If you’ve never heard that noise before, you’re bound to hear it someday: that amazing, dull crunch as your Mac slips out of your hands or off a desk and makes a date with the ground at 9.8 meters per second squared, gravity having played the role of a yenta-like matchmaker bringing together your computer and an admirably dense surface. The crunch registers in your brain, and you have a sudden mental image of the universe collapsing.

julianbl/neowin.net

Here’s how to make the best of a terrible situation, get as much of your data back as possible, and avoid a similar disaster if your Mac decides to smooch the ground again somewhere down the line.

Pick it up, clean it off

After your Mac falls, calm down, pick it up, look over the damage, and clean away whatever dirt and detritus you can. From there, make sure that your Mac is turned off, and then weigh your options.

If you feel comfortable opening the machine, find a wrist strap and tools, touch a metal object to discharge any static that your body may be carrying, and carefully open the Mac to check for case fragments, damaged parts, or debris that may have ended up in the computer. Don’t turn it on; just focus on the parts that survived the fall and anything that might appear damaged, and clean out the interior as best you can.

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It happens to every Mac (and every other kind of PC): The system slows down when it’s doing lot of things at once. If this happens to your Mac more than you’d like, though, your system might need more RAM.

Adding more RAM to your Mac—if you can add more RAM—is one of the eaiest ways to improve your Mac’s performance. The crucial question is, How much more RAM do you actually need? Macworld Lab ran benchmarks on a couple of Macs at different RAM configurations and analyzed the results. Our conclusion: The impact of more RAM depends on the types of tasks your Mac performs. In some situations your Mac may benefit from having as much RAM as you can afford; in others, you’ll be fine with the stock configuration.

But before we dive into the results, let’s take a brief look at what RAM is and why it’s important to your Mac. (This article focuses exclusively on the impact of RAM on system performance, but of course RAM isn’t the only component that affects performance. Macworld Lab is currently working on tests that will allow us to take a similar look at how other components—storage, graphics, and CPU—affect performance.)

What is RAM?

Random Access Memory is a temporary storage medium that your Mac’s CPU uses for fast access to data it’s processing. The CPU can access data contained in RAM much faster than it can data held on long-term storage devices like traditional hard drives and even solid-state drives.

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If you have a Thunderbolt-equipped Mac—lucky you!—it’s time to back up your data and set a little bit of time aside to download and run Thunderbolt Firmware Update v1.2, released by Apple on Thursday.

According to Apple, the update is a stability fix for Thunderbolt and Target Disk Mode. The update is a scant 1.2MB in size and requires OS X 10.8.3 or later.

If you have a Mac laptop, be sure to plug it in before you run the update. During the installation, your Mac will restart and the screen will go gray with a status indication bar.

Trot back to the 16th century and corner famed prognosticating monk Nostradamus, and it’s quite likely that when posed the question: “Will those living in the year 2013 be able to call up any media programming they like from a single box?” he’d respond with an enthusiastic “Mais oui!”

Sadly, we know only too well where this one sits in the cleric’s win/loss column. Progress has been made, via cable and satellite services that deliver a trillion channels plus on-demand programming, as well as set-top boxes that have access to online music and video services. But the ultimate goal—watching exactly what you want to watch when you want to watch it—remains elusive.

In search of a solution, some people have turned to the most powerful media device in their home—their computer. Not only can it play locally stored music, video, and slideshows, but it can also bring you any media found on the Internet, including streaming TV programming, movies, and music.

But sitting in front of a computer monitor—regardless of its resolution—can be limiting. It makes for a less-than-satisfying group-viewing experience, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that you’re, well, sitting in front of a computer. What many of us want is a device as intelligent as a computer but one that’s at home in the living room, attached to a big-screen TV. Turns out that Apple produces a device fitting that exact bill: the Mac mini.

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Apple recently updated its largest all-in-one desktop computer, the 27-inch iMac, with a long list of under-the-hood changes, but the first thing people notice is its strikingly thin design. And while the new iMac's 5mm edge is certainly impressive, I can’t help but wonder whether the tradeoffs Apple made for the new design are worth it.

