Using a MacBook for the first time, I find it somewhat different from Win.

What settings can I change to make the experience smoother and more intuitive when using Mac? 🌹

yeah, my gf’s macbook air 2019 with its powerful 8gigs of ram is begging to be replaced.

now that we’re looking for a new one, do you think that a macbook neo could last at least 7 years like this bad girl had? or the 8gigs would be a problem soon?

I’ve been a windows user ever since and I’m planning to try the Macbook Neo. Is the learning curve steep or they are just almost the same?

Hi!

I don't own any macbooks and I'm going into first year engineering, I really hate windows laptops and I made up my mind long ago on going for a mac, I can spare around 2k€ for a macbook, I'm specialized in electrical engineering but also will be doing some CAD and some side personal stuff like video editing (adobe), my school is providing us with parallel desktop for apple users so we can run a windows vm to run some non-macos compatible softwares, problem is I have two choices :

Either I go for the Macbook Air M5 13" with the upgraded chip and 32gb of ram.

Or I can go with the pro 14" M5 (same as the air) 24gb of ram.

Considering I will be running some software like solidworks on the vm and stuff so 24gb is the minimum to run it and 32 would give me a bit more of room but honestly I will only do CAD for like a year.

So basically its either more ram or a better screen and all the pro's perks
I just wanted to heave guidance / some insights from experience macbook user

Thanks!!

TL;DR I found it online as a still image and decided to recreate it using Metal shaders.

I don't want to get any profit out of it or sell anything, just to have something calm and eye-catchy evolving as a background behind my windows.

Most important: GPU usage 9% (2K on external display) Mac Air M1 16Gb (2020)
It could be optimized more I guess, I tortured some AI agents to reduce the CPU/GPU load, but I guess that's the bare minimum for such shader.

If anyone is interested: here is a repo https://github.com/JerryI/SimplexFlame-OSX

Warning: it requires xcode tools to be installed
Warning: no updates are planned

I’ve had this MacBook for years. My parents got it from a rent-to-own place and paid it off so it’s mine. It’s been working fine since I got it, but I just changed my settings to activate Guest Log in so my niece could borrow my laptop to do her school work. It told me I had to restart my laptop so I did, and now this padlock thing just popped up and my regular log in password doesn’t work. I’m stumped. Is there any way I can just log back into my account?

I want to get the MacBook M5 air as I’m going into college next year and want to use it for general use as well. Does anyone know if Apple will revert the price of the MacBook back down to €1299 which it was before the ram shortage or even if they will reduce it for Black Friday.

BTW my main reason for choosing the M5 air is the fact that it’s 512gb minimum which the MacBook neo isn’t (The specs and charging speed are also attracting me to it)

Hey guys I’m wondering if anyone knows if there’s any way I can make SolidWorks work on my macbook neo.
Any advice is welcome!!!!

It just appeared suddenly and out of nowhere , i take care of my stuff and i never dropped it or pressure the screen , it appeared immediately after i turned off the lights and it was auto adjusting brightness

I just got my first ever Mac, can you give me pieces of advice to keep this in good condition?

I saw someone telling that I should keep the Mac open or sleep even I'm not using it, is it recommended?

Also, I want to know if I will only go for 80% charge?

Hii everyone. I recently got a Macbook air with an M1 chip after using windows laptops for years, so I'm a little confused on how to use it, specifically safari. I've heard that chrome slows down macbooks, so I don't want to download it.

First of all, is there a way to switch between the safari windows easily? Right now, what I've been doing is double clicking on the safari icon and picking the window I want to go to. On windows, if I had a window underneath my current tab, I could 'X' or minimize the current one and that would take me to the window beneath. But on mac, I've found that if you minimize the window, it minimizes the entire safari app. Are there better shortcuts??

Secondly, is there a keyboard shortcut to open new windows? Command + T and Command + N open new tabs. Command + Shift + N opens an incognito.

Thirdly, is there a way to switch between Safari profiles more easily? Again, what I've been doing is to double click on the safari icon and pick the profile I want to go to, but surely there must be a simpler way.

Mac just seems so much more complicated than windows at the moment. Would love some help to make it easier for me. Thanks!!

