Apple Operating Systems (macOS, iOS, watchOS, & tvOS) Catch-All

Costco has had the base M1 Mini on sale for $600 often. There have been rumors of M2 coming this year but who knows with Apple, especially since they are still rolling out the M1 machines.

PaladinTom wrote:

I was hoping for an updated MacBook Air and Mini so I can pull the trigger on the "last" get M1 version of those systems. Those are more than enough for my needs.

Hopefully later this year...?

Yeah, I was hoping for a Mini update for a work machine. Want more RAM than the current version allows. I’m tempted to bite the bullet for one of the lower-end Studios…or I could just buy a new MBP and do everything from there.

FWIW I have a 32Gb M1 Mac Mini and it absolutely flies. The headline RAM figures are not that great of a guide when comparing to similarly specced PCs or Intel Macs, because of the unified memory. This thing is an absolute beast for the money. I expect to get 6-8 years of use out of it minimum.

I have the 2014 Mac Mini, definitely showing it's age. I'm keeping a close eye on what's next because none of the other Macs suit my use case.

We have an M1 Mac Mini too (the aforementioned $600 Costco one) and it is a great machine if you are ok with the limited storage (or expansion storage). It is very fast in typical day-to-day usage.

CaptainCrowbar wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

I literally laughed out loud when they announced the price. They spent like 20 minutes hyping up the new processor and machine and then put up a price of $4,000. I get that for professionals where time is money or companies pay, it might be worth it. I agree with you, it is basically a Mac Pro replacement.

That's for the M1 Ultra version. The M1 Max version starts at US$2000.

Also, pre-built pc's with a 3090 are going for 4 grand right now on amazon.... not saying either is a good deal, but it's the world we live in now.

Just came across the app Monitor Control. This app allows you to adjust your screen brightness for an external monitor using your keyboard. For someone like me who has a MacBook permanently docked as my main pc, this is a god-send. Why isn't this built into macOS and Windows? (Now I have to look for a similar Windows app because my gaming rig shares the same monitor.)

https://github.com/MonitorControl/Mo...

It used to be that most monitors had convenient brightness controls right there in easy reach. Then they started trying to save money by including as few buttons/controls as possible. I guess the OS people haven't caught up to that.

I've seen some videos that linux has made some progress with coming to m1 macs. No GPU acceleration (no idea what that means) but it has a solid foothold and can be booted by anyone now.

I'm mostly interested in this for gaming. will this make gaming easier than using parallels? what is the gaming community like for linux as well as arm?

FiveIron wrote:

I've seen some videos that linux has made some progress with coming to m1 macs. No GPU acceleration (no idea what that means) but it has a solid foothold and can be booted by anyone now.

I'm mostly interested in this for gaming. will this make gaming easier than using parallels? what is the gaming community like for linux as well as arm?

GPU = Graphics Processing Unit or Video Card. I don't know what the GPU situation is with Parallels but no GPU acceleration is certainly a detriment to game performance. It will likely also have a negative effect on web browser performance and video playback.

Yeah that makes sense, I'm also assuming that they will figure that out soonish. Anyone know what it would look like once that's sorted out?

ruhk wrote:
Vargen wrote:

OK, so I'm checking out this Overcast thing. I think I mostly see how it works. Figuring out that delete=mark as played was a big step. Now I need help with another issue. I'm about to go out on a walk that's going to last longer than the show I'm currently listening to. How do I queue up what I want to listen to next so I don't have to juggle my phone and my dog?

If you have already started playback on one podcast, tap another episode in the list to bring up the menu. One of the icons that appears should be a plus sign over three bars. That button lets you play that episode next or add it to playlists. You can also create custom smart playlists into which specifically chosen podcasts will appear whenever a new episode is available. For playlists though you need to have “continuous play” checked in the general settings.

Hey, guess what went away with Overcast's latest update? But they did add a "mark as played" button on the top layer of the UI that can instantly delete an episode with a single tap if you aren't careful. (If you have it set to auto-delete as soon as it's played and mark it as played...)

Looks like I can get "play next" functionality back so long as I add everything to a playlist and make sure that any episode I start I launch from the playlist and not the entry for the podcast itself. Time will tell if that is acceptable...

?
They moved everything around but I haven’t noticed any functional changes. I’ve always had everything self-sort into smart playlists and add them to a the play queue instead of playing directly from the show profile page though.

It did take me a full four days to get used to how they swapped the location of the options button with the delete button. That seemed like just an intentionally obnoxious change. I’ve had to re-download so much sh*t.

That isn't the delete button. That's the "Mark as played" button. It does delete the episode right away if your auto-delete is set to purge episodes as soon as they're done. The workaround is to set it to keep played episodes for 24 hours, then you can toggle it back to unplayed without having to redownload.

If you're already using playlists, the "play next" option is still there. If you're just selecting shows ad-hoc then it's gone. If I have 15 minutes of podcast left and am about to leave on a 30 minute walk, I have to stop my show, add it to a playlist, add the next show to that playlist, and then resume playback from the playlist. Before I could just select the next show real quick before banishing my phone to my pocket.

