Macworld

Macworld Despite its small stature, the Mac Studio is an absolute powerhouse of a PC. And you don’t need to spend big bucks on the latest model to get tremendous speeds. The M2 Ultra model is still one of the fastest machines you can buy, and right now, there’s a massive sale on it at Best Buy. Instead of shelling out $3,799 for an M3 Ultra model, you can grab the M2 Ultra Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM and 1TB of storage for $2,649, a ridiculous savings of $1,150, and the biggest savings we’ve ever seen on the Mac Studio. For comparison, this combo—the powerful M2 Ultra chip, 64GB of memory, and 1TB of storage space—is the same configuration Apple changes $6,999 for in the Mac Pro. Needless to say, this compact computer is just what a creative professional or power user needs, easily handling all sorts of demanding tasks with ease. From video editing to 3D modeling, from machine learning to AI development or audio engineering, there’s nothing the Mac Studio can’t do. These machines aren’t messing around — they can do it all, pushing performance to new levels. It doesn’t have internal expansion, but the Mac Studio features a ton of ports, including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, USB-A, a 10Gb Ethernet port, and an SDXC card slot. In total, it supports up to eight external displays for extreme multitasking and productivity flows. So take advantage of this impressive discount and grab the Mac of your dreams for $1,150 while this Best Buy deal is still live. This loaded Mac Studio is $1,150 off right nowBuy now at Best Buy

Macworld After months of buildup and an omnipresent advertising campaign, Apple’s much-anticipated new show Pluribus made its debut on the company’s TV streaming service Thursday night. And the service promptly suffered a major outage across the U.S. and Canada. As reported by Bloomberg and others, users started to report that the service had crashed at around 10:30 p.m. ET, shortly after Apple made the first two episodes of the show available to stream. There were almost 13,000 reports on Downdetector before Apple acknowledged the problem on its System Status page. Reports say the outage was brief, lasting less than an hour. At the time of writing, that page has returned to all green. But there remains a Resolved Outage note on Apple TV (simply saying “Some users were affected; users experienced a problem with Apple TV” between 10:29 and 11.38 p.m.), as well as on Apple Music and Apple Arcade, which also went down at the same time. Social media reports indicated that the outage was widespread. Pluribus is the work of Vince Gilligan, who created Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and stars Rhea Seehorn from the latter show. It’s one of the highest-profile offerings to appear on Apple TV, so this outage couldn’t have come at a worse time. It isn’t clear what went wrong on a technical level, though it’s possible Apple’s servers simply weren’t ready for the level of demand.

Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros 25W for iPhone 16 and 17 15W for older iPhones Adjustable design Secure magnet Cons 25W only for iPhone 16 and 17 Expensive Incompatible with Tesla or Mercedes Our Verdict If in-car charging speed is of vital importance to you, the 25W Anker Prime is the fastest wireless car charger for iPhones that you’ll find. It’s sturdy in position with neat cable holders keeping your car tidy, and a dual-port USB charger is included. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Anker Prime 25W Wireless Car Charger (MagGo, AirCool, Pad) Retailer Price $63.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Unless you’re on a long trip the chances are that most of your car journeys are relatively short and often hurried affairs: the school run, a dash to the shops, an office commute. As such the time you have in the car for charging your phone is likely brief—therefore the faster the charger, the more juice you can squeeze into your phone, ready for the next charger-less stage of the day. Of course, you should have charged your phone before you got in your car, right, but sadly the everyday got in the way and now you need as many percentage points of battery life as you can get into your iPhone before it’s back in your pocket. Speed means power The fastest magnetic wireless iPhone car charger available right now is the Anker Prime Wireless Car Charger that utilizes the latest Qi 2.2 wireless charging standard to reach the top 25W output. Read: Which wireless technology is best for your iPhone. That compares to 15W for certified wireless MagSafe and Qi2 chargers and a mere 7.5W for “MagSafe Compatible” chargers. 25W should in practice get your iPhone up to a 50% charge in just over half an hour, compared to 45 minutes for 15W, and well over an hour for the older and cheaper chargers at 7.5W. The new 25W wireless chargers put out so much energy that maintaining power output requires dedicated active cooling. The Anker Prime uses the fancy sounding Thermoelectric Cooling (TEC) system to keep your iPhone below 95°F (35°C) while charging. Grills circle the top of the charging pad. Lower temperatures help protect your battery and reduce long-term wear. 25W wireless charging works with only the iPhone 16 and later; older iPhones can use the same charger but at a more limited 15W of power. Anker claims that even 15W-only (iPhone 15 and older) phones charge cooler and more efficiently with the charger’s TEC system. Simon Jary Design The design of the Anker Prime Car Charger isn’t wildly different to the slower alternatives. It’s compact at 3.66 x 2.36 x 3.46 inches (9.3 x 6 x 8.8cm) and the charging pad is plenty big enough to be attached magnetically. A ball joint holder’s tail hook clips onto an air vent—you spin the body to determine how much of the clip you need protruding—and can be angled at a 32-degree adjustable tilt. The pad can be horizontally rotated 360 degrees. Note that the Anker Prime is not compatible with Tesla or Mercedes-Benz vehicles, or with cars that lack vent blades or use nonstandard vent designs, such as round air vents. The first car we tried it in was a Mini and the placement of the vents doesn’t allow for a car charger such as this one—indeed you’ll need a separate mount for some cars. Compatible vent blade depths must be between 10 mm and 24 mm for optimal grip. See image below for more on vent compatibility. Anker The USB-C port is placed at the base of the unit. Here you connect the included 3.3-foot (1m) cable, which itself is powered by the 45W dual-port charger that plugs into the power outlet (aka cigarette lighter port) in the car. The other port is legacy USB-A that can output at 12W. Handily, the cable comes with an organizer and holders to keep your driving space tidy from stray cables. You’ll have to tidy up your hurried snack wrappers and kids’ coloring books yourself. The 13N magnet does a good job of keeping the device secure while still being able to remove it at the end of your drive without ripping the holder out of the vent. To ensure you have the charging properly set, the charger’s ambient light turns on for 30 seconds at power-on and remains continuously lit during charging.Anker Price The Anker Prime Wireless Car Charger is priced at $89.99 / £79.99, which puts it at the high-end of the many wireless car chargers on the market, but remember that it’s by far the fastest, and the package includes the power outlet charger and cable. Anker Should I buy the Anker Prime 25W Wireless Car Charger If in-car charging speed is of vital importance to you, the 25W Anker Prime is the fastest wireless car charger for iPhones that you’ll find. It’s sturdy and neat and tidy with cable holders included, and a powerful dual-port USB charger along for the ride too.

Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Excellent viral and malware protection and detection Good purchase options Access to learning tools and YouTube links Cons Security Advisor module lacks functionality Menus don’t offer enough clarity sScan scheduler only allowing for 15-minute increments VPN auto-connects to the closest server Our Verdict Moonlock isn’t perfect, and the user interface and menu systems could use a bit of an overhaul, but what’s present in terms of malware detection and removal, backed by some good learning tools, makes it a viable option for Mac users who want good protection with minimal fuss. This, combined with improved purchase options and a 7-day free trial, makes it worth your Consideration. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Ukrainian developer MacPaw has had an interesting progression over the years in the Mac utility market. Best known for CleanMyMac, it first expanded that to include antiviral/anti-malware protection to provide an overall system cleanup utility. Now MacPaw has spun off its antiviral/anti-malware elements into Moonlock, a new product focusing on protecting Mac users from malware and the other dangers of being online. Like its CleanMyMac incarnations, Moonlock, which requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later to install and run, is centered around a stylish user interface and is easy to download and set up, the installer asking for full disk access permission as part of the process. The software is divided into several modules (Home, Malware Scanner, VPN, Network Inspector, System Protection, and Security Advisor), each with its own customizable elements. Straight from the get-go, Moonlock functions both as an instructional tool as well as a utility, the Home module offering quick access to the suite’s assorted tools while also providing YouTube links to explain potential vulnerabilities such as malware, typosquatting, secure email, email encryption, secure passwords, and the types of malware that can be used to take advantage of a user. A vertical column down the left side of the window offers one-click access to the other modules as well. As expected, the Malware Scanner module functions as Moonlock’s core utility, the tool offering three scan types (Quick Scan, Balanced Scan, and Deep Scan), the modes trading scanning speed for in-depth analysis of what might be on your Mac’s internal hard drives or external volumes. The Moonlock scanner found and blocked several threats.Foundry Although not well-explained in the menus, the Deep Scan can scan external volumes, and it’s easy to perform functions such as creating whitelists of files to avoid scanning, scheduling a scan, scanning .zip and .dmg files, and setting up active protection against potential malware. Where the scanning itself is concerned, the results are impressive, and Moonlock’s antiviral/anti-malware approach caught just about everything that was thrown at it from the sample library. The application was able to perform a Deep Scan of my MacBook Pro’s solid-state drive and an external USB volume in about an hour, and with Active Protection on, it was able to detect and delete malware before I could attempt to install it. While Moonlock was able to block just about everything and combined well with macOS’ Gatekeeper and Xprotect system functions, there were occasions where malware could have been installed, provided you bypassed several warning screens to allow the function to run. Moonlock also includes a VPN feature, which, though not as robust as a dedicated client, is capable, even if it automatically connects to the closest access point as opposed to opting for geolocation and letting you pick the country your masked IP address is coming from. Even so, the client is brisk, speedy, and it’s easy enough to disconnect and pick your preferred country of origin as needed. The Network Inspector module caught me a bit off guard in that it allows you to choose regions and countries to block internet traffic from, as opposed to scanning your local network and pointing out potential weak points and vulnerabilities. I’ve never seen this approach before, and it of course makes sense from a defensive posture, as well as the fact that MacPaw, a Ukrainian developer, is now in its third year of a war against Russia, and preventing hacking from outside nations and regions makes sense to them. Block regions know for hacking.Foundry The System Protection module proved interesting in that it quickly scans your Mac’s operating system, determines where you might be vulnerable, and then opens up a list of advice and shortcuts as to how to take steps to use your Mac and prevent intrusion more effectively. The steps range from turning off your Mac’s display when the computer is inactive to turning on macOS’ Gatekeeper feature to improving your Wi-Fi protection, to turning off automatic Bluetooth connections, and offer quick links to the Settings panes to make these changes. Moonlock’s Security Advisor module is as it’s name suggests an advisor and not a tool. Case in point, the module functions as a billboard of warnings and steps to take to prevent intrusion, as opposed to tools to effect these changes. Yes, it’s good to learn what to do, but this felt as if I’d wandered into an advice column and not a significant module of a commercial piece of software. The Security Advisor advises.Foundry While Moonlock has a lot going for it, there are still some bugs to iron out, and a lot of it comes from the overly flashy user interface elements, which MacPaw is known for. The Malware Scanner module is impressive, but you have to dig through various menus to see the volume and folder where the malware infection that was caught and quarantined was located. This is also the same module that could use an estimated time remaining countdown timer for its tasks, which would be appreciated. The scheduler function, though reliable, only allows you to schedule scans every 15 minutes, a more customizable schedule would be welcome. It would be nice to have a little more customization.Foundry Finally, it feels as if the menus don’t explain each module’s functions as well as they could. It took a little trial and error to determine that the Deep Scan scanning mode could address an external volume as opposed to an easier user interface to point this out or a handy guide tip that suggested dragging and dropping the external volume to initiate a scan. What’s present in Moonlock is good, if a bit rough around the edges, and the Moonlock antiviral/anti-malware engine doesn’t miss a beat, but MacPaw needs to sort out its menus and remember that flashy animations driven by a talented graphics department don’t replace explanatory ease of use. Still, it’s nice to see the company spin Moonlock off into its own thing as opposed to heaping more features onto CleanMyMac. Outside of the fact that the menu system could be a bit more transparent to the user, and the Security Advisor module feels more like a PSA than a toolset, there’s something good here, and it’s worth considering. Moonlock is available in subscription-based monthly, annual, or one-time payments. A 7-day free trial is also available, although you’ll have to send along your payment information, which will be charged at the end of the trial period if you don’t cancel in time. Should you buy Moonlock from MacPaw? MacPaw offers a strong antiviral/anti-malware candidate with Moonlock to the point that its malware detection engine performs exceptionally well, and the Active Protection feature was able to stop some threats before they could be installed and executed. The inclusion of instructional resources makes an effort to teach less-technical users as to why certain security settings matter, and the additional purchase options, such as one-time purchasing, are a nice addition. Moonlock did a good job detecting and quarantining malware.Foundry Moonlock does feel like a 1.0 release in spots. The Security Advisor module functions more as an informational PSA than an actual toolset, and it feels as if certain options and details are buried under a plethora of flashy menus. Still, there’s a 7-day free trial that’s worth your time and we recommend giving it a spin.

