Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i MacFormat

By the time you read this, Apple may have announced a slew of products at a launch event that took place on Wednesday 19 February, with an all-new iPhone SE, Apple silicon M4 MacBook Air, and more expected. You can read more about what Apple may have revealed on p6, but we’ll bring you more details on these latest releases next month – hopefully including a hands-on review or two. But you don’t need a new Mac, iPhone or iPad to make the most of your devices, as our lead feature this month explains. Starting on p20, you’ll discover some surprisingly effective ways to improve the quality of your existing Mac’s display, boost its storage and even double its ports, with plenty of tips and tricks to help you go…

Widely anticipated alongside the 2025 iPhone SE is the new MacBook Air, which will be available by March “at the latest” according to Marc Gurman. Apple isn’t expected to make any major changes to its most affordable level 13-inch and 15-inch notebooks this time around, with both models expected to get Apple silicon M4 chips – the same ones used in the current iMac and Mac mini – rather than the M3 chip that the 2024 model has now. The MacBook Air update is likely just the first in a series of Mac upgrades that we can expect this year, with the Mac Studio and Mac Pro also likely to get M4 Max and Ultra chips, with an announcement likely at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June. We’re also…

Apple has long been a champion of user privacy, famously standing up against the FBI’s attempts to insert a backdoor into its products that would potentially compromise the security and encryption of Apple devices. Now, The Washington Post reports that it’s the UK government’s turn to attempt to bend Apple to its will. The British government wants free rein over iCloud data belonging to both UK and overseas customers, allowing it to access data owned by any Apple user worldwide. What’s more, it has reportedly ordered Apple to comply, meaning a legal battle could be on the horizon, and has banned Apple from even disclosing the existence of the order. There are concerns that Apple could pull iCloud’s end-to-end encrypted storage service (known as Advanced Data Protection) from the UK rather…

16% > Increase in Mac sales for the quarter compared to the previous year, earning Apple $9 billion. 94% of US customers were happy with their purchase. 538 > Number of awards that the films and shows on Apple TV+ have won to date, with over 2,500 nominations. 1 billion > Total number of paid subscribers to Apple services, which includes iCloud+, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade. 15% > Increase in iPad sales for the quarter, with the entry-level iPad and iPad Air performing particularly well, earning Apple $8.1 billion. $124.3 billion > Total sales revenue for all products and services for the quarter to December 2024, an increase of 4% year on year. $69.1 billion > Amount of money Apple made from the iPhone alone. Although sales were roughly…

Modern monitors have come on a long way in the last few years. These days, you can get a display with 4K resolution for under £200, and even the largest display sizes are becoming more affordable. If the monitor you use with your headless Mac is getting long in the tooth, or you want a second screen for your iMac or notebook Mac, perhaps it’s time to upgrade. Having two displays is great for productivity. You can put menus, reference documents and other such windows on the second display, while you work on your primary screen. Or if you like to listen to music while you work, open the Music app on your secondary monitor, where it’s out of the way but still accessible. According to tech marketing, research, and…

You can never have too many ports, but modern Macs never seem to give you enough. Thankfully, there’s a simple solution. Buy a hub or dock, and you get a large range of extra ports on a device that takes up only one port on your Mac. A good quality Thunderbolt dock can give you over a dozen extra ports. If it’s mains powered, it may offer charging ports for your notebook, iPhone or other rechargeable device. Less ambitious is the plain old USB hub, which increases the number of USB ports available on your Mac. These can be USB-A or USB-C, and the hub might be mains-powered or not. But what’s the difference between the ports, and what should interest you? A Thunderbolt 3, 4 or 5 port is the…

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Most of us have lots of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi devices paired with our Macs, or at least sitting on our network. So how can you get to grips with managing them all? With macOS, the answer to that question is straightforward. For the most part you delve into the System Settings and, for the rest, you can fire up a web browser. Same goes for managing any Wi-Fi networks you’ve connected to (either currently or in the past). One thing’s for sure, it won’t take that long before you’ve got on top of those potentially long lists. In this tutorial, we explain how you can take stock of the connected items, renaming them if it’ll make devices easier to identify and removing any that you’re not sure about. As you work…

