Macworld In our review of the 15-inch MacBook Air, we repeatedly pointed out how similar it is to the 13-inch model, from the keyboard to the display specs. Now we have confirmation that one other part of the laptop is the same too: slower storage on the 256GB model. According to a teardown by YouTube channel Max Tech, the 15-inch MacBook Air with 256GB of storage uses a single NAND chip instead of two 128GB chips as with the M1 models. As a result, storage speeds can be cut in half versus models with higher storage. That can result in system slowdowns especially as more space is filled on the drive. The same was true of the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air.…

Macworld Do Macs get viruses? Do Macs need antivirus software? The answers to these questions aren’t as simple as they might seem. In this article, we look at the dangers faced by Mac users, and the pros and cons of using Mac antivirus software. Historically, the Mac has been considered safe and secure for a number of reasons that we will go into below, but in recent years the consensus has fluctuated. In its 2020 State of Malware report, Malwarebytes said it saw “a significant rise in the overall prevalence of Mac threats in 2019, with an increase of over 400 percent from 2018.” The following year, the company found that overall malware detected on macOS decreased by 38 percent…

Macworld Do Macs get viruses? Do Macs need antivirus software? The answers to these questions aren’t as simple as they might seem. In this article, we look at the dangers faced by Mac users, and the pros and cons of using Mac antivirus software. Historically, the Mac has been considered safe and secure for a number of reasons that we will go into below, but in recent years the consensus has fluctuated. In its 2020 State of Malware report, Malwarebytes said it saw “a significant rise in the overall prevalence of Mac threats in 2019, with an increase of over 400 percent from 2018.” The following year, the company found that overall malware detected on macOS decreased by 38 percent…

Macworld Apple’s announcement of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset at WWDC 2023 on Monday was an impressive affair in many ways, from the slick design and obvious tech chops of the device itself to the high production values of the video showing them off. But the best performance of the night may have been the presenters’ intricate dance to avoid the ghosts of past failures. Because, as usual, Apple is not the first to this market. (At least in the broad sense. Vision Pro is breaking new ground in terms of some specifics.) Google tried to make augmented reality a thing back in 2013 and finally gave up on its Glass project earlier this year. Facebook is desperately trying to…

Mark Zuckerberg wearing the Meta Quest 3. | Image: Meta Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t seem fazed by Apple’s introduction of the Vision Pro. In a companywide meeting with Meta employees today that The Verge watched, the CEO said Apple’s device didn’t present any major breakthroughs in technology that Meta hadn’t “already explored” and that its vision for how people will use the device is “not the one that I want.” He also pointed to the fact that Meta’s upcoming Quest 3 headset will be much cheaper, at $499 compared to the Vision Pro’s $3,499 price tag, giving Meta the opening to reach a wider user base. “I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision…

Mark Zuckerberg wearing the Meta Quest 3. | Image: Meta Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t seem fazed by Apple’s introduction of the Vision Pro. In a companywide meeting with Meta employees today that The Verge watched, the CEO said Apple’s device didn’t present any major breakthroughs in technology that Meta hadn’t “already explored” and that its vision for how people will use the device is “not the one that I want.” He also pointed to the fact that Meta’s upcoming Quest 3 headset will be much cheaper, at $499 compared to the Vision Pro’s $3,499 price tag, giving Meta the opening to reach a wider user base. “I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision…