Best products from r/osx

We found 26 comments on r/osx discussing the most recommended products. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 71 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.

10. UGREEN 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure, USB 3.0 to SATA III for 2.5 Inch SSD & HDD 9.5mm 7mm External Hard Drive Case Support Max 6TB with UASP Compatiable for WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Samsung, Hitachi

    Features:
  • 2.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure: Easily connects your 2.5 inch SSD & HDD to PC, laptop, PS4, Xbox for data transfer or expanding storage. It protects the hard disk from outside scratches and makes SATA hard drive portable for the data storage. It is awesome for booting up old HDD/SSD and recovering important files of broken PC.
  • 5Gbps with UASP Accelerated: The maximum data transfer speed of the USB 3.0 interface is 5Gbps. The SATA interface of this enclosure supports UASP accelerated transmission protocol, 70% Faster than conventional USB 3.0 when connected to a computer that also supports UASP. Backward compatible with USB 2.0 or 1.1 ports.
  • Easy Installation: Tool-free installation. Plug & Play, No driver is needed for this SATA enclosure. Just push out the cover, plug in the drive, close the cover and go. Hot-swap supported. No request for extra power supply. 【Please click the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon on your PC first then unplug it to avoid data loss when complete usage】
  • Secure Hard Drive Friendly: The blue LED indicator lets you know the working status easily. The attached EVA foams inside protects your hard disks from improper shaking and scratches. With a detachable 30cm cable, it is quite flexible to connect and take along. (Note: If there are screws on your hard drive, you should remove them. Otherwise, it will not fit into our enclosure)
  • Universal Compatibility: Supports Windows, LINUX, Mac OS 8.0 and above systems. Designed for 2.5 inch 7mm/9.5mm SATA HDD & SSD up to 6TB. Compatible with WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Hitachi, Samsung, Crucial, SSD and HDD with SATA port and so on.
UGREEN 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure, USB 3.0 to SATA III for 2.5 Inch SSD & HDD 9.5mm 7mm External Hard Drive Case Support Max 6TB with UASP Compatiable for WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Samsung, Hitachi
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Top comments mentioning products on r/osx:

u/stratoscope · 3 pointsr/osx

If you haven't already ordered that 27ES, I suggest waiting a bit. Yes, it will work fine with your MBPR, and everything on the screen will be the right physical size as people have mentioned.

But if you're used to the high quality, non-pixelated display you're getting now (especially for text), a 27" FHD monitor is going to be pretty disappointing by comparison.

Some numbers:

Your 13" display has 227 pixels per inch, or 51,520 pixels per square inch.

The 27ES has 81.6 pixels per inch, or 6,659 pixels per square inch.

51,520 / 6,659 is about 7.74.

In other words, where you have about 8 pixels on your MacBook, they are crunched down to one pixel on the 27" display. That's a huge difference, especially in text crispness and clarity.

Everything will be bigger, all right, but you won't be able to put more "stuff" on the screen.

My personal recommendation to pair with either a 13" or 15" MBPR is a 24" UHD/4K display. For example, the LG 24UD58-B has a pixel density of 185 pixels per inch or 34,269 pixels per square inch. That's a reasonably close match to the Retina display's density, and you get the exact same number of pixels you'd have on a 27" UHD/4K display for less money.

It is more than you'd pay for the 27ES, but again comparing the numbers:

34,269 / 6,659 is 5.15. So you're getting 5 times the number of pixels per square inch.

That LG looks like one of the better values in 24" UHD/4K displays right now. As usual for Amazon, the price always goes up and down. It's a bit less than $300 right now.

Here's a spreadsheet that compares the pixel density of a variety of monitors.

Important Note


The other reason to get a BIG display even if it has poor pixel density is if your eyesight isn't good and you simply need the larger physical size because things are too blurry otherwise. If this hasn't happened to you yet, it will. Do yourself a favor and visit a good optometrist. Bring your MacBook with you and tell them you want a pair of single vision lenses adjusted for the distance to your computer screen. You don't want a "reading" prescription; that is typically about 16" focusing distance. You want a single vision prescription for your computer screen, closer to 20" for most people.

I have seen too many of my friends and colleagues who have to put their faces close to the screen and squint to make things out, when their vision could be easily corrected. I used to be that way myself: "I'm just not the type of person who needs glasses." But when I got my first pair of single vision computer lenses, well, let's just say it it was a real eye-opener.

u/TheSpreader · 3 pointsr/osx

anything with an FTDI chipset is your best bet these days - I see one other person recommending prolific, I have had nothing but bad luck with those, at least if you need anything above 9600 baud. I keep one of these in my bag:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AHYJWWG

On the software side, there is an excellent app on the app store called, cleverly enough, Serial. It's not free, but it works very well, and shouldn't require you to install any drivers. If you'd rather skip paying, minicom is in brew, that works well too.

u/Choralone · 1 pointr/osx

I don't think it's lower end... I'm not familiar with yours, but it looks about the same, no? It's similar price-wise anyway.