The name Ella Woodward might not ring a bell, but Deliciously Ella probably will; the British food writer, blogger and entrepreneur has turned social media fame into a multi-million pound business based around healthy eating and happier living. And her app, Deliciously Ella: Feel Better, has won Apple’s coveted Editor’s Choice award for its mix of recipes, exercise and meditation. Can Deliciously Ella: Feel Better make you feel better? It certainly offers lots of recipes, guided activities and exercises to nourish both your mind and your body. Ella’s fame was originally based on her healthy eating cookbook, and healthy eating remains the big draw here: the app features over 2,000 plant-based recipes as well as nutritionally balanced meal plans to help you eat more healthily and shop more frugally. The…

Turns out inspiration doesn’t always strike when you’re in front of your Mac… so it’s great that GarageBand is on iPhone and iPad too. The apps have been optimised for smaller screens and using on the go, and you can use the touchscreen to play pianos, make beats and strum guitars. Those aren’t your only options though. As we’ll discover, you can use Voice Memos to quickly capture ideas (and Notes to jot down lyrical ideas). And if you feel you’re outgrowing GarageBand on iPad, you can get Apple’s pro-spec music workstation Logic Pro for your tablet. But before you do that, it’s worth investigating the many apps and instruments that plug in to GarageBand on iPad – and the many GarageBand and Logic Pro alternatives too. Music-making is a…

With silicon reaching its limit, there is an urgent need to innovate. It is possible, for instance, to work more efficiently with what we already have. Multi-core processing units have worked well (M4 Max can have a 16-core CPU with 12 performancecores and four efficiencycores), while a good number of programmers could take a leaf out of those who worked on machines from the 1970s and 1980s and ensure their code is more efficient. We could also seek to increase clock speed. While this generates excessive heat, potentially damaging chips, more steps could feasibly be taken to try and cool silicon to a natural operating temperature, particularly when dealing with large data centres. It is, however, resource heavy and there are practical limits. Finding alternatives to silicon is the only…

> £159.99 > FROM edifier.online > FEATURES Bluetooth, USB-C, 3.5mm audio port, cable options Edifier’s new M60 multimedia speakers are compact, just 3kg in weight and designed to fit even on smaller desks or shelves. As is common with these kinds of speakers, one box contains all the electronics while the other is simply connected by a special 1.8m cable. Available in white, black or oak finishes they are reassuringly well built despite their weight. When unboxing, as well as power cables, you’ll find USB-C to C, 3.5mm to 3.5mm and 3.5mm to RCA cables for connecting various digital and analogue sources. You also get a pair of small speaker stands that will angle the speakers upwards, handy when used on a desk to better fire the sound at the…

> £129 > FROM vitesy.com> FEATURES USB-C rechargeable, 167x114x67.4mm, 560g Food waste in the UK is estimated to be around 10.7 million tonnes per year. Vitesy aims to combat this issue with its Shelfy fridge purifier, which it says can double the shelf life of your goods by slowing down the ripening process, while reducing bacterial levels and odours. The device itself measures 167x114x67.4mm, so it’s pretty compact. However, if you haven’t got a US-style larder fridge and you shop for a family, it is still a fairly sizeable device. It’s well made, and the unit includes a removable filter and rechargeable battery, and you connect the device to the Vitesy Hub app which reports back to you. We got mixed readings on the app. We received alerts to say…

> Free (Plus version £12.95) > FROM coconut-flavour.com > NEEDS macOS 12 or later It’s all the key info you need, presented neatly, in a way that’s never overwhelming What do you do if you want to check your MacBook’s battery status? You click the battery icon in the menu bar, of course. But really, that doesn’t tell you very much about your battery. Sure, you can find out how many charge cycles it’s undergone from the System Information window, but that’s still pretty basic information. One alternative is to use coconutBattery. This app provides a wealth of battery data in much more granular detail than Apple provides. All the information that is hidden by Apple comes to the surface, and it’s a handy way to see the true state…

iMac > From £1,299 > In October 2024, Apple updated its 24in iMac with the M4 chip, and the iMac now has the wonders of Apple Intelligence built in. You can choose between an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU at entry-level, or an 10-core CPU/10-core GPU on the mid-range and top-tier versions. The entry model now comes with 16GB of memory as standard, configurable to 24GB; the mid- and top-tier versions are configurable to 24 or 32GB (32GB only available with 512G Bor more of storage). The solid-state drive (SSD) storage starts at 256GB on entry-level and mid-range versions, and 512GB on the top-tier iMac, although you can add up to 1TB on the entry-level model and up to 2TB on mid-range and top-tier models. You still get a 4.5K (4480x2520) Retina…

