Oliver Haslam on November 20, 2020, 12:25 am

Got Yourself A New M1 Mac? These Tidbits Might Help You Out

After years of speculation, the Apple silicon Macs are here and by all accounts, they’re pretty sweet. If you’re lucky enough to have one of Apple’s fancy new Macs you’re probably pretty happy right now, but the change in architecture does mean there are a few questions to be asked. And we have some answers, too.

We’re going to run through some scenarios below along with what we know about the new M1-powered Macs. Let’s get started.

Running iOS apps that aren’t in the App Store

This is something that isn’t specifically supported for all kinds of boring reasons but while some iOS apps can be installed via the App Store, not all can. Those that can’t be installed can be forced to via a little trickery. We’ve covered that already right here.

Gaming on an M1 Mac

The new M1 Macs have an improved internal and integrated GPU and we’re still learning what that means for people who want to do a spot of gaming on their new machines. Someone on Reddit is already making a list of what they can run on their M1 Mac mini with 8GB of RAM and things are already looking pretty decent.

Installing Homebrew Apps

Installing x86 Homebrew apps is something that people had been concerned about when the Apple silicon transition was announced. Turns out it isn’t all that hard, thankfully. Here’s how MacRumors explains the process.

Create a duplicate of the Terminal app in the Utilities folder.
Right click on the app and choose Get Info.
Rename the other version of the app into something recognizable.
Check off the “open using Rosetta” option.

Getting into macOS Recovery Mode

While previous Macs had users press and hold Command + R to get into Recovery Mode, things are different on an M1 Mac. Instead, press and hold the power button until the startup options appear. Simple! Apple has a support guide here.

Universal and Native Apple silicon apps

There is already a growing list of apps on the MacRumors forums that covers all kinds of apps ranging from OmniFocus to Affinity Photo and more.

Did you manage to pick up a new M1 Mac? Let us know how you’re finding it in the comments below!