Macworld The news of Apple’s pending deal with Google says a lot. While neither Apple nor Google will likely ever publicly acknowledge it outside of necessary financial disclosures, Apple fans should take note. It’s a very good thing for users. And also very concerning. We should be equally pleased and worried. The Deal The deal, as it has been reported (Apple has not officially acknowledged it) will see Apple paying Google about $1B a year to use a customized version of its Gemini AI model for the new Siri, which should be released to users in the spring. The model is big and advanced, with a reported 1.2 trillion parameters, and will run on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers so neither Google nor anyone else gets to scoop up your data. The partnership seemingly was struck after Apple evaluated Google’s AI, along with others from Anthropic and OpenAI, against its own internally developed LLM technology. What it means for users As a user, this is all pretty good news. The latest versions of Gemini are among the top LLMs in the industry—benchmarks vary, and Apple’s version might not be the same as Gemini 2.5 Pro, but it’s clear that Apple isn’t going with a second-rate model here. Of course, talking to the new Siri won’t be just like talking to Google’s Gemini. For one, the voices will sound different, but they’ll also have different priorities and tuning, and Siri will have access to the private data stored on your phone. You could think of it as two completely different cars that have the same engine but different options and chassis. Apple will use Gemini’s LLM as a foundation for the new Siri, but the two assistants wil still be very different.Foundry The fact that Apple was willing to break out the checkbook to use a core technology from another company for one of its most important (and oft-maligned) features speaks volumes to a change of mindset in Cupertino. When Apple needs new core technology, it usually builds it or buys a company that already has (often both). That Apple is willing to step away from its homegrown mentality to deliver a new Siri that doesn’t disappoint is worthy of applause. Not Invented Here But Apple fans should also be wary. I’m generally critical of Apple’s “Not Invented Here” ethos, where it seemingly needs to own or build everything, whether it’s good for its users or not. There are lots of examples of that working out well—it took a long time, but Apple’s cellular modems and N1 networking chips give an experience at last as good as the Qualcomm and Broadcom stuff did—, but there instances where Apple’s stubbon reliance on in-house tech didn’t make sense. For example, when OpenGL outlived its usefulness as a graphics API, Apple could have moved to the open Vulkan standard that replaced it, helping shape its future. Instead, it developed its own graphics API, Metal, and I’m not convinced that it was better for developers or users. I don’t think Apple needed its own lossless audio format. Perhaps most notably, Google pays Apple some $20 billion a year for Google to be the default search engine for Safari. And yes, there are other search engine options, but we all know almost nobody strays from the default, which is why it’s worth so much to Google. The Apple Maps rollout was bumpy at best.Apple Inc That hasn’t been good for users. Google has been steadily degrading its search results experience while using the data from all those searches to consolidate its control over search and web advertising. If there’s anything Apple should have invested years ago, it is building its own privacy-minded, ad-free web search. And we all know about the Apple Maps fiasco. The company’s attempt to stop relying on a third-party mapping service resulted in a terrible product, ironically because that product was built with a mishmash of data that it didn’t own or control. It took years for Apple to build a Maps experience using all its own data, and now that it has, the experience is top-tier. Apple needs its own LLM So it’s clear that some core technologies Apple needs to build for itself and have total control over, while others it can and probably should find outside solutions for. A foundation AI large language model is definitely in the former category. As the years roll on, AI models are going to be part of so much more than chatbots. AI models are all over Apple’s products, from cameras recognizing your gestures to image editing to notification summaries and more. But the big foundational LLM that interacts with users and does everything from controlling our devices to gathering information about the world, that’s the most important AI model in the stack. Apple having its own top-tier LLM is as important as Apple controlling any other major piece of its technology stack. It’s arguably going to be more important than Apple having its own web browser. It’s great news that Apple recognized that its own internally developed LLM isn’t good enough right now, and is willing to go to Google to solve the problem. But in the end, Apple desperately needs to catch up or surpass the technology it is buying. And it’s not clear if it has the ability to do that, as competitors’ LLMs continue to improve and Apple seemingly loses AI talent every week. As a user, you should be glad about the Apple-Google-Gemini-Siri AI deal. As long as it doesn’t last.

Macworld Just over a month after the official release of iOS 26 to the public, Apple is now rolling out iOS 26.1, the first major update to Apple’s new iPhone OS. While the 26.1 update isn’t a huge one, it does bring some important new settings and interface tweaks. From an option to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass to new gestures on the Lock Screen and the Music app, read on as we dig into everything new in iOS 26.1 and why you should rush to update your iPhone or iPad right now. @macworld.com What’s new in iOS 26.1 #ios #iphone #apple ♬ original sound – Macworld – Macworld Make Liquid Glass more frosted One of the main highlights of iOS 26 is the new Liquid Glass interface. However, Apple’s attempt to make its operating system look fresher and more modern has resulted in as many complaints as compliments. After many attempts to fine-tune Liquid Glass, Apple decided to give users control over the interface. That’s because iOS 26.1 adds a new toggle to radically adjust the appearance of Liquid Glass. Now you can choose between “Clear” mode to stick with Liquid Glass’s transparency or “Tinted” mode for higher opacity and better contrast. You can now opt out of Liquid Glass.Foundry To do this, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass and choose the best option for you. If you’re part of the group of users who were unhappy with Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1, you’ll certainly appreciate the new “Tinted” mode. Of course, if you like Liquid Glass, you don’t need to do anything about it – and you can rest easy without worrying about Apple backtracking on Liquid Glass now that there’s an option. Don’t sleep through alarms anymore iOS 26 brought another small but impactful change to the lives of iPhone users: the alarm interface. Some users didn’t like how Apple made the stop alarm button much larger in iOS 26 and placed it just below the Snooze button, which is the same size but a different color. As a result, a number of users have claimed that they’re oversleeping because they turned off the alarm instead of hitting the snooze right after waking up. Alarms are much harder to turn off in iOS 26.1.Foundry To fix this, iOS 26.1 once again tweaks the alarm interface. Now, Apple has added a “Slide to Stop” feature, which requires users to slide their finger from left to right to turn off alarms completely. But if you think that’s too complicated and want the old Stop button back, here’s what you can do. Once you install iOS 26, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and enable the “Prefer Single-Touch Actions” toggle. This will bring back the button to stop the alarm instead of the new swipe gesture. Stop accidentally launching the camera While iOS already offers an option for users to remove the Camera button from the Lock Screen, the app is also accessible by swiping from right to left. If, for some reason, you want to completely remove access to the Camera app from the Lock Screen, you can now do so. By going to Settings > Camera and turning off the “Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera” toggle, the Camera app will no longer be accessible by swiping your finger on the Lock Screen. Of course, you can still access the app in other ways, such as by pressing the Camera Control on iPhone 16 or later. But that can also be turned off. Although swiping to open the Camera app is meant to be a useful shortcut, some users complain about accidental launches when the iPhone is in their pocket, resulting in excessive battery drain. If that’s the case, iOS 26.1 is the update for you. Swipe to change tracks iOS 26.1 also makes it easier to skip songs in the Apple Music app. Instead of having to open the full-screen player or press any buttons, all you need to do now is swipe your finger on the mini player to skip to the next song or go back to the previous one. Give it a try after you update: play an album or playlist, then minimize the player and test the swipe gestures. Although it’s not a life-changing feature, it’s certainly slicker than tapping the skip button. Apple Music has a new skip gesture in iOS 26.1.Foundry Use Apple Intelligence in more languages Introduced last year, Apple Intelligence is what Apple calls its set of AI-based features. This includes things like Writing Tools for reviewing text, Genmoji for creating your own emojis, and Visual Intelligence for searching for things with your iPhone camera. Apple Intelligence has been available in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. With iOS 26.1, Apple is expanding support for Apple Intelligence to more languages. These include: Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese (Portugal), Vietnamese, and Turkish. If you speak one of these languages and have a compatible device (iPhone 15 Pro or later), go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri after updating to iOS 26.1 and make sure to enable the Apple Intelligence toggle. Quickly patch security holes As we previously reported here at Macworld, iOS 26.1 revamped a feature formerly known as “Rapid Security Responses.” Now called “Security Improvements,” the feature can automatically and silently install security patches on your iPhone or iPad without requiring you to download a new version of iOS. If you want to make sure your device is always secure with the latest patches, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Background Security Improvements and enable the Automatically Install option. Security updates will be much less painful after the iOS 26.1 update is installed.Foundry This may sound like a small thing, but many users forget to install iOS updates. That’s why having the option to install security patches automatically without any action is actually huge. Get Slide Over back on iPad Good news for iPad users. iPadOS 26.1 brings back Slide Over, one of the iPad’s multitasking features that lets users keep an app always visible on the screen, overlaying other apps. Although iPadOS 26 has improved multitasking and window management in many ways, the removal of Slide Over has left some iPad users upset. Thankfully, Apple listened to the feedback and brought the feature back. This time, users will find Slide Over by tapping and holding the green resize button in the upper-left corner of any app window.  Slide Over disappeared in iOS 26, but it’s back in iOS 26.1.Foundry Update now For those who have already updated to iOS 26, the update to version 26.1 makes the system even more reliable and secure, and adds some extra features. And if you’re still running iOS 18 for some reason, now might be the right time to update to iOS 26 and take advantage of everything new in iOS 26.1. You can update your device by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It’s available for all iPhones and iPads already compatible with iOS 26.

Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Available with up to 16TB 550MBps throughput and super fast seeks Slim, attractive, and lightweight Cons Slow compared to 20/40Gbps NVMe SSDs 16TB version is pricey indeed Our Verdict VectoTech’s attractive, slim Rapid 16TB USB SSD has twice the capacity of most external SSDs. That in and of itself will sell units, but it’s SATA inside, so while seeks are fast, throughput is 550MBps max. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Rapid External SSD USB-C Portable Solid State Drive Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket SSDs have an issue: relatively low capacities. VectoTech’s Rapid 16TB provides a solution, albeit for quite a bit of cash. Being SATA-based, it’s not as fast as most external SSDs. But for performance, portability, and reliability, even a SATA SSD beats the heck out of a hard disk drive (HDD). The Rapid is a thin and relatively svelte 5.15 by 3.15 by 0.4-inch rectangle styled in silver with a black bumper running around the edge. It’s pretty good-looking, in my book. The internals are SATA-based and the bus is 10Gbps USB. NVMe SSDs are faster. But you might remember (you might not) that it was SATA SSDs that freed the world from the slothful seek and load times that HDDs suffer. And lest that seem unfair to HDDs, those are what freed us from floppies and tape. The bottom of the VectoTech Rapid 16TB with its anti-skid feet. Being only decently fast, the Rapid’s most attractive selling points by far are ruggedness and capacity. SSDs are not prone to mechanical damage as hard drives are, and you simply can’t get 16TB of SSD storage in a form factor this small anywhere else, as far as we’re aware. Even small NVMe RAID enclosures (NVMe currently tops out at 8TB per drive) are generally larger and thicker. Forget HDDs, even 2.5-inch models (which currently top out at 6TB) are significantly fatter than the Rapid, and 3.5-inch models (up to 36TB) are positively huge by comparison. VectoTech Rapid price Hang onto your hats–actually, your wallets, dear readers. While the Rapid is $129 for 2TB (not half bad!), $229 for 4TB (not bad either!), it’s $1,699 for 16TB. Yowser! Priced [er terabyte, that’s $64.50, $57.25, and $106.18, respectively. A hefty premium for having it all in one box. Those prices are almost exactly those of the bare V-MAX SATA 6Gbps SSD that’s inside, though that drive is also available in an $799 8TB version VectoTech Rapid performance Compared to an HDD, the VectoTech Rapid is very fast. Compared to even slow 10Gbps SSDs, that would be, not so much. Around 500MBps to 550MBps both reading and writing. But that’s sustained throughput and only part of the story. The VectoTech Rapid is an SSD, and even SATA SSDs have fast seek times, up to a thousand times quicker than HDDs. Again, it was SATA that freed computers from deadly slow boot and load times, not NVMe. While not 10Gbps/NVMe -like, 500MBps is far faster than a hard drive. While I didn’t have other drives to chart the Rapid against, I did send it through PCWorld’s suite of tests. As SSD rated the seeks as between 0.04 and 0.7 milliseconds. Hard drives are generally anywhere from 10 to 12 milliseconds. AmorphousDiskMark rated the Rapid as right around the speed of a fast internal SATA III SSD. I had no other external SATA SSDs to compare the Rapid simply because they’re exceedingly rare these days. But while I didn’t create charts, note that in the case of SATA, real-world transfers are very close to what you see in the three synthetic benchmarks. It’s only when you get to NVMe that the operating systems can’t keep up. Alas, while there are remedies for slothful operating system transfers in Windows, I’ve yet to find any for macOS. That said, there’s a clone of an early version clone for macOS of the FastCopy utility discussed in the article linked above. It’s called RapidCopy and is available in the App Store. Alas, in my tests on my M4 Max Studio, it didn’t offer any significant improvement over Finder. Your experience may vary. ATTO has basically the same option of the VectoTech Rapid 16TB’s performance. Note that I tested only the 16TB version of the Rapid so I can’t vouch for the speed of the lower capacity models of the drive. It’s quite likely the same or ballpark, but run a couple of benchmarks upon purchase of one of the lower capacity SKUs to make sure. Should you buy the VectoTech Rapid? Capacity being your main concern, the 16TB Rapid is the only way to get that much storage in a single external SSD, SATA or no. At least in such a svelte form factor. I can’t say 100 percent yes because of the price, but, if the convenience and capacity outweigh monetary factors for you, by all means go for the 16TB. For smaller capacities, I’d opt for one of the faster, like-priced or cheaper alternatives.

Macworld TL;DR: Microsoft Office 2024 comes with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and right now, it’s only $130 for life. Microsoft 365 asks you to pay every month for software you’ll never own. If you want to get Apps like Word and Excel for life, get Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC for $129.97 (reg. $149.99). This version of Office comes with Word Excel PowerPoint The layout is clean and familiar, but easier to use. The Ribbon adjusts automatically to show only what you need, and you can pin favorite tools to the Quick Access Bar. Accessibility options are better, too, so it’s easier to make documents that everyone can read. Real-time co-authoring makes it simple to work on a file with others, and built-in comments help when you need feedback. Office 2024 also adds AI features like text suggestions in Word and better data handling in Excel. Don’t get stuck paying for apps you’ll never own. Until November 16 at 11:59 p.m. PT, you can get Microsoft Office 2024 Home for PC or Mac for $129.97. Microsoft Office 2024 Home for Mac or PC: One-Time PurchaseSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change.

Macworld Today Macworld has launched a major update to Smart Answers. When you ask the tool a question, you will now get a longer, more-detailed and better-structured answer that really helps you get the most from our in-depth journalism. What is Smart Answers Smart Answers is a chatbot tool that helps you get more from our content. It’s built using Generative AI and content written by our human editors. The way we interact with content is changing. It wasn’t so long ago you would have sifted through a printed magazine for advice on the latest consumer technology, yet it felt like a revolution when those old mags switched over to digital- and online editions. These days, everything you could ever want to read is on the internet – or more likely watch on YouTube or TikTok. The difficulty comes in finding trustworthy, up-to-date information that precisely and immediately answers your question, and most of us tend to rely on search engines and algorithms to figure that out for us, with varying degrees of success. But faced with a page full of links to visually similar content, you’re still a step away from the information you need – two, in fact, if you need to further refine your query. Smart Answers is our new reader service that turns content discovery on its head. You control the questions, the answers, and the delivery. It’s like having a Macworld editor at your beck and call, allowing you to request and receive specific content on demand. So why wait for the content to find you? Try Smart Answers We’ve worked in partnership with Miso.ai to develop Smart Answers, a GenAI tool (see What is GenAI?) that draws only on Foundry‘s complete catalog of English-language content (written by humans) to answer your natural-language questions. You’ll not only benefit from the expert knowledge of Macworld editors, but those of PCWorld, Tech Advisor and TechHive too, collectively covering the entire consumer technology sphere. Smart Answers is fast and efficient, which means you don’t have to scroll through pages of information to find what you need. You can ask it anything, from what is the best Apple Watch for diving to which printer should you buy for your home office, or even when is the next iPhone coming out or how do you speed up your Mac. You’ll get an answer in seconds. It’s like having a Macworld editor at your beck and call… why wait for the content to find you? Ask it a follow-up question too, if you like, or browse the recommended reading for more detail on the topic. Smart Answers is clever enough to work out what you may want to ask next, and it will even show you the best pricing for related products and services to avoid you having to search it out yourself. Smart Answers has been trained on the type of tech-related questions our readers are likely to ask. Ask it a silly or irrelevant question and you’ll either get a silly or irrelevant answer or no answer at all. Our priority is to ensure Smart Answers is able to adequately respond to questions on the topics we do cover. Though Smart Answers is intrinsically linked to our editorial content, our editorial function stands independently. No article published on this site has been created using GenAI. Extensive testing has been conducted by our editors over the two years since we first launched Smart Answers in August 2025, with our feedback used to retrain the model. We wouldn’t be rolling this upgrade out today if we were not confident that the answers it provides are as trustworthy as if they had come direct from our editorial team. This cycle of testing, feedback, and retraining is ongoing and will be important as we continue to add functionality to Smart Answers – and this is just the start of a process that will ultimately put you in charge of your own content experience across Foundry-owned sites. Of course, the real testing comes from you. We’ll be analyzing all search data collected by Smart Answers, and cross-checking the quality of responses, but we’d also love to hear your feedback. You can get in touch with our Director of Content Operations Marie Black or Director of Product and Data Neil Bennett over email. FAQ 1. How does Smart Answers work? Smart Answers is based on a GenAI platform, built by our partner Miso.ai. Unlike ChatGPT, Google Bard and other GenAI tools that source their information from all over the web, Smart Answers has been trained only on content written by Foundry journalists. It responds to queries posed in natural language with a summarized answer and links to related information. 2. What is GenAI? Short for Generative AI, GenAI is a type of artificial intelligence that is able to mimic the neural networks of the human brain and, through machine learning of existing content, generate entirely new content in the form of text, images, video and audio. When given a prompt, such as a piece of natural-language text, the computational power of GenAI allows it to deliver an answer much faster than can the human brain. 3. Can I trust Smart Answers? Yes. Smart Answers provides answers based on articles written by Foundry journalists and does not use data from any external sources, which could be unreliable or subject to copyright concerns. Extensive testing has gone on behind the scenes to help train the model, so we are satisfied that it is able to provide reliable information. We’ve also worked hard with partner Miso.ai to eliminate ‘hallucinations’ – these are misleading or wholly incorrect answers that may be given when the answer is not known or the data required to answer the question is incomplete. If Smart Answers is unable to answer your question, it will tell you so. 4. Is Smart Answers a threat to our editorial team? Absolutely not. Smart Answers cannot exist without the expert content written by Foundry journalists. Its ability to stay useful and relevant is entirely dependent on it being able to learn from their content, and thus it is not the first step in some evil plan to replace our team of editors and cut costs. Smart Answers is a supplementary service for our readers, designed to aid content discovery and enhance the user experience. Though we will make revenue from any adverts displayed on the page and earn commission on links to purchase some products and services, Smart Answers also costs us money to develop and run. 5. Is Smart Answers being used to create editorial content on Macworld? No. Editorial articles feed into Smart Answers, but Smart Answers is not used for the creation of editorial articles. In the future we may use query data for article or FAQ topic suggestions. 6. What data is Smart Answers collecting? We are recording queries submitted via Smart Answers to help us understand in what information our readers are interested. Smart Answers also collects anonymized user data that allows us to better understand the interests and intent of readers visiting Foundry websites. Learn more about Foundry’s Privacy Policy, and Miso.ai’s Privacy Policy.