Famines, plagues, and an increase in natural disasters? Those may be the conventional signals that the end times are approaching, but surely nothing could signal the coming apocalypse faster than one thing I thought I’d never see – porn apps on the app store. Not the official Apple App Store, of course, but one of the alternatives that the EU is forcing Apple to open up its devices to in a non-consensual way. First a bit of backstory. The European Union, has named Apple as one of the six tech giants it aims to rein in with its Digital Markets Act (DMA). The iOS App Store, it has decided, is too much of a monopoly, and alternative app stores, outside of Apple’s control and revenue streams, deserve a fair shot…

Rumours have been spreading for months that an intriguing tabletop robot is under development at Apple’s secret labs. Now, the company itself has shed light on its work, revealing a Pixar-like lamp that can respond to commands and interact with humans in a lifelike manner. Apple published a video of the robot, dubbed ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot in action. In one instance, it was asked what the weather was like. The robot pointed its head towards a window as if to check, then replied with a forecast. It was also shown responding to hand gestures, dancing along to music, and suggesting a tutorial as it observed a person building a 3D printer. Although still a prototype, it’s a look into what could be a new…

Loewe Stellar DR+ > From £3,299 > From loewe.tv > TVs don’t come much hotter than this. Available in 42-inch to 65-inch sizes, Loewe’s Stellar DR+ series TVs make use of some surprising materials, including concrete, and in Alu Black + Lava guise, the contents of a volcano. Loewe says that ultra-fine volcanic powder is mixed with concrete to help form the TV’s back panel, which is then teamed with a spray painted black aluminium frame. The results are stunning. And expensive. Spending £3,299 will net you the 42-inch version, which offers 4K Ultra HD resolution, HDR10, Dolby Atmos sound and support for streaming services such as Disney+, and four HDMI 2.1 ports. Spending £5,999 willl get you all of the above, but in a more sizeable 65-inch guise. Whichever size…

Nobody outside of Apple can say with certainty that the Cupertino giant is going to unveil a folding device. But with more and more rivals bringing foldable tech to market – from Samsung and Google to Motorola and OnePlus – there is a growing expectation, amid mounting evidence, that it will follow the same path. “I think it’s extremely likely that Apple will create a foldable iPhone and iPad at some point,” respected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman tells MacFormat, and there are multiple reasons it would want to do so. Although the foldable device market is still rather small, accounting for just 1.5% of smartphone sales, demand increased by 5% in 2024. We’ve also seen a trend towards larger screens. To ensure they’ll still fit in your pocket or bag, foldable…

After plugging your external monitor into your Mac and turning the display on, it’s time to sort the settings for it on your Mac. From the Apple menu, choose System Settings. In the sidebar, click on Displays. You see a series of specs regarding your two displays (internal and external). Click the Arrange button and you’ll see your two monitors shown as thumbnails, showing how your two screens are positioned in relation to one another. If, for example, your external display is shown to the right of your internal one, dragging the pointer off your main screen’s right-hand side moves it to the second screen. To move it back again, drag it off the second screen’s left-hand side. If this doesn’t suit their physical arrangement, drag the secondary screen’s thumbnail…

Everybody needs a keyboard, but what sort should you buy? If you have an iMac, you got a high quality keyboard in the box. If you bought a Mac notebook, there’s one built into the case. But what if you have a Mac mini or a Mac Studio, or want to use your notebook in closed clamshell mode, with an external mouse and keyboard? Which should you buy? The two main types of keyboard are mechanical and ‘regular’, or membrane keyboards. Each has their supporters and detractors. Mechanical keyboards have key switches that offer specific levels of feedback. This makes them popular with touch-typists. They tend to last longer than membrane keyboards too. A membrane keyboard has a membrane layer on top of a circuit board. Pressing a key completes a…

