Best Browser for M1 and M2 Mac Computers

Reddit members have answered the question of what browser is best for M1 and M2 based macs.

Personally, I've been using Chrome for several years (switched from Firefox because it's performance when using extensions was often terrible). However, since Brave is also a Chromium-based browser, I'm going to start using it more to protect my privacy, and I already use it as my main browser on my phone.

TLDR:

Safari for 90% of web browsing. Brave when Safari doesn't work on some websites. Chrome if all else fails.

===

Safari will save battery life and is the most integrated with Mac OS.

The next best option is Brave (if you care about privacy). It's based on the same Chromium engine as Chrome, but your personal data is not being shared to google, and you won't be tracked online as much. Ads will also be hidden from many websites!

Firefox is great for customization, but it may not be as fast as Brave or Safari.

Why Safari over the other browsers (as long as you don't need speciality websites that break in Safari)

"Safari. Native stuff always has the fast lane. Firefox is pretty bloated with still poor memory management. Chrome is pretty zippy but it's feeding all your browsing into Google. Edge is essentially Chrome (chromium platform) and feeds all your stuff into Microsoft (not sure that's better than Google). Brave (another chromium variant) has your back with regards to privacy but like all browsers on that platform, is pretty disconnected from things iCloud (passwords, tabs, etc.)."
- ultratiem

It really comes down to how you use your browser:

Safari has the best integration with Apple products and the best battery life. Extension support is bad compared to Firefox or Chrome and since most sites are made for Chrome these days, you may find a site or two where not everything works well.

Chrome has more extensions, better site compatibility and better security, but isn't good for privacy. Performance on macOS might be a bit worse than Safari and will use more power.

Firefox is between Safari and Chrome in terms of extension support and probably the best option for privacy. With my usage, performance is better on Chrome, battery life is similar to Chrome and not as good as Safari, and like Safari, you may find the odd site that doesn't work well with it.

- [deleted account]

Why using regular Chrome is bad:

"If you want to use Chrome, don't use vanilla Chrome. Use Brave, which is based on Chromium and has a privacy focus. If not Brave, use a Chrome-derivative browser. Don't use vanilla Chrome."
-JimmyNeutrino2

Why Edge over Chrome:

"If you need a Chrome-based browser don’t use chrome, use Edge."

Edge also has privacy and ad placement issues

"Edge seems to be worse than Chrome:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-professor-says-edge-is-the-worst-for-privacy-microsoft-isnt-happy/

https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/pubs/browser_privacy.pdf"

- [deleted account]

Costco deals on the outgoing M1 Mac Mini and MacBook Air

$250 Airpods Pro on sale for $175

Apple's M1 vs M2 MacBook Air - the $200 upgrade worth it?

The M1 MacBook Air packs a lot of processing punch at only $999. If your budget has a little more wiggle room, the extra $200 for the brand new M2 process could be worth it.

The M2 MacBook Air adds:

Processor
8 Core GPU
100GB/s memory bandwidth

ProRes and ProRes RAW processing
Hardware accelterated for both. ProRes encode and decode engine

Safer Charging
MagSafe 3 charging port

Higher Def camera
1080p webcam

Brighter screen
500 nits of brightness

A little lighter
2.7 pounds (reduced from 2.8 pounds)

Improved Sound
Quad speaker array

A tiny bit more screen real estate
13.6" screeen (up from 13.3" on the M1)

Size
Consistent height instead of a tapered height

Remember, student or military can get 10% off MacBooks via Apple's special section of their website.

MacBook Air M1 vs M2

New MacBook Pro with M2 chip outperforms the base model Mac Pro and costs about $5,000 less.

Mac Laptop Under $700

Finding trustworthy deals on used Mac laptops can be daunting because tons of outlets on Amazon.com and similar massive retainers allow sellers to list things as "renewed" or "refurbished".

Unless these independent sellers are verified and certified by these large stores, I would not trust putting hundreds of hard earned dollars into a computer that will not be guaranteed for a reasonable period of time.

Mac of All Trades has been around for years and they provide a one year warranty on the computers they sell. The only catch is that the customer is responsible for paying shipping to get the item repaired.

"The MacBook Pro Retina Series has RAM that is soldered to the Motherboard."  So what ever Retina model you choose, make sure it has enough RAM for whatever you plan to use this computer for.  Go for 16GB of RAM if at all possible, as newer software and operating systems use more and more ram.  For anything with photo, video, music, or graphics creation, you're going to want more RAM so that your laptop doesn't slow down when running a few programs.

