There's something special about the golden era of Apple's local music ecosystem, so I decided to keep it alive on my desk.

Mid-2012 MacBook Pro (Core i5, bumped to 16GB DDR3 RAM and a 250GB SSD) runs macOS Mojave, the very last release to feature the classic iTunes before it was retired in Catalina. Thanks to the upgrades, it's still super snappy, and paired with the unibody keyboard and backlit keys, organizing album art, smart playlists, and ripping lossless files feels effortless compared to modern streaming apps.

Syncing and loading everything onto my modded iPod 5th Gen (128GB iFlash, 2000mAh battery, running RockWheel) and listening through the 7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 IEMs makes for the ultimate distraction-free listening station.

My Long live the 2012 unibody and the click wheel! What's the oldest Mac you still use regularly on your desk, and what do you keep it around for?

Hey everyone! Setting up a cleaner home workstation for my daily digital marketing, analytics, and light creative work, I’m looking for a solid budget monitor that plays nicely with my Apple devices.

My priorities:
Sharp text: Looking at 27-inch 4K (since I know macOS scaling can get weird on 1440p).
Clean cables: USB-C with at least 65W Power Delivery so I can run a single-cable setup.
Color accuracy: Good enough for reviewing social media creatives, ad graphics, and basic video edits without breaking the bank.

I’ve been looking at options like the Dell S2725QC and LG 27UP850K-W, or maybe stretching slightly for the BenQ MA270U. What are you all running for a budget-friendly Apple desk setup right now? Any hidden gems or scaling issues I should watch out for?

Still can’t get over how well my day one M1 Pro 14 inch 32/1TB (gosh am I glad I went for the higher ram at the time) is still running. I’m someone who does video/ photography editing semi professionally too. The jump from intel to this was mad.

The PROLED mac is nice. But the general huge uptick in costs (ram/ storage) including the extra 400 for the nice screen makes me completely uninterested in upgrading.

Never been so content with a machine that’s approaching 5 years.

Sorry Apple. In truth the only thing that would tempt me is a MacBook Air redesign with 120Hz screen purely given how powerful the m chips are and it being lighter and more portable

My 3rd MCP in my temp mac collection since its not mine but i help to hold it for quite long time.

Not yet check the specs but i think its;
OSX High Sierra
Dual Xeon E56xx series
32GB Ram
GT210
1TB HDD

Thinking cleaning and install linux or just OSX but retro gaming or something.

I just got my MacBook Neo today, brand new and straight out of the box. However, during the initial setup, I got stuck on the macOS startup/installation screen (macOS Tahoe).

I’ve left it for quite some time, but it doesn’t seem to make any progress. I’ve already tried reinstalling macOS twice through Recovery, but both attempts eventually brought me back to the same screen.

I’ve also tried selecting Macintosh HD, but nothing happens. When I click it, the Restart option briefly highlights, then goes back to normal without doing anything.

I’m honestly not sure what else to try since this is a brand-new device and I haven’t even been able to use it properly yet.

Has anyone experienced something similar with their MacBook Neo? Is there anything else I can try, or could this be a hardware or firmware issue?

I’m planning to bring it to Power Mac Center to have it checked since I’ve already tried troubleshooting it myself and nothing seems to work.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a schematic, boardview, or partial Ethernet circuit diagram for my Mac Mini M2 Pro (2023).

Model: A2816

Logic board: 820-02832-05

Related board number: 820-02832-A

The Mac was damaged during a lightning strike while unplugged from power but connected to Ethernet. The surge appears to have travelled through the Ethernet cable, as my router’s connected port was also fried.

Since then, the Mac shows a blinking red status light and no display output.

Initial diagnostic advice suggested a firmware issue. The Mac is still detected in DFU mode and correctly identified as an M2 Pro, but every firmware restore fails partway through. The process involves a roughly 20–30 GB download, but installation never completes.

I’ve tried original Apple cables and several other Macs, including friends’ MacBooks and another Mac Mini. Multiple repair shops have also tried without success.

A technician suspects a short circuit near the Ethernet/network section, but the shops need a schematic or boardview to investigate further. I’ve wondered whether damaged SSD/storage circuitry could explain the failed restores, but this hasn’t been confirmed.

There’s no Apple Store or Genius Bar in my country, and finding an identical working board for comparison is very difficult.