The specifics

Apple has two standard configurations for its new 27-inch iMacs. Both use Intel’s quad-core Ivy Bridge processors: The high-end $1999 model sports a 3.2GHz Core i5 processor, while the low-end $1799 model uses a 2.9GHz Core i5. Our tests showed that the 3.2GHz model was between 5 and 7 percent faster than the 2.9GHz model in handling processor-intensive tasks. Both CPUs can use Turbo Boost to run at speeds of 3.6GHz for brief periods of time. For $200 more, you can get the high-end model configured to order (CTO) with a 3.4GHz quad-core Core i7 processor that supports Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz. The optional Core i7 also supports Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology, which allows two virtual processing cores to run on each physical core, so applications that can take advantage of multiple cores can address eight virtual cores instead of the four physical ones.

All 2012 iMacs ship with 8GB of RAM, up from 4GB in the previous generation. The 27-inch iMacs both ship with 7200-rpm, 1TB hard drives as standard equipment—just as the 2011 27-inch iMac did.

Unlike the new 21.5-inch iMacs, the larger models still have user-configurable memory. An interesting trap-door mechanism on the back of both versions of the 27-inch iMac, just above the power cord input, gives access to the system's four memory slots. The 27-inch iMac’s 8GB of RAM takes the form of two 4GB SO-DIMMs, leaving two slots open. If you want to increase the RAM to 16GB, Apple will handle the upgrade for you for $200 at the time of purchase. But since two RAM slots are open and installation is easy, I’d recommend looking at a third-party supplier for a more-economical RAM upgrade. For example, OWC offers two compatible 4GB SO-DIMMS for $60, and Crucial sells two 8GB SO-DIMMS for $86.

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Apple updated the new 21.5-inch iMac with Intel Ivy Bridge processors, a RAM boost, and new Nvidia GeForce graphics processors. But the two most significant changes to the new iMac are its thinner design—which introduces compromises you’ll need to make—and the option to upgrade to Apple’s Fusion Drive technology.

Body makeover

Macworld

Using a process called friction stir-welding, Apple designers figured out a way to connect the front and back of the iMac’s aluminum case while reducing the width to just 5 mm at the edges. Apple also reduced the weight by more than 7 pounds. The new iMacs are positively striking when viewed from the side, and many curious co-workers came by Macworld Lab to admire the new iMac’s svelte profile and run their fingers down the super-thin edge.

When viewed from the front, however, it’s difficult to see that reduced thickness. One noticeable difference is the reduction of glare from the display, which Apple says has been reduced by 75 percent. Looking at the display of a powered-down 2011 iMac is like looking at a mirror, but on the new iMac, the reflection is much less pronounced. I used a flashlight and looked at the reflection on the wall behind me and the reflected light was much, much brighter from the 2011 iMac than on the new iMac. This is a result of Apple’s new anti-glare coating technology that lowers reflection without darkening the screen or affecting color.

Apple eliminated the 2 mm air gap that used to exist between the iMac’s glass cover and the LCD panel. Now, the glass is directly adhered to the panel, which helps to further reduce glare and reflection, but also makes replacing the front glass more expensive. If the glass breaks, you now have to replace the whole display.

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Apple

Last year’s Mac mini brought a number of drastic changes to the compact desktop computer: Core i5 processors that replaced the aging Core 2 Duo CPUs, Thunderbolt ports, and the discontinuation of a built-in SuperDrive. The new Mac mini may not be quite as revolutionary as the 2011 models, but its updates are still significant.

The 2012 Mac mini introduces USB 3, which replaces the tired, old USB 2.0 ports found in the previous model. The new Mac mini also has faster integrated graphics, and, for the first time, quad-core processors.

You look familiar

This Mac mini update maintains many physical aspects that were introduced with the mid-2010 Mac mini, including a low-profile (1.4 inches high, 7.7 inches deep and wide) aluminum unibody design. The front has a pin-hole sized activity light and IR port. The back of the new model has a power button, power cord input, and ports for gigabit ethernet, FireWire 800, HDMI, Thunderbolt, and USB 3. An SDXC card slot and audio-out and audio-in ports round out the physical connection types, while 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and an IR port deliver wireless connectivity.

As always, Apple invites you to bring your own keyboard, mouse, and display to the Mac mini party—they’re not included. The box includes an HDMI to DVI cable, but you may need additional adapters—such as one for DVI—that will cost extra money.

