Archive for the ‘MacBook-Pro’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/12/05
After installing my Apple Silicon MacBook, I found out my machine had gotten named automatically in two different ways:
- readable name Jeroen’s Macbook Pro
- full name Jeroens-MacBook-Pro
- local hostname Jeroens-MacBook-Pro.local
- actual
hostname Jeroens-MBP
- HostName from
scutil
A few reasons I dislike that:
- Having 5 different names for the same machine creates a mess
- They chose for me where I like to choose myself
- They use spaces, quotes and hyphens where I like single a complete word
- They use mixed case where I like single case (preferably lower case) as not all other computers handle mixed case well
Finding out how to fix all this was a tedious job as I had to keep refining queries:
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Posted in Apple, Apple Silicon, ARM Mac, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook-Pro, Power User, Terminal | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/03/13
The links found via [Wayback/Archive] macos kernel_task high cpu dual screen – Google Search were daunting.
In the end, the issue ways way easier to fix than I thought: open up your Intel MacBook (you need pentalobe screwdrivers for that), then with some compressed air, clean the dust (especially from the fans).
This post saved my day [Wayback/Archive] kernel_task takes up 500% of my CPU when plugging in external monitor – MacBook Pro 15″ Retina Display Mid 2015 – iFixit
Things I haven’t tried yet:
- Cleaning out more free space from HDD
- Using plain HDMI cable into the HDMI cable port
- Taking MBP apart and cleaning any potential dust
…

I faced the very same issue that you guys are facing and based on input from another forum decided to get my 2016 MPB fans cleaned out.
This made an immediate impact where when I connected my external display to the MBP.pre-cleaning, it would overheat causing the fans to spin at 6000 rpm or thereabout and the kernel_task would eat up 500%-900% of the CPU rending the system unusable.
This simple cleanup of the fans has allowed me to connect the monitor with no kernel panic anymore and even though the fans run around 5000 rpm now the CPU and GPU are running around 10 degrees cooler now.
The same picture is in [Wayback/Archive] macos – MacBook Pro high CPU with external monitors – Ask Different.
An even dirtier MacBook was at [Wayback/Archive] External Display – High CPU Usage – MacBo… – Apple Community.
Links that were interesting but unhelpful:
–jeroen
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Posted in Apple, Mac, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/03/14
After years of use, the cooling fans of my 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro 2015 model got quite a bit dirty, causing them to run louder and louder.
The video below the fold shows how to clean them: 11 screws, some isopropyl alcohol, (dry!) compressed, and caution for the connector-clips connecting the bottom plate.
It helps having a:
- pentalobe P5 screwdriver
- plastic spudger so separate the bottom plate (especially be careful with the connector-clips)
- magnet to stick the screws to, as they are really tiny and it is easy to loose them
I got the pentalobe screwdriver with some spare screws from the German Amazon: [Archive.is] Kricson Ersatzschrauben MacBook Pro – 4 Pack Gummi: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör
You can get a similar one from the USA Amazon site: [Archive.is] Amazon.com: 8 Pack Rubber Case Feet + Set of 20pcs Repair Replacement Screw + 1pcs 5 Point Pentalobe Screwdriver for Unibody MacBook Pro Retina A1425 A1502 A1398 13″ 15″ Bottom Case(Retina): Computers & Accessories
Two important tips:
- After using isopropyl alcohol, let the parts dry
- Hold the fans when spraying compressed air (to prevent the fan-motors to create over-voltage, and to prevent the fans spinning faster than they are rated for)
The iFixit pictures for replacing the SSD help greatly to see how to remove and re-attach the back-cover, and where the various parts are inside the machines.
Note the screws differ between the 13-inch and 15-inch models!
–jeroen
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Posted in Apple, Mac, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/01/21
Since dd on Apple does not support progress parameters via [Wayback] macos dd progress – Google Search:
- [Wayback] Quick: dd with progress indication on macOS
A nice way I found to get progress indication whilst still being able to benefit from the huge speed increase in using /dev/rdiskX is to install a tool called pv, also known as [WayBack] Pipe Viewer.
