Here are the 2 Best System Monitoring Apps For Mac to Help You Check Resource Usage. MagicPaster takes a different approach to system monitoring. Yes, the app’s icon sits in the menu bar but. Top comment 'very easy to use.I love the screen.Remote Desktop - just using it as-is took up the whole monitor which is okay and nice, actually - but when I changed the resolution for RDP to 1280 x 800 I found that I can place two RDP sessions on the monitor quite easily and still have room to work with.Purchased this monitor on and it is an awesome deal!
Apple’s Mac mini is a machine that’s well-loved by many consumers for its versatility and relatively low price point
Because of that, the Mac mini has become a favorite for people setting up servers, home media hubs, or another secondary device.
Of course, in those use scenarios, it’s not worth connecting a Mac mini to a computer monitor and other accessories all of the time. What you need is a quick, easy way to use your Mac mini without a display.
Luckily, Apple has a couple options that will let you do so — including a handy feature called Screen Sharing.
Contents
1 What is Screen Sharing in macOS?
2 Remote Management: An Alternative Option
What is Screen Sharing in macOS?
Basically, Screen Sharing is a simple method baked into macOS that lets users remotely control a Mac from another computer.
When you have Screen Sharing enabled, you can connect to, say, a Mac mini and start up a session on that computer.
From there, the Mac mini’s desktop will become visible and you can use the machine as if it’s actually connected to your monitor.
This, of course, is very handy so you can manage and tweak your Mac mini’s settings without needing to connect it to a mouse, keyboard and display first.
Here’s how to use it.
First, Configure Your Mac
Before you’re able to set up a Mac mini for use without a computer monitor or other peripherals, you’ll need a monitor (and a keyboard and mouse) to set it up.
Just plug all of your peripherals into your new Mac mini. Then, power it on and run through the standard macOS set up process.
How to Enable Screen Sharing
Open System Preferences.
Click on Sharing.
Write down the text next to Computer Name. You’ll need the name to connect remotely to your Mac mini.
You can also take note of the address, for an alternative method of connecting to your Mac mini.
Ensure that Screen Sharing is enabled by clicking on Screen Sharing in the left-hand menu. You should see the toggle in the middle turn green.
If you only want certain users to have access to connect to your Mac mini, look to the Allow access for box.
Either select All Users, or click the box next to Only these users: and add the specified users from there via the + add icon.
How To Connect Mac To Monitor
You can add users from Users & Groups, which includes users on your Mac.
Network Users or Network Groups includes users and groups with network server accounts.
You can also turn on Anyone may request permission to control screen. This lets another user request permission before Screen Sharing can commence — you have to explicitly accept them, but it doesn’t require a password.
Lastly, if you’d like to remotely connect to your Mac mini from a Windows PC or another non-macOS machine, you’ll need to carry out a few additional steps.
Click on Computer Settings.
Check the box next to VNC Viewers may control screen with a password.
Set a password for a non-Mac machine to use when connecting — be sure to write it down somewhere safe.
When you’re done, click on OK.
From there, you can use a VNC viewer app to remotely access the Mac mini on an iPad or another computer. You just need the password.
Using Screen Sharing
Once it’s configured, you can easily access Screen Sharing through the native Finder app.
Do note that both computers must be on the same Wi-Fi or internet network for this to work. It’s also helpful to have both computers signed into the same Apple ID — otherwise, you’ll need to enter the Apple ID and password of an authorized user.
Open the Finder app.
Under the Locations subheading, click on Network.
Double click on the Computer Name that you took note of or wrote down earlier.
Click on Share Screen.
If prompted, enter your User Name and Password.
Click on Sign In.
Alternatively, you can open Finder, click on Go > Connect to Server, and enter the address of the Mac you’d like to Screen Share.
Adjusting Some Settings
When you’re using Screen Sharing, you can also set various preferences that could be helpful.
On your Mac mini, just click on the Screen Sharing menu in the top bar and select Preferences. You’ll find various options for scaling the shared screen, changing its quality on network conditions, and blocking certain users.
