Monthly Mini-Bytes - July 2025

 

How Powerful of a Computer Do You Need? If you are brave enough to walk un-escorted into an Apple Store these days, one thing that you will quickly realize is that Macs are very expensive. Sure, you can pick up a base Mac mini for around $600 and a MacBook Air for around $1K, but with iMacs, Studios, and some Mac Pros that can top out at over $12,000, it's so easy to overspend. Well, the dirty little secret is that Apple made their Silicon chips so powerful that even that lowly $600 Mac mini can do things a $5000 top-of-the-line Intel-powered iMac Pro could only dream of just a few years ago. And for the typical home or small business user, the base Macs are sometimes all that you need. If you are looking at video editing, 3D modeling, AI generative tasking, or transdimensional multiplicative divergence, then you do need to look at the higher end Macs. But if all that you do is email, photos, surfing the internet, Word, Excel, Quickbooks Online, and those types of things, then save yourself some money. The base M4 Macs with 16GB of RAM (Unified Memory) will serve the majority of Mac users very well, and be able to do so for years to come. The only thing to be wary of is storage. The base Macs only come with a scant 256GB of storage. Make sure you have enough space to fit in all of your data. These days we usually recommend 1TB of storage, although light users can be fine with 512GB. If you do opt for the Mac mini, you don't necessarily need to purchase the $1500 Apple Display. A basic 4K monitor can be had for around $300. Offerings from LG, Samsung, and Dell won't have the high end features, but can work depending on your needs. Bottom line is that you don't need to pay the Apple Tax to get into a new Mac and enjoy the power of the M-Series chips.

My iPhone is Too Big!

Yes, big phones are here and they are getting bigger. Why? Don't know, and as an aficionado of diminutive design, I too am frustrated by the increasing girth of the iPhones. The 17 line up is supposed to grow in size and the iPhone mini is long gone, unfortunately. And it's not just Apple -- from Samsung to Google, phones are increasing in size with every generation. So what can you do to try and live with these larger phones? Consider the Case Cases add thickness, weight, and bulk to already large phones. Think about what you need for protection. A thinner case can be an option, and there is always the choice to go caseless. This is of course risky if you are not careful, but I have gone without a case with my iPhone 15 Pro for almost two years. And yes, I do have AppleCare+. Leverage Your Apple Watch If you have an Apple Watch it can allow you to forgo keeping the phone close at hand. Battery life isn't the best and trying to answer a call on your watch in the middle of Whole Foods can be awkward. Still, the Apple Watch was designed so that you could leave your bulky phone behind, or in your purse, or backpack. Wait for the iPhone Foldable? Tim Cook's Apple loves to show up late to the party, and it seems that finally they will be developing a foldable iPhone. This will allow your big iPhone to fold in half. If you look at the Samsung Z-Flip, it's the best of both worlds -- a full-sized phone that folds into a pocketable size.

Reminder: Apple Has a Password App

With the likes of CNN, the Wall Street Journal, the AZ Republic, and Extreme Fishing Weekly pumping out articles that amount to ads for third-party password managers, just remember that Apple has one built into it's iCloud ecosystem. The Passwords app exists on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It allows you to save passwords and use them seamlessly across devices. You can share passwords, create password groups, and even get the app to create unique passwords for each and every login. It is extremely good and doesn't cost any money, since you already have it. To learn more about Passwords visit: https://support.apple.com/en-us/120758

The Micro-Byte: July 2025

 

macOS 26 Tahoe: Can Your Mac Run It?

macOS 26 Tahoe is on the horizon and as expected a whole host of old Intel machines will not support the new operating system. Anything newer than 2020 should run it without issue, but it's important to know that only two 2019 models will be able to handle Tahoe: the 2019 16-Inch MacBook Pro and the 2019 Mac Pro Desktop, also known as the cheese grater.  Apple is being very aggressive about pushing off the old Intel machines. At this rate with macOS 27 we wouldn't be surprised if only Apple Silicon Macs will be supported. Here is the official list of Macs that will support macOS 26 Tahoe: MacBook Air with Apple silicon (2020 and later) MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (2020 and later) MacBook Pro (16‑inch, 2019) MacBook Pro (13‑inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports) iMac (2020 and later) Mac mini (2020 and later) Mac Studio (2022 and later) Mac Pro (2019 and later) To learn more about macOS Tahoe visit Apple here: https://www.apple.com/os/macos/