Do you want the good news? You can have the latest headlines from a wide variety of sources delivered straight to your desktop. Do you want the bad news? You can have that as well! In fact, with the Apple News app, you can stay informed in any way you wish. It lets you choose your favourite news channels and topics, decide on the types of stories you like to see and even receive email newsletters and notifications. With a click of the ‘…’ next to a headline in your feed (or by selecting the Bookmark or Share icons when reading a story) you can save or share content. You can also catch up with your favourite sports teams, subscribe to individual channels and, by signing into the same Apple Account…

Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology and Apple’s Find My ecosystem have come a long way since their initial introduction. UWB has become a key part of Apple’s tracking and location services, extending its presence across various devices, including the Apple Watch, HomePod, and iPhone. Over the years, Apple has refined its implementation of UWB, adding new capabilities and expanding its functionality. The latest iOS 18.2 update represents another leap forward, enabling you to enlist family and friends in finding lost items, enhancing the collaborative potential of the Find My network. The new U2 chip, introduced in 2023 with the iPhone 15 series and Apple Watch Series 9, marks a significant upgrade over the U1 chip that debuted in the iPhone 11. This UWBenabled chip offers improved location precision and an extended range,…

There are four ways to get music into GarageBand. The first is to play musical instruments and record them, either as audio tracks for things like guitars or voices, or as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) files for electronic instruments such as keyboards and digital drums. With MIDI, you can then swap instruments for completely different ones, edit the notes and move them around although, as we’ll discover, GarageBand can do some cool things with audio recordings too. The second way to make music is to program virtual instruments or external ones, again using MIDI – so, instead of playing the notes on an instrument, you draw them on a grid, telling GarageBand what to play when. The third way is to use loops, which are pre-recorded or pre-set snippets…

IN PRINT ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 414 MARCH 2025 › Detox your Mac: 85 essential tips › 21 amazing apps for Mac and iPad! › Accessibility tricks for any Mac › 6 smart ways to faster Wi-Fi ISSUE 413 FEBRUARY 2025 › Top free apps for Mac, iPhone & iPad › How to get fit with your Apple kit! › Master your Apple Music library › Best antivirus apps for Mac ISSUE 412 JANUARY 2025 › Mac mini: the definitive verdict › 137 essential time-saving Mac tips › On test: M4 iMac and MacBook Pro › Part 1 of our Apple Music superguide To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/macformat_backissues or phone +44 (0)330 333 1113 and we’ll post them out to you. Download back…

> £199 > FROM hp.com >FEATURES Prints, scans and photocopies, pigment-based black ink/dye-based cyan, magenta and yellow inks, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct and USB 2.0, mobile fax (send only); print speed up to 15ppm (black) and 9ppm (colour), input capacity 250 sheets (regular paper) or 50 sheets (photo paper) If you’re concerned about spilling ink, don’t worry – you won’t Cartridge-free printing really is the future for inkjets. Instead of expensive, unenvironmental cartridges, ink is supplied in bottles, and squirted directly into the printer’s tanks. It’s easy to do, makes no mess and while printer ink will never be cheap, it’s more affordable than buying it in cartridges. This particular cartridge-free printer has four built-in tanks, for pigment-based black ink, which is ideal for printing text, and three colour tanks for…

> £149 > FROM a2d2.net > FEATURES RCA (phono) input/output, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C, Wi-Fi (2.4GHz), Ethernet; supports AirPlay 2, Sonos, Chromecast The A2D2 Stream lets you connect a wired audio source to your Wi-Fi network There are a number of AirPlay receivers, such as Belkin’s SoundForm Connect, that can be connected to an existing set of wired speakers and then allow you to stream music via AirPlay from your Apple devices to your speakers. The A2D2 Stream, however, takes the opposite approach, acting as a transmitter that lets you connect a wired audio source – such as a CD player or turntable – to your Wi-Fi network. The Stream supports AirPlay 2 so that you can stream music to a HomePod or other AirPlay speakers, but it also works…

