Mac Central

Ugh, why do I have to upgrade the operating system on my Mac every year, it so damn annoying when I have to download these updates. Well, if you don’t care about the new features that come with the latest update, you at least should download the update that way it patches any vulnerabilities your computer may have when it comes to security. Also sometimes those bugs that you were complaining so…

Whether you want to do a clean install on your Mac or you want to install OS X on multiple Macs you may own, creating a bootable disk is a great way to install OS X on your Mac.

So without further ado, here are the steps for you to create a bootable disk.

Step 1: Download OS X and Diskmaker X

To begin, the first step is to download those two items. For Yosemite, you would want to make your way to…

Apple on Thursday sent out invitations for a press event on March 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, CA. The event has been scheduled to launch the new  Watch and possibly a few other speculated products.

What are we going to see for the  Watch?

We already know some of the details such as, the starting price, what it looks like and how it works (sort of). This…

If you are considering buying a new MacBook to replace your old PC laptop, MacBook or Powerbook, or you are buying your first computer and are considering a laptop. The MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (both the old standard one or the new Retina Display model) are all great machines in one way or another. It’s all the matter of what machine is right for you and what you get for your money.There…

Ugh, why do I have to upgrade the operating system on my Mac every year, it so damn annoying when I have to download these updates. Well, if you don't care about the new features that come with the latest update, you at least should download the update that way it patches any vulnerabilities your computer may have when it comes to security. Also sometimes those bugs that you were complaining so much will probably be squashed (not all of them though).

So with that said, let's get started.

Step 1: Download Yosemite

OS X Yosemite can be found at the Mac App Store and is the recommended place to download it. Once the download has been completed, go on to step 2 or 3.

Step 2 (optional): Create a bootable USB for OS X Yosemite

Whether you want to do a clean install on your Mac or you want to install OS X on multiple Macs you may own, creating a bootable disk is a great way to install OS X on your Mac.

Once you create a bootable disk for Yosemite, restart the computer and hold down the Option (Alt) key as soon as the computer boots up and before the  logo appears.

Step 3: Choose where to install the OS

Select the hard drive you want to install OS X Yosemite on

Step 4: Follow the prompts

After this your Mac should restart a couple of times. Don’t worry as this is normal. 

Step 5: Congratulations! You have successfully installed Yosemite on your Mac!

Now that you have OS X Yosemite installed on your computer, you can enjoy all the benefits that come along with the OS such as Continuity, Handoff and a whole lot more.

Whether you want to do a clean install on your Mac or you want to install OS X on multiple Macs you may own, creating a bootable disk is a great way to install OS X on your Mac.

So without further ado, here are the steps for you to create a bootable disk.

Step 1: Download OS X and Diskmaker X

To begin, the first step is to download those two items. For Yosemite, you would want to make your way to the Mac App Store an download Yosemite (WARNING: this might take a while, so go ahead and grab a drink or something to eat). Then, the next step is to download Diskmaker X from their website. Open the .dmg file and move the app to the Applications folder on your Mac.

Step 2: Open Diskmaker X and follow the prompts

Once you open Diskmaker this message should popup: Click on Yosemite (10.10)

Click on use this copy. Click on “Use another copy” if you have the Yosemite installer in another location on your Mac.

Click on “An 8GB USB thumb drive” or “Another kind of disk” if you are using something like an SD Card.

Select the disk you want to use and click “Chose this disk”.

WARNING: This process will erase your entire disk so be sure to transfer all your files over to another drive if you can. No use creating a partition of your drive as that will be erased too.

This is pretty self-explanatory.

At the end, this is what it should look like.

Now you can either make a donation to the developer or quit the app.

Step 3: Test the bootable Yosemite Installer to see if it works

To do this, you will need to restart your Mac. Then you will need to hold down the Option (Alt) key and wait for the mac to display the boot manager.

Step 4: SUCCESS IF YOU SEE THIS SCREEN!

