steps in ‘Set up your software RAID’. Bear in mind that…

IT WILL TAKE 10 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to adjust system-hogging visual settings YOU’LL NEED macOS Sierra If your Mac is running slowly, the advanced visual effects of macOS Sierra may be to blame. As with the previous OS X El Capitan, macOS Sierra uses a transparency effect on windows, menus and the Dock by default, where you see a rough translucent shape of objects behind an open window or menu as you browse the desktop. It looks nice, but there’s no real need for it. If you have used Apple Macs for a while, you might even prefer a look and feel which is more opaque. Follow the steps in the tutorial to reduce transparency. Ticking the box will take effect immediately without requiring a restart. If you…

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes YOU WILL LEARN How to find out more about your Mac YOU’LL NEED macOS Sierra Macs are so simple that it’s easy to forget the technology sitting under the hood. And Apple likes it this way. Instead of worrying about what version of Bluetooth you have, or what firmware revision the graphics card is using, you can simply enjoy the benefits of macOS Sierra and just get on with things. But there are some people who are in awe of Apple and macOS technology and are keen to know what power is under the hood. Apple has two superb services in Sierra that provide exactly the sort of information ‘power users’ are after: About This Mac and an app called System Information. System Information enables…

Software quick-fire questions How do I fix Facetime broken by the 10.12.3 update? Download and install the 10.12.3 or later Combo update from support.apple.com/kb/DL1905. If that doesn’t help, try a Safe startup with the s key held, and refer to support. apple.com/en-gb/ HT204168. If the problem persists, contact Apple support as it may well be in your iCloud account. Why did my Mac lose Wi-Fi after a macOS update? Try moving all Airport, Wi-Fi, and network settings files (with the extension .plist) from / Library/Preferences/ SystemConfiguration to another folder in your Documents folder. Restart and set networking up again. Otherwise try a Safe startup, or a Combo update, as above. Keychain problems in Sierra Q Following a security scare, I changed all the passwords on my Mac and online accounts.…

BUYING ADVICE Our authoritative reviews review help you make more informed choices Manifesto – our ratings explained Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by advertisers. You can trust us to give an honest assessment of a product’s worth The prices quoted for products are correct at the time of writing and are the best we can find from a reputable online dealer, excluding delivery. A brilliant thing in all regards, and worth every penny Strongly recommended; any flaws are only minor concerns Worth considering, though there may be better options Fundamentally flawed; look at alternatives as a priority A waste of your money and everyone’s time; do not buy! The MACFORMAT Awards Awarded to a five-star product we believe…

We’re all waiting on tenterhooks to find out what the third generation of the Apple Watch will look like, and what it’s big new feature will be. A recent report from an analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group has predicted that Apple will introduce cellular connectivity to the Apple Watch for the first time, a feature which has been rumoured for a while. With a SIM card for LTE connectivity, the Apple Watch would be able to leave the iPhone behind completely, so you could make phone calls, and send text messages, all by interacting directly with the watch. Of course, this would mean you’d need an additional data contract with your mobile company, so things could get expensive quickly. A truly independent Apple Watch excites us though. Jo says… Being…

T his should serve as a warning for companies not to rely too heavily on Apple for orders. UK company Imagination Technologies currently provides the graphics chip (GPU) designs for Apple’s mobile devices, but not for much longer. Apple told Imagination that it is planning to design its own GPUs within two years, leading to an end to future royalty payments. Apple’s payments to Imagination totalled £60.7 million in the 2015-2016 financial year, expected to rise to £65 million for the year ending April 2017. That’s about half of Imagination Technologies’ entire revenue. The news of Apple’s decision led to Imagination’s stock dropping 70% and plunging to levels not hit since 2009. The two firms have now begun discussing the future of their licence agreeement. Imagination has stated it believes…

Ronald Wayne cofounded Apple with the two Steves, but backed out 12 days later. His 10% stake would be worth $75.5 billion today. Apple’s first order came from a local computer shop, where Steve Jobs managed to convince the owner to order “something like 100” Apple I machines at $500 each, according to Steve Wozniak. for Steve Jobs sold his VW van $1,500 to finance Apple in its earliest days, but had to help pay for repairs after the engine blew out two weeks after the sale. In 1976, teletype machines could only output 10 characters a second. The Apple I was six times faster, outputting 60 characters a second. The Apple I was originally priced at $666.66 because Wozniak liked repeating digits, and to make a one-third markup on…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! SAVE 54%! Turn to page 30 APPLE IN QUOTES KIM SCOTT kimmalonescott.com “Somebody warned me, ‘Tim is extremely quiet. Don’t let it unnerve you.’ ” Former Apple University lecturer reveals Tim Cook’s interview style ZANE LOWE apple.com “We try to make as much noise and create as much context and tell stories for records and artists.” Beats 1 host explains the role of the radio show within Apple Music JOHN GRUBER daringfireball.net “If Apple truly eliminates the chin and forehead, they’ll leap ahead of Samsung.” Removing top and bottom iPhone bezels should be a priority, says pundit PHILIP SCHILLER apple.com “Our driving ambition in every market is to be the best, and not the cheapest.” Apple marketing chief on how Apple will approach the Indian market “IS THERE A…

Explained LED An old incandescent bulb is basically a lump of hot, glowing wire that is either on or off. In contrast, LED bulbs use digital ‘light-emitting diodes’ that can display millions of different colours and different levels of brightness – all controlled by an app on your iPhone. Is smart lighting safe? There have been a number of news stories recently about poor security on the smart devices that we use in our homes – with Osram’s Lightify range being picked out for particular criticism. Osram quickly patched its Lightify app to tighten up security, but you should always make sure your apps are up to date with the latest security patches and bug fixes. Will the bulbs fit? Many homes in the UK have light sockets that use…

Time Machine is such a useful and easy to use backup tool, it’s hard to imagine why you’d ever need another application. However, it can be rather inflexible. What if, for instance, you want to run backups only once a week? Time Machine also cannot make an exact copy of the Recovery partition on your drive, which you will need to restore your Mac in case of a serious error. In this section, we explore popular alternatives to Time Machine which provide greater flexibility in keeping your data safe. Carbon Copy Cloner (bombich.com) is a good choice for individuals who want to copy files on a single computer to a backup drive. If you have multiple computers and need a more powerful solution, we also look at Retrospect (retrospect.com), the…

While dedicated cloud storage services such as Dropbox and iCloud Drive can be useful, they can be expensive for larger amounts of data, and it can sometimes be difficult to back up only certain kinds of files or folders. You may also have some privacy concerns about trusting your data to large corporations. If any of these are true for you, this section focuses on other ways of backing up your data online, such as FTP/SSH, to a server or using specialised software such as Resilio Sync and NextCloud. If you have a dedicated server, these options can offer much greater speed and security than subscription-based cloud services. If you do feel comfortable trusting your data is safe and simply want to save money, Amazon Web Services allows you to…

NEW IDEAS Your in-depth guide to getting more from your Apple kit Understand iOS gestures A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is to move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content. Swipe means move one or more fingers across an item or the screen, then let go. A flick is like swiping, but it’s quicker, and is often used to scroll content more quickly. Pinch means move two fingers together or apart, usually to zoom in or out. Touch and hold means lightly rest your finger on an item and wait for a reaction. Master Mac keyboard shortcuts When you see a shortcut like command+option+C, hold all but the last key, then press that one. command…

IT WILL TAKE 1 hour YOU WILL LEARN How to investigate hardware issues and upgrade memory YOU’LL NEED macOS Sierra If system performance is particularly slow, you may have to consider reinstalling macOS. However, if you’re still experiencing problems after a fresh install, you may need to investigate hardware issues or upgrade the memory. Visit locate.apple.com to view details of Apple Retail Stores and Authorised Service Providers who can run an in-depth hardware diagnostic. If your device is out of warranty, service providers may charge to examine the device. Check your warranty as you may be entitled to a free repair under consumer law (apple.com/legal/warranty). If no hardware fault is found with your Mac it may be that you need more memory. You can check the amount of memory installed…

iOS software quick-fire questions Can I get an external flash for my iPhone 6? The best solutions have been external LED panels to provide continuous light rather than flash. Tric has just started shipping its new wireless Xenon flash trigger, which syncs with external flash units such as speedlights; its fastest sync speed is 1/30, though, with an iPhone 6, and 1/45 with 6s and 7. What’s the best macro lens for an iPhone 7? Moment and olloclip offer top-quality options, but note the differences in their mounting systems. Neither can match the performance of a good compact camera with a macro-capable lens, and those are inferior to a DSLR with dedicated macro lens. Charging in safety Q I heard recently that someone was electrocuted when charging and using their…

From £339 FROM Apple, apple.com FEATURES 32GB and 128GB storage options, 2048x1536 pixel Retina display A9 processor, 8-megapixel camera Alex says… Hardly a blockbuster change, but we’re OK with that. The iPad has reached maturity, and it’s hard for Apple to do anything truly radical to improve it – faster CPU here, better battery there. It’s still the best tablet by some distance, it just won’t change the world any more. T his iPad is the most exciting boring update to a product we’ve ever seen. It’s the replacement for the iPad Air 2 at the lower-price end of Apple’s 10-inch tablet range, and doesn’t include any fancy new tricks, or features we’ve never seen before, or anything like that. What it does is take a great tablet, make it…

£200 FROM D-Link, dlink.com FEATURES 1080p resolution, HomeKit support, 180° lens, night-vision mode The Omna includes an infrared nightvision mode VERDICT You’ll need an Apple TV or iPad to make the most of it, but the Omna is a real step forward for Apple’s HomeKit tech. + High-quality 1080p camera − Wide-angle lens + Supports HomeKit − No online storage A pple really missed a trick with the first version of its HomeKit software, as it didn’t work with cameras at all. Fortunately, Apple updated HomeKit with iOS 10, and the Home app can now display video and control cameras. And that has allowed D-Link to step forward with the Omna – the first camera we’ve seen that works with the HomeKit platform and the Home app in iOS 10.…

