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Guides, How Tos, and Tips for New Mac Owners

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MacRumors readers who were lucky enough to receive a new Mac for the holidays will want to check out our collection of Mac how tos and guides to learn the ins and outs of your new machine.

m1-macbook-air.jpg

Whether you're new to the Mac or are upgrading from an older model, there's likely to be a useful tip or two here for you. These how tos apply to Apple's latest Macs, from desktops to notebooks, and it includes macOS Big Sur tutorials plus some useful info just for the M1 Macs.

Beginner Tips


Just for M1 Macs


Security Tips


Continuity and Other Product Tips

Mac App Features


iCloud

Hidden Tricks

Advanced Features

In-Depth Mac Guides




Click here to read more...

Article Link: Guides, How Tos, and Tips for New Mac Owners
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/new-mac-tips/
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Joniz said:
Where’s the link to: 15 Ways to Get Back at Uncle Colin for Giving You Last Year’s Model MacBook Pro with Butterfly Keyboard?

(I hate Uncle Colin!)
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Came here looking for someone to be jaded or complain that Macs were too expensive to be Xmas gifts. Wasn't disappointed.
 
Will do good said:
Great service from MR
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... a subsidiary of Apple corporation?
[automerge]1577393781[/automerge]
SecuritySteve said:
Came here looking for someone to be jaded or complain that Macs were too expensive to be Xmas gifts. Wasn't disappointed.
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Friends went into the local Apple store after the 16 inch was released and the salesman tried to sell them an old 15 in MBP instead. Sneaky, so I know this has happened to some people.
 
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SecuritySteve said:
Came here looking for someone to be jaded or complain that Macs were too expensive to be Xmas gifts. Wasn't disappointed.
Click to expand...

Came here looking for someone who takes things much too seriously, or willing to attack with an unrelated point. Wasn’t disappointed.

(And I still hate you, Uncle Colin!)
 
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Thanks for this. I recently got a MacBook and coming from windows I was surprised how different it is.
 
Thank you for the effort of compiling such useful information!
Just a note about "How to Force Restart a MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro"

  • If it's just an application that's frozen rather than the operating system, hold down the Option (⌥) key then right-click the offending app's icon in the Dock and select Force Quit.
I tried it on my MacBook Pro 13 (2018) macOS Mojave 10.14.6 (work device and they do not allow us to install newer versions) and the order is slightly different.

  • First, right-click the offending app's icon in the Dock and then press Option (⌥) key, the last option "Exit" will change to "Force exit". Thought "Force exit" does not appear on all applications "like iMessages".
Best!
 
Pro Tip: If you got a base model Mac Pro for Christmas, exhange it for a maxed out (except for RAM) 2019 iMac 5K and 32GB RAM kit from Amazon, and enjoy the couple thousand dollars you pocketed, the extra 8GB of RAM, the faster Vega 48 GPU, the “free” 5K display, the faster i9-9900K CPU, and the much larger SSD. Invest the money you saved and use it to buy another one in four years instead of paying out the butt to upgrade a base model Mac Pro that will still be stuck on old PCI-Express 3.0, Thunderbolt 3, and possibly USB 3.1 unless they allow Thunderbolt 3 USB-C to be upgraded to USB 4.

Otherwise if you got a decently spec’d Mac Pro then grats.
 
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Joniz said:
Where’s the link to: 15 Ways to Get Back at Uncle Colin for Giving You Last Year’s Model MacBook Pro with Butterfly Keyboard?

(I hate Uncle Colin!)
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I love the butterfly keyboard. Millions of us do, actually.
 
martyjmclean said:
You realise USB4 is Thunderbolt 3, right?
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That's why I said that. There has been no confirmation, however, that Apple will allow a firmware upgrade on those ports to enable USB 4.0 functionality (devices connecting to it will recognize it as such). It doesn't just magically become a USB 4.0 port because it has the same connector and bandwidth. However, I'm certain there will be a TB 3.0 to USB 4.0 adapter, though it will likely be expensive.
 
macduke said:
That's why I said that. There has been no confirmation, however, that Apple will allow a firmware upgrade on those ports to enable USB 4.0 functionality (devices connecting to it will recognize it as such). It doesn't just magically become a USB 4.0 port because it has the same connector and bandwidth. However, I'm certain there will be a TB 3.0 to USB 4.0 adapter, though it will likely be expensive.
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It only sort of is. Thunderbolt 4 is thunderbolt 3 with more ruggedized specs (so it’s more reliable). USB4 is thunderbolt3 with simplified specs (so it’s cheaper for builders). It’s so wimpified it may not even RUN thunderbolt, or anything faster than usb3.0. (Even though it’s called USB4. Intel was so disgusted they left the consortium.) which is why there even IS a thunderbolt4. Marketer based product inflation. I think they will all burn in hell.

I would sell you that adaptor ((which would contain nothing at all) but then I’d burn in hell too.
 
macduke said:
That's why I said that. There has been no confirmation, however, that Apple will allow a firmware upgrade on those ports to enable USB 4.0 functionality (devices connecting to it will recognize it as such). It doesn't just magically become a USB 4.0 port because it has the same connector and bandwidth. However, I'm certain there will be a TB 3.0 to USB 4.0 adapter, though it will likely be expensive.
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there has. It’s just that the uSB consortium is now fighting Intel, so they’re adding **** to make it incompatible even though Intel wrote all of it. I loathe garbage like that.
 
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I’m trying to set up this ipad6 btw and the setup locks at “plug into a Mac or a PC with itunes”. My Mac is very very old and won’t start, and my pc will take all day to get going. Is there a way to do this WITHOUT iTunes or a Mac?
 
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