MacFormatの January 2026 の目次

Your Mac, iPhone and iPad enable you to do all kinds of wonderful things – from helping you unleash your creativity in all kinds of exciting ways, to simply enjoying more of the incredible sights and sounds all around you. To that end, this month’s lead feature (p20) is packed with 50 great ideas to help inspire you, such as writing a blockbuster screenplay that’ll have audiences flocking to your local multiplex or creating floor-filling tunes in GarageBand. You’ll even discover some cool ways to easily identify places of interest, objects, animals and plants – and who knows where those discoveries may eventually lead you. While you should be able to achieve all of this on the latest Apple devices, our second feature this month (p62) is aimed at anyone…

Serif’s Affinity apps, including Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher, have long been popular alternatives to Adobe’s suite. Eschewing subscriptions, the Affinity apps have required a single up-front payment to keep them forever. Now, though, Serif has completely revamped the entire Affinity range – and dropped the price tag entirely. Instead of three separate apps, there’s now just one called Affinity. There are three buttons to switch between Vector, Pixel and Layout modes (the old Photo, Designer and Publisher), but everything is contained within one app. And it’s now entirely free. Some users have worried that their data might be sold for cash, but Serif owner Canva has promised that will never happen, nor will user files be used to train AI. Instead, Canva says it makes enough money…

Would you buy a MacBook with an iPhone chip? It sounds like an odd proposition, but Apple is taking it very seriously, if the latest rumours are to be believed. In fact, this hybrid device could arrive as soon as the first half of 2026. Apple has long positioned its devices at the top end of the market, and the cheapest MacBook it sells is the £999 MacBook Air. That’s a steep barrier to entry, but it’s something a MacBook with an iPhone chip could directly address. Indeed, according to Mark Gurman, it could cost as little as $600, which would probably translate to about £600. Aside from that, Apple might also use a “lower-end LCD display” that measures slightly below the MacBook Air’s 13.6-inch screen, Gurman adds. That said,…

2 Number of external displays supported by the MacBook Pro 14in; two at up to 6K resolution via Thunderbolt; or one at up to 6K via Thunderbolt and one at up to 4K over HDMI. Maximum HDMI resolution is 8K at 60Hz. 120Hz Refresh rate of the ProMotion tech inside the MacBook Pro 14in’s Liquid Retina XDR display. 5,939,136 pixels Total resolution of the MacBook Pro 14in’s Liquid Retina XDR display. Or 3024x1964 at 254 pixels per inch. 1,000,000:1 Contrast ratio of the Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR) panel used in the MacBook Pro 14in. It has a peak brightness of 1,600 nits when viewing High Dynamic Range (HDR) content. 32GB Maximum amount of unified memory that can be specified for the MacBook Pro 14in. For more memory, you’ll need a…

MAKE HOME MOVIES The Mac, iPhone and iPad have inspired generations of movie makers: iMovie was first launched on Mac in 1999 and it’s been free on Apple devices ever since. Today’s iMovie is nearly three decades more powerful, but is still easy to use – and you can use it on your iPhone and iPad too, making it even more accessible. One of the biggest Apple upgrades for movie making has been the iPhone. Even the most modest iPhone Apple sells can record in 4K, take slo-mo and time-lapse video, and reduce camera shake. It can even reduce the wind noise when you’re shooting outside. There are other cameras, of course, and other excellent video editing apps: Capcut, Shotcut, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve and many more. But what they all…

Great reasons to subscribe • NEW! Digital access to 130+ issues when you subscribe to print!** • Enjoy the MacFormat print edition for just £21.09 every six months! • Or enjoy six months of MacFormat digital edition for just £16.87! • Delivered direct to your door and device • For more than 25 years, we’ve been helping Apple fans get the most from their kit Keep your subscription rolling today! DIGITAL ONLY £16.87 every six months PRINT & DIGITAL ACCESS PLUS ACCESS TO 130 DIGITAL BACK ISSUES! £21.09 every six months Subscribe online… www.magazinesdirect.com/mac/DH44A Or call 0330 333 1113 and quote ‘DH44A’ Terms and conditions: Offer closes 31 January 2026. Please allow up to six weeks for the delivery of your first subscription issue (up to eight weeks overseas). The…

One of the most welcome improvements in this year’s Mac operating system, macOS Tahoe, is how much personalisation it offers. Where previous versions of macOS were pretty limited – you could adjust the size of your icons, change the wallpaper, hide the Dock and not much more – Tahoe is packed full of handy features to transform the way your Mac looks. You’ll recognise many of these features from iOS 26. There’s Liquid Glass, of course, which you can turn off if you don’t like it. You can apply transparency to your icons and your desktop widgets – or, if you prefer, make all your icons the same colour. You can change the way folders look and how Finder windows appear. You can even change the background of your chats in…

Shortcuts have been a feature of Macs since macOS Monterey in 2021. They enable you to automate tasks by combining actions to create custom workflows and they’re run with a simple click or by asking Siri. You’ll find lots of them ready for use in the Shortcuts app and their number has recently been bolstered by some new Apple Intelligence-powered options. Among them are Summarise PDF, which picks out key points from a PDF document, and Leftover Recipes, which enables you to list what’s in your fridge before coming up with a recipe you could use. You can also try a shortcut that extracts call-to-action items from meeting notes, one that gives you a morning report based on the weather, calendar events and reminders, and one that takes a topic and…

Free up iCloud Drive storage Q My iPhone and iPad each have 128GB storage and share my iCloud account, including the Photos library. On the iPhone, iCloud Drive uses almost no storage, but on the iPad it takes over 67GB, leaving little free space. How can I make my iPad more like my iPhone? by IAN SLEIGHTHOLM A Both iOS and iPadOS manage iCloud Drive in the same way, and should automatically remove downloads by evicting files from local storage to maintain sufficient free storage in both devices. In macOS, there is the option to keep everything downloaded, but not in Apple’s other operating systems. There’s one setting that could prevent your iPad from doing that, by pinning large items to keep them downloaded. Open Files on your iPhone, and…

Sorry to break it to you, but technology does not last forever. You might have spent eleventy bajillion quid on your Apple-branded pride and joy. But what once scythed through anything you threw at it will, at some point, end up becoming the Mac equivalent of a wheezing snail. Thing is, we’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. Even if your Mac is creaking, you probably don’t want to splash out on new and shiny kit. And even if you are willing to buy a new Mac, you’d likely want a bargain – and also to make the most of your existing gear. That’s what this feature is all about. As Apple puts Intel Macs on notice (macOS 26, aka Tahoe) is the last major update any Intel Mac will…

When it becomes obvious your existing Mac just isn’t going to do what you need and you don’t want it cluttering up your home, it’s time to offload it. First, protect your data – in every sense. That means backing up anything important and then securely wiping the Mac, as detailed in the walkthrough. Next up, decide whether it’s worth the hassle of selling. If not, you’ve options. You could turn your Mac into a keepsake of some sort, as we’ve explored already. Or if you’re not sentimental, you can drop off any Mac at an Apple Store for recycling. When a Mac is worth selling, the Apple Store is the simplest and safest route. Go to the Apple Trade In page on the Apple website, input your serial number (found…

Macs are amazing for making music. Digidesign Sound Designer, which would become the legendary studio system ProTools, launched on Macintosh in 1985 and started a recording revolution that changed the way we make music for ever. And GarageBand’s launch in 2004 started a second revolution, making music production easier, more accessible and more fun than ever. Macs and iPads have helped generations of musicians and producers turn their talents into tunes. And there have never been so many options to choose from, with apps designed for all kinds of musicians, all genres of music and all kinds of destinations, from stage to streaming. For this group test, we’re going to stay focused on very specific kinds of music apps: those that are suitable for aspiring and amateur musicians rather than…

£119.99 FROM logitech.com FEATURES 8 buttons, 200–8000dpi (in increments of 50), scroll wheel and horizontal scroll, customisation app, 650mAh battery (70 days’ use), 10m range, low-energy Bluetooth, 128.15x88.35x50.8mm, 150g A button on the thumb rest itself opens the Actions Ring The latest release in Logitech’s respected range of productivity mice is expensive, but by no means poor value for money. Every aspect of it screams quality. Take the build. Available in Pale Grey or Graphite (as well as Black in the USA), the MX Master 4 for Mac is solid, sturdy and sure to last. It’s not short of features, either. It has two scroll wheels; one located between the right and left buttons for vertical scrolling, and one above where your thumb sits for scrolling horizontally. When on the…

