I Can't Choose A Download On My Macbook Pro

Sometimes my MacBook ($850 at Best Buy) freaks out and can't connect to my Wi-Fi network when my Windows laptop and iPhone ($900 at Boost Mobile) are having no networking issues at all. My hard drive in my Macbook completely broke a few weeks ago (didn't have much on it thankfully), so I bought a new hard drive and replaced the old one. Now I'm not too sure how to set this new hard drive up (as in putting an OS on it and formatting it correctly) - I'm not concerned with getting any of my old data back on it, I just want to set. Navigate to the location where you want the files to be stored. Click the Select button. Click the Close button to exit Preferences. To download a specific image that appears on a web page, move your pointer over the image, right-click, and choose Save Image As from the pop-up menu that appears. My Turbo Tax Deluxe CD will not load on my MacBook Pro. Once that's been done, simply sign in to My Downloads to download your TurboTax software.

macOS Big Sur elevates the most advanced desktop operating system in the world to a new level of power and beauty. Experience Mac to the fullest with a refined new design. Enjoy the biggest Safari update ever. Discover new features for Maps and Messages. And get even more transparency around your privacy.

Check compatibility

macOS Big Sur is compatible with these computers:

MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
MacBook Air introduced in 2013 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in late 2013 or later
Mac mini introduced in 2014 or later
iMac introduced in 2014 or later
iMac Pro
Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
View the complete list of compatible computers.

If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, macOS Big Sur requires 35.5GB of available storage to upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, macOS Big Sur requires up to 44.5GB of available storage. To upgrade from OS X Mountain Lion, first upgrade to OS X El Capitan, then upgrade to macOS Big Sur.

Make a backup

Before installing any upgrade, it’s a good idea to back up your Mac. Time Machine makes it simple, and other backup methods are also available. Learn how to back up your Mac.

Get connected

It takes time to download and install macOS, so make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. If you're using a Mac notebook computer, plug it into AC power.

Download macOS Big Sur

If you're using macOS Mojave or later, get macOS Big Sur via Software Update: Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

Or use this link to open the macOS Big Sur page on the App Store: Get macOS Big Sur. Then click the Get button or iCloud download icon.

Begin installation

After downloading, the installer opens automatically.

Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. You might find it easiest to begin installation in the evening so that it can complete overnight, if needed.

If the installer asks for permission to install a helper tool, enter the administrator name and password that you use to log in to your Mac, then click Add Helper.

Allow installation to complete

Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart, show a progress bar, or show a blank screen several times as it installs both macOS and related updates to your Mac firmware.

Stay up to date

After installing macOS Big Sur, you will be notified when updates to macOS Big Sur are available. You can also use Software Update to check for updates: Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Software Update.

Or get macOS Big Sur automatically

If you're using OS X El Capitan v10.11.5 or later and your App Store preferences or Software Update preferences are set to download new updates when available, macOS Big Sur will download conveniently in the background, making it even easier to upgrade. A notification will inform you when macOS Big Sur is ready to be installed. Click Install to get started, or dismiss the notification to install later. When you're ready to install, just open the file named Install macOS Big Sur from your Applications folder.

Learn more

If the installer shows a list of apps that are not optimized for your Mac, learn about 32-bit app compatibility, then choose whether to proceed with the installation.
For the strongest security and latest features, upgrade to macOS Big Sur. If you have hardware or software that isn't compatible with Big Sur, you might be able to install an earlier macOS.
You can also use macOS Recovery to reinstall the macOS you're using now, upgrade to the latest compatible macOS, or install the macOS that came with your Mac.

The MacBook Retina display on the MacBook Pro and the new MacBook with a 12-inch Retina Display looks beautiful. However, because of the way Apple designed them, the effective MacBook screen resolution doesn’t show as much on the screen as user might expect from a screen with a 2304×1440 resolution. That’s why many users want to change their MacBook screen resolution. This results in smaller text and things like buttons or borders. It also shows more on the screen at once.

Apple changed the way users control their MacBook screen resolution a few generations ago. Users no longer see raw resolution numbers like 1920 x 1080. For example, the 13-inch MacBook Pro that I’m using now offers an actual resolution of 3840 x 2160. However, the computer ships set at 1280 x 800. The screen looks crisp and sharp at this lower MacBook screen resolution. However, less content fits on the screen at once and constrains productivity. I don’t use two windows open side-by-side because each window only displays at 640 pixels wide. If I could raise the resolution, since the MacBook supports three times the resolution density, then I could see more in each application window. Look at the comparison below to see the difference.

I took the above screenshot on my 13-inch MacBook Pro at the default screen resolution of 1280 x 800. Text looks sharp and images look beautiful. However, I don’t see as much on the screen as I do when the resolution displays the content at 1920 x 1200 as we see below. The browser window wasn’t resized. There’s space to put a Twitter or Slack window to the right of my browser without seeing less in Chrome. Also, I can increase the vertical size of Chrome to see more of the GottaBeMobile home page.

