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Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by hk1337 on Monday January 26, 2026 @06:57PM (#46773521)
MacBooks have been using remotes since at least 2005. There was a cinema app on there you could use to watch movies and use the remote to control it. I think you could use it with Keynote when it first came out too.
Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by pram on Monday January 26, 2026 @07:03PM (#46773585)
Yeah it was called Front Row, which brought up an Apple TV like interface in OSX. Pretty dumb they removed it IMO it was pretty good with iMacs.
Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by al_borland on Monday January 26, 2026 @07:49PM (#46773968)
It was great with the Mac mini. The actual Apple TV had its limitations, but with a Mac mini I had Front Row, plus a host of other media apps. I also had an app that would let me control everything with the IR remote they came with it. That was back when they still came with an optical drive as well, so I could also play (and rip) DVDs.
Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by cosmic_cheese on Monday January 26, 2026 @07:03PM (#46773584)
iMac G5s too! They even had a spot on their right side which was magnetic where the remote from that era could be stuck when not in use. My 20” iMac G5 doubled nicely as a TV in my high school years (and the 27” model with its dramatically nicer IPS panel even better in my college years).
Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by SanjayMehta on Monday January 26, 2026 @08:24PM (#46774269)
My first Intel iMac had that spot too.
Re:TIL the Apple TV Remote pairs with MacBooks for presentat... by brownindian on Monday January 26, 2026 @07:05PM (#46773622)
Ah good old days when I was in college and used to use my 2006 White Polycarbonate MacBook with the said remote as a glorified DVD player to play movies I'd rent from Blockbuster. Can't believe that was 20 years ago