Ah well, I guess my habits are what they were designing around because everything still works the same for me.

I really only listen at work where I can’t take my phone out regularly to pick episodes so I have three different smart playlists based on broad genres (news/politics, music, weird conspiracy b.s./humor) and from those I slot 12-15 episodes into the play queue and that usually covers me for a full shift.

I noticed that the latest version of iOS now allows Face ID while wearing a mask. Only took 2 years. And for iPhone 12 and above (not my iPhone 11!). I guess due to processing requirements? Or some difference in the front facing camera?

Apple discontinues iPod line

iPod touch will be available while supplies last

I’ve owned a Shuffle, a Nano and 3 Touches. *wipes tear*

1 Shuffle, 2 Nanos, 3 Touches. I so wished that they'd made a 32GB Nano at some point.

I guess the Apple Watch fills the Nano spot now? But, for what I need from an audio player, it’s way overpriced.

I remember the glory days of the Touch when it wasn’t so miserably behind the iPhone. I bought my iPod Touch 2nd gen just before the iPhone 3GS launched and it was actually the most powerful iDevice for a (very) short time.

Mr GT Chris wrote:

Apple discontinues iPod line

iPod touch will be available while supplies last

I’ve owned a Shuffle, a Nano and 3 Touches. *wipes tear*

Now's the perfect time for the Zune to come roaring back! Get to it, Microsoft!

If they made a model of the Shuffle that works with AirPods I would buy it. There are plenty of times I want something smaller and sturdier than my phone to use.

I’ve owned a 3rd-generation iPod, a Shuffle, and a Classic. Now it’s Spotify on an iPhone for me, but that iPod Classic was just a lovely thing.

I bought an iPod 2nd gen right after release and it was a game changer. It felt amazing having all my records in one place without having to deal with discs. I remember that big cube box it came in. I bought an iPod Classic later on which was a great device. I also had the first shuffle - the white usb looking stick which I used for years at the gym.

Anyone have any suggestions for dealing with a botched refund?
I had some subscriptions and decided to try apple one. Two days ago I was charged for Apple Fitness ($10). A week before that I was charged for Apple News ($10) and Apple Arcade ($5). Yesterday I was charged for Apple One ($32).
I contacted Apple about having the charges for News, Arcade, and Fitness removed/prorated. I got an email today saying they did that. I checked and I got refunded about $18. Great. Unfortunately, my Apple One subscription was removed but the charges for Apple One were not removed. So now I'm out $32 for Apple One and am over my limit for storage (I also had a $3 sub for that).

I can't request a refund for Apple One because it was taken off my subscription list and you can't request a refund for anything not one the list. I don't want to resubscribe because I already paid the $32 (and I'm not overly confident they would be able to understand what happened). I can't reply to the email I got because it's not monitored (and replying just gets an email about it not being monitored).
Any suggestions?

Raise a stink on social media?

Apple Support

Have used this to solve a subscription problem recently, they chat with you through iMessage.

Thanks for the link, Redherring. I tried that. They just kept referring me to the website where it says it may take up to 30 days to see your refund. They seemed annoyed that I wanted to know why it would take 30 days for a refund of one thing but 1 day for three others. After a bit of round and round on that I gave up and put a note on my calendar in 30 days to check for the refund. If I feel I really need it in 30 days I'll subscribe but by then, I'll likely find I don't need it.

For some reason, I never realized that the macOS could use AirPrint. And it turns out that the print server on my Raspberry Pi does offer AirPrint support (and it was already active). I tested it with my iPad, and it worked!

I have an old Brother HL-2040, plugged into my Raspberry Pi server, and every time I was doing an OS upgrade, I was always worried that I would no longer be able to print because Brother doesn't offer native drivers for more recent macOS release.

The real test will be whenever I finally upgrade to an M1*/M2* Mac, most likely later this year.

I'm using a MacBook Pro 16, the model that was out right before the new neato chip Apple now has. I also have an iPad Pro. I would like to work from our camper sometimes and have 2 monitors. I hear Sidecar will let me use my iPad as a second monitor. Seems like an easy setup here at home on my WiFi, but will it work in the camper?

My Mac will be tethered to my phone and connected via VPN to work. The iPad could be connected to my phone, too, if needed. Anyone have experience with this situation? Should it work?

-BEP

bepnewt wrote:

I'm using a MacBook Pro 16, the model that was out right before the new neato chip Apple now has. I also have an iPad Pro. I would like to work from our camper sometimes and have 2 monitors. I hear Sidecar will let me use my iPad as a second monitor. Seems like an easy setup here at home on my WiFi, but will it work in the camper?

My Mac will be tethered to my phone and connected via VPN to work. The iPad could be connected to my phone, too, if needed. Anyone have experience with this situation? Should it work?

It should work. Both devices have to be signed in with the same Apple ID, and both have to have Wifi and Bluetooth switched on (but not necessarily connected to anything) or connected via USB cable. I haven't tried it under your circumstances but as far as I can tell from the specs it should work.