Notes from under the menu bar

8 September 20266 min read

MacBook fan running with low CPU? What to check on Apple silicon

A five-minute check for current work, delayed cooling, power settings and a fan problem that needs attention.

17 August 20265 min read

A free iStat Menus alternative for macOS

What you actually give up by switching, what you get back, and who should stay where they are.

15 August 20265 min read

A lighter alternative to Stats for macOS

Stats is free, open source and good. The reason to look elsewhere is what it costs to keep running.

13 August 20264 min read

How to show CPU temperature in the Mac menu bar

macOS ships no way to see it, and there is a reason for that. Here is how to get the number and how to read it.

11 August 20264 min read

How to show network speed in the Mac menu bar

Live upload and download, next to the clock, without opening Activity Monitor to find out what is using the connection.

8 August 20264 min read

How to check GPU usage on a Mac

The built-in route needs sudo and prints a wall of text. Here is the free way to keep it in your menu bar instead.

5 August 20265 min read

How to check fan speed on a Mac

Why your fans read 0 RPM and nothing is broken, and how to put the real number in your menu bar.

1 August 202610 min read

Stats vs iStat Menus: 1.9% vs 0.1% idle CPU

Stats and iStat Menus on one MacBook Pro, sampled by one command at the same instant, with my own app as the third column. Everything that came back, including what makes mine look worse.

24 July 20265 min read

Why your GPU said 98% on an idle Mac

A bug I could not reproduce on demand, a counter that answers a question you did not ask, and a fix that is just a read you throw away.

18 July 20264 min read

SwiftUI Canvas costs 93 MB before you draw anything

I added one sparkline and memory went from 11 MB to 104 MB. The allocation is fixed, process-global, and never returned.

11 July 20265 min read

The cheapest sample is the one you never take

I spent a week making the collectors faster. Deleting the work instead is what got idle CPU to 0.046%.

4 July 20266 min read

How much CPU should a menu bar app use?

One of mine was using 1.9% all day to show me four numbers. Here is how to check yours, and what the number should be.