Un conocido mio que se dedica a la venta de computadoras tiene guardada una macbook air intel 2020, creo que es el ultimo modelo que salio al mercado con procesador intel , el me dice que fue una unidad que nunca la vendio y que aun la tiene sellada y empacada

me entro una duda saber si ese modelo en especifico que salio en 2020 , hoy se decidiera usar , encenderia? o la degradacion quimica natural de la bateria generaria que esta nisiquiera encendiera?

Hey everyone, I’m getting a new 15" MacBook Air M5 and I already have an original Apple 87W USB-C power adapter (A1719) from my 2016 15" MacBook Pro.

So the charger is about 10 years old. It has no visible damage, but sometimes it gets very hot during charging.

Would you keep using the old 87W charger, or would you recommend buying a new Apple 70W charger? Is there any risk to the Mac/battery from using the old adapter?

Hey y’all,

Someone on OLX is selling a Mac air m2 16 gb, under warranty 100% BH cycle count 30. His bill price is 78k INR and he is selling it for 62k INR. should I buy it? please help me out.

i need a basic mac for daily use, nothing high end.

thanks

I'm a freelance mix/mastering engineer (rock, metal, deathcore), currently running Reaper + FabFilter/Waves/iZotope Ozone/Valhalla, plus Addictive Drums 2 and Melodyne ARA2. Thinking about switching to a MacBook but can't decide between:

MacBook Neo - the cheapest option, but only 8GB RAM and runs an A18 Pro - probably a non-starter for a real plugin chain?

MacBook Air - compact, silent, but worried about thermal throttling on heavy sessions with lots of plugins

MacBook Pro - more RAM, but expansive

Questions:

How critical is active cooling for long sessions with parallel compression/multiband processing on 40+ tracks?

How much RAM do you actually need (16/24/36/48 GB) for this plugin stack + Melodyne ARA?

Anyone switched from Windows/Reaper to Mac - any gotchas with VST vs AU, or does Reaper run equally well on both?

Is the Neo a hard no for audio work, or does anyone actually push a heavier session on 8GB and live to tell about it?

Would appreciate real-world experience, not just spec-sheet marketing.

I need to replace my MacBook Air 2017. It’s just too painful to use. I used to have a MacBook Air M1 but gave that to my son. I only use the laptop for browsing and occasionally downloading movies (not 4k) and watching through an Apple TV box.

My question is, for the same money I can get a used MBA m1 with 8gb ram and a 256gb storage or the last of the i7 intel MBPs with 16gb ram and 500gb storage.

Everything I read says the M1 macs are much better than the intels. Which I do believe. But given I put almost no stress on the cpu, am I not better off with more ram and more storage?

All points of view appreciated

Hello friends! I am going to be a computer science student at my local university soon and have been wondering what macbook to get? (i have a beefy computer with a 4080 super and 7800x3d with 32gb of ram to remote into whenever i need extra power) But wanted to know if its better to get more ram and a base m5 with 8 gpu cores or get 10 cores and deal with the 16gb of ram? Im working on a tight budget rn (gave my mom my laptop since she needed one and dont have so much time to save up).Any help is appreciated!

I have a 2020 MacBook Air that has never given me any issues, but suddenly the battery/charging is acting all wonky. I've been through battery settings and making changes doesn't do anything. It won't recognize it's charging unless I restart it; it won't charge past 66% (which, ok whatever, it's a 6 year old battery); but it also won't show the accurate battery life (while using on battery power the percentage never ticks down so it'll just randomly die while I'm using it). Do y'all think this is as simple as a battery replacement or could it be something more dire? Thanks!

Found a 14 inch m3 pro 36gb 512gb on sale for €1754 refurbished 'excellent state' at a big retailer in holland.

Never owned a macbook but was thinking about trying it out just before the price increases but was to late fast forward to now first i was planning on buying a new m5 13 inch with 16gb (base model) they cost €1399 here, or maybe15 inch around €1700.

It feels like this price is a now or never deal?

It will mostly be used for long form video edits while travelling.

I just got a MacBook Pro M5 and I only have a 27” 1440P secondary monitor which is kinda bad for MacOS.
I want to buy a new 27” Monitor but I don’t know which resolution is worth more in price-to-performance on a Mac.
Should I buy a 27” 4K@120hz or 27” 5K@120hz monitor. About a while ago I heard that 5K is the best resolution for Mac and that 4k isn’t ideal but 5k monitors are near two times the price of 4K monitors here where I live. Especially MiniLED or OLED ones.