> £35.99 > FROM gamesir.com > FEATURES Bluetooth or USB-C, two programmable macro buttons, 159x152x65mm, 1,200mAh battery (about 12 hours), 400g This controller’s primary platform is the Nintendo Switch, but it can be used on iOS devices. It has two asymmetrical analogue sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons (in the Nintendo Switch layout with X at the top and B at the bottom), four forward-facing buttons and two customisable buttons underneath. Unfortunately, the trigger buttons aren’t analogue. It works well with most games, with no noticeable lag, but when playing racing games we missed analogue triggers. The sticks offer Hall effect tech, which measures an electrical current instead of having the sticks physically touch other components. This makes them less susceptible to wear and tear, and eliminates stick drift entirely.…

Group test Reviewed by IAN OSBORNE ON TEST… > Bean > iA Writer > Microsoft Word > Pages > Scrivener > Ulysses Everyone needs a writing app. Whether it’s to compose a letter to your bank manager or to start working on your next great novel, you have to have a word processor, or at least a text editor. But which should you choose? Here we look at six of the Mac’s best writing apps, and assess they’re strengths and weaknesses for a variety of tasks. Chances are you already have at least one of the apps on test already. The Pages app comes free with the Mac, and it’s long been the go-to application for Mac word processing. But there’s no reason why you can’t use more than one,…

> £15.99 > FROM arco.game > NEEDS macOS 11 or later The ghosts of your past literally catch up with you, appearing on the battlefield to take a swipe Just a few minutes ago, the village was thriving – now it lies in ruins, smoke rising from the charred remains of its modest dwellings, the dead littering the ground. Was this the work of Kanek warriors? Or colonising Newcomers? The clues point in both directions, but you know that whichever path you follow, many more bodies will line the way. Arco is a hard game, set in hard times and full of hard choices. It is one where death is just a fact of life, whether it comes at the hand of rampaging invaders or your own choices. From its…

BEST BUYS… > EXTERNAL DRIVE SanDisk Desk Drive From £319.99 westerndigital.com > If you need the space (4 or 8TB), nothing else at this price comes close. MF409 > OUR TOP 3 WI-FI 7 ROUTERS ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 > £259.99 > MF414 > asus.com/uk TP-Link Deco BE65 > £249.99 >MF414 > tp-link.com/uk/ Linksys Velop Pro 7 > £399.99 > MF414 > linksys.com > POWER CHARGER Anker Prime 250W Charging Station £169.99 anker.com/uk > An excellent charger with tons of power and flexibility for all your devices. MF409 > OUR TOP 3 4K DISPLAYS Philips 27E1N1900AE > £249.99 > MF412 > philips.co.uk Dell UltraSharp U2723QE >£540 > MF412 > dell.com BenQ PD2705U > £349.99 > MF412 > benq.eu > PRODUCTIVITY Logitech MX Creative Console £199.99 logitech.com > An excellent way to streamline your workflow…

Just as we were going to press, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to X to announce an Apple event taking place on Wednesday 19 February, with several new launches planned, including ‘the newest member of the family’. While an updated iPhone SE and an M4-powered MacBook Air have been hotly anticipated for months, most Apple watchers were expecting these to be revealed by press release – not a dedicated event. ‘The newest member of the family’ – Apple may reveal it’s Home hub… Trailed by an animated video showing a shimmering metallic Apple logo inside a circle, the announcement lends credence to the claim that Apple may unveil its long-anticipated Home hub, along with other products, including a fourth-gen iPhone SE (potentially renamed the iPhone 16E), updated versions of the entry-level…

[MAC APP] ScreenMemory 2 Free/lifetime licence $27 (about £22) A trip down memory lane for your Mac Feeling a little forgetful? Try ScreenMemory. This app records what you do on your Mac so you can quickly dial back the clock and remind yourself of what you were working on at any point in time. The app captures screenshots at regular intervals, enabling you to quickly remember key details of your work. Its powerful search, helpful annotations and built-in calendar make navigating it easy, too. If you’re worried about your privacy, ScreenMemory has a blacklist that stops it recording sensitive things like password managers and notetaking apps, so your key data never falls into the wrong hands. And nothing ever leaves your device either, ensuring it’s yours forever. Version 2 features…

