Readers’ Writes//
Is there something you want to get off your chest? Maybe you want to bring something to the Apple faithful’s
attention, or voice your opinions on what the company’s doing. Well now’s your chance, write to Essential
AppleUser Magazine. Every issue, we print the best letters we receive and someone wins a great Mac or iOS book.
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Loose the Juice...
My job involves a lot of short-distance travelling on public transport. A quick bus
ride here, a few stops on the train there. I rely on my trusty iPhone X for company.
I read ebooks, play games, check my emails, surf the web, listen to music, and if
I’ve got a little further to travel, watch some Netflix or catchup TV I’ve downloaded
beforehand. This gives me a problem. The battery life of the iPhone X isn’t bad,
but I thrash it so hard I usually run out of power long before my day is done. Can
you recommend a portable battery I could use when out and about?
Darren Carns, Ipswich, Suffolk
Editor Says: For the sake of convenience, you might be better off with a battery case rather than a portable
battery. This fits on your iPhone like a regular case, but contains a rechargeable battery that extends the life of
your phone. Our favourite is the mophie juice pack air. The iPhone X version (https://bit.ly/2XXbdTU) gives you
a total of 30 hours of power, and it can be used with a wireless Qi charger without removing the case.
Gaming Gripes
I’m a frustrated Mac gamer. And let’s face it, is there
any other sort? Mac gaming was never huge, and we’re
about to lose a wealth of 32-bit titles, that won’t work
on Catalina. I’m thinking of retiring my gaming mouse
and getting a PS4 or Xbox One for gaming. I’ll still use
the Mac for Internet, productivity and entertainment,
of course. As an all-round computer, it can’t be beat. I
just wish it was a better gaming machine.
Tony Lucas, Gillingham, Kent
Editor Says: We may lose fewer games than you
think. Major Mac gaming companies Aspyr and Feral
Interactive are hard at work making their titles
64-bit and therefore Catalina compatible, and if you
install a copy of Mojave as a virtual machine, using
an app like Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or
VirtualBox, you can keep a lot of your legacy titles
too. Mac gaming looks set to improve over the next
year. You can already add external graphics cards
to Thunderbolt 3 Macs, keeping their GPU up to
date, and we’ve Apple Arcade to look forward to
soon. Don’t let any of this stop you buying a console.
They have definite advantages over Macs as games
machines, but the future of Mac gaming isn’t as
bleak as you might think.
The mophie juice pack
air is an excellent
battery case; ideal for
commuters who need
extra power to get them
through the day.
Feral Interactive’s Tomb Raider has been updated to 64-bit,
using Feral Interactive’s latest code libraries and Apple’s
Metal graphics API.
AppleUserMAGAZINE