Innehållsförteckning för February 2020 från Macworld UK

The Mac Pro is Apple’s workstation. It’s designed for professionals who need a powerful and flexible machine, and is ideal for applications that use as many processing cores as possible – video-editing applications, image-editing software, 3D programs, and the like. The Mac Pro is getting a revival of sorts. The company released a brand-new, redesigned Mac Pro in December 2019, after years of stagnation with the previous, cylindrical Mac Pro. Apple doesn’t offer a standard configuration choices for the Mac Pro. It’s really meant to be customized by the customer. To give you an idea of where pricing starts: if you configure the Mac Pro with the base components, it’s £5,499. Learn more about the Mac Pro by reading about its main features below. Processor Apple uses Intel Xeon W…

The best part about making predictions as a member of the press is that almost nobody has a long memory. You predict the future, but by the time the evidence against you has collected, everyone’s moved on to reading your new predictions for the next big thing. It’s quite a racket, or at least, it will be until someone invents Nostalgia. Not me, though. Every year around this time I make a combination of predictions and wishes for the next 12 months. But before I do that, I have to take stock and look back at the year just gone by – and how my predictions and hopes for 2019 fare in the cold light of a December morning. The Mac: Change, of a sort At this time last year,…

Reports of bugs plagued many of Apple’s software releases in the autumn, from iOS 13 to iPadOS to macOS Catalina. Even the HomePod received an update that resulted in some of the smart speakers becoming unresponsive, causing Apple to temporarily pull the release while it fixed the problem. Bugs, of course, are not the sole province of the people from Cupertino, but last year seemed particularly bad, especially when compared with the relatively stable release of iOS 12 in the autumn of 2018. It’s led to many calls for Apple to rethink its software strategies and to spend more time squashing bugs than implementing new features. A recent report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple is taking steps in that direction, making changes to its software development practices that will help…

The new Mac Pro is here. It’s safe to say that this is the most anticipated Mac in history – if only because its existence was pre-announced more than two and a half years ago, with the specifics following six months ago. The Mac Pro is important and it’s platform defining. And unless you’re someone in the extreme high end of the Mac market, you will never use one. It’s a bundle of expectations built on a precision stainless steel space frame and sheathed in a machined aluminium housing. What the Mac Pro is The Mac Pro is, more than anything else, a symbol. I’ve seen it likened to a concept car from a car manufacturer – an expensive and largely impractical vehicle that almost nobody will buy, but which…

The start of the year – and with it the decade – are here, and both have been busy for the company from Cupertino. There have been new products, the usual number of major and minor controversies, and oh so much rumour and speculation. But let’s stick to the facts. With the new year upon us, it’s time to cast our eyes back over the past 12 months in Apple and pick out the most significant moves and trends – the ones only visible with the benefit of hindsight. Turning pro It’s hard to deny that 2019 wasn’t the biggest year for professional Mac users since the company unveiled the Macintosh IIfx. (That joke’s for you, old timers.) Going into 2019, there was much eager anticipation around the Mac Pro,…

At long last, some two and a half years after Apple declared itself serious about enticing professionals back to the Mac, the Mac Pro is finally here. It joins the iMac Pro and the new 16in MacBook Pro as a triptych of attractive options for professional Mac users. That’s great. But while Apple was focused on the professional market, its consumer-facing options have languished a bit. It’s not that the MacBook Air, the iMac, and Mac mini aren’t perfectly serviceable machines, but they could all use a little bit of love – especially after all the attention that’s recently been lavished on their pro-level counterparts. The consumer Macs may lack the high margins of the pro market, but they more than make up for it in terms of volume. The…

Last month we gave you the lowdown on which MacBook model to buy. This issue we look at Apple’s different desktop models, including the brand-new Mac Pro. Mac mini The Mac mini is Apple’s smallest desktop computer, and is a nice combination of speed and affordability. It’s not only fast enough for general-purpose use but its multi-core speed is good, too – if you use a professional app such as a video editor, 3D software, or developer tools, then this can handle it, no problem. Because of its price and performance, the mini is a great Mac for just about anybody. It makes for an ideal primary computer for a home or small office. Professionals on a budget will also be satisfied with it. If you’re switching from a PC,…

With the Internet abuzz with privacy concerns and the potential changes coming to net neutrality, you’ve likely heard about virtual private networks, better known as VPNs. When used correctly, a VPN can greatly strengthen your online privacy, assist in keeping your personal information secure, and even spoof your location in the world – allowing you to access websites or services that would otherwise be off limits due to region-locking. With the increased popularity of VPNs has come an increased number of VPN providers vying for your business. That makes finding the best one to suit your needs difficult. To help you sort out the right provider for you, we’ve committed to extensive research and testing of VPN services that cater to Mac owners. How we tested For each VPN service…

2019 was one of the best years for gaming in ages. For one, we have all the wonderful games in Apple Arcade, but I talk about those games in a separate list. (Don’t worry: The list largely remains the same regardless of whether you’re playing on an iPad or a Mac.) For another, we saw great stuff from MMORPGs, which have always been kinder to Macs than other genres. And last (but certainly not least), we saw some excellent entries from indie studios. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Price: £29.99 from fave.co/372MGlg If there’s one thing you can count on in a Final Fantasy game, it’s that the ‘warriors of light’ will save the day. This expansion, though, flips that concept on its head and casts the light as an oppressive,…