Macworld March 2023

With the release of the 2023 MacBook Pro (page 50) and the 2023 Mac mini (page 64), the shape of the second generation of Apple silicon on Mac has been revealed. It is, unsurprisingly, a bit of a replay of the first generation: Apple has segmented its chips into a few different varieties. As with the M1 generation, the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are closely related to each other and to the M2 chip introduced last summer. They’re all based on the same foundation, but each chip has some different characteristics. When it comes time to choose how much to pay for a Mac mini or a MacBook Pro, those differences matter. ROUND 1: M2 VS. M1 Before I compare the M2 Pro and M2 Max, it’s only right to…

The march of Apple silicon is not slowing down. To power the new high-end Mac mini and 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro systems, Apple has unveiled the all-new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, taking all the improvements of the A15 and A16 processors and applying them to the Mac chips, resulting in a significant boost in performance over the M1 line. Apple claims the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips bring 20 percent better CPU performance and 30 percent faster GPU performance than the M1 Pro and M1 Max. They also include the newer Neural Engine, which is up to 40 percent faster than that in the M1 series. As impressive as those claims are, they are also unsurprising and a bit disappointing. Some of the more exciting rumors about…

Bear with me: This is, on the face of it, a weird idea. But is it possible Apple is making its Macs too powerful? OK, OK, I know: How could having a computer that’s too powerful be a bad thing? But after this week’s announcement of the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini, I found myself wondering whether the company has painted itself into a corner, vis-à-vis its impressive hardware. It is, admittedly, a strange state of affairs when you find yourself wondering if Apple has maybe gotten too good at making computers that are so powerful they are overkill for the purposes of most tasks, but you don’t have to look too far to see another example of this same phenomenon. This is a struggle that Apple’s long contended with on…

Apple’s efforts to protect a user’s data are a major selling point for customers. If your MacBook is stolen, it’s extremely difficult for the thief to bypass the laptop’s security measures and access the data as long as you’ve taken advantage of the tools at your disposal to lock down your machine. However, those same security measures can render a Mac useless in a legitimate sale on the secondhand market. A report by Vice highlights the frustrations of an independent computer repair specialist and refurbisher, John Bumstead, who tweeted about the “millions” of MacBooks that have been “condemned…to death” because of Apple’s Activation Lock feature. Activation Lock associates a device with an Apple ID, and is automatically turned on when Find My Mac is activated within the Apple ID settings on…

Before there was the Mac, there was the Lisa, Apple’s first computer to feature a graphical user interface. The Lisa was released 40 years ago this week, and to celebrate the anniversary, the Computer History Museum—which calls Lisa “Apple’s most important flop”—is offering the source code of the Lisa software free to download. The download is a mere 7MB compressed, 30MB expanded. You do, however, have to agree to a license agreement before you can get the download, and provide your name and email address. And then once you download it, you’ll need to figure out how to run it. A look at the Lisa GUI tells you instantly where the Mac has its roots. In fact, the Mac’s desktop still takes its cues from the Lisa, with pulldown menus across the…

Though so many antivirus and security products charge annual subscriptions, there are still free options out there with few or no strings attached. The freebies typically offer more basic or limited protection, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth using. One such product that fits the bill is AVG Antivirus for Mac. Designed to block viruses and spyware, AVG offers real-time and on-demand scanning to prevent malware from infecting your Mac. If you are happy to pay there are plenty of options—see our Best Antivirus for Mac round up—but for a free program AVG covers all the bases, blocking viruses and malware from websites, downloads, and email attachments. AVG can scan applications and files on your Mac for potential threats and automatically remove them. Running in the background, the program’s Resident…