Macworld Gaming subscription services are all the rage now, but Apple Arcade isn’t a little different from the likes of PlayStation Plus, EA Play, or Xbox Game Pass. If you’ve got questions about it, we’ve got plenty of answers. Updated November 6, 2025: There are three new games on the service this month: MySims, MySims Kingdom, and Toca Boca Jr. Classics. What is Apple Arcade? Apple Arcade is a gaming subscription service for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and AppleTV that features several hundred games. The games are a mix of genres and styles, and include original games you’ll only find on the service and others that can be found on the regular App Store or even other platforms. Apple Arcade isn’t a streaming service like Xbox Live Cloud Gaming or GeForce NOW. Games must be downloaded onto your device in order to be played. What do I need to run it? Apple Arcade was made available as part of iOS 13, iPad OS 13, tvOS 13, and macOS Catalina or later. Some of the more visually-intensive games may only run well on newer hardware, though, and some Mac games require macOS 11 (Big Sur). How much does Apple Arcade cost? Apple Arcade costs $6.99/£6.99 per month, and you’ll also get a one-month free trial or you can get three months free if you purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac. To claim your free trial click here. You can get Apple Arcade for less than $6.99 a month if you subscribe for a year upfront. A year of Apple Arcade is $49.99/£49.99 (so $4.16 a month). If you’re currently on the $6.99 month-to-month plan and want to switch to the annual plan and save some money, you can do so on your iPhone or iPad. Open the App Store app, then tap your account icon in the upper right. Tap Subscriptions, then tap the entry for Apple Arcade. Here, you can switch to the annual plan. Apple Arcade is also included in the Apple One subscription bundles, which range from $20 a month to $38 a month and include access to Apple Music and Apple TV and iCloud storage. There is also a month free trial of Apple One. To claim the trial, or sign up for Apple One, click here. How do I sign up for Apple Arcade? There isn’t an Apple Arcade app—it’s built into the App Store. On your iPhone, iPad, or Mac open the App Store and look for the Apple Arcade tab at the bottom of the screen (or in the left column on macOS). A sign-up screen with a Try It Free button will appear. After the trial you’ll be charged either the monthly or annual fee, depending on your selection. When subscribing, you’ll need to enter your Apple ID password or use Touch ID or Face ID to sign in, and you’ll have to confirm your subscription purchase a few times. Once you’re done with the sign up, the Arcade section of the App Store shows what games are available to you. To access a game, tap on it in the App Store, then tap the Get button. When the game is done installing on your device, the Get button turns into a Play button, and you can tap it to launch the game. The game app icon will also appear on your device’s Home page. On the Apple TV, there actually is an Arcade app. Open that to see the sign-up offer. You’ll also find an Arcade tab within the App Store. Does my subscription include family sharing? Yes. One $6.99 per month subscription can be shared between up to six people (including you). How do I cancel Apple Arcade? First off, keep in mind that if you cancel Apple Arcade (either before your free trial is up or after subscribing), you won’t be able to keep playing the games unless you re-subscribe. If you’re okay with that, you can use the same process you use to cancel any other subscription service. Here’s the easiest way to do it on the iPhone and iPad: Open the App Store app and tap on your profile photo in the upper right. In the screen that pops up, press Subscriptions near the top of the page. You’ll then see a list of active subscriptions, and Apple Arcade should be listed there. Tap it. You’ll either see Cancel Free Trial or Cancel Subscription toward the middle of the page that appears. Tap whatever option is available, then Confirm Cancellation. And here’s how to cancel Apple Arcade on the Mac: Open the App Store app and then press the icon with your profile photo in the lower left. The Account window will appear, and you should then click View Information at the top of the window. Enter your password when/if prompted. When your Account Information appears, scroll down to the Manage section and click the Manage link to the right of Subscriptions. When the list of your active subscriptions appears, click Edit to the right of Apple Arcade. Toward the middle of the page that appears, you’ll see a button that says either Cancel Free Trial or Cancel Subscription. Click it, then click Confirm Cancellation and Confirm. Do Apple Arcade games have in-app purchases? No. In Apple’s words, “since every game includes access to the full experience, including all game features, content, and future updates, no additional purchases will be required.” Even games that have in-app purchases on the App Store won’t have any in Apple Arcade. Do Apple Arcade games have ads? Also no. On a related note, Apple says Apple Arcade has no ad tracking. Is Apple Arcade a game streaming service like GeForce NOW or Xbox Game Streaming? No. All Apple Arcade are downloaded. Are there demos for Apple Arcade games? No, and they’re not really necessary. Like App Store apps, games download quickly and can easily be removed if you don’t want to keep it anymore. Apple partly envisions Apple Arcade as a way of letting players try out games with more freedom than the App Store currently allows (which is basically none). In Apple’s words, “rather than pay upfront for each game, a subscription to Apple Arcade will give players the opportunity to try any game in the service without risk.” The service has a free trial, though, as we’ve seen with other Apple subscription services. Am I able to keep playing Apple Arcade games if I cancel my subscription? No. As with most subscription services, you only have access while you’re a subscriber. Can I use controllers with Apple Arcade games? Yes. In additional to traditional MFi (Made for iOS) controllers, you can pair some specific Bluetooth controllers for either PlayStation or Xbox with either your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Since many Apple Arcade games are playable on Mac and Apple TV (where controller support is more common), many games will support them. Some games, especially those that are also available in the broader App Store and only for iPhone or iPad, have no controller support. Recently Apple relaxed the requirements for MFi controller certification, which may have grown out of the Apple Arcade negotiations. How often are new games released? Games are typically released on the first Friday of each month. There are some rare exceptions. What games have been released so far? There are over 200 games available for Apple Arcade, and the list grows all the time. TitlePublisherRelease DateA Fold ApartLightning Rod Games04/17/20A Monster’s ExpeditionDraknek Limited09/10/20A Slight Change of Sawblades+Yong Kian Chin05/02/24Agent InterceptProdigy Design09/19/19Air TwisterYS Net Inc.06/24/22Alba: A Wildlife Adventureustwo12/11/20All of YouAlike Studio11/06/20Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost CityTeam Alto / Snowman07/16/21Alto’s Adventure—RemasteredTeam Alto / Snowman03/25/22Arkanoid vs Space Invaders+TAITO Corporation11/07/24Amazing BombermanKonami08/05/22Angry Birds BounceRovio09/03/25Angry Birds ReloadedRovio07/16/21Asphalt 8: Airborne+Gameloft08/27/21Assemble With Careustwo09/19/19ATONE: Heart of the Elder TreeWildboy Studios09/19/19Badland PartyHypeHype Oy05/06/22Balatro+Playstack09/26/24Baldo: The Guardian OwlsNaps Team08/27/21Ballistic BaseballGameloft10/18/19Barbie Color Creations+StoryToys Limited12/05/24Battleheart Legacy+Mika Mobile11/04/22BattleSky Brigade: HarpoonerBattleBrew Productions09/19/19BEAST: Bio Exo Arena Suit TeamOh BiBi02/01/24Beyond a Steel SkyRevolution Software06/26/20Beyond BlueE-Line Media04/17/20Big Time SportsFrosty Pop Games09/19/19Blackjack by MobilityWare+MobilityWare01/05/24Bleak SwordDevolver Digital09/19/19Bloons TD Battles 2+Ninja Kiwi03/07/24Boggle: Arcade EditionZynga12/05/24Bold Moves+Red Games Co.06/09/23Bridge Constructor+Headup GmbH02/04/22Butter RoyaleMighty Bear Games01/24/20Card of DarknessPendleton Ward09/19/19CardpocalypseVersus Evil09/19/19Castle CrumbleOrbital Knight02/03/23Castlevania: Grimoire of SoulsKonami09/17/21Cat Quest IIThe Gentlebros.09/19/19Charrua SoccerBatovi Games02/07/20Chess Universe+Tilting Point05/04/23ChuChu Rocket! UniverseSega09/19/19Cityscapes: Sim BuilderPlaystack05/04/23Clap Hanz GolfClaphanz04/02/21Clue: The Classic Mystery Game+Marmalade Game Studio03/24/23Construction Simulator 2+Astragon Entertainment04/15/22Cooking Mama: Cuisine!Office Create Corp.06/17/22CornsweeperRobert Morrison01/05/24Cozy GroveSpry Fox03/18/21Crashlands+Butterscotch Shenanigans, Inc.01/14/21Crayola AdventuresRed Games Co.03/07/24Crayola Create and Play+Red Games Co.10/29/21Crayola Scribble Scrubbie+Red Games Co.09/03/25Crazy Eights: Card Games+MobilityWare03/06/25CreaksAmanita Design07/10/20Cricket Through the AgesDevolver Digital09/19/19Crossword Jam+PlaySimple Games10/20/23Crossy Road+Hipster Whale10/08/21Crossy Road CastleHipster Whale02/28/20Cut the Rope 3SeptoLab UK10/13/23Cut the Rope RemasteredPaladin Studios04/02/21Cypher 007Tilting Point09/29/23Dandara: Trials of Fear+Raw Fury12/03/21Dead End JobHeadup GmbH, Ant Workshop09/19/19Dead Cells+Playdigious12/02/22Dear ReaderLocal No. 1209/19/19DecoherenceEfecto Estudios10/11/19Delicious — Miracle of Life+GameHouse11/24/23Detonation RacingElectric Square07/30/21Dicey Dungeons+Distractionware05/02/24DiscoloredShifty Eye Games & Jason Godbey11/08/19Disney C

Macworld Every year, Apple updates the Mac operating system. The current version of macOS is macOS 15.5, but development of macOS 26 (not macOS 16) is well underway. Apple runs a beta program, which means developers and registered public testers can try out new features before they are released to the general public later in the year. The beta process doesn’t stop with the full release of macOS in the fall. After macOS 15 Sequoia arrived on Macs in September 2024, development continued with new features rolled out every couple of months. The same will be true of the macOS 26 development cycle. In this article, we’ll explain what you need to do to get your hands on a copy of the new beta of macOS 26, how to install it, and what you should bear in mind if you want to avoid problems. (If you would prefer to use the latest official release of macOS, here’s how to update macOS on your Mac.) Update November 5, 2025: Apple released the macOS 26.2 beta. macOS beta: Latest version The most recent version of the macOS 26 Tahoe developer beta is version 26.2. It was released on November 5, 2025. Following WWDC 2025 on June 9, the macOS 26 developer beta is now available to download for those signed up to the program. The “macOS 26” name is part of a coherent annual naming system along with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. Foundry macOS beta: Next beta update New betas tend to arrive every one to two weeks, and more frequently as the full release data approaches. The beta testing program will continue to run after the new macOS 26 software launches in September or October 2025, with Apple continuing to roll out new features. How to get the macOS beta To get the developer version of the macOS 26 beta, you need to be running macOS Sequoia and be registered for Apple’s developer program, either having paid $99/£79 to enroll in Apple’s Developer program (here) or with a free developer account (follow the instructions below for how to register for that). Alternatively, if it’s the public beta you are after, you just need to sign up for the Public Beta program on Apple’s beta webpage, sign the NDA, and enroll your Mac. Details of how to do that are below. As long as you are a registered developer or enrolled in the public beta program, when the relevant macOS Beta becomes available, it will also show up on your Mac. Before you download the beta, a few warnings: We strongly advise that if you aren’t a developer, you don’t download the developer beta. We also strongly recommend that you back up your Mac before you upgrade to the macOS beta. We recommend that you do not run the macOS beta on your primary Mac; ideally, run it in a separate volume. This should minimize any risks to you. How to get a free Apple developer account If you just want a free Apple Developer account so you can access the beta, you can get this via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app on an iPhone: Get the Apple Developer App from the App Store.  Open the app on your iPhone.  Tap on Account.  Tap on Sign In.  Sign in using your usual Apple ID.  If you wish to actually publish applications to the App Store or receive support, you’ll need to pay $99/£79 per year for a paid account. You can compare the free and paid accounts here. How to register for the macOS public beta The macOS public beta is accessible to anyone with a valid Apple ID. To register, go to the Apple Beta Software Program page. Select the “Sign Up” option. Sign in using your Apple ID. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the registration process. Enrol the Mac you wish to run the beta on via this Apple page. How to download macOS beta Open Software Updates on your Mac. (System Settings > General > Software Updates.) You should see two options: Automatic Updates and Beta Updates. Click on the (i) beside Beta Updates. You can now turn on Beta Updates (if they weren’t already on). Choose the beta you want to download: public or developer. If your account is tied to a different Apple ID than your usual one, you can change that here. Click Done. Now your Mac will check for updates and eventually show the latest macOS Beta as an upgrade. Click on Upgrade Now. Foundry Do I need the macOS Beta Access Utility? Only if you are running macOS Ventura 13.3 or earlier. Apple changed the way it delivers betas in Ventura 13.4. If you aren’t yet running that version of macOS you will need to download the macOS Developer Beta Access Utility or macOS Public Beta Access Utility in order to download betas. If you were already running an earlier macOS Public Beta you’ll find the new macOS beta as an upgrade via Software Update. Just click on Upgrade Now. You may have to update to the latest version of your current beta before you can do so, if not follow the steps below to get the beta access utility. If you are enrolled in the Developer Program, go to Apple’s beta download page. Click on Install Profile to download the new macOS Developer Beta Access Utility to your Mac. If you are enrolled as a public beta tester, download the macOS Public Beta Access Utility. Go to Downloads on your Mac and click on the macOS Beta Access Utility to open it. Double-click on the dmg file and the installer will run. Once the new macOS beta is installed Software Update will check to see if there are any updates. Click Update and the latest version will download. You’ll see a prompt to install the latest macOS beta, click on Continue. Agree to the Ts&Cs (more on them below). Click Install. Once you are running the beta, the updates will come through to your Mac automatically; you just need to click to install. You will receive a notification when the next update to the beta is available. Updates will be available via Software Update (in System Settings/System Preferences) FAQ 1. Who can run the macOS beta? Anyone can run the macOS beta, but to do so, you do need to register for either the developer beta, the pubic beta, or both. Apple offers both developer and public beta programs for macOS, enabling all interested users to test pre-release versions of the operating system. While both betas provide early access to new features, they cater to different user profiles based on technical expertise and risk tolerance. Beta software tends to be buggy so the more stable public beta version may be preferable, but even that will not be bug-free. In the past, the developer beta was only available to developers who had paid to join Apple’s Developer Program (which costs $99/£79). However, for a couple of years now, Apple has opened up the developer beta to registered developers with free developer accounts. We explain how to get a free developer account below. If you decide you no longer want to run the beta version of macOS read this: How to remove the macOS beta. 2. macOS public beta vs developer beta Since 2023, the Developer Beta has been available to anyone who registers as a developer, even if they aren’t a paid-up member of Apple’s Developer Program. As a result, people with a basic free developer account can download the new macOS developer beta (we show you how to register below). Whether you should download the developer beta if you aren’t a developer is another question. We don’t recommend you install the developer beta if you aren’t a developer. Instead, our recommendation is to use the public beta (the first version of which usually arrives in July). There are a few differences between the public and developer betas. The public beta is not the same as the beta that is released through the developer program. The public beta typically launches after the developer beta has undergone initial testing and refinement Developers get updates to their beta first, and possibly more frequently. But you should keep in mind that betas are by nature not stable, and because the public beta comes after the developer beta it could be a little safer to install. The most significant difference is probably the motive of the testers: Developers usually have the aim of ensuring their apps work when the updated macOS is released to the general public, while public beta testers are essentially helping Apple detect bugs and offering feedback on the features. Because of this, developers may get to test new features not available in the public beta.  If you want to get the public beta the first thing you need to do, if you haven’t already, is join Apple’s beta programs read this for more information: How to become an Apple beta tester. 3. Is the macOS beta stable? By its nature, a beta has the potential to be unstable. Therefore, it’s not advised that you install it on a Mac that you rely on. If you have a second Mac that isn’t mission-critical, then install it there. We strongly recommend that you don’t risk all by putting the macOS beta on your primary macOS, especially not in the early days of the beta development.  If you don’t have a second Mac, there are a couple of ways you could run macOS beta on your Mac without running the risk of losing data or finding your Mac stops working: We recommend installing it on a partition, which these days is really a volume (and is much easier to create than a partition was). Read about how to do that here: How to dual-boot Mac: Run two versions of macOS on a Mac. Alternatively, you could install the macOS beta on an external drive and run it on that. We discuss the safety of the macOS beta and the risks you might be taking in more detail in a separate article. If the stability of the beta worries you, then you are probably better off waiting until the final version is out, or at least waiting until testing has been happe

