A common complaint amongst MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro owners is the seemingly low “maximum” volume level of the built-in speakers. It’s frustrating, but there are a few ways to get around it.
Although some may blame Apple’s hardware for the quiet speakers, it’s actually Mac OS X’s fault. Folks running Windows in Boot Camp might notice audio played from there is much louder at full blast than on the Mac side. So the speakers themselves are fine – it’s merely Apple being too conservative with their software. I’m sure they have their reasons (such as power management & damage prevention), but it sure is annoying, isn’t it?
Depending on the type of audio you would like to amplify, there are a few ways to get louder sound out of your quiet Mac laptop speakers. Especially for those times when external speakers are not an option, these are invaluable tips.
Time Machine, the automated backup utility built into Mac OS X, is set to run every hour by default. Is this too often for you? Find out how you can change the backup interval, plus how to initiate backups only when you trigger them manually…
Mac users: Have you ever wondered what all that system memory stuff in the Activity Monitor was all about? Understanding the terminology – free, wired, active, and inactive RAM – can help you decide if your Mac has enough memory. A quick…
The Mac Application Switcher is that handy list of open programs that comes up when you press Command+Tab on the keyboard. Add more functionality to this feature with a few keyboard shortcuts. For folks coming from…
Magic Mouse owners who are still running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard have been left out in the cold. Apple only officially supports momentum scrolling in 10.6, but a simple hack can bring 10.5 users up to speed too. For those of…
Expensive software like Photoshop is not necessary to resize large groups of pictures all at once. Mac OS X’s Preview application gets the job done just as easily for free! Resizing a bunch of images can be a tedious and time consuming…
Spotlight – Mac OS X’s fantastic system-wide search tool – helps find files, launch applications, make basic calculations, look up definitions, and more. Best of all, it can do all that without ever needing input from a mouse. Whether…
Since Apple software such as iTunes and iPhoto uses libraries to organize content, you may think you’re limited to just one per user account. It turns out these programs can actually manage multiple libraries at the same time. When most…
While snooping around iPhoto ‘09 I recently discovered a few things I never really noticed before. Find out how to compare photo edits, filter items to be imported, and copy location information. I’m admittedly not an iPhoto expert…
Users of Mac OS X Snow Leopard, specifically those running 10.6.2, are experiencing a widespread problem related to copying directories to Windows-formatted volumes in Finder. I recently got a new USB flash drive…
Although Macs are reliable machines, they are not exempt from hiccups. All you need to do is carry around a single USB flash drive to be ready for situations the require you to diagnose, repair, or experiment with Mac OS X…
It was the most successful year in Apple’s history and MacYourself’s first full year on the web. To celebrate the conclusion of 2009, let’s take a look at the most-viewed articles this past year. You just may have missed a few gems!