Example:
sudo dd if=/dev/rdiskX bs=1m | pv -s 64G | sudo dd of=/dev/rdiskY bs=1m
Another way to achieve something similar would be to use brew to install coreutils, which will come with a newer version of dd that supports the status option.
Example:
gdd if=/dev/diskX of=/dev/diskY bs=1m status=progress
- [Wayback] el capitan – How can I track progress of dd – Ask Different
You just need to enter a controlT character from the keyboard while the dd command is executing.
By pressing the controlT character, you are sending the same SIGINFO signal to the dd command that the command pkill -INFO -x dd sends.
dd itself doesn’t provide a progress bar. You may estimate the progress of the dd copy process by adding a pkill -INFO command though.
Example:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/null bs=64m count=1000 & while pkill -INFO -x dd; do sleep 1; done
- [Wayback] dd progress indicator on OSX
signal siginfo is coupled to key-combination CTRL-T. No need to use kill, you can just type CTRL-T in the terminal window where dd is running.
–jeroen
Posted in *nix, *nix-tools, Apple, iMac, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, MacMini, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/05/21
Based on [WayBack] Command-Tab Not working….. – Apple Community
If you go to Activity monitor and search for dock, doubleclick on it, choose Force quit.
It will restart the Dock app and now it should work.
I wrote this alias which restarts Dock (including Dashboard and Spaces as they are served by the same process).
alias restart-dock-dashboard-spaces='killall -KILL Dock'
Related: my 2013 post Mac: Restarting the Mac OS X Dock, Finder, Spaces or Menubar | Stefan Ernst.
–jeroen
Posted in Apple, iMac, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, MacMini, macOS 10.12 Sierra, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/07/03
A friend asked me what tools I use for downloading media, converting it to various formats (including audio extraction) and audio editing.
It is a surprisingly short list:
Most of it runs out of the box on Mac OS X/MacOS/OS X, as I’ve moved there form Windows for most of my day to day access to systems (there is a great set of Microsoft Remote Desktop in the app store: [Archive.is] Microsoft Remote Desktop 8.0 on the Mac App Store and [Archive.is] Microsoft Remote Desktop 10 on the Mac App Store; I like the first one better).
Audacity shortcuts
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Posted in Apple, Audacity, Audio, ffmpeg, iMac, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, MacMini, Media, Power User, Remote Desktop Protocol/MSTSC/Terminal Services, SocialMedia, Windows, YouTube, youtube-dl | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/06/29
For quite a while, I had the error “The application “Audacity.app” can’t be opened.” and Audacity still opening. Clicking the OK button often enough made me hunt for the solution:
This is what I did:
$ cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/audacity
$ grep Temp audacity.cfg
TempDir=/Users/jeroenp/Library/Application Support/audacity/SessionData
Then I checked if the directory existed:
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Posted in *nix, *nix-tools, Apple, Audacity, Audio, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, Media, Power User, sed | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/06/05
The Terminal on Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS is very much like a Linux terminal, but there are also a lot of differences especially with keyboard, tab and process handling.
So this chapter is very much wort reading: [WayBack] 1. Inside the Terminal – Mac OS X For Unix Geeks, 4th Edition [Book]
–jeroen
Posted in Apple, iMac, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, MacMini, Power User | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2020/04/13
Toggle between regular view and view all formulas in a worksheet via [WayBack] Quickly See All the Formulas in Excel with This Shortcut which I wish I had known years ago:
- Windows:
Ctrl + ` (the acute accent key, found next to the number 1 on your keyboard).
- MacOS:
Cmd + `

Found using image search macos excel show all formulas – Google Search
–jeroen
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Posted in Apple, Excel, Mac, Mac OS X / OS X / MacOS, MacBook, MacBook Retina, MacBook-Air, MacBook-Pro, macOS 10.12 Sierra, macOS 10.13 High Sierra, Office, Office 2011 for Mac, Power User | Leave a Comment »