It's connected via USB, yes. It's powered by USB, so there is no separate power cable.

It has an integrated amplifier, so you can just take headphones straight out of that.

In my case (I left this out before) I'm not using the amplifier, just the line out from the dac to this amplifier - https://www.amazon.com/Nobsound-NS-08E-Integrated-Amplifier-Headphone/dp/B014FASL1A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502805110&sr=8-2&keywords=nobsound

I only have this because I bought the amp first, and then later got the dac to feed it a cleaner signal.

The headphones are nice and comfy... but it's the sound that sold me. Certainly not flat response, they aren't for mastering. pronounced bass (but tight and big, not boomy) - nice highs, subdued mid. Great for electronic music and gaming.

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/osx


>My portion is on the Macintosh file system and security.

HFS+ needs to be taken out back and shot. ZFS was considered as a replacement until Sun's CEO shot off his mouth. It was also rumoured that licensing issues didn't help, either.


>1. I understand that Mac's don't have a registry. In windows, when a program installs there are registry entries and necessary parts of the program are installed into memory at startup. If there's no registry, then clearly this doesn't happen for OSX. Does this mean that each application is an effective island, with separate coding that doesn't affect the others?

Correct. Each app generally stores everything it needs inside its own app bundle (the folder which looks and acts like a file which is the app itself). On a Mac, right-click on an app and click Show Package Contents to have a peek behind the curtains.


>2. When you install the OS, the installer is essentially the first admin on the system who then has the power to create other admins. Can that user be removed by other members of the admin group? And how does that work for networks?

Yes, any admin user can delete any other user. If the network uses Open Directory for centralized signins, then the machine's local user account database isn't used.


>3. I know that MACs are relatively free of viruses, but it would seem to me that if I were trying to write a virus, the first thing that I would do is to attempt to activate the root user account. Are there any specific safeguards against that?

The root account is useless on a modern Mac; it requires user interaction to do so anyway. It's far easier to request permission to make a systemwide change (convincing the user to enter their password), since almost all users have administrative rights (protected by that same authorization dialog).


This book would likely give you everything you need to know. Need more gory details? This book would deliver those.

u/ripsfo · 2 pointsr/osx

Pretty sure that Epson will just gobble up what it can in memory, then start sending, and the additional pages will just spool and send when they can. This is how buffers work on printers too.

Another couple options.

MetroFax is an eFax service that you can upload documents too. There’s probably a file size limit, so you may need to break it into several jobs. Also it will cost money per page I believe.

There are still USB fax modems (https://www.amazon.com/Robotics-USR5637-Controller-Dial-Up-External/dp/B0013FDLM0/) that will work with macOS. In this case, it’s essentially a print job that will spool to disk, then send. Doubt you’d be able to find one easily on short notice.

Good luck.

u/SleepMyLittleOnes · 5 pointsr/osx

I can confirm that the new High Sierra public beta nvme support works for booting and running a Samsung 960 EVO nvme drive in my 2015 Macbook Air. It requires a sintech adapter or clone (amazon) which are made to make the 80 mm m.2 ssd fit exactly into the original apple ssd space. Replacing the drive requires a 1.2mm penetalope screwdriver AND a T4/T5 torx. If you look around amazon you may find something that has both.

You will need to make a time machine backup to an external drive and also have room to put the high sierra installer on another usb drive to install it on the ssd.

During installation you will need to format the empty SSD to an apple readable format using disk utils, then you can install High Sierra on the drive. Transfer your information

Total cost: $155

Total time: ~8.5 Hours ( ~4 hours to make time machine backup, ~ 30 minutes to swap the drive. ~1 hour to install High Sierra, ~ 3 hours to restore from backup)

Happy Hacking!

EDIT:

I started getting kernal panics in the nvme driver today when I put the air to sleep. I will do some digging to see if there is a fix.

u/beerncats · 2 pointsr/osx

Ars Technica's OS X reviews are very extensive and present a lot of info in a straightforward manner (it may be helpful to go back and read the Mountain Lion (OS x 10.8) article as well).

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/10/os-x-10-9/

If you'd rather have something more like a reference book I'd recommend The Missing Manual series. Again, you may find it helpful to read up on the previous version of the OS as well, because Mavericks builds on a bunch of stuff that was introduced in Mountain Lion.

http://www.amazon.com/OS-Mavericks-The-Missing-Manual/dp/1449362249

u/hotfuzz86 · 1 pointr/osx

4k screens are IMO overblown -- while they're certainly sharp, 1440p is a great middle ground for 99% of the population. I'm a designer and currently rock this, it's the best screen I've ever owned: LG Electronics UM95 34UM95C 34.0-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZL3D1E8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FC5rybRB0FPKV

Similar amount of screen real estate to dual monitors -- without having to deal with annoying bezels in the middle of my workspace.

u/SmileAndDonate · 2 pointsr/osx


Info | Details
----|-------
Amazon Product | Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
>Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. By using the link above you get to support a chairty and help keep this bot running through affiliate programs all at zero cost to you.