If anyone can help with any of these, I’d really appreciate it:

A schematic or boardview for this board.

Ethernet controller details, component locations, or a partial circuit diagram.

Experience repairing this model after Ethernet surge damage.

A recommendation for someone who can repair it.

This is my main work machine, and I can’t afford to replace it right now. Any files, technical guidance, or repair leads would mean a lot.

Thank you for reading and for any help!

Macpro(youtube radio), silicone MBP for randoms, Max4 for work

Ik wou even jullie advies weten. In tijden waarin cyberveiligheid op de proef wordt gesteld door de vele cyberaanvallen, raden jullie aan om ook een Mac OS extra te beveiligen tegen virussen en met een extra firewall? Zo ja, welke software raden jullie dan eventueel aan? Het mag eventueel ook betalend zijn.

Hello!

My current monitor - Dell2725QC - looks better when I leave it on in HDR at all times vs SDR as of MacOS 27.

I was wondering if anyone has used the LG GM9 with MacOS 27 and has experience with the local dimming with HDR enabled?

I've heard that the SDR local dimming is quite bad and most people therefore keep it turned off, but I would love to hear anyone's thoughts who've tested the HDR local dimming on MacOS 27.

Thanks!

Hi, I'm planning to buy a MacBook Air M5 and wondering whether I should go with EE's 0% finance option (£50 upfront and around £26 per month for 4 years), which works out at £1,299 in total.

I have enough savings to buy it outright, but I'm not particularly keen on locking away £1,000 in one purchase. I could get it for around £150 off RRP from Amazon or elsewhere.

I guess I just need someone to tell me that going with finance isn't a bad idea and that £26 a month is no big deal! Plus, if I ever need to, I have the option of paying it off early.

Are there any other downsides to getting a laptop on finance through EE? Has anyone had any experience with it?

Hi there. I have a 2011 iMac which I recently started using after some time in the spare room. The screen suddenly went black (comouter kept playing music and running) and acreen looked like photo. I live in Scotland so wondering if humidity inside an iMac could cause this? Almost looks like moisture but not sure. Or is retina display just failing? Any ideas warmly received

Hi everyone, I’ve had a m1 air for a few years now bought it second hand back in 2021 have had 0 issues. This evening I went to use my MacBook it didn’t turn on; I thought oh it needs charging , but nothing the trackpad is dead no haptics no pressing and holding the power button no DFU mode with another Mac; just dead blank screen no sound nothing. I’m totally unsure what it is. Got an appointment booked in 2 weeks time but has anyone else had this?

Its playing the DVD but its skipping "damaged areas" I dont think this DVD is damaged. Does that mean there is something in the disc drive thats causing it to skip. I tried a air can and a laser cd disc cleaner but its not fully fixing it :/ and it hasnt taken a CD yet.

Before it sounds like its hitting something like click click as it spins the disc. Ive opened most of the computer and its not dusty inside. : ( Dont lose hope yall

can anyone suggest me with this vertical line.. i have tried to clean it with microfiber cloth but its not going off..what should i do now. my mac doesnt got any physical damage.

14" M5 (16GB/1TB), delivered Oct 17, 5 battery cycles, no drops or spills. I use it for encoding large 7K Canon files and making proxies, with a Ugreen hub for my HDMI monitor and SSD.

On Nov 12 the screen started glitching. Works for 10–15 seconds after login, then shows purple static or a full green screen and restarts. 20 panics and 13 self-restarts in about 18 hours. It also won't stay off: after shutdown it turns itself back on and loops with the screen dark.

Tried: unplugging the hub and everything else, First Aid (passed), a macOS reinstall, and Safe Mode. Same result. It even glitches in Recovery.

Logs (pulled with Claude Code):

- 17/20 panics: \`SOCD report detected: (AP watchdog expired)\`

- Others: \`iBoot async abort\`, \`iBoot panic\`, \`PAC failure from kernel\`, \`Kernel data abort\`

- Decoded SoC report: \`DCS Fatal Interrupt \[dcs=5\]: INTSTS 0x00000002\` and \`chk_glbtimer_err_resp: Calibration(0x38)::Glbtimer received an error cal resp from ch5\`

- Boot faults: \`wdog, reset_in_1 timeout, target_off_restart\`

So the memory controller on channel 5 keeps failing and the watchdog forces a restart. Looks like a logic board / SoC / unified memory fault.