Macworld When the iPhone Air arrived in September, it was instantly clear that it was different than any other recent iPhone release. For one, it was incredibly thin with a unique 6.5-inch display. For another, it came with some serious compromises, including worse battery life and fewer cameras than the cheaper iPhone 17. According to a new report, at least one of those compromises will be addressed with the iPhone Air 2. Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station reports that “consideration is being given” to adding a second 48MP ultra-wide lens to next year’s model. This would match the standard iPhone, which has had two cameras since the iPhone 11. The leaker claims the camera wouldn’t change the design of the phone, which would have the same horizontal bar as the current model. However, given the extraordinary engineering inside the existing plateau, adding a second camera to the same design would require major internal changes. Other pain points with the iPhone Air are the smaller battery and lack of a second speaker. It’s unclear if Apple is also working to address those issues as well. Apple is expected to unveil the next iPhone Air next September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and its first folding phone.

Macworld Best Apple Deals Available Now! Black Friday isn’t here yet but we are already seeing lots of deals, including these top deals on Apple products this Black Friday: $249 off the MacBook Air at Amazon. $300 off an 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro at Amazon. $61 off the new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro at Amazon. $120 off the Apple Watch Series 10 (46mm) at Amazon. $99 off Apple Watch Ultra 3 at Amazon. $100 off the 11-inch M4 iPad Pro (512GB) at Amazon. $200 off the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro (256GB) at Amazon. $100 off the iPad mini (A17 Pro, 128GB) at Amazon. We also have U.K. deals below. ‘Tis the season for savings! Whether you’re looking for a deal on an iPad, Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods, or anything else Apple sells, there’s no better time to get one for cheap than Black Friday, the annual shopping extravaganza that runs from Friday, November 28, through Monday, December 1, better known as Cyber Monday. Every retailer that sells Apple stuff gets in on the fun, and we’ll track every deal we can find right here. Even Apple runs its own Black Friday shopping event, where it typically offers gift cards on certain purchases. The bottom line is that there are lots of deals to be found over the four days, so no matter what Apple device you’re looking for you will be able to make a saving. But you don’t need to wait for Black Friday to begin to get a great price on Apple gear. Sales are already going on, and we’re tracking them diligently to bring you the best ones all through the holiday shopping season. Many of the best deals we see are on Amazon, but we’ll also be checking resellers such as Best Buy, B&H and Walmart in the U.S., and KRCS, AO, Argos, John Lewis, Currys, Laptops Direct, and eBuyer in the U.K. So take a look at the deals below and be sure to bookmark this page! Apple’s Black Friday 2025: Apple’s deal Apple holds its own shopping event every Black Friday, but it doesn’t offer actual discounts. Instead, Apple gives away gift cards when you buy certain products, which can be used on a future purchase. In 2024 Apple offered the following gift card values over Black Friday: $25/£20 Apple Gift Card: AirPods 4, iPhone SE, Apple TV 4K, Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (2nd generation), Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (M4), Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (M2), Magic Keyboard Folio, Smart Folio for iPad Pro, Smart Folio for iPads Pro, Air And 10th gen, Beats Solo Buds, Beats Pill, or Beats Flex $50/£40 Apple Gift Card: iPhone 14, HomePod, AirPods Pro 2, Apple Watch SE, iPad 10th gen, Beats Studio Pro, Beats Solo 4 Wireless, Beats Fit Pro, Beats Studio Buds + $75/£60 Apple Gift Card: iPhone 15, AirPods Max, iPad Air (M2) $100/£80 Apple Gift Card: iPad Pro (M4) $150/£120 Apple Gift Card: 13-inch MacBook Air (M2) $175/£140 Apple Gift Card: 13-inch MacBook Air (M3) $200/£160 Apple Gift Card: 15-inch MacBook Air (M3) We expect this year’s discounts will be similar, with newer models replacing the ones on this list (M4 MacBook Air for M3 MacBook Air; iPhone 16e replacing iPhone SE, etc.). Apple typically announces the products that are included in its shopping event offers the week before Thanksgiving. Early Black Friday MacBook Air and MacBook Pro deals Apple released the new M5 MacBook Pro in October, but still sells M4 Pro and M4 Max models as well as the M4 MacBook Air. The new M5 model is mostly a chip refresh, so we’ll spotlight any significant discounts on the M4 model as well. The M4 models are all excellent laptops, especially if you can save $200 or more. U.S. Amazon, 13-inch M4 MacBook Air (256GB): $750 ($249 off, MSRP $999) Amazon, 13-inch M4 MacBook Air (512GB/24GB): $1,150 ($249 off, MSRP $1,399) Amazon, 15-inch M4 MacBook Air (256GB/16GB): $950 ($249 off, MSRP $1,199) Amazon, 15-inch M4 MacBook Air (512GB/16GB): $1,150 ($249 off, MSRP $1,399) Amazon, 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro (512B/16GB RAM): $1,538 ($61 off, MSRP £1,599) Amazon, 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro (1TB/16GB RAM): $1,749.99 ($49 off, MSRP £1,799) Amazon, 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro (512GB): $1,340 ($259 off, MSRP $1,599) Amazon, 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro (24GB RAM, 512GB): $1,748 ($251 off, MSRP $1,999) Amazon, 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro (24GB RAM, 512GB): $2,189 ($310 off, MSRP $2,499) Amazon, 16-inch M4 Max MacBook Pro (48GB RAM, 1TB): $3,531 ($468 off, MSRP $3,999) Save money on the MacBook Pro this Cyber Monday.Foundry U.K. Amazon, 13-inch MacBook Air, M4 (10-core CPU/8-core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM): £879 (£120 off, RRP £999) Amazon, 13-inch MacBook Air, M4 (10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 1TB/16GB RAM): £1,229.97 (£169 off, RRP £1,399) Amazon, 15-inch MacBook Air, M4 (10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM): £1,079.97 (£119 off, RRP £1,199) KRCS, 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro (512GB/16GB RAM): £1,439.10 (£160 off, RRP £1,599) Amazon, 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro (512GB/24GB RAM): £1,750 (£250 off, RRP £1,999) Amazon, 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro (1TB/24GB RAM): £2,119.97 (£279 off, RRP £2,399) Amazon, 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro (512GB/24GB RAM): £2,200 (£299 off, RRP £2,499) Early Black Friday iMac and Mac mini deals The iMac and Mac mini received an M4 update in October 2024, with the Mac mini also getting a dramatic redesign that shrunk the case down to just 5 inches. We don’t know if they will be getting M5 chips, but if they are, they won’t arrive until 2026, and it likely won’t be much more than a faster chip. So we recommend picking up one of these deals if you’re looking for a Mac desktop. Save money off a new iMac.Foundry U.S. Amazon, M4 Mac mini (256GB): $499 ($100 off, MSRP $599) Amazon, M4 Mac mini (24GB RAM, 512GB): $890 ($109 off, MSRP $999) Amazon, M4 Pro Mac mini (24GB RAM, 512GB): $1,270 ($129 off, MSRP $1,399) Amazon, M4 iMac (8-core GPU, 256GB): $1,182 ($117 off, MSRP $1,299) Amazon, M4 iMac, 10-core GPU, 256GB): $1,374 ($125 off, MSRP $1,499) U.K. Amazon, M4 Mac mini, 256GB/16GB RAM, £529 (£70 off, RRP £599) Amazon, M4 Mac mini, 512GB/16GB RAM, £720 (£79 off, RRP £799) KRCS, M4 Mac mini, 512GB/24GB RAM, £899 (£100 off, RRP £799) Amazon, M4 Pro Mac mini, 512GB/24GB RAM, £1,269.99 (£129 off, RRP £1,399) Amazon, M4 iMac (8-core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM), £1,199 (£100 off, RRP £1,299) Amazon, M4 iMac (10-Core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM), £1,349 (£150 off, RRP £1,499) Amazon, M4 iMac (10-Core GPU, 512GB RAM) £1,549 (£150 off, RRP £1,699) Early Black Friday AirPods deals Apple released the AirPods Pro 3 in September 2025, with a slightly new design, foam-infused eartips, a heart-rate sensor, and the same $249 price tag in the U.S., while the price in the U.K. dropped to £219 from £229. Even the AirPods 4 are relatively new, arriving in late 2024, and the AirPods Max gained a USB-C port and refreshed color options in 2024. We usually see some tremendous savings on AirPods over Black Friday, and we don’t expect this year to be any different. Look for the newer AirPods Pro 3 at a modest $30-$50 off, but other models could get deep discounts. We expect to see AirPods Pro 2 as low as $150, AirPods 4 dropping under $85 for the first time, and AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation under $115. AirPods tend to go on sale for a limited time, expect good deals over Black Friday.Petter Ahrnstedt U.S. Amazon, AirPods Pro 2: $169.99 ($30 off, MSRP $199) Amazon, AirPods Pro 3: $249 ($0 off, MSRP £249) Amazon, AirPods 4: $199 ($20 off, MSRP $129) Amazon, AirPods 4 (with ANC): $149 ($30 off, MSRP $179) Amazon, AirPods Max: $496 ($53 off, MSRP $549) Amazon, Wired EarPods (USB-C): $17 ($2 off, MSRP $19) U.K. Amazon, AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C case): £199 (Note AirPods Pro 3 are only £219) Amazon, AirPods Pro 3: £219 (£0 off, RRP £219) Amazon, AirPods 4: £119 (£0 off, RRP £119) Amazon, AirPods 4 (with ANC): £169 (£0 off, RRP £169) Early Black Friday Apple Watch deals Grab yourself an Apple Watch deal for Black Friday.Mike Sawh Apple launched the Apple Watch Series 11 in September, but there aren’t many exclusive new features beyond better battery life and 5G networking. The two new health features, hypertension alerts and Sleep Score, are also available on the Series 10, and there isn’t a new color this year. The Ultra 3 is also new, with a larger screen and satellite connectivity, while the SE 3 got the biggest update of all, gaining an always-on display, temperature sensor, a faster chip, on-device Siri, and fast charging. We’ll spotlight clearance deals on older models, especially the Series 10. However, we don’t think the Apple Watch SE 2 is worth getting unless it drops under $150. U.S. Amazon, Apple Watch Series 11 (42mm): $390 ($9 off, MSRP $399) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 11 (46mm): $420 ($9 off, MSRP $429) Amazon, Apple Watch SE 3 (40mm): $199 ($50 off, MSRP $249) Amazon, Apple Watch SE 3 (44mm): $229 ($50 off, MSRP $279) Amazon, Apple Watch Ultra 3: $700 ($99 off, MSRP $799) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm): $280 ($119 off, MSRP $399) Amazon, Apple Watch Series 10 (46mm): $309 ($120 off, MSRP $429) U.K. In the U.K., Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 prices have been cut by £30 and £50, respectively, compared to their predecessors. Keep this in mind when shopping, because some stores might make savings appear to be larger than they actually are. Apple Watch Ultra 2: £615 (Ultra 3 is £749) Apple Watch Series 10 (46mm) GPS: £299 (Series 11 is £399) Apple Watch Series 10 (42mm) GPS&Cellular: £391 (Series 11 is £469) Early Black Friday iPad deals Apple updated the iPad Air with an M3 chip and the iPad Pro with an M5 chip this year. Otherwise, Apple’s tablet lineup remains the same, so expect to see at least $100 off most models, with the A16 iPad po