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If you were looking for a bright side to Apple’s underwhelming updates to its Mac Pro line of tower computers, it would have to be that Apple hasn’t forgotten that it makes such a product.

In the nearly two years since the last update to the Mac Pro, you may have let your imagination go and allowed yourself to dream of a Mac Pro with an updated case design and the latest in peripheral connection ports. However, this is not that update. In an email response to a concerned Mac Pro user, Apple CEO Tim Cook promised that the company was working “on something really great for later next year.”

The new Mac Pros released at WWDC 2012 represent a speed bump, plain and simple. The new Mac Pros use the same, highly-upgradable case design, the same graphics cards, and even the same version of USB as the last iteration. And while the Macworld Lab’s test results show the new Mac Pros to be considerably faster than those systems the new Mac Pros replace, it is hard to swallow new “pro” systems that lack Apple’s fastest connection, Thunderbolt, released on MacBook Pros 16 months ago, and USB 3.0 support that arrived on the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

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With the Mac mini (Mid 2010), released in June 2010, Apple gave its smallest Mac an aesthetic overhaul, replacing the chunky, aluminum-and-white-plastic 2009 model with a sleek, aluminum-unibody model that was easier to upgrade, felt rock-solid, and sported an SD-card reader and an HDMI port (the latter pleasing AV buffs immensely). But while the design of the 2010 mini was a dramatic change, that model received mainly modest upgrades on the inside: a moderately faster processor and a better graphics chip. It also came with a higher price tag: The least-expensive 2010 mini clocked in at $699.

The latest version of the Mac mini, officially called the Mac mini (Mid 2011) and released along with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion), sticks with last year’s design, but it gets a price cut while overhauling what’s inside. Though the iMac is clearly Apple's flagship desktop, the 2011 Mac mini is quintessential Apple: beautiful, well-engineered, forward-looking, and powerful enough for most, with at least one design decision that will leave some people wondering, "Why?" Which is to say that, like most Apple products, the new mini is compelling, but it won't appeal to everyone.

Lightning and Thunderbolt

In a nod to the 2009 line, the Mac mini is again available in two models, with the less-expensive mini starting at $599. This gets you a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor (last year's model used the older Core 2 Duo), 2GB of RAM, a 500GB 5400rpm hard drive, and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor that shares 288MB of main memory. For $799, Apple ups the processor speed to 2.5GHz, the RAM to 4GB, and the graphics processor to a discrete AMD Radeon HD 6630M with 256MB of dedicated memory. (The Mac mini is also available in a server version starting at $999. We'll be reviewing that model separately.)

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Based on Macworld Lab's benchmark results, the new Mac mini models provide a great leap in processor performance over the previous generation. The new Mac mini was unveiled on Wednesday, and Macworld Lab has been testing the new machines that come with Lion and Core i5 processors.

The new Mac mini is available in two standard configurations: a $599 model with a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor; and a $799 model with a 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and discrete AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics. These two models replace a single $699 Mid-2010 Mac mini ( ) model that had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and Nvidia GeForce 320M integrated graphics.

We’re busy putting together a new version of our Mac system performance suite, Speedmark, but its not quite ready yet. The current version, Speedmark 6.5, was created using Snow Leopard and uses older versions of applications. New Macs ship with Lion, so instead of downgrading the new Macs to try and run Snow Leopard (if that’s even possible), we have updated 10 of our tests to run on Lion using the latest versions of the applications that make up Speedmark.

It should come as no surprise that the new Core i5 Mac minis beat the pants off the 2010 Core 2 Duo Mac mini in processor tests. With Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost in the Core i5, the new 2.5GHz Core i5 Mac mini was more than twice as fast the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini in our Cinebench CPU test and HandBrake MP4 encode. The new 2.3GHz Core i5 Mac mini was 46 percent faster than the older 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Mac mini on our Cinebench CPU and 45 percent faster in our HandBrake encode test.

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The latest iMac models introduced by Apple this month benefit greatly from new Intel processors and greater device connectivity. Both changes offer users unprecedented speed from the iMac lineup.

