Mac book

Hello! I was previously using a 2017 razer blade stealth 13” intel and it gave out. I remember purchasing it over a Mac before since it was cheaper with more storage (at the time).
I’m now revisiting looking at Mac - specifically MacBook Pro M3 Pro. I love windows user face and prefer it for familiarity, but it won’t stop me from switching to Mac IF the laptop is worth it.
Thank you in advance for all the help!
LAPTOP QUESTIONNAIRE
Total budget (in local currency) and country of purchase. Please do not use USD unless purchasing in the US:
$2,000 max; lower better but willing to invest for higher productivity and reliability
Are you open to refurbs/used?
New preferred
How would you prioritize form factor (ultrabook, 2-in-1, etc.), build quality, performance, and battery life?
Performance / productivity Battery life Low fan / low heat
How important is weight and thinness to you?
Smallethinner preferred but definitely willing to comprise weight/thinness for higher productivity
Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A.
15” or less
Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run.
I used a lot of web-based programs (Wix, Squarespace, slack, google workspace, Quickbooks, telegram, company-specific systems, Canva, etc)
I also use Adobe Creative Cloud and Zoom often.
If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want?
N/A
Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)?
Reliable build quality, touch screen optional
Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion.
I’m not too familiar with all the tech specs and language, so it’s harder to describe exact needs. I do use this laptop daily as my only computer, all remote work + travel, and I loved how reliable my razer stealth blade was up until the end (minus the absurdly loud fan).

I personally spent an afternoon figuring it out and wanted to share my process as to how to get it setup and working.
You will need:

• MacBook Air M1
• Gigabyte M27q monitor
• peripherals of your choice (I am using mouse and keyboard)
• A dongle that has adapter ports (usb-c, hdmi, usb a)
• An HDMI cable to plug into the monitor and set up KVM
• An apple certified charger for your MacBook
• the USB-B to USB-A cable that came with your monitor
• the software amphetamine (you can download this from the Appstore)
• the software TeamViewer (or any other remote desktop client)

Step 1:
Download Amphetamine and TeamViewer. Once you plug in your MacBook, you will most likely have to correct the display settings outputting to your monitor. Amphetamine is to allow your MacBook while closed to have the display on still. Once the app is installed on your device, uncheck the box saying, "allow system sleep when display is closed".
You will also want to download TeamViewer on either your phone or another device capable of being on the controlling end. You then start a session on your MacBook and connect the device you will be remotely controlling your MacBook on.
Step 2:
Ensure your cables are all connected. Your peripherals should be plugged into the MONITOR, and the USB-B to USB-A cable should be plugged into your dongle for your MacBook. Your HDMI cable should also be plugged into your dongle, with the other end into your monitor. You can set up your connection via the KVM wizard built into the monitor.
You will need to have the apple charger either powering the MacBook directly or through the dongle, to be safe I plugged mine into the dongle. This allows your MacBook to have enough power while in clamshell mode, as well as keeps it charged.
Your MacBook will also have to be opened and not in clamshell mode for the setup.
Step 3:
Correct any settings that are not as follows for your gigabyte m27q:
https://preview.redd.it/q25yevpnc91d1.png?width=978&format=png&auto=webp&s=40f63889dd406aeffd8683339136247946a61c8d
https://preview.redd.it/tgxib8boc91d1.png?width=968&format=png&auto=webp&s=1df7cfc15de356024602187c3264d401a546b440
If they are not these settings, your KVM will not work.
Step 4:
Use the KVM switch. If the directions are followed, you should be greeted with an extended display of your MacBook. You are now able to close your MacBook and you should be able to only have one display. You can change your settings to now be 1440p 60hz, or 1080p 60-120hz. You are now also able to use the KVM switch to seamlessly swap between devices.
Step 5:
At the end of your session, you have to make sure the output is 1080p 60hz. It will not work otherwise when you go to plug it back in. You can change it once you are properly connected, but every time you go to unplug your MacBook and have changed it to anything other than that, you have to make sure these are the settings.