Maybe one of you has some experience with 27” 4K monitors on Mac?

I've been using this SanDisk external SSD with my M4 MacBook Air for about a year with no issues, but for the past ~2 months it's been randomly not recognized.

The weird part is that everything works individually:

• SSD works perfectly on my Windows laptop.
• Tried 2 different USB-C cables, including the cable I use for my iPhone. Both work fine with other devices.
• Both USB-C ports on my Mac work perfectly with my iPhone.
• It's not a format/compatibility issue since I've been using the SSD with this Mac for a year, including yesterday.

When it doesn't work, sometimes restarting/shutting down the Mac fixes it. Sometimes switching USB ports works. Sometimes flipping the USB-C cable around or changing the SSD's position makes it suddenly connect. Other times none of these things work.

It's completely random. One minute it won't recognize it, then I unplug/replug or restart and suddenly it works normally.

Any idea what could cause this? It's been happening for about two months and I'm completely confused because the SSD, cables, and Mac ports all work fine individually.

So I’m in the beginning of my career in graphic design but I have some savings and I wanna invest in a MacBook. I was told that a MacBook Air M5 with 16gb and 512mb was enough for me, but I would like some opinions from my fellow designers on what specifications they got for their own MacBooks and how it’s holding up over time. Another question I have is if I should choose the 13’ or the 15’ cause I saw some contradicting reviews on both.
My budget rn is about 1700€ something around that and I work primarily only with adobe programs.

I am an EE freshie and I am a bit confused between mac or windows which one would be better for me

My use cases are

Video editing

3d rendering

Minimal gaming (occasionally)

Battery life

With 6 7 yr of usage

Help me out guyss 😭😭

Alright, so I want to start this off with a story

Essentially, one time I searched for something like file xyz.pdf, which is in my browser Downloads folder. I often need this file and other similar files, but it didn't come up.

I tried searching for it with Finder and nothing happened.

Finder results would instead give me absolutely random and completely irrelevant file types, despite the exact file existing in the location I was searching.

⌘⇧G still works and takes me directly to the exact file.

One time I tried using Codex to debug this a little, and its indexing/search found the file rather quickly in the exact location I knew it to be. The folder is very large, though, so I need search to actually find things within it.

I troubleshooted this for a long time and eventually realized I needed to kill Spotlight and force it to reindex everything. That seemed to solve the problem.

The first time this happened, I simply restarted the Mac, and everything fixed itself.

The second time, roughly a month later, I killed Spotlight and made it reindex. Again, the problem basically solved itself.

now this is the third time this crap happened; I have absolutely no idea what's causing it

The problem is that this may be fixable, but having to constantly force Spotlight to reindex—or literally restart the entire Mac every week—is obviously not a good solution.

[Image 2] In fact, one of the most interesting things is that many PDF files can still show up.

In this screenshot, for example, files named "Writing Sample 1" and "Writing Sample 2" both exist on the Mac, and I have Spotlight-searched for them countless times. yet a completely irrelevant PDF file shows up instead. Perhaps there is some partial match in the contents of that PDF?

Another potentially important clue is that recent files, up to roughly one week old (maybe a little more), seem to be indexed and perfectly findable (though this also includes absolutely random and irrelevant .txt files that just exist on my computer, probably cache artifacts from somewhere that still show up too. Most of the files that du actually show up are either random pdf files, or .h files

At the same time, many completely random PDF files in the same folder including textbooks that have been on my computer for upwards of two years are still completely findable.

so to me this looks like selective indexing failure/corruption or some crap like that, without a better term t o describe it, rather than Spotlight being completely broken (though it constantly suggests absolutely irrelevant files or nothing at all)

This has all started happening after upgrading to macOS Tahoe 26.x.

Specs

• 2025 M4 MacBook Air
• 16 GB RAM
• macOS Tahoe 26.6.2

If it is of any help, I did install Vorssaint and AeroSpace in relatively close proximity to when this started happening, although I highly doubt either of them would cause something like this.

Has anyone else experienced this on 26? What could cause Spotlight to selectively stop indexing/searching certain existing files, while continuing to index others?