Apple offers four standard configuration models. The new entry-level $1199 21.5-inch iMac has a 2.5GHz Core i5 quad core processor, a 500GB hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics with 512MB of video memory. The $1499 21.5-inch iMac has a 2.7GHz Core i5 quad core processor, a 1TB hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics with 512MB of video memory. The $1699 27-inch iMac has the same processor, memory, and graphics as the $1499 iMac. At the top of the line sits a $1999 27-inch iMac with a 3.1GHz Core i5 quad core processor, a 1TB hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics with 1GB of video memory.

All iMacs include an Apple Wireless Keyboard ( ) and Magic Mouse ( ). If you buy an iMac through the Apple Online Store, you can swap the Magic Mouse for a Magic Trackpad ( ) at no additional cost. If you think that the Magic Trackpad is a better input device, that’s good news.

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If you’re in the market for a new iMac, you may be happy to hear that Apple has added a few more options to its line of desktop computers, allowing customers to opt for pure flash storage in addition to conventional hard drives or its hybrid, Fusion Drive.

As first reported by Ars Technica, the base 21-inch models come, like before, with a 1TB Serial-ATA drive, with an optional upgrade to a Fusion Drive, which will cost you an extra $250. However, you can now choose to go with pure flash storage instead: 256GB and 512GB drives will set you back $300 and $600, respectively, over the base model price.

If you’re pining for a larger screen, there are even more opportunities for customization on the 27-inch versions of the popular desktop machine: As before, the base model includes a 1TB Serial-ATA drive, with a 3TB upgrade available for $150 extra, or you can switch to a 1TB ($250) or 3TB ($400) Fusion Drive if you so choose. But the flash storage options on the larger iMac have also expanded, with 256GB ($300) and 512GB ($600) drives joining the existing 768GB option, which has in turn dropped from its previous $1300 price to $900.

The current, razor-thin iteration of the iMac was introduced in October of last year, alongside the Fusion Drive, which uses a traditional hard disk and flash storage in  to speed up access to files that are used most frequently by the operating system.

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If you’re looking to keep that computer running smoothly, Apple is the one to turn to, says Consumer Reports. On Monday, the consumer advocacy publication announced that the company from Cupertino had once again topped a reader survey of the best computer tech support, even going so far as to beat its own scores from the previous year.

To the surprise of nobody who’s actually paid attention to the PC market in the last several years, Apple beat out competitors Lenovo, Asus, Dell, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard/Compaq, and Acer/Gateway/eMachines by a healthy margin, scoring an 86 out of 100, which the publication describes as “very satisfied.” The next closest brand was Lenovo, which scored only a 63, or “fairly well satisfied.”

According to Consumer Reports’s data, Apple also solved a best-in-category 82 percent of readers’ problems; the nearest PC brand was Dell, which reported 61 percent of problems solved. One wildcard? The second place result actually fell to local stores that built custom PCs, which scored a 78 out of 100 on Consumer Reports’s scale, and solved 71 percent of problems brought to their attention.

Apple was also the only brand with positive standing in the phone support and online support categories, both of which achieved Better ratings; most of the company’s counterparts registered the lowest possible rating in those areas. The Apple Store’s Genius Bar also took home top honors for in-store support, solving 88 percent of problems, compared to 73 percent for Staples’ EasyTech and 70 percent for Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

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A former Apple executive turns over a new leaf, Apple gets sued in stereo (where available), and the sad tale of a Mac from a bygone era. The remainders for Friday, March 15, 2013 go above and beyond the call of duty.

Browett says he ‘didn’t fit’ with Apple in six-month stint (The Independent)

Speaking at the Retail Week Live conference this week, former Apple retail head John Browett said that he left Apple because he “just didn’t fit” with the company’s culture. He also added that he had “become a kinder person” and learned “humility” after being visited by three ghosts.

THX, Founded by George Lucas, Sues Apple in Patent Case (Bloomberg)

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Phil Schiller has eaten his Wheaties, the iMac can now join your other fine pieces of art, and the Retina MacBook Pro conceals a ghostly secret. The remainders for Thursday, March 14, 2013 are zany to the max.

