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A hands-on look at iStat Menus 3

by Steven Sande Apr 27th 2010 at 4:00PM

During the summer of 2008, I was using my MacBook Air outside on a very hot (102°F in the shade) day when I noticed that the laptop seemed to have slowed down to the point that it was almost unusable. Fortunately, I had installed iSlayer's iStat, and I was able to tell at a glance that one of the cores of the Core 2 Duo processor had shut down.

Sure enough, a quick look around the Web pointed out that other MacBook Air owners were running into similar problems in "warm" conditions. Cooling off the MBA resolved the issue (and made me a lot cooler, too!), and I've never had the problem since. That one occurrence taught me the value of a tool like iStat, so the application has been on my Macs ever since.

Now comes iStat Menus 3, the latest version of the venerable Mac monitoring application. The company name has changed -- it's now Bjango -- but the product still remains a useful tool for those of us who like to keep an eye on the internal workings of our Macs. I recently bought iStat Menus 3 to install on a new i7 iMac, so here are some of my first impressions of the app.
iStat has always let you monitor information about your Mac from the menu bar, so checking on CPU and memory usage, temperatures and fan speeds, and a host of other items are still in the app. iStat Menus 3 fixed some issues with earlier versions, added many enhancements, and is now easier to install and use.

There's a new battery extra that lets you configure low battery warnings and provides custom information for plugged-in or battery power states. For those of us with Bluetooth keyboards and mice, iStat now monitors those devices as well. I have an APC Uninterruptible Power Supply for my main desktop computer, and the battery extra even monitors the charging status of it.

Have you ever wanted to control the fan speed on your Intel-based Mac? The Sensors extra now includes a control to do just that. While I'm not sure I'll use that feature that much because of the fan noise, it was fun to pump up the fan speed and watch the temperature of the CPU drop over 20°F.

I've always preferred the Date & Time extra in iStats over the general display that is available on the Mac. You can now include moon phase information as well as sun/moon rise and set times for your current city and over 20,000 other locations. There's also a fuzzy clock feature ("about twenty after 12") that is new. I tried it, I discarded it. Your mileage may vary.

If you have one of the newer Mac models, support for those has been added to the Network extra. I personally thought that the addition of the public IP address to the drop-down menu was a great idea, since it's something that I frequently need to look up and can now do with a single click.

All of the menu items are controlled from a preferences panel, and that has been upgraded considerably as well. The folks at Bjango are geniuses at UI design, and this version continues the tradition.

You can download iStat Menus 3 for a 14-day full trial, or purchase the app online for just US$10 at the current sale price. Anyone who likes to control and monitor their Mac should get iStat Menus 3 as quickly as possible. Check out the gallery below for some screen shots of the application in action.

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During the summer of 2008, I was using my MacBook Air outside on a very hot (102°F in the shade) day when I noticed that the laptop...
 

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Scrumper

Although $10 isn't a big deal (whatever that converts to in £s) and probably good value for such a useful app, what I don't like is that I am now getting a nag screen every time I boot up, inviting me to upgrade. The three options it gives are: "skip this version", "remind me later" and "upgrade now". Well on the past four occasions I have clicked on the "skip this version" button and yet still I have the nag screen. It clearly isn't going to let me skip this version without a fight! Not impressed with that behaviour - I have a basic Core 2 Duo Macbook (2008) running OS X 10.5.8 so I have no need for a newer version. If I am given an option to "skip this version" then I expect to be able to "skip this version"!

April 29 2010 at 2:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Scrumper's comment
Moons11

Maybe you've done this but just go to prefs (in system prefs) and un-check Updates Checker. And/or get LittleSnitch and block the internet connection to check for that bit of app.

April 29 2010 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mail

FYI:

"Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)"
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html

April 28 2010 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
x23

i will say that at $10 a pop... this has quite clearly moved from a 'must have' install in my office to a 'not anymore. time to look for something else.' ... so there are 40 machines that will never be upgrading.

iStat 2.0 not working on the new Core i5/i7 machines was "solved" by me... i just turned off the networking menu in iStat. installed MenuMeters with *only* the networking menu on.

April 28 2010 at 7:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
x23

"I have an APC Uninterruptible Power Supply for my main desktop computer, and the battery extra even monitors the charging status of it."

er... this has been built-in to OSX for a long time. i've had the Apple-supplied menu bar icon displaying the charging status / battery state / battery levels for my UPS for literally ages now.

it'd be like bragging that the program will let you set your monitor resolution right from the menu bar... wow!

April 28 2010 at 7:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nuts

The network monitor didnt work in 2.0. I hope theyve fixed it now

April 28 2010 at 6:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Moons11

For the record, i think iStat Menus is great. Its on my menubar and has been since it was first released (2+ years?). And i totally appreciate the developer deciding to charge for this release. However, it was offered for free for whatever reason - create good will, raise the profile of the company, etc etc - the reasons could be endless.... either way it was choice for reasons best known by the developer at that time.

When 2.0 breaks because the OSX updates then i might upgrade until then i dont see any reason that me or others should not be able to use 2.0. Unless i find a free alternative which is AS GOOD. iStat has been extremely useful in seeing when an app glitches and the cpu starts zapping battery etc.

However, i do think $15 is alittle high for this app. Consider iPhone apps offering far greater functionality, albeit on a different (but related) platform are avg $5. I think $5 would have been more reasonable for this type of app. Maybe the developers are hoping to gain some monies for versions 1 & 2?

Anyway, i appreciate the economics of living on this planet (with stupid humans in a ridiculously money driven society).

April 28 2010 at 3:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric Swan

Wow! So many cheap ass 13 yo virgins whining cause a developer wants to actually get paid for his hard work! Ask your mommy and daddy if they are willing to work all year for FREE and give away everything to some internet losers?

April 28 2010 at 3:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Eric Swan's comment
Moons11

JUDGING people as 'cheap' is alittle cheap coming from someone who's previous comments on TUAW etc have all been "Gimme!!! or "SWAG SWAG SWAG ... you know you want it !" on every competition or giveaway ...... whos cheap? I think someone needs to check themselves.

Anyway, i didnt care about your comment whatsoever, i was just browsing followed my curiosity.... im not looking for an 'exchange' with you just pointing out what looks like a hypocritical comment.

April 28 2010 at 3:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Janichsan

I'm wondering what "Dropbox" does in one of the screenshots that it gobbles up 7% CPU. When it does nothing at all at this moment (that the user has initiated) that would be one good reason not to use it.

April 28 2010 at 2:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mjcerisano

Permanent Link to 2.0:


http://rapidshare.com/files/380976864/istatmenus2.0.zip

April 27 2010 at 9:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Russell

$10 for a quality app that I use everyday, what is it with you people? Don't you believe that developers need to feed their families so that they can keep releasing great software? If you like it pay for it, otherwise find an alternative...you cheap skates make me mad ;)

April 27 2010 at 8:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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