£119.99 FROM satechi.net FEATURES 1x USB4 port (supports Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 at up to 40Gbps), backwards compatible with USB 3 Gen 2 and USB 3.0 (up to 5/10Gbps) and USB 2.0 (up to 480Mbps), supports up to 16TB SSD modules Apple charges a whopping £600 to upgrade from 512GB to 2TB storage Apple stopped allowing you to manually upgrade the storage and indeed the memory inside new Macs years ago. Initially, this was in service of making the bodies smaller and, now, because Apple solders these components to the logic board. The problem is that you’re forced to choose an SSD capacity when ordering your Mac, and Apple charges a hefty premium for larger drives. While external drives have existed for years, they can be cumbersome and are often…

› £39.99 › FROM uk.mous.co › FEATURES Compatible with iPhone 12 Series and later, all AirPods with a wireless charging case and all Apple Watch models, USB-C; 9x6.2x1.34cm folded, 13.6x9x0.8cm open, 87g We’ve seen three-in-one chargers before, but this is among the smallest. Folded, it’s just a little thicker than an iPhone and has a footprint just a mite wider than a credit card. It’s certainly small enough to slip into a pocket. The charger comes with a USB-C cable, but not the USB-C power adaptor it requires. Get one of at least 30W for best results. Open the charger and it can charge a MagSafe-compatible iPhone, an Apple Watch and a set of AirPods with a wireless charging case, all at once. The iPhone lies flat on its back,…

Do you ever struggle to figure out how to carry your iPhone when you’re out and about? If so, the latest designer gear from Issey Miyake, the man behind Steve Jobs’ iconic turtleneck, might be what you’re looking for. It’s essentially a knitted pouch to keep your iPhone in. OK, stop laughing at the back. This isn’t the April issue. This thing is serious. And we know it’s serious because of the price. The iPhone pouch is £139.95 if you want it with a short strap, or £219.95 for the long strap. I’m pretty sure I could buy at least three, maybe four, pairs of the jeans I’m wearing now for the price of the shortstrap model, and that would give me at least 12 different pockets to put my…

Remember iPod Socks? Apple introduced the ‘revolutionary new product’ with a joke and a wink in 2004, priced at $29 for six. Well, Apple has just announced iPhone Pocket, the apparent heir to iPod Socks, but no one’s laughing this time. Inspired by ‘a piece of cloth’ and designed by Steve Jobs’ turtleneck maker Issey Miyake, the iPhone Pocket is a ‘3D-knitted construction’ (also known as a woven pouch) for your iPhone that can be slung across your body. Gone is the wallet-friendly price of the iPod Socks, as you’ll be paying £139.95 for a short-strap iPhone Pocket and a whopping £219.95 for a long one. What would Steve Jobs say to that?…

The HomePod mini and Apple TV are reasonably popular, but don’t sell anywhere near as many units as the iPhone. Still, both products are reportedly due an upgrade in 2026, with a smattering of extras and updates on the way. A fresh chip (potentially the S9 or S10) is expected in the HomePod mini, as this could enhance the device’s audio performance and tune up its responsiveness. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman also believes the next HomePod mini will also boast an N1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip (which supports Wi-Fi 6E) and a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for improved spatial awareness and Handoff capabilities, while new colours could also be in the pipeline. The Apple TV box is also expected to get a chip refresh – in this case the A17 –…

Advance Paris A12 APEX > £3,400 > From advanceparis.com The world might be losing its collective marbles over artificial intelligence (AI), but in a few far-flung corners of tech land, it’s old school craftmanship that still holds sway – as the A12 APEX proves. Created to celebrate Advance Paris’s 30th anniversary, the A12 APEX is a 2x 190W hybrid integrated amplifier that marries old-school valve technology, and great audio performance, with modern features like HDMI eARC for connection to an Apple TV 4K, and Bluetooth streaming via the optional A-BTC dongle. Clad in a cool black finish with high-contrast VU meters for the left/right audio channels, the A12 APEX comes with eight analogue audio inputs (including Phono MM/MC for vinyl turntables), eight digital audio inputs, and a USB-B port for…

WRITE A HIT SONG ON MAC, iPHONE OR iPAD Every Mac, iPhone and iPad can be a recording studio, and you don’t need to be a great singer or even play an instrument to make great tunes. The first step we’d recommend is launching GarageBand, which is free on Mac, iPhone and iPad, user-friendly and surprisingly powerful. On iPhone and iPad it features virtual instruments you can play with taps and swipes, and it also enables you to record live instruments. We particularly love Drummer, which can listen to your tunes and play along. Create a hit That depends on what works best for you: it’s quite possible to create a hit song by singing or recording instruments with Voice Memos on your iPhone, and many famous musicians do just that.…

CREATE SOME INCREDIBLE IMAGES Just as this issue was going to press, Canva announced a brand new and completely free version of its Affinity app for Mac and iPad – and it made its Affinity Designer, Affinity Publisher and Affinity Photo apps free on iPad too (affinity.studio). These are pro-level apps and with a price tag of £0, they’re definitely worth downloading. Designer is an illustration and graphics design app for creating vector graphics from shapes; Photo is for photo editing and lifelike drawing; and Publisher is for designing and laying out pages. The new Affinity app combines all three. Do more or simply tweak There are plenty of other apps that offer these features, but rarely for free and with this level of user-friendliness: for example, Adobe’s Photoshop Elements 2026…

Master Apple shortcuts macOS Cmd is the Command key. Alt or Opt is the Option key. Ctrl is the Control key, also shown as ‘^’ in shortcuts in the menu bar. The thick, outlined up arrow is the Shift key. The thin, left arrow or outlined pointer with ‘X’ inside is the Delete key, which deletes to the left. Pressing the Function key (Fn) and the Delete key deletes to the right. The thin, right arrow key with a small vertical line at the end is the Tab key, which shifts the focus between some controls. iOS A tap is a brief contact of (usually) one finger on your device’s screen. To drag is to move a finger across the screen to scroll or pan around content. Swipe means move…

In part one of our macOS iMovie series (#MF424), we demonstrated how to import long, rambling clips, trim their duration to only show the good bits, and rearrange them in iMovie’s non-linear timeline. This enabled us to tell a more succinct story before sharing the edited footage to social media. In part two, we’re showing you how to harness iMovie’s slick suite of post-production tools to make your edited footage even more entertaining and professional. By adding titles or captions, you can include extra information in your footage to keep your audience in the picture, so to speak. Transitions such as dissolves and wipes help blend a series of cut-together clips into a more smoothly flowing narrative, plus they help add an extra level of visual variety. Combine clips creatively…

Protect your Mac from power glitches Q Should my Mac be powered from an uninterruptible power supply? by NATE EVANS A This depends on whether it’s a laptop with its own battery, or a desktop. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) performs two important functions; it filters mains power to eliminate dangerous spikes that could fry the power supply in any Mac or peripheral, and it delivers backup power from its battery in the event that mains power is lost, enabling the Mac to shut itself down in an orderly way if the outage lasts long enough. With their own battery supply, laptops wouldn’t benefit from backup power, and macOS doesn’t provide the additional support for them to be shut down when a UPS loses its mains power supply. A good…

Right then. You’ve got an old Mac and you want it to eke out an extra year or two of being productive. The first thing to decide is whether it’s worth doing so. That, surprisingly, is an easier decision than it used to be. Because, while back in the day, you might have shoved all kinds of additional bits and bobs inside of an old Mac to give it a shot of rocket fuel, most Macs have been sealed boxes for years. So any extras you’re likely to buy today will be modular and external – which means they should suit whatever Mac you buy next. Fiddle or flog So that’s a good start. Even better: it’s quite possible that you can do a reasonable amount to improve the state…

Every app in this group test excels at what it does. However, they are very different from one another and we recommend trying their free or trial versions to see which one suits. If you are looking for studio-level power with a price tag of zero, Waveform Free is exceptional – but it is overkill for newcomers and simpler musical projects, as is the bargain-priced Reaper. That leaves two very powerful giants, Ableton Live and Logic, both of which are incredible but require fairly significant investment both in terms of money and time. And then there’s GarageBand. We’re going to anoint GarageBand as our winner, not just because it’s free, although that’s important for cash-strapped musicians, but because it has everything. You can use it to make loopbased music or…

£79.99 FROM philips-hue.com FEATURES HomeKit-compatible, dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5GHz), 1x Ethernet, 26x92.3x92.3mm The Bridge Pro also introduces an innovative new feature called MotionAware Apple’s HomeKit technology – now absorbed into the Apple Home app – has always been something of an under-achiever in the smart home market. However, Philips has supported HomeKit and the Home app with its Hue range of smart lights for many years and has just released a major Pro update for its Hue Bridge control hub. You can control most Hue lights simply by using the Hue app, but if you want to add your lights to your Apple Home setup, you need one of the Hue Bridge hubs as well. The previous all-white version of the Hue Bridge is still available for £49.99, while the new…

£399 FROM elipson.com FEATURES 2x 50W RMS output, 1x 25mm silk dome tweeter, 1x 130mm mid-bass woofer, 55Hz-22kHz frequency response, Bluetooth 5.0 with AptX, 1x digital optical input, 1x coaxial input, 1x (RCA) phono MM input, 1x aux input, 1x USB-C port, 1x HDMI input (TV/ARC), 1x subwoofer output, on-body and remote controls, auto standby (after 20 minutes) The moving magnet input means you don’t need a preamp The Horus 6B Active BT is an active version of Elipson’s 6B bookshelf speaker, meaning it contains its own amplification. Available in a choice of three finishes, the speakers boast cutting-edge connectivity that makes them suitable for a wide range of uses, both analogue and digital. The brains are contained in one mainspowered speaker, and this connects to the second over speaker…

› £44.99 › FROM sennheiser-hearing.com › FEATURES High-def audio, USB-C or USB-A We’re continually frustrated by the fact that Apple no longer supports the high-quality AptX audio codec for use with Bluetooth headphones. However, a couple of years ago, we were pleased to discover Sennheiser’s BTD 600, an affordable little adaptor that can add AptX compatibility to a variety of devices. Sennheiser has now updated the adaptor, calling it the BTD 700 and adding a number of new features. Its original USB-A connector has been replaced by USB-C, although there’s a USB-A adaptor also included for older computers. This new model now supports both AptX Adaptive and Lossless, as well as the new Auracast feature in Bluetooth 5.4, which enables you to broadcast audio to multiple sets of nearby headphones…

iMac › From £1,299 › In October 2024, Apple updated its 24in iMac with the M4 chip, giving it the wonders of Apple Intelligence. You can choose between an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU at entry-level, or an 10-core CPU/10-core GPU on the midrange and top-tier versions. The entry model now comes with 16GB of memory as standard, configurable to 24GB; the mid- and top-tier versions are configurable to 24 or 32GB (32GB only available with 512GB or more of storage). The solid-state drive (SSD) storage starts at 256GB on entry-level and mid-range versions, and 512GB on the top-tier iMac, although you can add up to 1TB of storage on the entry-level model and up to 2TB on mid-range and top-tier models. You still get a 4.5K (4480x2520) Retina display, with top-tier…

Apple is readying a massive year of new products, with 2026 setting the stage for a wide array of redesigns, overhauls and significant launches. That’s according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, and if you’ve been thinking of upgrading your devices and holding back for a while, you’ll want to take note. The early stages of the year will be full of new products. Starting with mobiles, Gurman says Apple is readying the iPhone 17e, a 12th-generation iPad and an iPad Air. The iPhone 17e could get a new chip and possibly the Dynamic Island to replace its notch. The iPad, meanwhile, is expected to move to the A18 chip, while the iPad Air will be upgraded to Apple’s M4 chip. Turning to the Mac, early 2026 could see an M5…

[MAC APP] Affinity Free A radical new direction for Affinity’s creative apps Serif’s Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher creative apps have a brand new home: a single app for Mac and iPad named Affinity (turn to p7 for more). While you can now switch between photo, vector and layout editing at the touch of a button, the familiar experiences and tools of the past have changed very little. In other words, these are still the same apps, they’re just more conveniently placed under one roof. Gone, too, is the need to pay up-front for each app. Serif owner Canva says the base edition – with the same expansive toolset as before – is now completely free. But instead of selling your data or feeding your work into an…

From the very first time we experienced the magic of Apple – in your writer’s case, discovering the Apple IIe at school – we were blown away not by what the hardware was, but what it could help us do. And that’s because every Apple device you buy includes something special: possibilities. The early Apple IIe helped us write words and explore imaginary worlds, and today’s Apple devices are infinitely more powerful and deliver almost infinite possibilities. Your iPhone, iPad and Mac are Swiss Army knives for life, capable of transforming into almost anything: they can become classrooms and darkrooms; recording studios and podcast producers; movie cameras and connected cinemas; travel guides and celebrity kitchens. With your Mac, your iPhone and your iPad, you can find fascinating places, create cartoons from…

TRY MASTERING A NEW SKILL One of the most fulfilling projects you can take on is learning something new – such as taking up a musical instrument for the first time, or picking up on skills you haven’t used in years. So if you liked our idea of writing a hit song on your Mac but can’t play an instrument then your iPad, iPhone and Mac are here to help. Your Apple devices are particularly good for learning musical skills because you can get lessons for free. On the Mac, GarageBand has a chord trainer for guitarists: go to File > New > Learn To Play, then launch the Chord Trainer to see how to play major and minor chords. And below ‘Learn to Play’ there’s the Lesson Store, where you…

FIND INTERESTING PLACES There are lots of ways to find interesting destinations with your Apple devices, and the first place to start is with Apple’s own Maps app. Its Guides section has lots of useful suggestions including city guides and themed collections such as Michelin-starred restaurants and beach hotels in specific countries. And more practically its local search can find nearby coffee shops, bars, restaurants and more, showing average Tripadvisor ratings, customer photographs and whether you can use Apple Pay. One of our favourite ways to get trip inspiration is via glossy travel magazines and sporting magazines such as cycling, running and golf magazines, and many of them are available both as iPhone apps and as part of an Apple News+ subscription – with the latter also providing tons of magazines…

Assuming you’re now running macOS Tahoe, you’ll find that Launchpad – the app which once allowed you to open programs on your Mac – has been replaced in the Dock by a new offering called Apps. Delve deeper, and you’ll find that Spotlight also incorporates Apps while doing a whole lot more. In fact, you could go as far as to say that Apple has supercharged Spotlight and made it more integral to the macOS experience than ever before, which means real ease of use. The more you explore, the more you realise just how useful Spotlight can be in enabling you to find what you need and power through tasks in double-quick time. It lets you dive deep into apps, folders and the operating system while letting you perform…

Staying on top of your daily tasks can be a struggle, even with Apple’s much-improved Reminders app on your side. If you’ve been looking for an alternative, try FirstSeed Tasks (firstseed.io) – not only does it help you stay organised in a fast, intuitive way, but it looks gorgeous, too. The app can display your task in two ways: a Kanban board, where you drag and drop your tasks from one section to another; or a Timeline mode, where your various tasks are laid out chronologically, so you can swiftly see what needs to be top of your agenda. FirstSeed Tasks works on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. It’s free to use, but offers an affordable subscription that starts at £2.29 a month. This adds calendar integration and an artificial…

Store files on your backup drive Q What’s the best way to store other files on my Time Machine backup drive? by BRIAN WISE A There are several options, depending on whether you want to limit the space taken by the backups or your additional volume. Unfortunately, you have to decide their size and configuration when you first set them up, because they can’t be changed at a later date without putting their contents at risk. The strictest and most inflexible option is to create a second container using Disk Utility and create your extra volume in that. When partitioning the drive, you set the size of each container, which you don’t intend to change. You can still change partition sizes later, but should avoid that, as it may not…

Just because your Mac isn’t quite the star it once was, that doesn’t mean it needs to be extinguished entirely. Even the most veteran Macs have their uses, and more recent ones – we’re talking about anything bought during the last decade and change – can be reimagined in all kinds of ways. In many cases, giving your Mac a new role is all about giving it (and yourself) a sense of focus. What activities do you like to do? And can a piece of hardware help, say, fashion a distraction-free space for creative work or explore the history of gaming? And what if you later decide that you don’t want to use a Mac as your primary computer at all? With iPadOS 26, the iPad now has the multitasking clout…