Apple on Thursday sent out invitations for a press event on March 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, CA. The event has been scheduled to launch the new  Watch and possibly a few other speculated products.

What are we going to see for the  Watch?

We already know some of the details such as, the starting price, what it looks like and how it works (sort of). This event should more likely further explain the features of the  Watch such as, battery life, how much all the  Watches will cost (bands, the watch sizes), probably a few demos of some third-party apps and how the watch would sync with the iPhone. Hopefully Apple solves these mysteries that were left behind last September at their iPhone event.

Will they announce anything new about  Pay, iOS or OS X?

We could see Apple announcing releases for  Pay in Canada and Europe some time this year. When it comes to OS X 10.10.3 and iOS 8.3 we could see a public beta for both platforms being announced or the OS updates being released as the finished product (highly doubt it though).

I've been hearing rumours about this 12" MacBook Air and a 12" "iPad Pro". What the hell's up with that?

It's been rumoured that Apple has been working on a 12" MacBook Air and "iPad Pro". The 12" MBA has been rumoured based on leaks that it will be the thinnest MBA to date. In fact, it's rumoured to be so thin that there is going to be only one port which is a reversible USB port. Now this isn't official but based on passed leaks of previous products, they have happened to be almost accurate. Speaking of the iPad Pro, it has been rumoured that it will have a 12" touchscreen and would run either OS X or iOS. If this were true, they'd better release this iPad with OS X. By the way, Apple won't have an excuse like they do for touchscreens on the desktop as you can hold the iPad with the palm of your hands and you shouldn't have any arm-strain. As I have said though, these are just rumours.

Surprises, surprises, surprises!

Who knows what else Apple might announce at the event. Possibly an  TV or something completely unexpected. All I can say is that Apple may surprise us with something that we would definitely enjoy.

If you are considering buying a new MacBook to replace your old PC laptop, MacBook or Powerbook, or you are buying your first computer and are considering a laptop. The MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (both the old standard one or the new Retina Display model) are all great machines in one way or another. It's all the matter of what machine is right for you and what you get for your money.There essentially two branches of the MacBook lineup, the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro (the one with the disk drive and the retina display one). Both are great machines, but you don't want to end up with to little or to much capability and power.

Note: The specifications that will be mentioned are for the smallest sizes out of the categories 

The MacBook Air: Who is it right for?

The MacBook Air is the most lightweight of all the Mac notebooks. The MacBook Airs range from two sizes and two different price points. The 11" MBA (MacBook Air for short) starts at $999 CAD and sports a 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 5000 built in, 4GB of RAM and 128GB flash-based storage. What does that translate into performance wise? This basically means you could surf the web, manage your photos, check your email and basic things like that. Nothing too advanced. The 13" MBA starts at around $1099 CAD and the only difference in performance is screen size.

The MBA is really fast in performance thanks to the PCIe-based flash storage which is a hell of a lot faster than your old Serial ATA hard drive (the spinning hard drive). The latest processors made by Intel (dual-core Core i5s) which have Intel's Intel HD Graphics 5000 built in, aren't the best processors in terms of graphics performance, considering that the MBPwRD (MacBook Pro with Retina Display for short) has the Intel Iris Pro graphics built in. So in other words, the MBA is great for casual gaming, but when you get into serious gaming, CAD (Computer Aided Design) apps or any applications that are graphics intensive would require a MBPwRD.

The storage on the MBA is a PCIe-based flash storage chip which is up to 2.4x faster than a SATA solid state drive. So this means that opening files and applications will be a breeze.

Who is the MacBook Pro (standard) for?

The fact well known about the MacBook Pro is the "Superdrive" (the DVD drive). It hasn't been refreshed for quite some time now, so, why the hell would I want to buy such a machine? Well, if you still enjoy the Superdrive or DVD drive on your previous computer, and still have a collection of DVDs lying around. The MBP comes in only one configuration. The MBP comes with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Intel Graphics 4000, 4GB of user replaceable RAM, a 500GB Serial ATA hard drive spinning at 5400 rpm, and a 13.3" diagonal LCD screen and the resolution is 1280x800 which is not Retina Display quality, plus the display is a lot glossier than all of the Mac notebooks.

