iStat Menus by Bjango has been updated to version 4, adding a new look and new features. Among other things, the app now shows a historical chart of various system metrics looking at the past hour, 24 hours and week. It also adds a Little Snitch-esque look at which processes are using up network bandwidth.
Bjango has now come out with iStat Menus 4, and the new version has some interesting and, for me, welcome changes. Aside from the usual bug fixes, Retina support and better Mountain Lion compatibility, iStat Menus 4 introduces a refreshed look that brings consistency with Bjango’s other iStat app, iStat 2. iStat Menus now features the same style for graphs and charts as iStat 2, and, even better, it comes with the same History menu to view a component’s performance over time. For instance, you can mouse over the CPU’s main graph and check out a second menu with History for the past hour, 24 hours, and 7 days. There are more time-related view options available, and there’s more to customize in the app’s Preferences (which have also been redesigned, and it took me a while to get used to them at first). I appreciate the consistency with iStat 2, and I like History because it lets me easily check my network’s conditions over time.
iStat Menus 4 is available for $16 via Bjango's online store. It's $9 for current iStat Menus 3 owners.
Top Rated Comments
This post makes me sad.
That's correct — we kept the iSlayer website and all the widgets around for several years after we ceased development of them. If you'd like to download one of the widgets, I can provide a link.
This is a known issues that some users (definitely not all) are seeing. We're working hard on a fix right now (we think we have it solved, but are still doing some testing).
Do you have the Primary Interface set to Automatic? It's possible you're monitoring an interface that's not the one you're using for internet.
Ugly in which way? We're definitely going to make some design changes as version 4 progresses.
Which Mac model do you have? The text is already smaller than Apple's standard menus. I'm not sure we'd want to go much smaller.
We're totally fine with that and hope you're enjoying iStat Menus 3.
November 12 is the cut off. If anyone purchased iStat Menu on or after November 12, please get in touch and we'll give you an upgrade.
That's new for iStat Menus 4. :)
Yep. We've been able to do a few nice things like upgrade pricing, a 14 day trial and we've been able to upgrade people who bought recently. All not possible if we were on the Mac App Store. (Not that iStat Menus could be on the Mac App Store anyway.)
Thank you. Please see above regarding Mac App Store. Not possible for iStat Menus without drastically changing the functionality, unfortunately.
We've updated iStat Menus 3 twenty times since the initial release, plus added new features and support for new Macs. To add support for new Macs, we typically have to buy every single model. We often sell the Macs not long after, but it's a huge app to maintain and develop. Thank you for your comments — this definitely hasn't been a trivial endeavour for us and we still have lots of things planned for 4.x.
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If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them in a timely fashion.
Cheers,
Marc
http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/
You've got to be kidding me. I bought v3.0 in May 2010 for $16. More than two and a half years later I can get an upgrade for $9. That's less than three lattes at Starbucks. It really isn't that much money. I have to say I use iStat menus a lot. I like to see the network speed when I am transferring files around the house and I like to see the CPU temp and activity levels - especially when I am doing video encoding. It's a very useful application.
The developers have to make some money, they really can't just give the product away for free. They aren't out there monetizing the thing every twelve months. Again, it's been 31 months since I purchased 3.0 and they've constantly upgraded the product through various Apple system upgrades to maintain compatibility. This product is a steal at the price. Don't begrudge the authors for wanting to make a little profit. They have a nice suite of integrated products at reasonable prices. It would be nice if there were more small developers like them.
Yeah, I don't see any reason to upgrade either.