Some current listings on Mac of All Trades for budget laptops

iFixIt Guides for MacBook Pro 13" laptops (to research in advance which models can have the RAM upgraded without serious tools or soldering

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Glossy) 2.5GHz Core i5 (Mid 2012) MD101LL/A - Very Good Condition
13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen TFT display, 1280x800 resolution
2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
4.0GB (2x2.0GB) PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3L SO-DIMM upgradeable to 16.0GB
500GB Serial ATA hard disk drive @ 5400RPM
$479.00

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.6GHz Core i5 (Retina, Mid 2014) MGX72LL/A - Very Good Condition
13-inch LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology; 2560x1600 resolution
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
16.0GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3L on-board memory
128GB built-in Flash Storage (not very much storage if you want to keep music or photos directly)
$699.00

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.8GHz Core i7 (Retina, Late 2013) ME866LL/A 4 - Good Condition
13-inch LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology; 2560x1600 resolution
2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz
16.0GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3L on-board memory
512GB built-in Flash Storage
$699.00

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.6GHz Core i5 (Retina, Late 2013) ME865LL/A - Very Good Condition
13-inch LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology; 2560x1600 resolution
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
16.0GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3L on-board memory
128GB built-in Flash Storage
$629.00

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.7GHz Core i5 (Retina, Early 2015) MF839LL/A - Very Good Condition
13-inch LED-backlit Retina display with IPS technology; 2560x1600 resolution
2.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz
8.0GB PC3-14900 (1866MHz) DDR3L on-board memory
128GB built-in Flash Storage
$699.00
** RAM is not upgradable because it is built into the motherboard.  I would not chose this model unless you are only using it for lite web browsing, creating documents, and doing office or school work.

Specific repair guides to upgrade an older 2012-2015 MacBook Pro laptop

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Late 2012 SSD Replacement

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Late 2013 SSD Replacement

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Mid 2014 SSD Replacement

Upgrading a 2007 MacBook Pro to El Capitan - Getting More Life Out of an Ancient Mac

After throwing in a 256GB Solid State drive in my friend's 2010 MacBook Pro, it runs faster than when it was brand new.  Before installing the SSD drive earlier this year, her computer would take a long time to launch some programs and there was noticeable lag when running a few extra tabs in a Firefox.

Her Mac laptop, though 8 years old, now feels as zippy as something new.  Programs launch almost instantly and there's no noticeable lag when running different programs on the computer, including Lightroom and other things that require more resources than merely the Office suite.

I'm going to be upgrading my ancient 2007 MacBook Pro (model A1226). It's currently running 10.9.5 (Mavericks updated) and part of the research to do the upgrade is figuring out what OS will be best to put on an SSD and still get decent performance out of this laptop that would otherwise be far past it's usable life.

The latest OS that the 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo laptop supports is

The Mid/Late 2007 MacBook Pro is the oldest laptop model supported by El Capitan OS 10.11.  To be running a 2007 model laptop and be able to run a 2015 version OS is pretty impressive.  Although it may be better to run Yosemite if the RAM needs and system usage is significantly less.

Mavericks has been running like molasses on this 11 year old laptop, but hard drives don't even usually last that long, so it's definitely showing it's age as the system performance slows to a crawl.  If more software could run, I would love to continue running Mavericks on this Mac, but not even my web browsers can be updated anymore!

El Capitan requires 2GB of RAM.
Yosemite requires 2GB of RAM.

Yosemite requires a MacBook Pro Mid-2007 or newer.

Chrome for Mac requires Yosemite (10.10) or later.  Since web browsing on the go is one of the only things I use this aging mac for, I would need to at least use Yosemite to make sure that my browser not only updates, but is safe from security holes. 

Installing El Capitan will help extend the laptop's usable life for as long as Chrome updates are supported!  If I was installing a standard (slower) platter hard drive, I would not install El Capitan because of it's negative impacts on performance [see the Youtube video notes below].