IN PRINT ON iPAD & iPHONE ISSUE 424 DECEMBER 2025 M5 MacBook Pro & iPhone 17 Pro rated 101 fantastic tips for Mac, iPhone & iPad 53 awesome tech gifts for Christmas 6 best portable SSDs on test ISSUE 423 NOVEMBER 2025 ON TEST: All-new iPhone Air, AirPods Pro 3, Apple Watch Series 11 101 essential macOS Tahoe tips 6 best reader apps for iPhone ISSUE 422 AUTUMN 2025 iOS 26 – 75 top tips and tricks! Amazing must-have Mac accessories Drive smarter: what’s next for CarPlay 6 best Thunderbolt docks and hubs To order back issues of the print magazine, go to bit.ly/mf_backissues or phone +44 (0)330 333 1113 and we’ll post them out to you. Download back issues onto your iOS device at any time and keep them…

› £9.99 › FROM feralinteractive.com › NEEDS iOS 18/iPadOS 18 or later, A12 Bionic chip or later; 11GB of free storage Feral Interactive has reached the PlayStation 3 era in its effort to bring all of Agent 47’s adventures to iPhone and iPad, and Absolution stands out as the last game to feature the shiny domed assassin before the series had a reboot with 2016’s Hitman. It’s a great-looking game, clearly pushing the graphical abilities of A- and M-series chips and with an advanced options page that enables you to push the GPU even harder at the cost of frame rate. It starts off well as you infiltrate a house via the garden and tennis court on the trail of Diana Burnwood, formerly your handler at the assassination agency, turned…

› £129.99 › FROM uk.creative.com › FEATURES Dolby Audio, 80W power (RMS) output, 50Hz–20kHz frequency response, Bluetooth, 1x HDMI (ARC) port, 1x digital optical input, 1x 3.5mm input, 1x USB-C; 550x112.1x80.7mm (soundbar)/115x265x420mm (subwoofer) The sound is big rather than subtle, but the Stage Pro is a very affordable audio upgrade for your TV or Mac Creative’s long-running Sound Blaster range is mostly designed for gaming, but the company also has a Stage range of soundbars that focus more on watching films and TV. The latest addition is the Stage Pro, which costs a very competitive £129.99 but steps up from being a simple soundbar to providing a full 2.1 speaker system with a separate subwoofer that adds extra bass power for all those over-the-top Hollywood blockbusters. Another of the Stage…

BEST BUYS… EXTERNAL DRIVE SanDisk Desk Drive From £319.99 westerndigital.com If you need the space (4 or 8TB), nothing else at this price comes close. MF409 OUR TOP 3 WI-FI 7 ROUTERS ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 £259.99 MF414 asus.com/uk TP-Link Deco BE65 £249.99 MF414 tp-link.com/uk Linksys Velop Pro 7 £399.99 MF414 linksys.com POWER CHARGER Anker Prime 250W Charging Station £169.99 anker.com/uk An excellent charger with tons of power and flexibility for all your devices. MF409 OUR TOP 3 4K DISPLAYS Philips 27E1N1900AE £249.99 MF412 philips.co.uk Dell UltraSharp U2723QE £540 MF412 dell.com BenQ PD2705U £349.99 MF412 benq.eu PRODUCTIVITY Logitech MX Creative Console £199.99 logitech.com An excellent way to streamline your workflow in creative apps on Mac. MF413 OUR TOP 3 MAC KEYBOARDS Lofree Flow $159 (about £155) MF404 lofree.co Logitech MX Keys…

> Do more for less on Mac, iPhone and iPad PLUS: > Move to a new Mac – we show you how! ALSO INSIDE… >ON TEST: 6 best printers for work and play >24 pages of how-tos and Genius tips >Get fit with your Apple kit … and much more! ISSUE 426 ON SALE 6 JAN 2025 DON’T MISS IT – SUBSCRIBE TODAY! IN PRINT & ON iOS > Your print subscription includes the paper magazine and the digital edition for iPad and iPhone bit.ly/magazinesdirect_macformat ON YOUR MAC > Read digitally on your Mac: subscribe with Zinio at bit.ly/ziniomacf…