TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentations and playback

https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/welcome/mac

by no_creativity_ • 6 months ago

16 12 6 months ago

support.apple.com

frereubu• 6 months ago

This just seems to link to the front page of the macOS Tahoe user guide. I guess this information might be in there somewhere, but...

no_creativity_• 6 months ago

Yeah, sorry about that. Not sure if that was HN being weird, or my mistake. Here's the real link though: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/mac-help/mchlp2926/10....

hk1337• 6 months ago

MacBooks have been using remotes since at least 2005. There was a cinema app on there you could use to watch movies and use the remote to control it. I think you could use it with Keynote when it first came out too.

cosmic_cheese• 6 months ago

iMac G5s too! They even had a spot on their right side which was magnetic where the remote from that era could be stuck when not in use. My 20” iMac G5 doubled nicely as a TV in my high school years (and the 27” model with its dramatically nicer IPS panel even better in my college years).

SanjayMehta• 6 months ago

My first Intel iMac had that spot too.

pram• 6 months ago

Yeah it was called Front Row, which brought up an Apple TV like interface in OSX. Pretty dumb they removed it IMO it was pretty good with iMacs.

al_borland2• 6 months ago

It was great with the Mac mini. The actual Apple TV had its limitations, but with a Mac mini I had Front Row, plus a host of other media apps. I also had an app that would let me control everything with the IR remote they came with it. That was back when they still came with an optical drive as well, so I could also play (and rip) DVDs.

brownindian• 6 months ago

Ah good old days when I was in college and used to use my 2006 White Polycarbonate MacBook with the said remote as a glorified DVD player to play movies I'd rent from Blockbuster. Can't believe that was 20 years ago

varenc• 6 months ago

I love this feature. There's this app, "Remote Buddy", that's lets you specify custom behavior for the various Apple Remote buttons. Since by default only a few of the buttons control anything.

rjrjrjrj• 6 months ago

I knew this but had forgotten.

The first MacBook Pro included a remote in the box to control Front Row - a sort of proto-Apple TV app.

al_borland2• 6 months ago

Back in those days the laptops had an IR sensor. I thought the Apple Remote functionality died with the IR sensor.

chaos0815• 6 months ago

The old Apple remotes also worked together with the iPod dock. Great feature.

TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentations and playback

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