Have a Mac? You Should Get These 5 Utilities

You tin get a batch done with the built-in applications and tools connected Mac computers, but determination are a fewer much inferior apps I instal connected each Mac to velocity on enactment and assistance with troubleshooting. If you person a Mac, you should cheque retired these 5 utilities.

1 HandBrake

HandBrake is not exclusive to macOS, but I person utilized the Mac mentation for implicit a decade, and it’s by acold my favourite video converter. It tin unfastened astir each imaginable record instrumentality and encoding format, and person those files into formats suited for playback connected Apple devices, Discord, crippled consoles, and different platforms. The built-in preset room has astir of the options you’ll need, but you tin besides tweak them with your ain settings arsenic desired. If you person a batch of videos that request to beryllium converted, you tin adhd them each to a queue and fto HandBrake bash its thing.

HandBrake is particularly adjuvant successful the Apple ecosystem for converting media to H.264 and H.265 format. Final Cut Pro, iMovie, QuickTime Player, and different bundle connected Mac and iPhone are picky astir record format support, truthful I’ve often utilized HandBrake arsenic an intermediary instrumentality for videos successful WebM (VP8, VP9, AV1, etc.), MKV, oregon AVI format. If you conscionable request to play those files and not edit oregon synchronize them to an Apple device, you tin usage VLC Media Player.

You tin download HandBrake from the authoritative website, and it’s supported connected macOS 10.13 oregon later.

2 AmorphousDiskMark

CrystalDiskMark is simply a fashionable benchmark instrumentality for investigating thrust show connected Windows, but there’s nary authoritative Mac version. AmorphousDiskMark is simply a nearly-identical inferior for Mac, and it adjacent earned a seal of approval from the developer of CrystalDiskMark.

AmorphousDiskMark allows you to trial sequential and random record operations, with some reads and writes, connected immoderate connected drive. You conscionable prime the thrust you privation to trial successful the main dropdown menu, past click the ‘All’ fastener to commencement the test. It tin assistance you fig retired if a thrust is failing, wherever determination are imaginable bottlenecks, and if thrust show matches the manufacturer’s advertised claims. It’s a overmuch amended mode to measure thrust show for emblematic computing workloads than BlackMagic Disk Speed Test, a fashionable thrust benchmark instrumentality for Mac, which lone tests continuous information throughput.

You tin download AmorphousDiskMark from the Mac App Store, and it works connected macOS 10.9.5 oregon later.

3 iStat

iStat Menus is different fantabulous instrumentality that I’ve utilized for good implicit a decade. It tin adhd accusation astir your disk activity, CPU and representation usage, hardware sensors, web activity, and much to your Mac’s paper bar. You get speedy glanceable accusation successful the paper bar, and incredibly elaborate accusation (even much than Apple’s ain Activity Monitor) erstwhile you click connected 1 of the icons.

iStat Menus is simply a large mode to rapidly spot what’s going connected with your Mac, and I usage it each the clip to cheque my existent IP code and what’s utilizing up my CPU cores. There’s besides a upwind accusation menu, though macOS 15.2 and aboriginal person a akin enactment utilizing the built-in Weather app.

You tin get iStat Menus from the authoritative website. As of the clip of writing, it costs $12 for a azygous licence oregon $15 for a household license.

4 Audacity

Audacity besides isn’t exclusive to the Mac, but it’s cleanable for the benignant of speedy audio edits and conversions that aren’t imaginable successful QuickTime Player oregon GarageBand. You tin usage it to trim oregon harvester audio files, alteration the volume, and use galore different effects.

Most of Audacity’s effects are destructive, meaning they can’t beryllium reversed aft you scope the extremity of your Undo/Redo history. That tin beryllium an contented for larger projects, similar songs and podcasts, but it doesn’t truly substance for speedy and elemental edits. Audacity makes it casual to rapidly open, edit, and prevention galore communal audio formats.

You tin download Audacity for free from the authoritative website.

5 The Unarchiver

Finder tin unfastened immoderate communal archive formats, similar ZIP and RAR, but for everything other there’s The Unarchiver. It supports a wide scope of archive record types, including 7z, RAR, Stuffit, XAR, RPM, EXE, DEB, and galore more. You tin adjacent usage it to extract files from immoderate disk images, similar ISO files and Amiga archives, and images from PDFs.

The Unarchiver is the lone exertion I’ve ever needed for opening much obscure archive files, though it can’t create archive files. If you request to usage a format oregon enactment that Finder doesn’t support, p7zip from the Homebrew bundle manager is an option.

You tin download The Unarchiver from the authoritative website oregon the Mac App Store. The tract besides has older versions disposable for download, if you person an aged Mac that needs to unfastened archive files.