Apple, on Defense, Slams Samsung (Wall Street Journal)

Apple’s Phil Schiller has come out swinging in the last day. In interviews with both the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, Schiller lambasted Android’s fragmentation issues, and quoted numbers saying that far more folks are switching to the iPhone from Android than vice versa. Inside sources tell me that this all part of a marketing stunt for a brand new energy drink Apple’s developing: “The Phil ‘er Up.”

Apple now selling VESA mounts with new iMacs (Macworld UK)

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Is a subscription service music to Tim Cook’s ears? Will Apple set back the clock on Swatch? Will a judge tell a case not to pass go and not to collect $200? All those questions and more on the remainders for Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

Exclusive: Apple’s Cook, music mogul Iovine discuss new music service (Reuters)

Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine—whom you might remember said he tried to talk Steve Jobs into a music subscription service a decade ago—has reportedly met with Tim Cook and Eddy Cue about Beats’s plan to launch a subscription music service, codenamed “Project Daisy.” No deal was discussed, apparently, though Reuters says that “Cook expressed interest in Daisy’s business model.” I can hear him now: “Nice business model, Jimmy—shame if something were to happen to it.”

Swatch Chief Hayek Skeptical That Watch Could Replace an IPhone (Bloomberg)

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The Mac Pro begins its farewell tour, the MacBook Air may be in line for a makeover, and Apple’s still taking the lion’s share of money in the consumer electronics realm. The remainders for Tuesday, February 19, 2013 are for pros only.

Mac Pro no longer available from European Apple Online Stores ahead of March 1 discontinuation (9to5Mac)

The slow decline of the Mac Pro continues; though Apple said last month that it would stop selling the desktop tower in the European Union starting March 1 (for which you can blame updated electrical regulations), a check of the Apple online store shows that it’s already listed as “currently unavailable” in many of the company’s European marketplaces. But we choose to believe that somewhere out there the last remaining Mac Pros lead a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest for some other shining planet.

Redesigned MacBook Air Reportedly Planned for 3Q 2013 Launch, Possibly with Retina Display (MacRumors)

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If you live in a country under the European Union and you were thinking of purchasing a Mac Pro, best not to wait too much longer. Apple told reseller and channel partners Thursday that it would stop all sales of the desktop system on March 1 to comply with new EU regulatory standards.

IEC 609501 Amendment 1, which goes into effect March 1, deals with safety and electrical standards as they relate to electrical equipment; unfortunately for EU customers, the Mac Pro does not comply with this standard, due to issues with power provided to its I/O ports and the placement of its fan guards. The Pro is the sole Apple product to fall under this ruling, likely due to its build—the desktop computer hasn’t had an overhaul since 2010, with a minor speed bump last June.

This ruling only affects countries within the European Union, EU-candidate countries, and EFTA countries. Residents of unaffected countries (including the United States and Canada) can continue to order the Mac Pro after March 1 with no problem.

If this development unnerves your faith in the Mac Pro line, don’t ring the alarm bells just yet: Tim Cook has said repeatedly to customers that the company is currently working on the Mac Pro’s successor and with luck, we should hear more about it later in 2013. That said, if you’re in the EU and you’re still hankering to get a hold of one of Apple’s current desktop systems before the deadline, it might be time to visit your local Apple Store or reseller.

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We’re packing in the rumors before the weekend, along with a story about how your smartphone could kill you save your life, and a picture of Steve Jobs like you’ve never seen him before. The remainders for Friday, January 25, 2013 can row a boat, can you?

A Few More iPad 5, iPhone 5S, and iPad mini 2G Details (iLounge)

Over at iLounge, there are rumors aplenty: The iPhone 5S may feature a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and improved processor; a smaller, sleeker iPad 5 might drop in October along with a second-generation iPad mini; the low-cost iPhone could be real; and the company is hard at work darning new iPad socks. We’ll let you decide which one(s) are real.

Suppliers: iMac Production Capacity Shortage Solved, Strong Sales Projected in 1Q 2013 (BrightWire)

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We’re all interested in saving energy. Maybe you conserve to be a better global citizen or to save money on your utility bills. Maybe you use your laptop on the go and want to squeeze every possible minute of battery life out of it. But what if the daily computing practices you follow to save energy end up wasting it instead? What if your assumptions about Mac power usage are wrong? To investigate this possibility, Macworld’s lab compiled a list of eight widely held opinions about energy conservation, grabbed our trusty power meters, and started logging power usage.

