Gadgetory

Apple's MacBook Pro is one of seen as top rated laptops it's a powerful and beautiful machine that can do just about everything but it doesn't have an audio recording input or does it I've had this computer for about a year now and I've only just figured this trick out if you go into the macbook system preferences and select sound you'll find the drop down menu here that will let you set the audio port as a recording input instead of a headphone jack you can also adjust the volume or the gain for this input using the slider up here this can be a useful tool if you want to record instrument into GarageBand or transfer recording from vinyl or cassette but when you want to listen back to what you've captured don't forget to switch back to headphone output for an even quicker way to access this setting hold down the option key and click on the volume icon at the top of the screen now the switchable audio port seems to be only available on Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro line so if you're trying to pull this off with a MacBook Air or some other Mac you're probably out of luck for more tips like these check out how to see Netcom you can also subscribe to my updates on Facebook or share your how-to recommendations with me on Twitter for cnet.com i'm donald bell