Mac users can’t see everything happening on their device at a glance. So if you want to see memory usage, network activity, or processor usage, you’ll have to use Apple’s activity indicator call. To keep this important information in permanent view, various menu bar tools have been on the market for years. These include iStat Menus from maker Bjango. It now has Version 7 Presented in their app.
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Not everyone will like the new look
At first glance you can see that the appearance has changed quite a bit. Instead of more neutral tones, iStat Menus 7 now uses the primary colors red and light blue. Of course, everything remains customizable. The problem, however, is that the old settings – i.e. those from iStat Menus 6 – are initially overwritten. You may have to work hard to restore them. New functions include various new menu bar displays that are intended to be clearer than before.
You can display the FPS that the GPU cores are currently achieving and the names of the WLAN networks. The different cores of Apple Silicon devices – i.e. performance and efficiency cores – are now listed as standard and iStat Menus knows the additional sensors on such machines. The display of processor usage has been adjusted accordingly. The user has more control over the fan settings – a function that, however, should only be used with caution.
Developer continues to work on iStat Menus 7
Various in-app purchases for weather are now available, which get more expensive depending on how often you query them – but we were initially unable to transfer our old subscription. There’s a dedicated icon for GPU usage, new app launchers for quickly launching applications that match the relevant menu, and overall reduced system usage via the iStat menu (supposedly only a fifth of iStat menu 6).
Bjango is currently continuing to work on the app, so an update 7.0.1 with various improvements was promptly released. The manufacturer also responds quickly to user criticism. iStat Menus 7 can be tested for free for 14 days. After that you will pay 13.34 euros for a single-user license and 16.67 euros for a family license. Discounted upgrades to iStat Menus 6 are also available. Finally, you can also subscribe to iStat Menus as part of Setapp.
(B.Sc.)