(Sorry, it’s kinda long)
Hey everyone,
A bit about me: I grew up in a toxic household with an alcoholic abusive single mother. She had anywhere from 15-20 stray cats in our home that she spoiled and loved more than me. She sure made that clear! My father left me and my mother when I was two years old and he never came back. I was put into the California foster care system at age 13 due to my mother being reported multiple times by my junior high school counselor. From there I went to several mental hospitals, lockdown facilities and group homes up to my 18th birthday. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder back in my adolescent years. I haven’t been evaluated as an adult but I’m sure I would be diagnosed with MDD if I were.
I have spent almost my entire adult life doing nothing with myself. I spent a lot of time early on sleeping in my car and showering at my friends houses. My grandma in Arizona helped me out a great deal and let me stay with her and find work, and I was proud of myself although I was working a menial janitorial job at a casino. I’m pretty tech savvy and skilled with automotive repair but I never pursued further education. When my grandma passed away in 2007 I got severely depressed but I managed to get a place to live with roommates and held down a full time job, again at a casino doing janitorial work. Developed a gambling addiction and an alcohol addiction. Got a DUI in 2008 and that started my legal troubles. Lost my place and lost my job.
I slept in my car and worked at casinos doing menial work again. Met a woman at one of the jobs and got married April 2010. She had a few kids with a bunch of baby daddy drama, and I couldn’t deal with it so I just walked away and the divorce was finalized by the end of the year. I stopped drinking after that. From there I kept working until 2011, when I decided to quit my job, take my old Subaru XT and hit the road. Went all over the southwest US sleeping in the car and exploring, got a few tickets for no insurance, got my license suspended for said tickets and also for not paying my payments on the DUI. I got to Albuquerque NM and my car finally croaked on me. Transmission failure. Slept in it for a week or so in a mini-mall parking lot until the cops were called on me and unsurprisingly took my car. I was officially a street person at age 26.
I spent several years hitchhiking, panhandling, dumpster diving, hopping freight trains and finding spots to sleep or camp wherever I could. I was so depressed that I didn’t take very good care of myself and had no desire whatsoever to try to better myself and dig out of the hole I got myself into. I used to call myself an urban survivalist. I remained in this state of mind until late 2022 when dental problems nearly killed me. I finally found a place to stay in Nevada with a lady I called a foster mother but I had a very hard time getting used to being housed. I got all my teeth yanked and a set of dentures thanks to Nevada Medicaid. I got a job at a car wash for six months but gave up the job due to stress at home and workplace nepotism. I even got a few credit cards and got my score up to 719! Anyhow, foster mother was an alcoholic, she started to remind me of my biological mother and I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had a few thousand dollars saved up and moved back to Arizona a couple of months ago.
I am currently at a weekly motel and have been attempting to find any work I can. Managed to get interviews for dishwasher jobs, housekeeping jobs, janitorial jobs and night crew at a grocery store. Haven’t heard back from any of them though. I have half of my savings left and it seems inevitable that I’ll run out of money pretty soon.
I have a good feeling that the ridiculously long gap of employment looks terrible on my resume and that may be a reason I’m not getting anything. I mean, what do I tell the interviewer, that I was a damn bum?
I like to think I’m pretty smart. I was disassembling and reassembling IBM PC’s before I hit puberty. I was the computer technician for my high school back in the Windows XP era. Once I started driving I began teaching myself automotive repair with Chilton and Haynes manuals along with plenty of trial and error. It blew people’s minds when I, a dirty bum, helped get their car back on the road if I noticed they needed assistance. I helped a man I met at a park and did an engine swap on his Nissan Xterra over a couple weekends in exchange for new camping gear.
I can’t get work as a mechanic or do any driving related jobs unless I get my license back and it would take a LOT of money to get it back. On top of that I have to have an ignition interlock in any vehicle I drive. I wouldn’t mind getting into computer repair but I don’t have the certification to do so, and I’ve been out of the loop for a long time. I have a MacBook Air M1 and wish I could learn a way to make money with it like some sort of remote job but that seems impossible to me at this point.
For the record, I still don’t drink and I’ve never done a hard drug in my life. I haven’t smoked weed in months so I am able to pass a drug test if I were hired somewhere. Also, I have no felonies whatsoever on my record. Some people like to be stereotypical so I figured I’d throw that out there.
I guess what I’m asking is what should I do at this point? What path would you take if you were in my shoes? I won’t lie, suicide has been on my mind a lot lately. I don’t have many friends and I don’t have any family to talk to. I don’t like being a burden on anyone. Should I just accept that I’m gonna probably be homeless again, possibly for the rest of my life? Is there anywhere in the US that I could possibly get back on my feet with some sort of labor work and a place to sleep? I’d move anywhere if I knew I had a shot. Am I a lost cause at age 38? I’d love to hear some ideas!