u/RyanBoda · 2 pointsr/osx

For on the go I have use a smaller j5 create one like in the link OP put up. My main dock is this star tech StarTech.com Dual 4K Monitor Thunderbolt 3 Dock with DisplayPort - 85 W Power Delivery + Charging - Mac & Windows (TB3DK2DPPD) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073JDZGKK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_SjeZCbMNGP4GR and it’s been great for close to two years.

u/Ge0luv · 1 pointr/osx

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H92M46D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

That one. I haven't tried it out yet as I have my 660p in my MacBook air atm. I was able to test fit everything and it seemed good to go. My computer recognized it, etc. Quality seemed good. Price was right. Came with both normal usb and usb cable via the adapter.

u/tuberosum · 10 pointsr/osx

If you're willing to commit a bit of money, then I heartily recommend getting a small raspberry pi and installing pihole.

Network wide adblocking on all devices and even in apps. It's fantastic.

u/pdmcmahon · 2 pointsr/osx

I have a 2010 Mini, bumped the RAM up to 16 GB, I also put in an 128 GB SSD and a 500 GB rotating drive. I mostly use it as a headless machine (I grabbed one of these so I can get 1920x1080 resolution during Screen Sharing) for a second Time Machine server and torrents. They are incredibly capable little machines, even when they are 7 years old.

Mac OS 10.12 might be the very last version which will be supported on this particular machine. It might be a good idea to install it so you can get 2-3 years of updates.

u/TilBlue · 1 pointr/osx

> Would a cooling dock be ok if I decided to use a mechanical...

An enclosure like this would probably work best. The cooling dock could get the job done if you have a metal enclosure or one with holes that allow air to pass through, though.

> Forgive my ignorance but is it possible to boot from a ssd only and access my home folder and files from a separate mechanical

Yep! You could even (slowly) boot from an SD card if you wanted. Just install the OS to the drive you want to boot from and format the other one as HFS+.

u/damienbarrett · 2 pointsr/osx

Server: http://www.amazon.com/OS-Server-5-0-Essentials-Supporting/dp/0134434773/

Troubleshooting: http://www.amazon.com/Support-Essentials-10-11-Supporting-Troubleshooting/dp/013442820X/

These books map closely to the Apple Training Courses offered by Apple Certified Training Centers. And the certification tests are based on the courses, so if you can study these books, you should be able to take the tests and get certified.

And once you get your feet wet, you'll discover a plethora of "Mac Admin" blogs and sites like MacEnterprise, AFP548, Rich Trouton's blog, Ben Toms' blog, and more. These have many answers for solving problems and doing tasks as a Mac sysadmin.

u/guiltydoggy · 0 pointsr/osx

For starting, you can read John Siracusa's many articles on OS X at Ars Technica. They are both informative and entertaining and stay at a pretty high level.

To get more in depth and really in the weeds, there's this.

u/douten · 1 pointr/osx

Thanks. I ordered this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WC4C3X4 supposedly it supports 10.11 according to their blog. I'll get a chance to try it out this weekend. I'll let you know if that one works.

u/HunterKillerNYC · 2 pointsr/osx

My opinion is that if you want to get a little more serious about audio for your PC, you would also need to get an external DAC/AMP with SPDIF interface. There are such units out there that would connect via USB.

From here, get yourself a decent set of open back headphones... don't go cheap. Here are two models to consider.

Beyerdynamic DT990:
http://www.amazon.com/Beyerdynamic-DT-990-Pro-250-Professional-Acoustically-Applications/dp/B0011UB9CQ

Sennheiser HT650: http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-9969-HD-650-Headphones/dp/B00018MSNI/

I recently got the HT650s and I love them!


Here is where the amp comes in; these headphones have higher impedance, so they need the amp to drive them, then the DAC to convert the digital audio to analog for you. For instance, the DT990 comes in a 250 ohm and 600 ohm variety, so you would look for an amp that can drive that amount accordingly.

Me personally, I went with the Fiio E17 / E09 combination, which works fine for my setup. The E17 is also portable, so I would have the option to use it on the go if needed.

u/CannonBall7 · 7 pointsr/osx

This might be a bit too deep for what you're looking for currently, but Jonathan Levin is actively writing a series of books on OS X Internals. Worth checking out and much more up to date than Amit Singh's book.

u/zappbwr · 1 pointr/osx

Depends how good you are at C++.

Mac OS X Internals: a systems approach
Chapter 10

http://www.amazon.com/Mac-OS-Internals-Systems-Approach/dp/0321278542/

Or this tutorial/writeup:
http://wagerlabs.com/writing-a-mac-osx-usb-device-driver-that-impl

u/JuicyWhoreBag · 1 pointr/osx

You simply pull out the hard drive from your Mac. Then plug it into this [external enclosure](https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Enclosure-Supported-Compatible/dp/B06XWRRMYX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1524879957&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=external+enclosure+hdd&psc=1)

Then you plug it into your good Mac and open up disk utility. Select the HDD as an available disk to reformat and erase it.