Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.
iOS Decoded is Jeff’s flagship video series that breaks down what’s new in iOS betas, including behind-the-scenes deep dives into undiscovered features and exclusive details on the iOS roadmap.
Jeff also produces a weekly podcast, alongside co-host Fernando Silva, entitled 9to5Mac Overtime. A video-first podcast, 9to5Mac Overtime airs weekly on our YouTube channel, but can also be enjoyed in audio form via Apple Podcasts, or your podcast app of choice.
Back to the Mac is a series focused specifically on the Mac, including hardware, accessories, I/O, software, and more.
On this week’s episode of Back to the Mac, we go nuts with an eGPU setup featuring two Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650 units mated with a pair of workstation-class 16GB AMD WX 9100 GPUs.
As we’ve touched on before, if you’re a DaVinci Resolve user, or if you use any other app that can wield multiple GPUs at the same time, such a setup can put up some noteworthy numbers. Watch the latest episode of Back to the Mac for more details. Expand Expanding Close
Lacie’s Rugged RAID Pro is an external portable RAID-enabled HDD that’s primarily aimed at photo and video editors who often find themselves on-the-go. Donning an unmistakable bright orange shock-resistant rubber sleeve, it fits right in with the Seagate-owned company’s other storage-centric options.
On paper, the Lacie Rugged RAID Pro won’t light up the scoreboards. Even in the RAID 0 performance mode, it features a rather pedestrian 250 MB/s max read speed. But where the drive lacks in speed, it makes up for in the sheer amount of storage offered — 4TB — stuffed inside a rugged chassis. It also comes with a feature that sets it apart from other bus-powered external drives on the market: a built-in UHS-II SD Card reader — extremely handy for MacBook Pro users.
Does the Lacie Rugged RAID offer enough to make it worthy of consideration? Have a look at our hands-on video review for the details. Expand Expanding Close
As a MacBook Pro user, having access to external SSD storage is important given the price of build-to-order SSD upgrades. For example, a 4TB SSD upgrade alone on the 2018 MacBook Pro can set you back $3400, more than the price of the laptop itself.
With this in mind, such upgrades can’t be reasonably justified for many users, which means relying on external storage where necessary. Thankfully, there is no shortage of external storage solutions for the MacBook Pro, with many of them featuring bus-powered USB-C connectivity for plug and play functionality.
Now that new quad-core and hexa-core MacBook Pro models are here, I’ve been eager to see how they pair up with an AMD Vega 64-powered eGPU setup. Specifically, I’d like to see how such a setup compares with the recently released Blackmagic eGPU.
A new iOS 12 developer beta has been released, and with it comes a handful of new changes and features. Watch our hands-on video as we walk through what’s new. Expand Expanding Close
The 2018 revision of the MacBook Pro is here, and as usual it arrives in two sizes, a 13- and 15-inch version. On the surface, Apple’s new laptops look exactly the same as previous generations, but there are significant upgrades to be found under the hood.
Most importantly, a new 3rd-generation butterfly switch keyboard has been introduced, and Apple notes in its press materials that it results in a quieter typing experience. Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the only benefit of the new keyboard, as an internal repair document shows that a new membrane has been put in place to help prevent debris ingress.
Apple’s Mid-2018 MacBook Pro establishes two firsts for its laptops: quad-core CPUs on all 13-inch models, and hexa-core CPUs on all 15-inch models. These changes are made possible thanks to Intel’s 8th generation Coffee Lake architecture, of which the Core i5, i7 and i9 CPUs found in every new MacBook Pro are card-carrying members.
Another first for the MacBook Pro? DDR4 memory is now standard on 15-inch models. This allows buyers to finally, if desired, configure this machine with up to 32GB of memory.
While the MacBook Pro didn’t undergo a major new physical redesign, there are quite a few notable changes in this revision that will extend real benefits to users. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details. Expand Expanding Close
Alongside the new MacBook Pro launch and Blackmagic eGPU, Apple also released a new Leather Sleeve for its flagship laptop, albeit to significantly less fanfare and/or controversy. The MacBook Pro Leather Sleeve follows in the footsteps of similar leather-based offerings for the 12-inch MacBook and iPad Pro.
Comprised out of high-quality European leather, the MacBook Pro Leather sleeve is available in one of three colors for both 13- and 15-inch models. Should you consider dropping $179 (13-inch) or $199 to protect your MacBook Pro in style? Expand Expanding Close
When it comes to rolling out a new network standard like 5G, there are a lot of moving parts involved, and just as many obstacles. One of the biggest challenges to the upcoming move to 5G cellular technology is producing eligible millimeter wave antennas that are small enough that can fit inside modern smartphones. Qualcomm has been hard at work at producing an antenna module, the QTM052, capable of operating at the high frequencies required for 5G. The production of such a small antenna means that one of the biggest hurdles to making next-generation 5G technology a reality has been cleared. Expand Expanding Close
It seems like there’s always some controversy surrounding new Apple hardware. These devices are some of the most popular in the world, which means that they’re bound to get closely scrutinized, perhaps more so than any other tech product on earth.
With that said, there’s a brewing controversy over CPU throttling in the new MacBook Pro. Of course, throttling on a laptop as thin as the MacBook Pro is to be expected, but issue has been taken with the amount of throttling present in Apple’s high-end 6-core Core i9-powered machine.
The scrutinization is warranted, especially when you consider that the least-expensive Core i9 MacBook Pro sells for $2,700. If you opt to max out the GPU, RAM, and SSD storage, the price quickly balloons to nearly $7000 after tax.
Just how bad is CPU throttling on the 2018 MacBook Pro? Let’s do a brief export test with Final Cut Pro X to investigate further. Expand Expanding Close
The Blackmagic eGPU is an external graphics enclosure sold exclusively (for the time being) at the Apple Store. It’s a notable product for several of reasons. First and foremost, it’s the first time that Apple has sold an external graphics enclosure in its store. This makes sense, considering that macOS was recently upgraded with official eGPU support in version 10.13.4 back in the spring.
Another reason to take note is that the Blackmagic eGPU is the first external graphics chassis to include official support for the LG UltraFine 5K display (hands-on), a monitor that Apple recommends as a replacement for its now discontinued Thunderbolt Display.
But perhaps the most appealing feature of the Blackmagic eGPU is its silence. Blackmagic advertises its ultra quiet status right on the product packaging, and it’s not joking, this enclosure is extremely low noise.
With a launch alongside highly anticipated new MacBook Pro hardware, the Blackmagic eGPU is now available exclusively at Apple Stores. Is this the eGPU that you should consider for your Mac? Watch our hands-on video for the details. Expand Expanding Close
Good news for those of you who can’t wait to get your hands on Apple’s just-announced MacBook Pro. First shipments of Apple’s refreshed laptops begin today, with expedited orders slated to arrive as early as tomorrow. Expand Expanding Close
After using Affinity Designer on iPad, I can confidently say that there aren’t many apps of a similar echelon in the App Store. The companion app to Affinity Photo, Designer is a vector illustration app that can operate as an outright Adobe Illustrator replacement for many graphic artists.
In this initial hands-on walkthrough, I step through over 20 features in Affinity Designer, focusing heavily on the gesture-based toolset that makes it such a powerful app for iPad users. Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s launch of refreshed MacBook Pros is the big news for today, and rightfully so. The update checks off many customer wants, such as DDR4 with up to 32GB of RAM on the 15-inch model, and quad-core CPUs on the 13-inch model.
But graphics are still an area that could use assistance, and Apple recognizes this. Earlier this spring it launched a new version of macOS with official eGPU support in tow. Today, The Verge revealed that Apple has worked with Blackmagic Design, known for its DaVinci Resolve NLE, on a brand new all-in-one $699 eGPU. Expand Expanding Close
Affinity Publisher is an upcoming desktop publishing app that many are hoping will serve as legitimate Adobe InDesign alternative, much like sister apps Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer have served as viable alternatives to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Lost amid the shuffle of today’s release of Designer for iPad, developer Serif says that the Publisher beta will arrive before the end of August. Expand Expanding Close
With the resounding success and universal praise heaped upon last year’s launch of Affinity Photo for the iPad, it was only a matter of time before its companion app, the popular vector illustration tool, Affinity Designer, was brought to the platform.