But what do all these specs mean? Great question! The MBP is great for users who are on a tight budget, that want a MacBook that still has an optical drive and that want more than what a MacBook Air provides and don't need the power of the Retina MacBook Pro. Along with all the capabilities of the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro has user replaceable RAM (yes that still exists in the Apple ecosystem), an optical drive and a bigger yet slower hard drive than the MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros with Retina Displays. The MacBook Pro is a great computer if you want to run applications like Photoshop Elements or edit a small home project on iMovie.

Who would buy the MacBook Pro with Retina Display?

Ever wonder what a gang bang between a MacBook Air and a standard MacBook Pro would look like with even more power? Look no further than the MacBook Pro with Retina Display! The thinness is literally a mishmash between the MacBook Air's ultra-thin design and the standard MacBook Pro's evenly thick bezels equals a balanced thickness thinner than the standard MacBook Pro yet thicker than the MacBook Air.

What kind of power can the MacBook Pro with Retina Display have? Well for starters, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display comes in two sizes, 13.3 and 15.4 inches. This Mac also has a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor clocked at 2.6 GHz with Intel Iris Graphics built in, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of PCIe-based flash storage.

Again, what does this mean in performance? Well, this Mac has a Retina Display, which has an almost ink-like density which makes typography super sharp. This makes working with photo and video a lot easier as you can see a lot of the detail. The MacBook Pro with Retina Display starts with 8GB of RAM. That means that using applications such as Lightroom CC, Photoshop CC or even Final Cut Pro X should work just fine (just as long as you don't open a ton of apps along with the RAM intensive apps), and I won't get into PCIe-based flash storage as I have explained that a few paragraphs earlier.

Note: All these models mentioned can be further configured

Finally, the conclusion!

This is what the Photos app for OS X  will look like when it will be released this spring alongside with OS X 10.10.3

At WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2014, Apple unveiled OS X Yosemite - Apple’s next version of the Mac’s operating system. Along side that, they announced the new Photos app for OS X.

For years Mac users have been subjected to use iPhoto to organize their photos and videos taken from their cameras and their phones. The reception has been overwhelmingly horrible. Users complained about the performance of the software and how it was slow and choppy when scrolling through or opening items.

Another application that apple is getting rid of is Aperture. Aperture is another photo editing application but designed for professional photographers. Aperture had been way behind in terms of its application’s features and applications such as Adobe Lightroom and other applications have advanced further in features verses Aperture.

Photos for OS X has been designed from the ground up. This means that Apple started from a new canvas. Users can now enjoy a much more faster and smoother experience with the new application.

In Photos, users are greeted with the same user interface as the iOS device application. iOS device users will become instantly familiar with the new application because of the layout.

When using Photos, you have all the features found in iPhoto such as crop, straighten, rotate, enhance, and more. However, there are some new features such as photo filters, manual controls when it comes to exposure, brightness contrast, and more.

You will now use iCloud Photo Library (Beta) to sync and store all your photos. Of course you can opt out of this and choose to store your photos locally, but to be honest, if you have two-step verification enabled for your Apple ID, you should be fine.

"Featuring an easy-to-use and streamlined design, Photos has been engineered from the ground up to help you keep your growing library organized and accessible. " -Apple

However, you will lose a lot of features found in Aperture. Sure you still would have the histogram but you would lose the features such as the brushes, loupe and deeper photo-editing features. If you wish, you can still use Aperture, but you’re better off switching to Adobe Lightroom. In fact, Adobe just recently released a tool to help Aperture users switch to Lightroom.

With that said, Photos will have the ability to have extensions made by third-party developers. For example, Pixelmator (an image manipulation program) could add an extension to the Photos app such as brushes that can repair, sharpen, blur images and etc.