4 Useful Mac Tips and Tricks You Need to Know

Are you a Mac user? The age-old war between Windows and Mac still rages. But it’s not the case that all who use Mac computers are graphic designers or hipsters and everyone else uses Windows.

Apple has become one of the largest companies in the world. Many people now use Macs as they do Windows computers.

If you’ve just bought one of its new machines such as the 16-inch MacBook Pro you’ll probably be wondering about some useful Mac tips and tricks to help you get started.

Here are some useful tips that may come handy.

1. Apple Pay

Apple Pay, which launched in the United States a few years ago, has transformed the way we make purchases in real life and online.

Instead of having to run downstairs or to another room in a mad scramble looking for your purse to add in your credit card details, you can instead store them on your computer.

All you have to do is use the fingerprint sensor on the side of the keyboard to authorize a purchase. Remember to use the Safari browser as Apple Pay doesn’t work with other browsers yet.

Virtual credit cards with banks such as Revolut also make it more secure to pay online with a card as you can delete the details as soon as you’ve used them. This prevents fraud and subscription websites taking more money from your wallet than you need.

You might even want to get yourself an Apple credit card as it comes with some great perks such as cashback on Apple product purchases.

2. Siri

There are ever-increasing ways to access your computer, you no longer need the basic mouse and keyboard. You can use Mac Terminal commands to get to grips with codes to perform basic functions or you can use Siri.

Siri is becoming ever-more advances on Mac machines as each year goes by. You can now use Siri to open and send emails and also to play audiobooks and any music you have with Apple Music.

There are also a number of other functions it can do such as doing calculations for you and converting different currencies. Siri can also tell what the weather is like in your area and some basic information taken from the Web such as who is the current President of the U.S.A.

To use Siri either press the button on your headphone or click on the icon in the globular icon in the far right-hand corner of your menu bar.

3.Sidecar

Sidecar is a great new invention that allows users to use their iPad as a secondary screen so that they could e.g. watch a film on their MacBook whilst answering emails from their iPad.

It is a great tool for multitasking if you are someone who often has multiple windows open and needs to refer to several different documents at once. You can simply slide windows over to your iPad screen by clicking them and moving them to the side.

To set up Sidecar you will need to own both a MacBook and an iPad and they must both be using the same WiFi network. An iPad icon should appear at the top of the menu bar which you can click to open preferences for connections.

There is no need for a USB cable or any other wire to attach the two screens connect is entirely wirelessly.

4. Windows on Your Mac

We all get a little bored with a day-to-day computer routine every now and then. And one way we can spice things up is to use a new operating system.

If you have bought or downloaded the latest version of Windows it is possible to run both Windows and Mac from your computer upon startup.

To do this you will first need to partition your hard drive so that half of your computer is allocated to Windows and the other half to Mac OS. It is not recommended that you attempt to do this if you are not a technical expert. Instead seek expert help if you wish to do this.

Once it is complete you will have two options when you boot up your computer. One option will be to click and open Windows and the other to open Mac.

This is perfect if you have some software that only runs on Windows machines and you need a Windows computer to make it work. It’s also great if you want to download an app like Netflix as there is only an App for Windows and not yet for Mac OS. Instead, if you have a Mac you have to use Netflix on an internet browser.

There Are So Many Useful Mac Tips and Tricks

If you have recently purchased an Apple MacBook Pro or Air or you’ve been a user for a long time, you are probably always thinking of ways to improve your experience on the machine.

Luckily there are so many useful mac tips and tricks or mac shortcuts that you can get to know. From using Siri instead of just your keyboard and mouse to navigate and perform vital functions to installing Windows as a secondary operating system.

With interconnectivity becoming ever more popular amongst Mac machines, you can now even use your iPad as a secondary screen if you need to multi-task. This is one of the best Mac tips and tricks.

If you are interested in reading more about useful Mac tips and tricks or Mac shortcuts then be sure to check out the rest of our site.