Macworld Earlier this week, Apple revealed new branding that will appear at the start of Apple TV shows. The new title card features a colorful presentation of the Apple logo, and according to AdAge, the company took a more traditional approach to creating the look. Instead of using computer-generated graphics or AI, Apple, working with TBWA\Media Arts Lab and Optical Arts, made the visual part of the branding with a glass Apple TV logo model and lighting effects captured with a camera. According to AdAge, this production approach aligns with a presentation that Apple VP Tor Myhren made at Cannes Lions back in June, where Myhren spoke about the importance of human creation at a time when AI-based tools are emerging. AdAge has a highlight video that shows the behind-the-scenes production of the shoot. Besides the five-second clip that appears at the start of shows, a 12-second version was made to appear at the start of Apple Original Films (a.k.a. movies). There’s also a one-second “sting” made for trailers. This is just the beginning.Music composed by FINNEAS. pic.twitter.com/DV8d2eK0B3— Apple TV (@AppleTV) November 3, 2025 The music accompanying the branding was made by Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator, solo artist, composer, and producer. In a report by Variety, Finneas states that he had HBO’s static sound and NBC’s peacock chimes in mind when creating the Apple TV jingle he dubbed “Mnemonic.” While Finneas did use digital tools to create the final product, he primarily relied on his piano as the basis for the sound. “I played a chord that felt kind of hopeful and kind of optimistic, but had gravity to it and hopefully had a little bit of an enigmatic, mysterious quality,” he told Variety. “And so I had this chord thing happening and then I started building the sounds around it.”

Macworld I don’t know about you, but I’ve got music playing pretty much around the clock, so a good pair of earbuds is essential. If you’ve been eyeing a new pair of noise-cancelling earbuds, but didn’t want to spend a fortune, this half-off deal on the Beats Studio Buds+ is a great time to grab a new pair. Instead of shelling out $170 for the earbuds, Woot is selling them for just $80, the best price we’ve ever seen for these buds. When we reviewed the Beats Studio Buds+, we gave them a four-star rating and appreciated the excellent battery life, improved ANC, and stellar quality. We also loved the “playful” transparent design and good seal that stayed in our ears through intense workouts. You’ll also get hands-free Siri and easy iPhone pairing, but since these are Beats rather than AirPods, they’ll work just as well with an Android phone. At $80, these Beats earbuds are an immediate buy, so hurry up to Woot and add this to your cart. Woot deals are only around until stock runs out or the timer expires on the deal, so be sure to act fast if you want a pair. Grab these Beats earbuds for half offBuy now at Woot

Macworld Whether you are looking or a new iPad, or your first iPad, considering one for a gift, or looking for one for work, you will no doubt be hoping to find a bargain. We see cut-price deals on iPads all year round, although at certain times of the year deals are better than at others. If you want to pay less for an iPad we can help you find the best deals on every iPad right now, including the iPad mini, iPad Air, iPad Pro and the standard ‘iPad’. We know where to look and we know how to spot a really good iPad deal because we track the prices all the time. If you are hoping to get a new M5 iPad Pro they are now on sale, and you can already save money! The 13-inch iPad Pro is already $50 off at Amazon, which isn’t a huge saving, but it did only go on sale on October 24. That’s not the only model with a discount either. We also have a guide to the best Apple deals right now on all Apple products, including MacBook Air deals, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, iPhone and Apple Watch.  Later this month it’s Black Friday and we expect to see some super deals on all models of iPad at that time, so do bookmark our Best Black Friday iPad deals page. Best iPad deals right now These are the very best iPad deals we are seeing right now on all the different iPads Apple sells. Apple introduced a new M5 iPad Pro in October 2025, so we don’t expect to see big discounts on the new iPad Pro for some time, but Amazon already has $50 off the 13-inch iPad Pro in the U.S. and KRCS in the U.K. is already selling them with a price cut at £979 and £1,273. U.S. Deals Amazon, 11-inch M5 iPad Pro (128GB): $949 ($50 off, MSRP $999) Amazon, 13-inch M5 iPad Pro (128GB): $1,249 ($50 off, MSRP $1,299) Amazon, iPad (A16, 128GB): $299 ($50 off, MSRP $349) Amazon, iPad mini (A17 Pro, 128 GB): $399 ($100 off, MSRP $499) Amazon, 11-inch M3 iPad Air (128GB): $549 ($50 off, MSRP $599) Amazon, 13-inch M3 iPad Air (128GB): $749 ($50 off, MSRP $799) Amazon, 11-inch M4 iPad Pro (512GB): $1,099 ($100 off, MSRP $1,199) Amazon, 13-inch M4 iPad Pro (256GB): $1,099 ($200 off, MSRP $1,299) U.K. Deals KRCS, 11-inch M5 iPad Pro (128GB): £979 (£20 off, RRP £999) KRCS, 13-inch M5 iPad Pro (128GB): £1,273 (£26 off, RRP £1,299) Amazon, iPad (A16, 128GB): £299 (£30 off, RRP £329) Amazon, iPad mini (A17 Pro, 128GB): £461 (£38 off, RRP £499) Amazon, 11-inch iPad Air (M3, 128GB): £560 (£39 off, RRP £599) Amazon, 13-inch iPad Air (M3, 256GB): £849.97(£50 off, RRP £899) Amazon, 11-inch M4 iPad Pro (512GB): £1,079 (£120 off, RRP £1,199) Britta O’Boyle When is the best time to find iPad deals? We update this article regularly, so if you aren’t ready to buy an iPad right now, make sure you come back for up-to-date prices. And if you aren’t sure which iPad is best for you we have a guide to help with that as well as some information below that might help. You may be wondering if there is a good time to shop for deals on a new iPad. The best time of year is when the big sales happen, such as Black Friday in November or Amazon Prime Day sales in July and October. In fact the Amazon Prime Day Sale starts on 7 July, so you may not have to wait long to get a deal. It’s also wise to check to see if Apple is likely to update the iPad you want to buy soon. When Apple updates an iPad you can expect deal prices of the previous generation models to fall, if it’s a deal on the newest model you want, be prepared to wait though. Brady Snyder / Foundry Does Apple have sales? The deals rarely come from Apple itself. While Apple will sometimes offer vouchers as an incentive to buy a new iPad (that’s Apple’s usual Black Friday giveaway), the company never discounts prices. Apple does sell refurbished iPads at a lower price though, so that might be something to consider. If you are a student you can take advantage of Apple’s education discounts and save a little money on the full price of iPads (and Macs). And in the summer months Apple gives away Apple Pencils or AirPods with the sale of certain iPads (and Macs) to students in it’s Higher Education Sale. Sometimes Apple gives away vouchers in a Back To School sale. Apple How Macworld finds the best deals At Macworld, we have tools at our disposal that mean we can see the best deals at any time across multiple resellers. We also track the best discounts over time, so we know what the best deals look like. We also know what pitfalls to avoid when looking for an iPad deal. For example, an older iPad model may have an attractive price, but the saving may not be good enough to compensate for what’s missing if you compare it to a newer model. We will be sure to indicate when this may be the case. Because we know all about Apple’s iPad line up right now, what the previous generations offered, and what’s expected from the iPad in the future, we are well placed to give advice on the best iPad to buy and the best price to get it for. Apple Macworld’s top 5 tips for finding the best iPad deal When you are searching for a deal keep the following points in mind and you should be happy with your purchase. Check the storage: Some older iPads only had 32GB or 64GB storage. We don’t think that’s enough. The good news is that Apple’s current iPad line up has 128GB storage or more, so, unless you are buying an older model, this won’t be an issue. Just make sure that if you see a deal on an old model with less storage it is priced accordingly. Some of the best deals are on higher capacity iPads. You probably don’t need cellular: You might intend to use your iPad when you are out and about. In that case spending more to get a model with cellular might appeal. Our opinion is that you can just hotspot from your iPhone to get on the internet from your iPad. You won’t need to pay for a data contract and your’ll also save yourself money on the price of the iPad itself. Check the deal you are looking at isn’t for a cellular model because a non-cellular deal will be even better! Consider refurbished: If you want a bargain and don’t mind that it’s not the latest model buying a refurbished iPad can be a great way to save money. We recommend using Apple’s refurbished store because every product is throughly tested before being sold, and you get a one year warranty with it. If you want to save more money, companies like BackMarket and Declutter. There’s more information about buying a refurbished iPad below. Shop around: If you want a deal then don’t shop at Apple! The best deals come from the various resellers who often battle it our to undercut each others prices for Apple products. Amazon is usually the best, but make sure to check the likes of Walmart, B&H and Best Buy in the U.S., and AO, Argos, Currys in the U.K. We have a list of the best places to buy an iPad below. Wait, if you can: If it’s not Black Friday or an Amazon Prime Sale keep in mind that there could be even better bargains coming. Also, if Apple is likely to be announcing new products soon, be aware that it may mean that the current range will soon be discounted even more. Which iPad should you buy? The answer to this question really depends on what you need your iPad for. I want the cheapest iPad you can buy Consider the standard iPad. The cheapest iPad is the 128GB A16 iPad, which costs from $349 / £329. It’s a good option if you are likely your iPad is destined for general use, such as emails, one taking, web browsing, social networks, watching movies and reading books. It’s got a great sized screen and is light enough to pop in a bag and not feel weighed down. The iPad A16Britta O’Boyle I’m for an iPad to use instead of a computer If you are just planning to edit documents and spreadsheets, any iPad can be a good supplement for a computer. If you need something with a little more power then the iPad Air or iPad Pro might be a better option. Apple and other companies sell iPad cases that come with built in keyboards, so you can turn your iPad into a laptop. Read our round up of the best iPad keyboards. Foundry I want an iPad that won’t weigh too much You have two choices here. The iPad mini is the lightest iPad you can get, it’s also the smallest. If you need a bigger screen the iPad Air is a good choice. Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry I want an iPad to use for gaming If you are wanting to play the latest games on your iPad then the iPad Pro may be the one to choose. Other iPads will be able to play casual games, but to be sure of getting the power and graphics prowess necessary to play the latest games. The iPad Pro also offers a better screen with the 120Hz refresh rates that serious gamers will want. I want an iPad so I can draw The iPad is a great device for artists. Any iPad, accompanied with an Apple Pencil or other iPad stylus, will allow you to draw using an app such as Adobe’s Sketchpad (now called Adobe Fresco) which can be used for free, but has in-app purchases. If you are really serious about your art you may prefer an iPad Pro though, and you may even consider the nano-texture display option for less glare and reflections. Petter Ahrnstedt We also round up the best iPad for students, best iPad for kids and best iPad for the elderly. Where to get an iPad deal You don’t have to buy directly from Apple. There are resellers that will sell you and iPad, and the best thing is that they frequently offer discounts, where Apple never does. We recommend the stores below. U.S. retailers Apple Amazon Best Buy Costco Target Walmart U.K. retailers Apple Amazon Argos Currys John Lewis Very Apple has a number of Apple Premium Resellers who stock iPads in the U.K

Macworld The Mac mini is the cheapest Mac you can buy, but you can get one for less than Apple sells it for. Our Best Mac mini Prices Comparison looks at all the stores that sell Apple Macs and finds the best prices right now so you can be sure you aren’t spending more than you need to.  Whether it’s the latest Mac mini M4, or an older Mac mini model that you want to find on sale, we share the best prices you can get the Mac mini for.  Because we follow all the Apple resellers all year round, we know the best prices resellers have sold Mac mini for in the past, and whether today’s deal is really good or just ok. Check out the best deals we are seeing right now below. We also give advice about what to look out and what to avoid when buying a Mac mini.  We also have a guide to the best Apple deals right now on all Apple products, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.  Later this month it’s Black Friday and we expect to see some super deals on Mac mini at that time, so do bookmark our Best Black Friday Mac and MacBook deals page. Best Mac mini deals right now U.S. Amazon, M4 Mac mini (256GB): $499 ($100 off, MSRP $599) Amazon, M4 Mac mini (24GB RAM, 512GB): $889 ($110 off, MSRP $999) Amazon, M4 Pro Mac mini (24GB RAM, 512GB): $1,270 ($129 off, MSRP $1,399) U.K. Amazon, M4 Mac mini, 256GB/16GB RAM, £529 (£70 off, RRP £599) Amazon, M4 Mac mini, 512GB/16GB RAM, £720 (£79 off, RRP £799) KRCS, M4 Mac mini, 512GB/24GB RAM, £899 (£100 off, RRP £799) Amazon, M4 Pro Mac mini, 512GB/24GB RAM, £1,269.99 (£129 off, RRP £1,399) If you’re looking for an M4 iMac, check out our round-up of the best iMac deals. We also have the best Mac Studio deals. Best M4 Mac mini deals The best prices for the Mac mini will appear below. M4 Mac mini, 10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM, MSRP $599/£599 Retailer Price $499 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket M4 Mac mini, 10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB/16GB RAM, MSRP $799/£799 Retailer Price $689.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket M4 Mac mini, 10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB/24GB RAM, MSRP $999/£999 Retailer Price $889.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best M4 Pro Mac mini deals M4 Pro Mac mini, 12-core CPU/16-core GPU, 512GB/24GB RAM, MSRP $1,399/£1,399 Retailer Price $1,269.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best deals on old Mac mini models IfF you are on a small budget, you can often find a good deal on the previous generation. Just keep in mind that the older Mac mini had lass RAM as standard – 8GB rather than 16GB. We think that 8GB RAM should be avoided if possible. M2 Pro Mac mini, 512GB/16GB RAM (MSRP: $1,299/£1,399) New Refurbished Retailer Price $829 View Deal $899 View Deal $1199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Mac Mini (January 2023) M2 Pro 3.49 GHz – SSD 512 GB – 16GB $731 View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket M2 Mac mini, 256GB/8GB RAM (MSRP: $599/£649) New Refurbished Retailer Price $499 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price $399.99 View Deal Mac mini (January 2023) M2 3.49 GHz – SSD 256 GB – 8GB $494.99 View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket M2 Mac mini, 512GB/8GB RAM (MSRP: $799/£849) New Refurbished Retailer Price $699 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price $Not Available View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket Where to buy the Mac mini Mac mini buyers in the U.S. can check out the following stores: Apple Amazon Best Buy BH Photo Video Costco Looking for other ways to save money. Find out if you can save money buying Apple products from another country. If you’re based in the U.K. you can pick up a Mac mini from the following retailers: Apple Amazon Argos Currys John Lewis Very Apple has a number of Apple Premium Resellers in the UK who stock Macs and offer other services: KRCS Insight iStore Select Western Computer Jigsaw You might also be able to trade in your old Mac to get some money off your new purchase. Here’s how to get money off with Apple’s trade-in program. Best refurbished Mac mini deals One of the best places to look for Mac mini deals all year round is the Apple Refurbished Store. There, you’ll find discounts on Mac mini that have been returned to Apple for various reasons, and then completely revamped for resale. If you buy a refurbished Mac mini from Apple it will come with a one-year warranty so Apple may fix or replace it for free should anything happen to it in that first year. In the U.S.: Get a refurbished Mac at Apple's refurbished store (U.S.) In the U.K.: Get a refurbished Mac at Apple's refurbished store (U.K.) You can get refurbished Macs from other suppliers too, including the following refurbished resellers listed below: In the U.S.: Apple Amazon Back Market Best Buy Gainsaver OWC Mac Of All Trades Refurb.me In the U.K.: Affordable Mac Apple Amazon BackMarket Hoxton Macs Laptops Direct MacFinder Mac 4 Sale Music Magpie Amazon also has a certified refurbished store for Apple products but we would advise against buying any products that are older than five years – most of the products we see on the Amazon refurbished store are unfortunately very old. Another place to look is BackMarket US and BackMarket UK, which sells refurbished Macs and other Apple products. We also recommend Hoxton Macs in the U.K. Find the latest Apple refurbished deals here. We also have this advice about buying a refurbished Mac.

Macworld If you want to buy a iMac for less than the price Apple sets, you have come to the right place. We can help you find the best deals on a new iMac using our Best Prices Comparison that looks at all the stores that sell Apple Macs and finds the best prices right now. Whether it’s the latest iMac M4, or an older iMac model that you want to find on sale, we share the best prices you can get the iMac for.  We follow Mac prices all year round, so we know the best prices Apple resellers have sold iMacs for–and we know if they have a really good deal and not just an ok deal. Check out the best deals we are seeing right now below. We also give advice about what to look out and what to avoid.  We also have a guide to the best Apple deals right now on all Apple products, including MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.  Later this month it’s Black Friday and we expect to see some super deals on iMac at that time, so do bookmark our Best Black Friday Mac & MacBook deals page. Best iMac deals right now These are the very best deals we are seeing right now. You’ll find our best U.S. and U.K. deals listed below. The best prices where you are based will appear in the boxes below, including Canada or Australia. U.S. Amazon, M4 iMac (8-core GPU, 256GB): $1,182 ($117 off, MSRP $1,299) Amazon, M4 iMac, 10-core GPU, 256GB): $1,374 ($125 off, MSRP $1,499) U.K. You can save on each of the models. Amazon, M4 iMac (8-core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM), £1,189 (£100 off, RRP £1,299) Amazon, M4 iMac (10-Core GPU, 256GB/16GB RAM), £1,399 (£100 off, RRP £1,499) Amazon, M4 iMac (10-Core GPU, 512GB RAM) £1,550 (£149 off, RRP £1,699) For even more deals check out our best prices comparison tables in the section below. Best iMac M4 deals iMac, M4, 8-core CPU/8-core GPU, 256GB/16GB unified memory, MSRP $1,299/£1,299 Retailer Price $1,169.56 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket iMac, M4, 10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 256GB/16GB unified memory, MSRP $1,499/£1,499 Retailer Price $1,347.45 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket iMac, M4, 10-core CPU/10-core GPU, 512GB/16GB unified memory, MSRP $1,699/£1,699 Retailer Price $1,522.34 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best deals on old iMacs While resellers sell off old stock you may be able to pick up some good deals. Just keep in mind that the new iMacs include more RAM: we feel that the 8GB RAM as standard in these older iMacs is not sufficient. iMac, M3, 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 256GB/8GB unified memory, Was $1,499/£1,599 – Discontinued New Refurbished Retailer Price $1369 View Deal $1,389 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2023) M3 4.05GHz – SSD 256 GB – 8GB $823 View Deal iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2023) M3 4.05GHz – SSD 256 GB – 8GB $866.92 View Deal iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2021) M3 3.2GHz – SSD 256 GB – 8GB $1007.99 View Deal iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2023) M3 2.8GHz – SSD 256 GB – 8GB $1034 View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket iMac, M3, 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 512GB/8GB unified memory, Was $1,699/£1,799 – Discontinued New Refurbished Retailer Price $1,315.08 View Deal $1599 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2023) M3 4.05GHz – SSD 512 GB – 8GB $946 View Deal iMac 24-inch Retina (Late 2023) M3 3.2GHz – SSD 512 GB – 8GB $1291.68 View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket Where to buy an iMac You can buy an iMac directly from Apple in the US or at Apple UK, but there are plenty of stores and Apple Premium Resellers around the world that offer discounts on new and old Macs. Some Mac retailers offer great discounts on Apple products and Apple accessories, so you should be able to save a few hundred pounds off some iMac configurations. Beware, though. The Mac listed by the reseller may be an older model than the one Apple currently sells. We’ve seen resellers advertising Macs with money off based on the price they were previously sold at by Apple, even after Apple has started selling a newer Mac at the same price – so the deal often looks better than it actually is. So be careful to check the age and spec of the machine being sold, and don’t automatically assume that it’s current. To get an idea of what the old model should be worth, take a look at Apple’s refurbished store to see what Apple is selling the older version for (and remember that buying from Apple, even if it’s refurbished, will mean you get a full year’s warranty). And for another way to save money on a new Apple product read about how you can trade in old products at Apple and other resellers and get money off. Read: How Apple trade-in works and saves you money. We regularly see Mac-related deals from the following U.K. and U.S. retailers: U.S. Want to buy a iMac from Apple? View the iMac in the Apple Store. Get your education discount: View the iMac in the Apple Education Store View the iMac at Amazon where we often see discounts. View the iMac at B&H Photo. View the iMac at Best Buy. View the iMac at Walmart. You can find the iMac at Adorama here. Looking for other ways to save money. Find out if you can save money buying Apple products from another country. U.K. You can be sure that you are buying a Mac at the correct price at Apple. View the iMac in the Apple Store. Save money if you are a teacher or student. View the iMac in the Apple Education Store. Get a iMac from Amazon where we often see discounts. View the iMac at Amazon View the iMac at AO.com. You may find an iMac at Argos, although we only tend to see deals in conjunction with events like Black Friday. We often see great deals on iMac at EE. View the iMac at Currys, who also frequently offer discounts. View the iMac at Ebuyer. View the iMac at John Lewis, where we often see discounts. You can get an iMac from Laptops Direct here And you may also find discounts on the iMac at Very Apple has a number of Apple Premium Resellers in the UK who stock Macs and also offer other services: KRCS Insight iStore Select Western Computer Jigsaw From time to time, Amazon runs lightning deals, which could get you a discount if you act quickly. If you’ve found that you’re missing out on Amazon’s Lightning deals, which run for just a few hours and offer limited stock, we’d recommend signing up for Amazon’s 30-day free trial of Prime, which will get you access to deals 30 minutes before everyone else. Plus, you’ll get free next-day delivery with the Prime trial, as well as access to Prime Instant Video and more. Sign up for Prime here. Best refurbished iMac deals One of the best places to look for iMac deals all year round is the Apple Refurbished Store. There, you’ll find huge iMac discounts, sometimes even on the latest models. These iMacs have been returned to Apple for various reasons, and then co