So I’m looking to buy a MacBook Air as I’m goin to travel for 3 ish months and also be going into college. I’ll be mainly using it for school work, entertainment, light gaming (things like stardew valley or Roblox), FaceTime/other communications. My parents are really keen on buying ONLY brand new. I’ve heard M2 and M3 are only small upgrades from an M1. But finding a brand new m1 in stores is nearly a treasure hunt. I’ve found one tho from Best Buy.
“MacBook Air 13.3" Laptop - Apple M1 chip - 8GB Memory - 256GB SSD” for ~700$
Is this a worth it deal? I should I just invest a little bit more for an M2 MacBook? As a broke high school student trying not to ask my parents for extra money, I’m trying to fit as much bang for my buck as possible.

Hey all, I’m in need of a second MacBook Pro. I currently have a 18GB/512GB M3 Pro 16”. I wanted to ask if I should buy another one of those, or a M2 Max 32GB/1TB 16”. I will be doing some photo editing and video editing on the other Mac, and thought the extra RAM might be useful on the M2 Max. Please help as I am a very indecisive person and don’t know which one to pick :)
EDIT: I will also be doing software engineering on this machine.

I got into a heated argument with one of my friends on Monday. We resolved everything on Wednesday so I unblocked him on my iPhone and my MacBook. I tried to text him but for some reason the message would not deliver. He tried to send me messages as well and none of them would deliver so for now we’re just talking on instagram. I tried testing to see if the same issue would occur with my other contacts, but my messages delivered to them just fine. If I could get some support for this I would greatly appreciate it. Apple support isn’t much help at them moment.

The gig I'm on right now has a LOT of narration. like many of you I too hate doing scratch VO. I can't seem to make it more than a sentence with that tripping over my own tongue. Has anyone run across a decent AI voice that I could get to do it for me?
I don't want a dead monotone read of a dictation program. I'm hoping there's something better. It's been my experience that putting a little life and emphasis into the scratch vo helpes sell the cut better to unimaginative clients. The worse the quality of scratch the more notes those sections get.
Currently in Premier 2024 System specs MacBook M1pro 32gb

I got the MacBook M3 16GB RAM and 512 SSD (2024) and couldn’t have been more happier. Switched from lifelong Windows use.
Suggestions for Mac apps for study and work productivity?
Already own iPhone and iPad so integration offerings are great! (Sending files between documents has never been easier)

My kids are involved with the local community theatre, one is in an upcoming production of Grease. I was asked to help with the sound for some of the shows. They are using the ROCS software for the music for the show. It appears we cannot insert some of the sound effects from the show into the ROCS software. Is there an easy way to integrate both the add and tracks. Could an iPad connected to a MacBook work? Would I be able to use 2 windows and play both as needed? Thanks y’all!

​
https://reddit.com/link/1cv81yw/video/27vs9skl891d1/player

I need clarification help for two needs.
1) I need the audio to be better (ie, no static) for a multi-person recording through Microsoft Zoom. Thinking of using this item: https://a.co/d/2R4sAfg
2) I want my audio to sound podcast quality when on calls. Thinking of using this item: https://a.co/d/8xSBgJg
I’ve found these two items on Amazon that look like they’d fit the bill. Would love to know if I’m on the right track or if there are other options worth considering.
Additional considerations:
-my mics are Shure SM58 model
-MacBook Pro
-Zoom H6 recording mixer

I recently upgraded from an M1 to an M3 MacBook Air and everything seemed to sync over on Raycast ok. However Apple shortcuts now take several minutes to run when initiated from Raycast versus instantaneously from the menu bar. It seems crazy - has anybody seen this or can shed light on what's going on?

Hello! I recently purchased a late 2008 aluminum MacBook with Catalina. I want to know can I safely log into my Apple ID on that Mac?