You can find a similar suite of settings on the Mac you’re shared to by clicking on the View tab.
Remote Management: An Alternative Option
It’s worth noting that there’s another system built into macOS that offers similar capabilities: Remote Management.
But Remote Management is aimed at system administrators and IT people because it allows for finer controls and configuring capabilities on several Mac devices from a single point.
While it’s great for that purpose, Screen Sharing is recommended for the average user.
Keep in mind that only one of the two features may be enabled at one time. You’ll have to disable one to turn on another.
Mike is a freelance journalist from San Diego, California.
While he primarily covers Apple and consumer technology, he has past experience writing about public safety, local government, and education for a variety of publications.
He’s worn quite a few hats in the journalism field, including writer, editor, and news designer.
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Your computer is equipped with a lot of sensors so that the system can keep an eye on the health of the hardware. macOS has a built-in system monitoring utility called Activity Monitor, which may be unfamiliar to most casual Mac users. And even fewer understand how to properly use Activity Monitor to manage memory usage, fix slow apps, and troubleshoot various many other issues.
Activity Monitor's advantage over all third party Mac monitoring apps is its ability to inspect and even kill a process that requires too many hardware resources. This is something no third party app has the permission to do, despite having access to all the sensor information data and displaying it in an easy-to-read design.
iStat Menus
Available as a separate purchase or via Setapp, Bjango's iStat Menus is one of the best Mac monitoring apps available. You may already be familiar with the iStat Pro widget from the same developer, which displays the same data in the dashboard. One of the best things about iStat Menus is that there is a quick view for the essential data right in the menu bar. If you want more data and visuals, just click on the desired item. Customize the data by turning on the monitoring only for what you want it to keep an eye on. That's a nice advantage over the competing apps, even Bjango's own iStat widget which only displays all the information in one window.
Best Monitors For Mac
iStat Menus, however, lets you monitor only the CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, battery, power, time, or any combinations of these. Bjango's iStat Menus can be trialed for 14 days for free, but after that you'll need to purchase a license for $18 or upgrade for $9.99 if you already happen to own version 3 or 4. The Family Pack allows iStat Menus to be used on up to five Macs within the same household.
TG Pro
Short for Temperature Gauge Pro, this tool could become a Mac monitoring utility that you become attached to. While iStat Menus only displays information, TG Pro goes one step further and offers an option to control your Mac's fans, along with offering an overview of the sensor data that macOS gives access to. That's a very important feature if you want the computer to deliver optimal performance. In addition, TG Pro offers a color-coded visual explanation of what is happening with the computer's internals: green means that you can relax, orange that the hardware is approaching its limits, and red represents that it is very close to the thermal limit.
What TG Pro does is provide control over the fan speed to cool down your Mac's hardware, which is especially useful on hot summer days when Macs tend to overheat. This Mac monitoring app will display quick temperature info in the menu bar, but to gain access to all the information available you’ll need to either click on the TG Pro item to see a quick overview of the data or launch the app and get visual information for the targeted segment. While the TG Pro trial gives 10 days of free testing, it unfortunately limits the data it displays and therefore pushes users to purchase a license for $18.
Mac Server Os
XRG
Available as an open-source system monitor for Macs, XRG allows you to monitor CPU and GPU activity, memory usage, battery status, machine temperature, network activity, disk I/O, current weather, and stock market data. Just like the iStat Pro widget, it gives users a helpful overview of what is happening on your Mac, peppered with some handy visuals. In terms of the graphical user interface, XRG’s cannot be compared to that of iStat Menus or TG Pro but if you want a free app to have access to such data then XRG is a good option to choose.
Any one of these above apps will be useful to you if you are looking to optimize your Mac's performance. They each allow you to see – at a glance – the resource hogs that can be eliminated as well as all the data that your Mac’s sensors are collecting. That, combined with the use of Mac optimization apps such as CleanMyMac, CCleaner or MacKeeper, will create a computer that works optimally to perform all the tasks it is given.