Rundown of OS Versions:

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - 28 August 2009
OS X 10.7 Lion (Barolo) - 20 July 2011
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion (Zinfandel) - 25 July 2012
OS X 10.9 Mavericks (Cabernet) - 22 October 2013
OS X 10.10: Yosemite (Syrah) - 16 October 2014

OS X 10.11: El Capitan (Gala) - 30 September 2015
* MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)

 macOS 10.12: Sierra (Fuji) - 20 September 2016
* requires a MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)

macOS 10.13: High Sierra (Lobo) - 25 September 2017
* requires a MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)

 macOS 10.14: Mojave (Liberty) - 24 September 2018
* requires a MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)

macOS 10.15: Catalina - October 2019
* requires: MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)

Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)

Hardware (Models) Required for Special Features:

AirDrop requires: MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)
AirPlay requires: MacBook Pro (Early 2011 or newer)

OS X El Capitan review: Mac upgrade that's as solid as a rock [MacWorld]

Yosemite vs. El Capitan [YouTube Video] 3:47
* El Capitan took about 14 seconds longer to get to the Desktop from boot up than its predecessor Yosemite.
* El Cap took 5-6 seconds longer to open MS Word and get to a new document.
* iTunes opened slightly faster on El Capitan.
*
(This test is done on a 2009/2010 macbook white upgraded to 4GB of ram)The creator of this video recommends sticking with Yosemite if you have a Mac older than 2010.

Yosemite vs. El Capitan - Is it faster? [YouTube video] 5:10 (October 1, 2015)
On a newer Mac with a solid state hard drive, El Capitan only takes about one second longer to reach the desktop than Yosemite.  The Geekbench score did go up on a newer MacBook Pro by simply upgrading to El Capitan.

Full specs of the Mid/Late 2007 MacBook Pro [EveryMac]

How to Upgrade to OS X El Capitan [Apple]


My 120 GB hard drive would run even slower if I had less than 7GB of free hard drive space because of the page file that we regularly get tapped when the system memory was not enough to handle web browsing and other tasks simultaneously.

Somehow the system applications are taking up 46GB of space, and I'm not really sure how this is possible, because the Adobe suite is the only larger software I run on this aging beast.  My best guess is that the space is used up by buried Premiere cache files from when I first started video editing.

Installing Mavericks OS 10.9.5 on a Blank SSD Drive for an Old Mac

How to Clean Install OS X Mavericks

Reinstall Mac OS X Mavericks From Scratch

If you've been running a computer for a few years and you want to install a new, faster solid state hard drive for your Operating System (OS), it's a good idea to start with a fresh install to ensure the best performance.

Here are some guides to installing Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks from a bootable USB flash drive or DVD. An 8GB or larger flash drive is required.  These are cheap now. Kingston makes a $14 16GB flash drive for $14, which Amazon sells for around $10. Or, if you're trying to go a low cost as possible, grab this 8GB flash drive for just $5 when placing another order on Amazon.

Step 1
How to Build a Bootable USB Installer for OS X Mavericks | MacTrast
Or, the official guide from Apple: Create a bootable installer for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite - Apple Support

Step 2
How to Perform a Clean Install of OS X Mavericks | MacTrast



If you're running a 2008 or later Mac, it might be best to go with Yosemite or the upcoming El Capitan, as El Capitan is advertised to have faster performance than Yosemite on the same Mac.

How to Batch Resize Images on a Mac

Batch Resize multiple images with the Preview app.

1.  Open all the images you want to resize in preview.
2. In the left pane of Preview, select all the images.  Use the Command-A keyboard shortcut, or go to Edit > Select All.
3. To choose the new (smaller) size, go to Tools > Adjust Size.
4. After all the images appear smaller, go to File > Export Selected Images to choose your saving location.

via: Batch Resize Images on Mac [OS X Daily]

How to view MP3 file bitrate in Mac OS

MP3 Info 2.0 for Mac OS (donationware) "Your Song Library Companion" I'm running 10.9 Mavericks and I cannot view the bitrate and song tags for MP3 files from the Finder, but this little app solves the problem. All other important tags of the song are displayed throughout the window in several groups, here are duration and bitrate, and here the song title, artist, album, track number. Also, the composer, year, genre, comment, and encoder application are shown here, all in one nice window! Sometimes, the name of a song file isnt really revealing about its content. Wouldnt it be nice to have an easy way to rename the song file decently? Yes, that would be nice, and MP3-Info can help you with that. Select one of several possible name schemes, and the file will get a new name with just one click. That was simple indeed.

How to Save Mac Screenshots in Another Folder

If you take screenshots regularly on your mac, using the built-in screenshot tool, your desktop can easily become a big mess of files.

With a few lines in the command prompt (Terminal) you can change the default location where OS X saves new screenshots.  Instead of saving screenshots to the Desktop, your screenshots can be saved somewhere more helpful.