Misfit Phase £165 FROM Misfit, misfit.com FEATURES Call, text and app notifications, six-month battery, 50m water resistant Features The Phase connects to your iPhone via Bluetooth and vibrates whenever you receive a notification, or an alarm goes off. It tracks your sleep and activity patterns and an iOS app shows you if you’re reaching your targets. Design The Phase has the more stylish design of the two watches here, with a classic, simple watch face and a gorgeous leather strap, but there’s no digital screen. Our biggest issue was how chunky it is though, meaning it stands proud on your wrist and feels a little heavy. Ease of use Because there’s no digital screen, you press a crown to access the Phase’s smarts. On each press the hands cycle through…

Free (£8.99 in-app purchase) FROM Overcast Radio, overcast.fm NEEDS iOS 10.2 or later VERDICT Interface tweaks don’t sound exciting, but they make a great app near-perfect. + Proper playlists! + Easy-to-use interface What’s the best way to improve an app that’s already fantastic? With lots of small but significant changes, as Overcast shows. Most of those tweaks are focused squarely on ease of use. For instance, playback settings can be accessed by swiping left or right, rather than hiding in the corners of the screen. Changing the playback order has an explicit label, instead of a tiny triangular icon. And, best of all, you can finally create proper playlists. Before, the only option was for Smart Playlists, which added new episodes based on rules you set (like adding every new…

W elcome to MacFormat’s Store Guide, the place to go to find out about all the Apple kit that matters, whether you’re looking for your next iPhone or a powerful new desktop Mac. We’ve highlighted the model of each product that’s ideally suited to your needs, whether you’re a recent convert or a seasoned Apple user. So be sure to check our handy tables to see which Mac, iPad or iPhone is best for you. We’ve also highlighted the gold standard in audio, storage, cameras, and many other categories, helping you complement your Mac or iOS device with the best accessories. Who’s it for? ENTRY LEVEL > You’re just getting started in the world of Apple and need to know where to begin. UPGRADER > A firm Apple user, you’re…

Notebooks make up about 80% of Apple’s Mac sales, and a huge chunk of that will be made up of the MacBook Pro. It’s the computer to get if you need a powerful work machine wherever you are. There were some big changes when Apple updated the MacBook Pro line in October 2016. Most notable was the new Touch Bar, which replaced the row of function keys at the top of the keyboard. The Touch Bar is an OLED strip that features context-aware shortcuts. For instance, if you’re browsing through a photo album, the Touch Bar displays a row of thumbnails that you can quickly scroll through a la Cover Flow. Create a track in djay Pro and the mixing and track controls will display on the Touch Bar. It’s…

MONITOR ViewSonic VP2772 £650 viewsonic.com If you’re not fussed about 4K but still want exceptional image quality, this IPS display is truly superb. It offers 99% coverage of the Adobe RGB colour space, 10-bit colour and a 2560x1440-pixel resolution. It has HDMI 1.4, DVI and Mini DisplayPort connections, and four USB 3.0 ports for expansion. NETWORK STORAGE QNAP TS-251+ 6TB £480 qnap.com We know a good NAS drive when we see one, which is why the 6TB TS-251+ won MF302’s group test. It’s one of the quickest NAS drives we’ve seen lately, with transfer rates of over 105MB/sec for large files. It has an HDMI port and a remote control for watching your media directly on your TV set. Four USB ports top it off. PRINTER Brother HL-3150CDW £108 brother.co.uk…

GET ON INSTAGRAM Share your images with us by using the hashtag #MacFormat and we’ll print the best here in the magazine. While you’re there, follow @MacFormat (Twitter) and @MacFormatUK (Instagram). MISTY MAC FAN The Grove Wood So, a little investigation has revealed that Grove Wood is on the Suffolk coastline, very close to Felixstowe, so presumably that beautiful, atmospheric mist has come rolling in from the North Sea. The idyllic spot, also known as Abbey Grove, boasts four hectares of woodland. We’ve no idea what equipment R.A. Chalmers used but we’re very much liking the shot! Share your pics with us using the hashtag #MacFormat on Instagram. In each issue we’ll pick our favourites to feature on this page. WHAT TO DO! 1 Open an Instagram account. 2 Follow…

ALSO INSIDE… Become a Smart Albums power user in Photos Improve your productivity with Pastebot 2.0 More macOS Sierra tips & tricks Top Mac desktop speakers go head to head How to set up parental controls on your Mac Contents subject to change ISSUE 314 ON SALE 6 JUNE 2017 DON’T MISS IT – SUBSCRIBE TODAY! IN PRINT & ON YOUR iPAD Our print and digital bundle gets you the paper magazine as well as our iPad edition myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/macformat ON YOUR MAC Read digitally on your Mac: subscribe with Zinio at zinio.com/macformat Zinio subscriptions do not include a print copy of the magazine.…