We used two systems: a 2011 21-inch iMac and a 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro. We connected them to a Watt’s Up Pro power meter equipped with a USB connection that allowed us to capture energy usage logs while we ran various tests. Here’s what we found out.

1. ‘Laptops use less energy than desktops.’

The iMac we tested averaged around 83W with the screen set to full brightness, and with Bluetooth and WiFi enabled. That’s six times more than the 13.4W that the MacBook Pro drew at similar settings when fully charged. When the MacBook Pro’s battery was at a 50 percent charge and plugged in, however, our 15-inch laptop drew 80W, just about the same as the iMac.

Takeaway: Over the course of a day, laptops do use less energy than desktops.

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One of the scariest things that can happen to your Mac, short of actual flames and smoke billowing from the case, is a failure to turn on at all. You press the power button and nothing happens—no startup sound, no light, nothing. If this happens, you can check several things before hauling your Mac to the nearest Apple Store for repair—as often as not, this seemingly difficult problem might have a simple solution.

Electricity, e-lec-tricity

First, make sure that your Mac is getting juice. To do this, you may need to trace the entire flow of electricity to your Mac. Check your Mac’s power cord to ensure it is firmly seated where it connects to the computer as well as where it plugs into the wall. If it goes through an outlet strip or a UPS, make sure that’s also connected and turned on. Also check that any surge protectors are still working—a power surge might have knocked them off.

You can confirm that an outlet is good by plugging in something else, such as a light. (If it doesn’t work, check your fuses or circuit breakers.) If the outlet and all cable connections check out, make sure the power cord has no crimps, breaks, or other damage; a broken wire could be the culprit.

Faulty peripherals and broken buttons

Once you’ve established that your AC power path is good, it’s time to look at your Mac itself. Unplug everything you can—not the power cord, obviously, or your mouse and keyboard if they’re wired, and your monitor if it’s not built in, but disconnect everything else and try pressing the power button again. If your Mac turns on, you know that one of your peripherals was at fault.

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Just over a quarter century ago, Apple factories began pumping out Macintosh Plus computers by the tens of thousands a year, and they continued that pace for four years straight. As a result, this 26 year-old computer model is one of the most plentiful vintage compact Macs you'll find out in the wild. That makes it a ripe platform for experimentation.

You can do many things with a Mac Plus. You can gut it and turn it into an aquarium or a modern PC server. You can actually use it for word processing, a task at which it still excels. Or, if you're like me, you can turn it into a clock—a Macinclock.

If you have a spare Mac Plus sitting around, a blank floppy disk, and the right software, you too can have your very own silent Mac Plus clock.

Technically, any compact Macintosh could serve as a clock, but the Mac Plus is the most attractive target because, when booted from a floppy, the Mac Plus clock will be completely silent. That's thanks to the Mac Plus's lack of an internal cooling fan—something Steve Jobs insisted upon for the original 1984 Macintosh model that carried over to the Plus.

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My friend Julian Velard is a musician and a geek. But as hard as JV drives his MacBook Pro—and he does push it to its limits, using live audio plug-ins for his keyboards onstage–when the computer acts up, I’m the one he texts for support. (Fair’s fair: If I can’t remember how to play a minor major seventh, Julian’s the one I call. We’re all experts in something.)

When Julian called late last week, his MacBook Pro wouldn’t turn on; it would get stuck on the Gray Screen of Stomach Pain Inducement and never move forward. Over chat, phone, and then in person when he made the trek from Brooklyn to my New Jersey home, I walked JV through my steps for resuscitating a Mac that won’t start up. Let me share them with you too, since you may not have my number.

Step 1: Run Disk Utility

If your Mac won’t boot, there could be many issues at play. But the one I like to rule out right away—or repair, if possible—is any problem afflicting the hard drive. The easiest first step on that front is to run Disk Utility. On a Mac running Mountain Lion, you can run Disk Utility by booting into OS X Recovery Mode.

Make sure the Mac is off. (If it’s not responsive because it’s stuck on a gray, blue, or white screen, just hold down the Mac’s power button for several long seconds until it gives up and shuts off.) Hold down the Command and R keys, and power the Mac back up again.