This tutorial provides the details of the Terminal command:
Change the Screen Shot Save File Location in Mac OS X

Workaround for "Unidentified Developer" message in Mavericks

In an effort to prevent nefarious apps from launching, Apple started blocking apps from launching that were from an "unidentified developer".  After upgrading from Snow Leopard to Mavericks, this annoying error message prevented me from launching FileZilla, ScreenFlow, a Samsung Printer Driver installer, and other apps.

If you get this irritating and potentially work-blocking message, there is an easy way to bypass it.

Right on the App that the will not open (from the Dock or the Applications folder) and choose Open.  A different dialog window will appear that will still ask you to confirm you want to open the open, but will allow the app to open.

How to Setup Samsung ML-2010 printer in Mavericks

As of December 12th, 2013, Apple does not support the Samsung ML-2010 printer in OS X Mavericks.  You can print, however, using Parallels Desktop 8 or 9, see the solution at the bottom of this post.

Apple released this package on their website on November 14, 2013: Samsung Printer Drivers v2.6 for OS X, but the Samsung ML-2010 is unfortunately not included in this list of printers.

The Samsung ML-2010 worked perfectly in Leopard and Snow Leopard, but a driver is not available for Mavericks.

Upon checking the Samsung website. they offer a mac driver for the ML-2010, but it's only compatible up through OS X Lion (10.7).

When I tried to download this mac driver and install it, an alert message popped up saying "Samsung SPL2 Installer.app" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.  Oh well, Apple and/or Samsung tied some knots here.

So I thought I was stuck and that my Samsung ML-2010 printer was now incompatible since I had upgraded to Mavericks.

I remembered that I had Parallels Desktop on my mac, which can use Windows compatible peripherals.  Parallels Desktop 9 works on Mavericks and I was able to print from it after installing the "universal Samsung driver" on my virtual Windows XP machine from their support page for the Samsung ML-2010 printer.

It stinks that the ML-2010 printer is not natively supported in Mavericks right now, but maybe someday Samsung will release a new driver. Until then, just remember that Mavericks was free and that most OS X upgrades are $20-30 depending on when they are purchased. Parallels 8 is available for $20, so Apple's freebie offsets the $20 you will have to spend to use an old Samsung printer if you don't already have Parallels.

Parallels Desktop 9 is available on Amazon for $60, or you can get Parallels Desktop 8 for just $20 and the virtual Windows machines will still run in Mavericks, according to the Parallels blog.

If you buy Parallels Desktop 9 in a retail store, it costs $80.

PC vs. Mac video editing custom build desktop

 

Mac Pro configured on Apple's website on 10/10/13.

Intel PC configured on iBuyPower.com on 10/10/13.

6 Core Processor

16GB RAM

Radeon HD 7750 2GB video card

240GB SSD - primary hard drive

3 TB standard - secondary hard drive

Blu-Ray burner

The Top Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Geeks

These are my top keyboard shortcuts for Mac, beyond just the normal copy/paste/etc.  I do a lot of freelance website development in Wordpress and also edit photographs in Photoshop.

Open Spotlight
Command + spacebar

Empty the trash
Shift + Command + Delete

New folder
Shift + Command + N

Switch between two windows of the same application (Firefox, Word, etc.)
Command + `    (same symbol as the tilde key)

Measure the pixels on screen or take a custom rectangular screenshot
Shift + Command + 4

Go back a field
Shift + Tab

Find again (Firefox, TextWrangler, etc.)
Command + g

Close Window
Command + w

Other favorites:

View Page Source code (Firefox)
Command + U

New tab (Firefox)
Command + T

New layer via copy (Photoshop)
Command + J

Wirelessly printing with a PC and a Mac

Tonight I figured out how to connect my brother's Windows 7 PC to our printer over the wi-fi network in our house.  The family's iMac is connected to the printer.  We're not fancy enough yet to have a wi-fi printer that connects to a router.

Steps to get the setup working:

1. Enable printer sharing on the Mac (System Preferences > Print and Fax) Make sure you also share the specific printer you wish to use.
2. Install the correct Samsung printer driver on the Windows 7 PC.
3. Use the "Add Printer" feature on the Windows 7 PC control panel. And select the new print driver (added in step #2) for the model of printer we use.

To make the steps go smoothly, the mac needs to stay on (not be asleep) and the printer also needs to be on.