Questions:

1. Has anyone seen this on an M5? How rare is it?

2. Will Apple replace the unit or repair it (new logic board)?

Will update after the Apple visit.

I'm looking to buy a MacBook, and I've narrowed it down to two options in a similar price range ($1,300–$1,400):

1. Refurbished MacBook Pro 14-inch: M3 Pro (11-core CPU / 14-core GPU), 18GB RAM, 512GB SSD.

2. Brand-new MacBook Air: M5 (10-core CPU / 10-core GPU), 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD.

I'm having a hard time deciding which offers better value.

My use case:

• Moderate to professional video editing, working with both RAW and LOG footage.

• Light editing and on-the-go production work.

• Everyday multitasking, spreadsheets, Claude MCP and similar tools.

• I already have a desktop PC for heavier editing, rendering and demanding workloads. So this will solely be my on-the-go workhorse.

I'm leaning towards the M3 Pro because of its better GPU, active cooling and display, but the M5 Air is newer, has a faster CPU (from what I've seen in benchmarks), double the storage and comes brand new.

Which one should I choose, and why?

Hello:

I'm new to Mac.

When I copy files to an external hard drive formatted in exFAT, my MacBook automatically adds files that begin with ._ followed by the name of the copied file, as well as hidden folders (.DS_Store, .Trashes, .fseventsd).

When I use this external hard drive with Android or Windows, these files are useless and even cause my media player on my Xiaomi Mi Box to malfunction.

Is it possible to disable the creation of these metadata files (AppleDouble) in macOS when copying new files to an external hard drive formatted in exFAT?

If it's not possible to disable their creation, is there an application that cleans the drive before ejecting it that you could recommend?

I need to find a way to automate the cleanup if it's not possible to prevent their creation, because it's an action I'll be repeating constantly.

Thank you very much.

Best regards.

I posted last week that my new M5 Ultra Mac Studio had finally shipped. Well, it's here now, and it's amazing!

This is wild. For most of the Geekbench 7 CPU test, it's barely touching any of the cores (RayTracer and Clang, which I assume are the main multi-core tests, finally hit it hard, for <1 second each).

For the single-core tests, I guess some of the video stuff is getting offloaded to the dedicated video encoders/decoders; IDK. The machine feels totally idle during the test, and I never saw it push a single core beyond like 40% until the multicore stuff. I assumed Geekbench would be able to max it out!

Note that I have a bunch of apps running and actually doing stuff, including a Linux VM that's participating as a node in my homelab Kubernetes cluster. That VM is running twenty containers. During the test!

AMA if you like. I'll start:

Specs?

36-core CPU, 80-core GPU. 96GB RAM, 2TB storage.

What did it cost?

Full retail was $7300. I went with the lease option, so I’ll pay about $5300 over the next three years. Then I’ll decide whether I want to buy it out or trade up to something newer.

Why such a powerful machine?

I have wanted a powerful desktop Mac for years. I had a PowerMac G4 back in the day; since then it’s been iMacs and laptops. I started saving up ages ago, and watching the product announcements. The announcement of this machine was when everything finally aligned for me. 

What’s your use case?

I’m a software engineer, and I like to tinker. I will do lots of development, occasionally some video editing, maybe experiment with local LLMs. I’ll run some homelab services. 

Will it ever pay for itself?

In enjoyment, yeah, I expect it will. In income? IDK, maybe. No specific plans on that front. This is a luxury, not a business expense. 

My old external drive that I was using for Time Machine is almost broken and impossible to use normally anymore, so I got a new external drive to be my new time machine. I no longer want to use the old drive to make new backups, but I want to keep it (and the files) just in case.

My question is, after I delete the old drive from my Time Machine in my mac settings, if I ever needed to access those files, I should be able to plug the drive back in and access the files like the normal time machine, right?

I could just keep it in the settings, no harm doing that, but it's always showing the alert for the last failed backup attempt from the last time I tried using it to make a backup, and I hate it. So I want to delete it from the settings. It's kind of a silly question, but I'm not quite familiar with how time machine works, so I thought I should ask about it before doing anything stupid after a separated incident where I deleted important files cause I wasn't aware of what I was doing.