10 Types Of Accessories You Should Consider Getting For Your Mac

There are lots of useful accessories you can get for your Mac, ranging from $4 to $500 or more. Take a look at 10 very useful accessories you can get, what they will do for you, how to search for one online and what to look for when purchasing.

Comments: 20 Responses to “10 Types Of Accessories You Should Consider Getting For Your Mac”

    Danny Davis
    4 years ago

    Hi Gary, thanks for all your great tutorials. I have a late 2018 mac air so I am limited to just two USB-C ports and have been using a Satechi USB-C hub but I am very dissatisfied. It is very slow to connect, often will not recognize usb drives or my iPhone when I attempt to connect through the hub. So I am wondering if you would have a recommendation for a replacement. Something with at least two usb-3 ports and a usb-dc port and perhaps a card reader. Thank you for any help.

    4 years ago

    Danny: Sorry, I don't have a recommendation. Sounds like you got a bad one. Most should work fine so just try another. I've got 4 USB-C ports on my MacBook Pro and it is rare I even use one of them (besides power to charge).

    John Russell
    4 years ago

    A necessary accessory for me is a DVD drive. (Yes, really :-) ) A magazine that I really love (NPhoto, a Nikon-specific publication) always arrives with photo-related lessons on disc.

    MichaelM
    4 years ago

    Great presentation. Liked the idea, especially, of bringing along an HDMI adaptor.

    Justine Murdy
    4 years ago

    Hi Gary, love your tutorials. I always learn something important! I'm wondering about advice I got from a technician recently who said back-ups aren't really necessary anymore due to iCloud - is that person crazy? It came up because my Time Machine backup was so full that I would need to dump all the backups to free up space to start it over again. Thanks.

    4 years ago

    Justine: That's wrong, but a little right. Storing your files in a cloud service does protect them from one thing: if your device(s) break or are stolen, you can get a new device and log on to your cloud service and your data will still be there. That assumes it is ALL in the cloud. Some people store files, but not photos, or vice-versa, for instance. But having your own personal backup copy of your important data (photos!) is important too. Plus, Time Machine protects you from mistakes too. If you delete a file by mistake, or make changes to a file and want to revert, then Time Machine protects you there whereas a cloud service may not. I would never go with just "using the cloud" as my backup solution.

    Sam
    4 years ago

    I've been told that if you unplug an external drive and Time Machine is left turned on, Time Machine will back up once every 24 hours to your internal drive and pretty soon your internal drive will be fill. Is this correct?

    4 years ago

    Sam: No. Where did you hear that? Sounds like a misinterpretation of Local Snapshots. That is when Time Machine will backup some files using unused portions of your local hard drive. "Unused" being the important part. Local Snapshots can really save you, so it is a feature to be celebrated, not feared. Read https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204015 for details. And then don't change anything as this won't fill up your drive at all. You won't even notice it.

    Bruce
    4 years ago

    I keep an extra USB-to-lightning connector as a "must-have." Keeps my iPhone charged, helps with iPhone updates, transfers to Photo. And yes, a DVD player/burner. Player because I still have many DVDs and rent others. Burner because I archive some things onto CD.

    Ed Adams
    4 years ago

    I am on High Sierra. I am not seeing the UPS tab in the power saver in the system preferences?

    4 years ago

    Ed: Do you have your USP connected to your Mac with a USB cable?

    John Scully
    4 years ago

    I'd recommend when purchasing a USB hub it should be a powered one. That way you can concurrently attach multiple USB powered external drives. Otherwise it won't drive the external disks. I've a hub with 2x4TB and 2x5TB humming away happily on my iMac. Plus 2xTime Capsules - old system programmers don't take risks with backups :-)

    Rich Howell
    4 years ago

    Following up on Gary's recommendation, I went looking for a USB 3.0 external drive. Reading reviews, most seemed Mac "unfriendly." Anyone have a recommendation of one that works smoothly for a Mac running Catalina?

    4 years ago

    Rich: Where do you see that they are Mac unfriendly. Hard drives should be hard drives. They are platform-independent. They may come formatted for Windows, but you just reformat them using Disk Utility and they should be ready to go,

    Matthew Bowers
    4 years ago

    An additional monitor, yes. If you're like me, you want to have a Retina display like the one on the iMac and you also want one that looks like an iMac. Of course, you could buy another iMac, but not fairly economical, do you have any recommendations? Thanks! Appreciate everything you do.

    4 years ago

    Matthew: I like my LG 27-inch 4K screen. But I haven't compared it objectively to others.

    Maryriver
    4 years ago

    The only accessory I want is a wireless mouse that fits my hand and works without erratic movements and periods of complete refusal to go where I want it. Apple's shape hurts my hand and 3 logitech that I tried just flake out. Do you have any suggestions?

    4 years ago

    Maryriver: Ever considered switching to the Magic Trackpad? Better gestures, finer control, nothing to hold in your hand. A majority of Mac users use trackpads instead of a mouse.

    Curran Raymond P.
    4 years ago

    Gary: Will you do a video on how you have your office set-up, including hardware specifics, to maximize your productivity. Sometimes I see glimpses of your set-up. Like I think you have multiple monitors and maybe one is in "portrait mode." Where's your scanner and printer. Anything that you disclose would be appreciated as I think your experience would be very relevant to me.

    4 years ago

    Curran: I'm consider it. I've done it before, but on Patreon. Here's a preview: 3 screens, a 4K one and two 1080 ones turned vertical on each side. Old laser printer I try to never use (paperless) and I tossed my scanner and use my iPhone for that now.

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