One of the most common criticisms of the Mac is that it’s not upgradeable. This is not true. While modern Macs have integrated memory and storage chips soldered to the logic board, there are a lot of other things you can do to upgrade and enhance your Apple computer. You don’t have to open the casing and swap out internal parts to turn your Mac from wheezy to whizzy. In this feature, we explore the many ways you can power up your Mac, from teaming it with a high quality external display to make using it easier and more fun, to increasing the amount of available storage by connecting an external drive. You can even easily connect more peripherals by doubling the number of available ports — and we’ve lined up…

Back in the old days, you could upgrade your storage by whipping out your Mac’s hard drive and replacing it with a bigger one. OK, it wasn’t quite as simple as that, but replacing the internal drive was possible, unlike now. These days storage chips are soldered on to the logic board, and the only easily practical way to get more storage is to add an external drive to your Mac. External drives come in two main types; SSDs (solid-state drives) store your data on chips, and are very fast to access. HDDs (hard disk drives) use magnetic disks, and are slower but you get more storage for your money. Another factor to consider is whether to get a portable or a desktop drive. A portable drive draws its power from…

Like keyboards, wireless mice and trackpad input devices are preferred these days. But also like keyboards, it’s always a good idea to keep a USB model to hand in case you have a problem with your Bluetooth model. Get a cheap one from a charity shop or CEX (uk.webuy.com), and leave it in the back of a drawer for the rare occasions when it’s needed. Input devices come in two main types. There’s the traditional mouse, and the notebook-like trackpad. Apple has both. The Magic Mouse comes standard with new iMac and Mac Pro models, but if you prefer a Magic Trackpad, and order your computer online through the Apple Store (apple.com/uk), you can choose a Magic Trackpad instead for an extra £50. Both input devices are available to buy…

In a recent Group Test (#MF411), we put six photoediting apps head-to-head to see which had the best artificial intelligence (AI) features. The ‘hands-down’ winner was Adobe Photoshop 2025 due to the power of its tools. Photoshop (from £9.98/month) uses Adobe Firefly – a generative AI tool – to speed up a host of traditional photo-fixing tasks, such as removing unwanted objects, replacing skies, or isolating a subject from their background. As well as speeding up traditional fixes, Adobe’s generative AI can be used in more fun and creative ways, such as changing the time of day (or even the season) of a pic. You can use AI to coax a smile from a pouty model and ‘persuade’ a shy subject to make eye contact. You can also change a subject’s…

With hackers and data brokers desperately coveting your email address, it’s important to keep your private data safe. With Apple’s Hide My Email feature, you can create unlimited unique email addresses wherever you log in. Anything sent to these addresses is automatically forwarded to your personal inbox, and any replies you send will appear to come from the Hide My Email address. This ensures your primary email address doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. If an address created by Hide My Email gets leaked, you can just disable it, and because Hide My Email creates a new address for each app and account you use, none of your other logins will be affected. It’s built into ‘Sign in with Apple’ and iCloud+, which means you need a paid subscription to access…

Cooler and slightly slower The fact that some desktop Apple silicon Macs support Low Power mode might seem odd. It’s a feature you’d think is intended to extend notebook endurance when running on battery. But that mode is also an effective way to kill fan noise and reduce power use when it’s not needed, making it attractive for Macs used in sound studios or concerts, or left running overnight. It works by running processorcores and, in some models at least, GPUs at lower frequencies, so reducing their power use and heat output. The effect on performance is surprisingly small, for such large savings in power and energy. Accepting as little as 10-20% slower speed can save your Mac half the power and use 40% less energy. For notebooks that support it,…