However, in addition to refuelling, it should give an effect for 46:03 that does the following:

• Reepers attack it;
• Driving over oak ore turns it into dark oak ore, driving over oak ingots turns them into dark oak ingots, etc;
• Ender guardians instantly teleport to it with the probability proportional to e^-r², where r is the distance;
• It can't drive while the rider at the driver seat eats a Big Mac (in the edible books snapshot, books should have the same effect);
• All white dandelions in the radius of 5 blocks get updated remotely;
• All XP plants in the same radius get instantly destroyed;
• Dogs who get under the Herbie can't be given wood ingots better than linden ones;
• Driving over any non-extinguished torches explodes the Herbie;
• Boyfriends of players in the Eros Tour mode can't sit in the Herbie;
• If the mod for the mese upgrade is or used to be installed in this world, players that have used the feature that gives them the B-yamcon arrow (IDK how to refer to it) have a chance to gain control over the Herbie, and the more the value of 69(the number of Nether Reactor activations the player got XP from by using it) - (the total XP they got) is, the more the chance is

These are just some random side-effects for a weird feature

Hello, Idris here from indieniche. This week I want to share a summarised version of my interview with Daniel Nguyen, A Product Engineer generating $10k/month building AI apps
You can find the full case study here

Q: Hello! Who are you and what product are you working on currently?

I'm Daniel Nguyen. I'm an entrepreneur based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I've been building multiple products: KTool, BoltAI, PDF Pals

Q: What is your backstory and how did you come up with your idea? Do you have any partners?

I've been a product engineer for more than 12 years. Then one day, I discovered Indie Hacking and found it fascinating. I quit my cushy job to start building in public.
I decided to learn more about generative AI & OpenAI API and hopefully find a good freelance gig. I did land a couple of interesting gigs, but what is more interesting is I found a new product idea: BoltAI - a better way to use OpenAI & other AI services on macOS. I started it purely to learn more about SwiftUI development & OpenAI app development (the so-called "AI wrapper"). It's now my top revenue-generating product.
While building BoltAI, one customer asked about the ability to chat with PDF natively on Mac (another "AI wrapper" idea). I found it interesting and so I decided to build it. PDF Pals recently reached 700 paid customers (about 23% of my total revenue in 2023) And finally, I built ShotSolve as a lead magnet for BoltAI (engineering as marketing, or side project marketing). It was welcomed by many Mac users and so far, has brought 1500 visitors to BoltAI.

Q: Take us through the process of building the first version of your product MVP.

When I started, I didn’t expect BoltAI to be commercially viable. It comes from my pet peeve of switching back and forth between ChatGPT web UI and native Mac apps like Xcode or Apple Notes. Unlike VSCode, there is no Copilot for XCode and I have the habit of writing blog posts in Apple Notes so I figured I need a tool to invoke ChatGPT right within these apps. So I decided to build the MVP in a weekend. The app was ugly but I managed to ship it anyway.

Q: How did you get your first customers for your product (Free or paid users)

I tweeted about it, and posted it to multiple communities asking for feedback: IndieHacker, Reddit, WIP… It went semi-viral and early adopters started to use the app. I got valuable feedback and improved the product accordingly. Some of them converted to paid customers.

Q: Since you launched your product, What has worked to attract customers

Doubling down on what works mostly. That's social media (X/Reddit), email newsletters, and paid ads.

Q: How is your product performing currently, and what are your plans for the future? Can you share your current metrics and revenue figures?

BoltAI is doing great. I plan to support business customers better, and will kind of "pivot" into B2B. Currently, most customers of BoltAI are prosumers: freelancers, developers, or content writers. I believe it would be much better if I could sell directly to businesses.
Read the full case study here
We put several hours into this research and it covers mostly all aspects:

• How he got his ideas to build his AI apps
• How he built his first MVP
• Tools that have helped him grow his products
• Books and podcasts that have been impactful to him
• Advice for other founders starting out to build their apps

This story inspired me a lot, I love growth and building profitable businesses, so I hope you will feel the same energy from it! If you find this a lot useful , Let’s connect togetherto read more when I interview founders like this

Hello everyone,
I’ve been working on a document in Pages for years, but recently I’ve noticed that a lot of text is missing. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I’m worried about continuing to edit the document, as it contains very important information and I fear losing more content.
Is there a way to recover the missing text or prevent this from happening in the future? Should I consider using a different application for writing? It's a lot of written material, so transferring it to another application, especially on Windows or Chrome, would be a big problem. I primarily use a MacBook Air and an iMac, mostly the MacBook Air.
Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Best regards