After publishing a teaser almost a year ago to the day, Affinity Designer is making its iOS App Store debut. To celebrate, developer Serif is launching the app at a special $13.99 introductory price, a 30% discount off the full price.
Like Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer brings desktop-class high-level capabilities to iPad users. After using it, I can say that it is unequivocally one of the most impressive iOS apps I’ve ever used. Serif has taken full advantage of the iPad’s multi touch gestures in a way that allows users to pull off all sorts of quick shortcuts without delving deep into the app’s deep menu set. It’s not a mere port of the Mac version (on sale for $34.99), but a feature-complete illustration app that’s built from the ground up with touch in mind. Expand Expanding Close
Today Microsoft officially took the wraps off the next product in its Surface lineup, a budget-minded tablet called Surface Go. The Surface Go is a 10-inch tablet that starts at a pocket-friendly $399, but you’ll need to pony up more cash for more storage and memory.
Lighter and smaller than the Surface Pro, the Surface Go features dimensions of 9.6-by-6.9-by-0.3 inches and weighs just 1.2 pounds. The 10-inch 3:2 1800-by-1200 PixelSense Display dominates the front side of the device, but substantial bezels remain on each side of the display.
Preorders start tomorrow, July 10th, with shipments scheduled to begin in early August. Expand Expanding Close
As a Toyota driver, I’ve been subjected to the company’s horrible Entune-powered head unit for the last 6 years. On my 2012 model, it’s bundled with a matte resistive touch screen that requires you to press in on the display to control the unit. As you can probably imagine, the stock unit is extremely clunky and difficult to use. It’s so bad that I wouldn’t purchase a new Toyota without a new capacitive CarPlay unit built in. Thankfully, Toyota recently wised up and decided to adopt CarPlay after holding out for several years.
If you’re like me and stuck with a terrible stock head unit, then a CarPlay-enabled aftermarket radio may be the key to a much better audio, messaging, and navigation experience while on the go. There are caveats associated with having an aftermarket head unit installed, but as my recent experience with the Pioneer MVH-1400NEX shows, the upsides outweigh the potential downsides. Expand Expanding Close
The third iOS 12 developer beta has been released for eligible iPhones and iPads, and we’ve taken it for a test drive to uncover what’s changed. Watch our video walkthrough for the hands-on details and comparisons.
A recently released script called set-eGPU, from eGPU.io alumnus @mac_editor, gives users more control over GPU rendering. The script overrides plist values assigned to GPUSelectionPolicy, available in macOS 10.13.4 and later, for installed apps dynamically.
In other words, this script uses tools already baked into the latest versions of macOS to give the end user more control over eGPU usage. A primary benefit is that it allows an external GPU to render installed applications and present them on your Mac’s built-in display. With this script you can now force eGPU rendering for many of your installed apps without an external display.
As you might expect, one of the first apps that I tested was Final Cut Pro X, and the results are encouraging. Watch our hands-on video walkthrough for the details. Expand Expanding Close
Although I wouldn’t recommend running a macOS beta on a primary work machine, I am testing it on my MacBook Pro, and it’s been a positive experience thus far. Now that the public beta release of macOS Mojave is out, it’s a good time to consider five of my favorite features like I did previously with iOS 12 and watchOS 5. Have a look at our hands-on video for a brief demonstration. Expand Expanding Close
Compared is a series focused on showcasing products that operate in the same space as Apple hardware. These may include laptops, phones, tablets, smart watches, etc.
I recently got my hands on Huawei’s just-launched MateBook X Pro laptop. It’s a Windows-powered machine in an ultrabook form factor with a stunning 13.9-inch 3:2 minimal-bezel display. At first glance, it looks very much inspired by the MacBook, almost like a mix between the 12-inch MacBook and the MacBook Pro.
How does Huawei’s flagship compare to the MacBook Pro? Watch our hands-on video for the details.
