On Intel Macs, key combinations determine startup modes and more, but they have no effect on Apple silicon Macs. And how to deal with keyboard problems when logging in.
Intel
The rules of firmware updating explained, and their consequences for each type of Mac. How to refresh firmware on a T2, and how to downgrade it in an Apple silicon Mac.
It’s a strange coincidence that Intel and Microsoft came up with similar hardware of P and E core types in a SoC, and identical terminology for thread allocation using QoS.
How to interpret various measurements reported in Activity Monitor, from % CPU to Energy Impact, and how they can be compared across different Macs.
Ventura can use Rosetta 2 to translate Intel binaries inside an ARM-native virtualised Linux. The impact and importance of this is explained.
It delivers detailed weather forecasts for days in advance, and real-time manipulation of elaborate textured 3D models. But more mundane tasks may not get any quicker.
In Activity Monitor, % CPU isn’t on a scale of 0-100. In M1 Macs, it also makes no distinction between E and P cores, nor does it allow for their changing frequency.
Each additional Safari window increases WindowServer’s memory use by 1.7 MB on an Intel Mac, but 50 MB on an M1 Mac – thirty times more.
For the great majority of Mac users, M1 series Macs are a big step forward. But some users want the impossible. What can’t M1 Macs do?
How to discover what’s stored in your Mac’s NVRAM, how to reset it in Intel Macs, and how you can changes its variables.
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