So far we’ve focused on GarageBand’s software instruments and loops, and as you’ve seen they’re really useful: it’s quite possible to make an entire album without using a single live instrument. But what if you want to use a live instrument, or you want to have a real human vocal rather than a sample? Well, in GarageBand, that’s just as straightforward. Thankfully, as you might expect, there are multiple ways to use external instruments in GarageBand. For USB instruments such as keyboards, microphones and drum pads, you can plug them into a USB port and GarageBand will recognise them. Preset tweaks For other mics and instruments, you’ll need an audio interface. If you have a non-USB microphone, the audio interface enables your Mac to hear it (and for high-quality condenser…

Traditional silicon chips are reaching their physical and technological limits and that poses a future problem. Since our computing demands continue to grow, there is a danger that our expectations will one day be frustrated by stagnating chip production and, without significant progress, computing performance would suffer and innovation would slow. The big issue is that, for decades, engineers have increased computer processing power by constantly increasing the number of silicon transistors on a one-inch computer chip. In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore said the number of transistors would double in number every year but, in reality, that stretched to 18 months and then two years. And the time between this doubling is getting longer still. There’s a simple reason for this. We’re now close to shrinking and fitting as…

Our ratings Our reviews are totally independent; we’re not affiliated with Apple or anyone else, nor are we influenced by advertisers. A truly exceptional product. Award given solely at the discretion of the editor. The best example of its kind when pitted against comparable products. A brilliant thing Strongly recommended Worth considering Notable flaws A waste of your money BUYING ADVICE Our authoritative reviews help you make more informed choices Contact us Email your queries and your questions to letters@macformat.com…

> £1,199 FROM benq.com> FEATURES 4K Ultra HD resolution (3840x2160), 2600 ANSI lumens, Google TV OS, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, AirPlay, Google Cast, 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C, 2x USB-A The BenQ GP520 is designed to simplify using a projector in the home, and achieves this admirably BenQ’s latest projector is designed to offer comprehensive and versatile viewing options while making it easier to set up and use in the home. Its HDMI 2.1 ports can connect your DVD or Blu-ray player, your Mac or any other video player that offers HDMI output. You can play media from a USB-C or USB-A flash drive, or stream from your iPhone. The GP520 has Google TV built in. This means you can install apps for services such as Disney+, Netflix, Apple TV+…

> £69.99 > FROM logitech.com> FEATURES Low-profile keys, SilentTouch mouse, Easy-Switch between 3 devices, Bluetooth LE Logitech’s Pop Icon Combo is a pairing of keyboard and mouse that aims to bring a splash of colour to your setup, and for the very reasonable price of just £70. Four colourways are available and each is a pleasing combination of co-ordinated hues ranging from a tech-friendly graphite and green through to rose or lilac against off-white, and an off-white and orange. The build quality is solid and though mostly recycled plastic, feels reassuringly robust. Unlike some similar products there’s no wiring to be found here, no USB at all. Power is via AAA batteries – two for the keyboard and one for the mouse, which are included. Logitech claims up to 36…

> £99.99 > FROM soundcore.com > FEATURES 3D sound, wireless charging, 4 mics, AI noise cancelling Sound Soundcore’s BassTurbo chamber helps to bolster low-end levels for a pleasing overall soundstage with any number of sources from speech to music. The AeroFit 2’s design minimises sound leakage which is helpful, while still allowing awareness of external sounds. The in-app equaliser lets you make tweaks to the profile of the sound. Battery You get 10 hours of playback in the earbuds and a total of 42 hours in the case – plenty for several days’ real-world use. There’s USB-C charging but these go the extra mile by also featuring wireless charging of the case. Customisation IP55 weather proofing and two-device multipoint connectivity join artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced, four-mic phone call capability and extensive…

> £30.95 (one Mac for one year), £101.95 (one Mac, one-time purchase) > FROM macpaw.com > NEEDS macOS 11 or later It’s a little expensive, but CleanMyMac is definitely recommended CleanMyMac has long been the Mac’s favourite – if not the cheapest – suite of maintenance and upkeep tools. This new release is focused on tightening up the app, with improved speed and performance and greater efficiency, all wrapped up in a great new interface. It’s easy to use. Boot the app and the first thing you see is the Smart Care pane. This integrates the functionality of the app as a whole into a single process, scanning your Mac for junk files, checking for malware, hunting down large and unused apps, and more. It can even scan your iCloud…