Resume is that feature of Mac OS X Lion that causes apps windows to reappear after you have quit and then relaunched the app. It’s a great feature but not one that we want all applications to use, so here is how to disable Resume on a per app basis.
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One of the many understated features in Mac OS X Lion is the ability to natively convert audio to m4a directly in OS X Lion’s Finder – without any additional downloads or add-ons. Yes, an MPEG audio encoder is built directly into Mac OS X 10.7, meaning you can convert audio directly on your desktop without using any other apps, and it’s really fast too.
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If you don’t use Safari’s new Reading List feature in Mac OS X Lion, you probably don’t want that little eyeglass icon cluttering up your bookmarks bar. It’s easy to hide though, here’s how:
If you don’t use the Bookmarks Bar at all, you can always just hide that too by selecting “Hide Bookmarks Bar” from the View menu. This makes a much more minimalist web browsing experience out of Safari, but all of your bookmarks are still accessible via the Command+Number shortcuts and the Bookmarks menu.
Having more RAM is one of the cheapest Mac upgrades you can get for a performance boost, and with prices this low there’s little excuse to not have 8GB if your Mac supports it. Here are two great deals on RAM upgrades for some of the most recent Macs.
This 8GB 1333MHz kit will fit most 2011 Intel Core i series iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini:
after a $10 mail-in rebate, with free shipping from AmazonThe 8GB 1066MHz upgrade fits most 2010 and 2009 models of iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini:
with free shipping from AmazonDouble-check your necessary RAM type before purchasing, you can do that quickly by going to “About This Mac” and looking at the “Memory” section, it will tell you the type you are looking for:
I reviewed an 8GB RAM upgrade last year for a 2010 MacBook Pro and I would highly recommend it for the price, at that time it cost $120 so paying half of that is quite a steal. It’s pretty easy to determine if a RAM upgrade would help you, but I think most users would benefit.
A 27″ iMac always makes for a great desktop. This one is a Core i5 with an SSD, and an external HP 23″ display is attached to extend the screen real estate even further.
I am so accustomed to using a Mac with an additional screen that it would be almost impossible to have a workstation without one, plus they always make for awesome looking Mac setups. If you’re not using an additional display, you’re missing out on a major productivity boost.
This image comes from Flickr
Mac OS X Lion finally brings the long awaited “Cut and Paste” feature to the Mac OS X desktop and Finder, allowing users to truly cut and move the selected documents or folders to a new location, rather than just making a copy of them.
If you just hit Command+V you will only move a copy of the files into the new location, as in a true copy and paste, rather than a cut and paste function. Notice holding down the Option key also changes the menu text to show “Move Items Here” to further signify the difference.
This is a feature many Windows converts have been wanting for a long time. Prior to this, users would drag and drop items into their new locations to move them, or use the command line mv tool. Those still work too though, obviously.
Is this what the iPhone 5 will look like? We were sent a tip with a few images of what claim to be iPhone 5 mockups from a Chinese accessory producer, here’s the interesting part though: both pictures look like completely different phones. That could be related to the whole dual release iPhone 4S & iPhone 5 thing, or there could just be different hardware schematics flying around for accessory manufacturers to use, who knows.
The first image, shown above, is the most compelling, here’s why:
Now for some aspects that don’t make much sense about this first picture; the weird port on the lower back of the case is completely unlike Apple but it’s shown in the mockup (note it’s not shown in the actual protective film hovering above it though, suggesting its just a mockup error), such a slim design would be hard to fit a headphone jack, charging port, and speakers into, and there have been no prior rumors that suggest both the top and bottom will be slimmer.
Now for the other supposed “iPhone 5″, which to me looks like some cross between the 9to5Mac’s spyshot, a few mockups, and the iPhone 3GS or iPhone 2G:
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One of the more exciting features of the new MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ and iMac series is that you can use dual external displays by daisy chaining them via the Thunderbolt port. Unfortunately, this ability is lost on the 2011 MacBook Air, due to the weaker Intel HD 3000 graphics chip and a stripped down Thunderbolt controller.
This was noticed by Anandtech, who points out the lightweight Thunderbolt chip, called Eagle Ridge, only supports a single DisplayPort channel compared to the dual channels in the larger Light Ridge chip:
Eagle Ridge is available in two form factors (normal and SFF) and is effectively half of a Light Ridge chip. That means you only get two Thunderbolt channels and one DP output. Apple used the small form factor version of Eagle Ridge in its new MacBook Air to cut cost and save on motherboard real estate.
While this may affect some purchasing decisions and direct a few users to the MacBook Pro line instead, not all is lost. The 27″ Thunderbolt Display with it’s whopping 2560×1440 resolution is a giant on it’s own and should be more than adequate to meet the needs of most users looking for external displays with their MacBook Air. Plus, Apple is openly advertising the Thunderbolt display as a docking station of sorts for the MacBook Air, since it brings FireWire, three additional USB ports, Ethernet, and a FaceTime HD camera.
And really, when we consider the heaviest MacBook Air is 2.9lbs and the benchmark performance is through the roof, can we really complain much?
One of OS X Lion‘s many great new features are all the new high quality multi-lingual voices (here is how to add them yourself). If you went on a voice adding spree like I did, you may quickly realize that all these new voices take up a fair amount of disk space, each weighing in around 400 MB. On a large enough hard drive that isn’t too big of a deal, but I’m on a MacBook Air with 64 GB so 10 voices taking up 4.3 GB of space matters to me.
Not to pour anymore fuel on the Windows vs Mac fire, but this wifi setup guide from McDonalds is an excellent illustration to show how the same task is handled on each operating system.
On the left, you’ll see two lengthy Windows XP and Windows Vista walkthroughs with a multiple of clicking, configuring, properties, tabs, and a general maze to navigate, just to get wireless connectivity working. Meanwhile on the right side is Mac OS X, with the only instructions being to select the network from the menubar.
This was spotted at a McDonalds in Australia (via TwitPic), and it shows one of just many reasons why I’ll always recommend Macs, over and over again.