Step #2 was the hardest part, because the Driver installation wizard does not immediately tell you that you do not need to have the printer connected via USB.  If you click through the installation wizard for the printer (a Samsung model 2010), then you can get a dialog that gives you an option to continue the installation without the printer connected!

On the Mac, open System Preferences:

Now on the Windows 7 PC:

April 2012 Refurbished Macs

Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
Originally released May 2011
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
500GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics with 512MB memory

Built-in FaceTime HD camera

$999
   
Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
Originally released May 2011
21.5-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
4GB memory
1TB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics with 512MB memory

Built-in FaceTime HD camera

$1,249


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core i5
Originally released April 2010
15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display (1440 x 900 pixel)
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR3 memory
$1,289


Refurbished MacBook Pro 2.0GHz quad-core Intel i7
Originally released February 2011
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440-by-900 resolution
4GB (2 x 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
500GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6490M
$1,359

How to tell when your Mac turned on

The Console Application shows when things happened on your mac.

To find out when you're mac turned on or awoke from sleep, follow these steps:

Open the Console Application from Applications > Utilities > Console.

From the left menu, view the System.log

Entries listed in the log as "System Wake" show when your mac was turned on from Sleep.

Winter 2011 MacBook Pro and iMac Model Lineup

Why to Upgrade a 120GB MacBook Pro Hard Drive

In April 2011, I posted about the iFixit Guide and Tools needed to replace a hard drive in a 15" Late 2007 MacBook Pro.  My existing, and original hard drive is only 120GB, and has been nearly filled to capacity since about year after I got the computer.  This means I don't even have the recommended 10% free space available at all times.

Now I'm laying out the reasoning for spending $75-100 on a bigger hard drive and about $20 on the tools to get the job done.

1. Not have to constantly wrestle with low hard drive space
2. Install Final Cut Pro.
3. Have some space for video editing
4. Keep all of my music on my laptop
5. Have more space to edit big Photoshop files
6. Have space for Video tutorials and TV show episodes
7. Have space for a few DVD backup disc images

Mac Software Worth Paying For

Parallels Desktop - run windows applications easily and without having to reboot your computer into bootcamp.  Great for running some obscure Windows programs,  Windows-only DVD burning applications, and Internet Explorer browser testing for website development.  Version 7 allows an automated virtual machine setup for Windows XP after your license key is entered.  Once up and running you can create a snapshot of your virtual machine to completely backup it's state at any time.  This will protect your VM should a virus, malware, or anything else compromise it.  Parallels 5 recevied a 4/5 review from Macworld.
[$66, Amazon | $80 direct]

1Password - This is a must have if you are a web developer, project manager, or if you need a way to manage a plethora of web logins.  With extensions for Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari (Chrome?), it allows you to save many logins under one "master password" and then login to a website such as online banking, email, ebay, etc., with just a few clicks and no need to remember each unique login. This tool can save you an incredible amount of time when juggling many, many website accounts.
[$50, AgileBits]

Screenflow - demonstrate how to do something on your mac with this slick screen capture and editing application.  After recording you can add pan, zoom, and other effects and also record new audio tracks to polish your screencast. Many of the recent mac screen casts on Youtube were created with Screenflow.
[$99, TeleStream]

TextExpander - this text-replacement utility runs in the mac menu bar and allows you to save personal "snippets" of text so you don't have to type them repeatedly.  Since I started using this app in 2008, I almost never have to type my email address, or mailing address unless I'm on someone else's computer.  If you're a web developer, you can save snippets of HTML, CSS, or any other string of text.  Secretaries might find it handy for repetitive typing, such as unique email signatures for different clients.
[$35, Smile Software]

Audio Hijack Pro - this app, like its name, will hijack the audio from any application on your system and allow you to record it to a variety of audio formats.  Some great uses for Audio Hijack are:

- record music from streaming sites such as Grooveshark, Pandora, Slacker, or Last.FM
- record Skype conversations
- record webcasts
- record DVD audio
[$32, Rogue Amoeba]


Transmit - an excellent, intuitive FTP application for mac.  Dual panes make this a much faster and more effective than most other FTP apps for mac.  You can also drag files from the finder to a server to transfer them.  If you're a graphic designer, web developer, or in some other position where you frequently make FTP transfers, Transmit will simplify the process.
[]

Mouseposé - an indispensable tool for presentations, screencasts, and web conferencing, this app puts a spotlight around your cursor so that an audience can easily follow what you're demonstrating.  It also features appearance changes for mouse clicks so those can also be followed.  Watch a video of Mousepose in action.