Now, look at the screen shot below. This shows how much smaller the same sized browser window looks at the highest possible resolution on my MacBook Pro. This MacBook screen resolution probably makes on-screen controls and text almost unusable. However, in some situations it might make a lot of sense, like those times when I want to hook it up to a projector and mirror the built-in display with the projector’s display.

How can we adjust the MacBook screen resolution to make it look the way we want? Users may prefer using a lower resolution if their eyesight isn’t as good. Younger people may prefer using a higher resolution since they can see small text and buttons easier. We will need to adjust the resolution to make it work the way we want. See the four options below, the built-in controls in OS X Settings and three app options.

Change MacBook Screen Resolution Using System Settings

OS X includes a built-in way to control screen resolution. To find it open the computer’s Settings app either from the Dock or by clicking on the Apple menu button in the upper left corner of the screen.

Click on the Display tab to show the MacBook screen resolution settings. By default OS X comes with Default for display selected. This sets it at a lower resolution of 1280 x 800 (on the 13-inch MacBook Pro) which many say looks the best on most MacBooks. However, users can change this by selecting Scaled.

Macbook Pro Won't Log In

When the user selects Scaled four options show up below it. The arrangement goes from the lowest resolution option on the left to the highest resolution option on the right. Apple labels them Larger Text, Default and More Space. A fourth option sits between the Default and More Space options. I’ve listed the numerical resolutions for these four options on my 13-inch MacBook Pro.

640 x 480 or VGA resolution labelled Larger Text.
1280 x 800 or close to 720p resolution (the Default option).
1440 x 900 is the unlabeled option of the four.
1680 x 1080 is the option labelled More Space.

I prefer the unnamed 1440 x 900 option most of the time. However, what if someone wants to change it to the native 1080p resolution of 1920 x 1080 or even higher? They will need to install an app that will change the MacBook screen resolution.

The three apps listed below offer their own benefits and deficiencies. Let’s start with the best option because it’s free.

DisableMonitor – the Best Free Option

Most people can look no further than the free DisableMonitor app available on GitHub for free.

Download the zip file and double-click it to extract the self-contained app. Move it over to the Applications folder in your Home folder on OS X. Double click it to run it.

OS X will probably ask the user to confirm that they want to open the app since it comes from the Internet. It’s safe to install the app. If the app doesn’t run, thanks to Apple’s draconian security settings, open OS X Settings to change one setting in the Security & Privacy section of OS X Settings. To find this, click on the Settings app in the OS X Dock or click on the Apple icon in the menu bar on the top left corner. Then choose System Preferences.

First, click on the lock icon in the lower left corner labelled Click the lock to make changes. Then, click on the Anywhere option under Allow apps downloaded from: at the bottom of the box. Now try to open DisableMonitor by double-clicking it again and it should open.

DisableMonitor runs in the background and puts an icon in the Menu bar in the upper right corner of the screen. It looks like a monitor. Click on it to show the drop down box.

The drop down menu of DisableMonitor shows four menu items. The first shows the monitor or monitors connected to the MacBook. If the user didn’t connect an external display, the menu only shows the built-in Color LCD display.

The Lock Screens menu item lets users turn off the display immediately. Use this to quickly hide the screen when you want to step away from the computer. If you’ve set the Require password security setting to Immediately, the user must enter a password each time she wakes her monitor. This secures the computer when you step away from the MacBook for a second.

The Detect Monitors option will do as it says. The operating system will detect a new monitor that the user hooked up if the OS didn’t detect it automatically.

The About option gives info about the app and offers a Check for Updates option.

The arrow pointing to the right next to the connected displays shows that there’s a flare out menu that lists all the possible resolution choices.

The user can select Disable to turn that monitor off if it’s no longer connected. There’s also the list of available resolutions with the screen aspect ratio in brackets next to each resolution. The Manage option opens a dialog box that lets the user turn on or off the menu items. Select it and uncheck any resolutions you don’t want to see on the menu.

Notice that I unchecked the lowest resolution options and the highest resolution options.

When the user selects a resolution, the operating system changes within a couple of seconds.

A few other options come with a few more bells and whistles like SwitchResX (14 Euros from Madrau) and Resolution Switcher ($3.99 in Mac App Store). SwitchResX will rotate the display and handles color profiles from the program’s menu bar drop down box. It also lets the user set specific displays tied to programs installed on the Mac. If someone wants a high-resolution for running Photoshop, but they’d like a low resolution for surfing the web, they can specify that in the SwitchResX Preferences. For the price, the user gets a lot more control over resolutions.