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If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re thinking about buying a new Mac and in need of a little guidance. Fortunately, we’ve tested (almost) every standard-configuration Mac model currently in Apple’s lineup. We’re quite familiar with Apple’s Macs, and we’re happy to help you choose the right Mac for you.

This buying guide provides an overview of all the Mac models available, and what each model is best suited for. To get more details, you can read the full review for each Mac by clicking the “Read our complete review” links.

MacBook Air

Apple

What is it? The MacBook Air is Apple’s ultrathin, ultralight laptop. It comes in two sizes: 11 inches (2.4 pounds) and 13 inches (3.0 pounds).

Who’s it for? The MacBook Air is ideal for anyone who is always on the go, doesn’t want to be bogged down by a regular-size laptop, and also needs a computer that’s more versatile than an iPad.

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A visit to your local Apple Store during the holiday season can be maddening. The stores are overrun with other shoppers, there’s a mob around each gadget table, and waiting for your turn to be helped by an Apple Store employee takes eons. The walk-in line to purchase an iPhone 5 alone can take upwards of an hour, depending on how many people are in front of you. While we generally like the Apple Store’s “no register” system, it can be a real headache during busy periods.

This year, there are a few ways to avoid waiting in a long line. It just takes a little planning ahead.

Check yourself out

Bring your iOS device to the Apple Store, because the Apple Store app is a handy guide for holiday shopping. The app shows you where the nearest Apple Store is, lets you search for product availability at specific stores, and allows you to purchase items yourself.

The Apple Store app also has a feature called Express Checkout that lets you directly purchase items from the online Apple Store by quickly entering your Apple ID and password. Designate whether you’d like to pick the item up in a store or have it shipped. The app bills the card on file that’s linked to your Apple ID and will ship to the address on file as well; you can adjust these settings by selecting Edit in the app itself at checkout.

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The Macworld Lab handles a lot of hardware. Eventually, something breaks and you hope that it’s something inconsequential or easy to replace. But, every once in a long while, something happens to a major piece of hardware, something that makes your heart stop for a second.

Like the time when we cracked the display glass on an iMac.

Fortunately, the damage was only to the glass. The iMac itself was in perfect running condition. It’s actually very easy to remove the glass. Magnets hold the glass in place, and all you need are a pair of suction cups to attach to the glass so you can pull the glass away from the machine.

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So how can you give your data some breathing room? Here are seven tips Macworld editors use to slim down our own drives.

1. Clear out your downloads

Every time you view a photo or open a PDF in an email message in Apple's Mail, that file gets saved in a folder called Mail Downloads. If you don’t receive many attachments, this folder will remain relatively small, but if you’re a frequent file exchanger, it can quickly siphon away hundreds of megabytes from your drive—much of it for files you’ve likely already saved somewhere else. Thankfully, emptying this folder is easy once you know where it is. In the Finder, choose Go -> Go To Folder, and then paste or type ~/Library/Mail Downloads—select everything in the folder that appears, and then move the lot to the Trash.

Along those same lines, chances are you’ve got a bunch of stuff downloaded from the Web that you no longer need. These files are stored in your main Downloads folder, which is a little bit easier to find—it’s sitting directly in your home folder, so you can just open it and start cleaning. Unlike with the Mail Downloads folder, however, you probably haven’t saved your Web downloads elsewhere, so it’s good to give them a good once-over to make sure you aren’t deleting something you might need later.—Serenity Caldwell

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With Lion, Apple introduced local Time Machine snapshots. This mostly-silent feature lets your Mac use free space on your main drive to create iterative backups of your files when you’re away from your external Time Machine disk.

By default, Apple disables local snapshots on desktop Macs; the assumption is that you only need them when you're using a laptop, and that your trusty desktop machine is always connected to a Time Machine drive. But what if that’s not always the case? Perhaps you disconnect your Time Machine drive to connect other USB peripherals, or maybe you share the drive with other folks in your home. In any case, there's a way to enable local Time Machine snapshots on desktop Macs that Keir Thomas (author of the excellent Mac Kung Fu) discovered. All it takes is a quick trip to Terminal.

After launching Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities), paste in the following command:

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