Macworld Whether you’re a Mac desktop or MacBook owner, there’s nothing quite like finding that keyboard that fits perfectly within your setup. A keyboard, just as with picking the best mice for Mac, is a very personal choice. After all, you’re likely to be pressing its various keys and twirling its dials for hours each day, and that makes getting the investment right all that much more important. Below, you’ll find our roundup of the best keyboard for Mac users, including impressive Hall Effect options, full-size offerings, compact boards, and naturally Apple’s own offerings. Here are our favorites. Best Mac Keyboards We have all sorts of Mac keyboards in this round-up, including Apple’s default Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and the cheaper, and still-on-sale Magic Keyboard. We have some keyboards with customizable keys and dedicated apps, and wired keyboards (for those fed up with searching for new batteries every few weeks) as well as ergonomic solutions to help you avoid RSI, and some pretty stylish offerings that give Apple a run for its money. And, talking of money, there are quality Mac-ready keyboards out there that cost a lot less than Apple’s—and do more too. Read on to find the one that’s best for you. 1. Logitech MX Keys S For Mac – Best Mac keyboard for Power Users Pros Competitive price Function keys and numeric keypad Super sturdy Cons Backlight drains battery Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $114.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket It’s hard to keep up with Logitech’s ever-growing MX range of keyboards, but the Logitech MX Keys S For Mac is its latest top-of-the-range wireless keyboard, priced at $109.99/£109.99. Its slimline, low-profile design is very smart and attractive, and available in either Space Gray or Pale Gray. It’s the most solidly built Mac keyboard we have tested, and is capable of surviving some heavy-handed typing when it needs to. The MX Keys S For Mac is significantly cheaper than Apple’s Magic Keyboard (from $179/£179), but also a lot more versatile, as it includes a dedicated set of buttons that allow you to pair it with three separate devices, including Macs, iPads, Windows PCs, and even Linux and Chrome devices. Look for the “For Mac” model as it offers a Mac dedicated layout. The Command Key is the giveaway when you want to ensure you have the regular Mac keyboard layout. There are different models for U.S. and U.K. layouts, too. The original MX Keys was launched a few years ago, so this updated MX Keys S includes a number of new features, such as Function keys that can be used to activate dictation on your Mac, open the emoji menu, or mute/unmute your microphone for video-calls. The backlighting has been improved too, automatically reacting as you first move your hands onto the keyboard, and adjusting to suit the ambient light in the room around you. The backlight does drain the battery though—the keyboard can last for up to five months if you’re not using the backlight, but this drops to around 10 days if you have the backlight on all the time. You can use the MX Keys S with any Mac, and it will work like a standard keyboard with a row of Function keys that control settings such as brightness and volume, or activating Exposé. However, Logitech also provides an app, called Options+, which requires macOS 12 or later. This allows you to reprogram the various Function keys to perform different tasks. It can also be configured to work with specific apps such as Photoshop or Premiere, which makes it a particularly good option for professional users who want to speed up work in their key apps. The app has also been updated for the MX Keys S, adding a new Smart Actions feature that works a bit like Apple’s Shortcuts, by allowing you to record a series of actions that can be triggered using a single key. 2. Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (2021) – Best Mac keyboard with Touch ID Pros Touch ID Nice design Cons Touch ID won’t work with Intel-powered Macs Slimline so keys don’t ‘travel’ much Smaller version is cramped Best Prices Today: New Refurbished Retailer Price $129.99 View Deal $149 View Deal $149 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Magic Keyboard (2021) Wireless – Silver – QWERTY – English (US) $79 View Deal Price comparison from Backmarket At first glance, the two Magic Keyboard models launched by Apple in mid-2021 look very similar to the original models—which are still available and reviewed here as well. However, these newer models bring a number of new features that aren’t available on the older Magic keyboards. For starters, these models are officially referred to by Apple as (1) the Magic Keyboard With Touch ID For Mac Models With Apple Silicon ($149 / £149), and (2) the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for Mac Models with Apple Silicon ($179 / £179). Note there are Space Gray versions that cost more ($199/£199) so make sure you select the white models if you want to save money. (Apple Silicon means your Mac has an M-series processor—for example, an M2 iMac—rather than an older Intel-based processor. If you bought your Mac after 2020 it is likely using a Silicon M-Series processor.) Apple is making it abundantly clear that the new keyboards are specifically designed for the latest Mac models that have Apple’s home-grown M-series processors. You can use these new keyboards with older Macs that have Intel processors, but you’ll really only be able to use them as basic QWERTY keyboards for typing, as most of the new features—including the Touch ID sensor that sits in the top row of Function keys—won’t work on Intel Macs. The basic design of the two keyboards hasn’t actually changed that much, with the same slimline design and month-long battery life as their predecessors. The smaller Magic Keyboard With Touch ID is priced at quite a premium for the Touch ID sensor. And, like the standard Magic Keyboard, it feels rather cramped, with a small Space bar and cursor keys. The lack of ‘travel’ (the up and down movement of the keys as you press them) also makes the keyboard feel a bit lifeless for people who type a lot and need a bit more tactile feedback when they’re typing up a storm. Then again, you might feel that your fingers have to do less ‘work’ compressing the key. Apple also introduced new versions of the Touch ID keyboard with black keys in early 2022. The key feature of these keyboards, though, is the Touch ID sensor, which sits by the F12 button on the top row of Function keys. This works just like the Touch ID sensors on the iPhone and iPad, and—on Macs with Apple Silicon—you’ll see a new Touch ID panel appear in System Preferences when you first connect the keyboard. This allows you to store up to three fingerprints, which you can use to unlock your Mac, or to make secure payments on the Apple Store, or other online stores that support Apple Pay. There are a few other new features as well, including an Emoji command on the Fn key in the bottom-left corner of the keyboard, which displays the Emoji viewer panel so that you can quickly add emojis to any document or message that you’re typing. There are new Function commands too, for activating Spotlight, Dictation and Do Not Disturb. As always, the larger version of the keyboard is even more expensive but the numeric keypad will be useful for people who do a lot of number crunching at work. There’s more room to provide a larger Space bar too, and larger navigation keys. Even so, the thin keyboard panel means that the keys still feel a bit lifeless, so business users and budding novelists may prefer to look at one of the larger and more solidly built keyboards available fro

Macworld The macOS Tahoe update was one of the biggest changes to Apple’s Mac operating system in years. Not only did we get an entirely new look and feel in the form of Liquid Glass, but there were improvements to Apple Intelligence, a souped-up overhaul of Spotlight, iPhone features like Live Activities and Call Screening, and a whole lot more. But with all the attention focused on the headline features, you might not have noticed that macOS Tahoe is overflowing with little adjustments that add up to make a big difference. There are overlooked additions pretty much everywhere you look–pay attention to them and you might find your Mac experience is taken up a notch. Here, we’ve put together seven of our favorite little-known updates found in macOS Tahoe. Spotlight superpowers If you’ve been using macOS Tahoe, you’ve probably seen the new design and power user features that have been brought to Spotlight. But underneath the new app list and Quick Keys functionality, there are other tools that are well worth exploring. For example, one of Spotlight’s core functions is as a search engine on your Mac. In Tahoe, it’s been given extra powers, so you can search within your open windows and tabs to find that pesky website you were browsing earlier in the day. Or by typing out a website name (like Amazon), pressing Tab, then entering your query, you can search directly within a website right from Spotlight. Spotlight offers robust tools for navigating your Mac and more.Foundry There are other additions, too, like the ability to browse through your clipboard history and past Spotlight searches. These changes add up to transform Spotlight into the power user tool it was always meant to be. Mac control As the name suggests, the macOS Control Center is used to house controls and toggles for various apps and widgets. You can start playing music there, for example, or manage AirDrop. But because you access it from a button in your menu bar, it’s easy to forget it exists. The Control Center offers more customization options for you. YouTube / Apple In macOS Tahoe, that doesn’t need to be the case anymore, as you can drag controls out of the Control Center and house them in your menu bar, ensuring they’re always visible and accessible. Third-party apps can now add their own controls, so you’re not just limited to Apple’s options, and there’s an intuitive controls gallery that makes finding and enabling items in the Control Center a lot easier. With these improvements, the Control Center no longer needs to be macOS’s forgotten tool. Gaming goodness There’s no doubt about it: macOS gaming is big news these days. A combination of powerful chips and AAA titles migrating to the Mac means Apple’s computers are bona fide gaming machines in their own right. And in macOS Tahoe, there are two little-known features that can make your gaming sessions even more enthralling. The first is MetalFX Frame Interpolation, which is Apple’s take on frame generation. This creates an extra frame for every two frames generated by your game, with the end result being a far smoother gaming experience than Apple’s hardware might otherwise be able to produce. The second feature is MetalFX Denoising, and this enables real-time path tracing in compatible games, which results in much more realistic lighting effects wherever it’s applied. Both MetalFX Frame Interpolation and Denoising need to be utilized by game developers–they’re not features you enable yourself. That means they’re easy to overlook, but the impact on your gaming experience could be profound. macOS Tahoe is optimized for improved game performance.Apple Shortcuts automations Shortcuts has long been one of my favorite Mac apps, and it’s the perfect way to hand over repetitive tasks to your Mac or run complex scripts that would be tedious to perform yourself. With macOS Tahoe, Shortcuts can now perform automations, which makes things even more streamlined. In practice, that means that your favorite shortcuts can run automatically, such as at a defined time of day or when you take a specific action. So, you might save a file to your desktop, which then triggers a shortcut that moves images to your Pictures folder and everything else to your Documents folder. Automations can also be kicked off when you hook up an external display to your Mac, so you can start a work-related Focus mode or enable Dark Mode as soon as your monitor is connected, all without needing to perform a single click. To turn on advanced tracking and fingerprinting protection in all browsing, go to Safari > Settings > Privacy, then click the Advanced button.Foundry Privacy protections Apple has long taken user privacy seriously, and that tradition has been strengthened in macOS Tahoe thanks to the expansion of Safari’s privacy defenses. In particular, Advanced Fingerprinting Protection can now run in every Safari session and browser window, instead of just while you’re using Private Browsing. This protection ensures that websites and advertisers cannot collect certain markers–like your operating system details or web browser choice–and use them to build an identifiable profile of you. That keeps you safe from invasive adverts and nefarious tracking practices that you might not even have been aware of. Apple didn’t make a huge fuss about this new feature, but it’ll be very welcome if you care about your privacy. Filter unknown callers In summer 2025, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) highlighted a set of new features designed to filter out unknown numbers and screen callers before they are able to reach you. But these new tools don’t have to be limited to your iPhone; some of them can also protect your FaceTime experience in macOS Tahoe. If you opt in to the Unknown Callers filter in FaceTime, any screened calls from unknown numbers are automatically sequestered into a separate area of your call list, ensuring they don’t clog up your home page. If you later mark a number as known, that person will be able to call or text you in the FaceTime, Phone and Messages apps as normal. It’s a small tweak, but one that could clean up your apps and keep unwelcome callers away from your Mac. Call Filtering in FaceTime can be found in FaceTime > Settings > FaceTime.Foundry Journal on your Mac Apple’s Journal app has always felt a little lackluster, and more to the point, it’s long been limited to iOS. With macOS Tahoe, though, it’s finally made its debut on the Mac. Not only that, but it’s now equipped with a host of new features that make it a more complete way to jot down your thoughts throughout the day. You can now create multiple journals within the app, letting you keep different aspects of your life separate and organized. The layout of each entry can be augmented with photos, videos and other attachments, and there’s also a map view that lets you revisit the places mentioned in each entry. With the ability to add to your journal on your Mac, longer entries should now be a lot more comfortable to write than attempting to do so on your iPhone, as you previously had to. That should make the Journal app a lot more viable for Mac users who want a place to log their thoughts on a regular basis. Journal in macOS Tahoe can sync to iCloud so your iOS entries appear, as well.Foundry