Macworld March 2021

I’ve been a fan of tiny Mac laptops for years. From the 12-inch PowerBook G4 to the iBook to the 11-inch MacBook Air, I’ve always opted for the smallest laptop I could get my hands on. And yet, with the discontinuation of the 12-inch MacBook, the smallest Apple goes is the 13-inch MacBook Air. Is the Air as small as a Mac laptop can get? I don’t think so. And that’s why I think Apple should add another laptop to its product line and bring back the 12-inch MacBook. LET’S GET SMALL First, I’ve got to admit that the MacBook Air is a small laptop. Back in the days of the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air models, I preferred the 11-inch model. Casual observers of the MacBook Air might not realize that…

Many people remember Mac OS X 10.6.8 fondly—not just 10.6 Snow Leopard, but particularly its very mature 10.6.8 release, the final one in that series. It’s considered a stable and perfectly fine version. It’s not a problem—until they want to migrate to a newer computer with the same files, preferences, users, and other elements as their current one. That’s particularly true when they want to keep their system and essentially brain-transplant it to the latest two updates, macOS Catalina and Big Sur, and find there’s no direct path. Apple offers Migration Assistant both when setting up a Mac (whether new or erased) and as an app within macOS, particularly to migrate user accounts and applications. As a source, you can use a Time Machine backup, a disk image copy of…

Apple’s “big announcement” in January of this year about its fund might not have been as exciting as a new iPhone, but the impact could be just as monumental. As part of its previously announced $100 million investment in the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, Apple unveiled several ways that it will be using its sizable investment. First and foremost, Apple will be launching a “first-of-its-kind global innovation and learning hub” called the Propel Center (pictured above) in partnership with the Southern Company and “a range of community stakeholders.” Apple is contributing $25 million to the Atlanta campus, which “is designed to support the next generation of diverse leaders, providing innovative curricula, technology support, career opportunities, and fellowship programs.” The center will offer a wide range of classes, including a curriculum focused…

Sabrent’s new $70 HB-SIMC Thunderbolt 3 port hub alleviates a frustration that hits every iMac owner now and again: the lack of easily accessible ports. Don’t get me wrong, I—and just about everyone else I know—love the uncluttered styling and elegant long-term cabling solution iMacs provide. But geez, Louise, feeling around for a free USB port just to plug in a thumb drive can get old after a while. Especially if you do it a lot. Of course, you can always use standard docks, hubs, extension cables, but then it’s generally bye-bye, clean and uncluttered desk. To the rescue…the Sabrent hub. DESIGN AND FEATURES Sabrent’s Multi-Port USB Type-C Hub with Front Access USB Ports marries to a Thunderbolt 3 port on the back of the iMac, with the body of the port…

Trend Micro hasn’t changed much since we last reviewed it, which doesn’t necessarily work to its benefit. There’s no doubt, however, that Trend Micro Antivirus offers good protection. AV-Test’s latest look at it gave Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac a 100 percent protection score against 83 samples. AV-Comparatives’ tests are a little more in-depth since they test the antivirus against Mac and Windows malware, as well as against potentially unwanted applications (PUA) for Mac. Using 207 samples, Trend Micro stopped 99.5% of threats, which is good although not fantastic considering that Avast, AVG, Avira, Bitdefender, FireEye, and Kaspersky all scored 100 percent on this test. Against PUAs, Trend Micro scored 99 percent. That puts it behind the same leaders in the malware test with the exception of Kaspersky, which also scored 99…

NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK RAXE500 Netgear’s newest router is a true tri-band Wi-Fi 6e device that operates three independent wireless networks using spectrum in the 2.4-, 5-, and the newly deregulated 6GHz frequency bands to deliver huge amounts of bandwidth—theoretical top speed of 10.8Gbps combined—with very little latency. The RAXE500 is powered by a 1.8GHz quad-core processor and is outfitted with a multi-gig (2.5Gbps) WAN port for those with very fast broadband connections. Two of its five gigabit ethernet ports can be aggregated for either 2Gbps LAN or WAN connections. The batwing-shaped router also has dual USB 3.0 ports. —MICHAEL BROWN REOLINK ARGUS 2E A fairly basic security camera that works reliably with a minimum of fuss, the Reolink Argus 2E offers 1080p video, two-way audio, and passive infrared motion detection.…