New to Mac

[Jonezy712]

Hi!

So the lure of Mac finally got me. I have a MacBook Pro M1 ordered and expecting delivery in the next week and a half. I am heavily invested in the apple ecosystem - owning iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch so finally took the plunge into the full Mac environment. Prior to this I’ve always been a Windows user.

 

Just looking for any tips or things to be mindful of as a soon to be new Mac OS user. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

 

Thanks

[Brandon H Supervisor]

not much to say really. When you get it you can install your Browser of choice and go from there.

 

Is this going to be your day to day general consumption machine or do you have specific tasks/duties in mind?

 

besides being ARM based it shouldn't be any different from any other PC; macOS can do most things that Windows can, more in some cases. It all depends on what you need.

The only thing that will be lacking for a little bit on the M1 models is customization apps, which I'm not sure even matter to you.

[Farchord]

What Brandon said. Frankly what PCs do Macs can do too and sometimes better. The only thing that might lack for now is virtualization, but even then, it is coming soon. 

 

Most apps have a Mac version, or a mac alternative that very often works better than the PC version (For some reason).

 

I converted over to mac (For work anyway) 6 months ago and I was hesitant at first as I'm a .NET coder. But I got Parallels and I love it.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I'm not sure if it is still the case, but in Windows you might be used to closing programs by pressing the X in the top right corner of the application. On a Mac the close, minimize and maximize buttons are over on the left side of the window. The close button doesn't shut down the application though, it just closes the window. To close the application you need to click on the name of the application on the very top bar and select quit.

 

Added bonus tip for the above: if you use Alt+F4 in windows, the Mac shortcut is Command(⌘)+Q. This will close the application completely, not just the window.

 

A very simple tip, but it might help if you gave us a more specific question.

[adrynalyne]

3 minutes ago, Farchord said:

What Brandon said. Frankly what PCs do Macs can do too and sometimes better. The only thing that might lack for now is virtualization, but even then, it is coming soon. 

 

Most apps have a Mac version, or a mac alternative that very often works better than the PC version (For some reason).

 

I converted over to mac (For work anyway) 6 months ago and I was hesitant at first as I'm a .NET coder. But I got Parallels and I love it.

Must be legacy .NET, or desktop applications. Most of the .NET I work on these days doesn’t need Windows. 

[Farchord]

Just now, adrynalyne said:

Must be legacy .NET, or desktop applications. Most of the .NET I work on these days doesn’t need Windows. 

I do alot of Windows Console app building and ASP.net, to be frank I mostly code in VB so I need the full Visual Studio.... I think.

 

Not a professional coder btw

[adrynalyne]

Just now, Farchord said:

I do alot of Windows Console app building and ASP.net, to be frank I mostly code in VB so I need the full Visual Studio.... I think.

 

Not a professional coder btw

Ah. Not sure there, I left VB in the dirt years ago and have been happier for it. 😉

[Farchord]

Just now, adrynalyne said:

Ah. Not sure there, I left VB in the dirt years ago and have been happier for it. 😉

c# I'm guessing? Maybe I should make the switch...

[adrynalyne]

Just now, Farchord said:

c# I'm guessing? Maybe I should make the switch...

Yeah. I like the syntax a lot more. I mean, it’s up to your taste I suppose and there is still demand out there somewhere for VB I’m sure if you are thinking of doing this professionally. I would say C# is more popular though. 

[WinMacLin Guy]

Here are some tips I can give you as a 15 year Mac user:

 

1. Closing a window on a Mac app often doesn't close the app itself (there are a few cases where it does, but mostly no) so you have to close the app either through the menu bar or by right clicking the app icon on the dock. You can also use Command + Q shortcut

 

2. By default the maximize button will make your app fullscreen. If you want to maximize (actually the feature is called Zoom on Mac and it doesn't always maximize but rather resizes the window to fit content) without going fullscreen you can hold Option on the keyboard and press the maximize key.

 

3. Hovering over the maximize/fullscreen buttons will let you tile the Window to take up half of the screen and it will let you transfer the window easily to an external display.

 

4. The equivalent to the Windows File Manager/Explorer is the Finder

A) Pressing space on the keyboard or force touching (if you don't want to force touch you can configure the trackpad to respond to three tap gesture) a file or a link will give you a preview of its contents (also works in Safari, Mail, and other compatible apps).

 

5. Here are some tips since you have other Apple products (make sure all are logged on the same Apple ID, are on the same network, have bluetooth and WIFI enabled):

A) By enabling handoff on your Mac and iOS devices you can import pictures, scans, and sketches directly from your iPhone or iPad (simply right click on the desktop, in the Finder, or in a supported app and select "Import from iPhone/iPad). You can also take/make calls from your iPhone on your Mac and automatically share the data connection of your iPhone if no WIFI hotspots are available.

B) With handoff enabled, you can continue where you left on in an app on iPhone or iPad on your Mac. Once you put down on your iPhone/iPad you will see a second dock popup with the app you were using and the state of the app, so you can continue on the Mac.

C) Macs have a feature called SideCar which allow you to use your iPad as a secondary display with Apple Pencil and limited touch support.

D) There is a feature called continuity clipboard which allows you to copy from any device (say an iPhone) and then paste on another device (say on your Mac)

E) You can setup your Apple Watch to authenticate you on your Mac (allow you to login, or enter the admin password) simply by having the Watch unlocked and on your wrist.

 

6. By default some Macs are configured to only run Apps from the App Store and/or with a trusted certificate. You can change these settings by going into System Preferences -> Security and Privacy so you can obtain apps from wherever you want. Certain apps that do not have a valid certificate will not run by default and give you an error that they were blocked, you can still open these by pressing "Open Anyway" in the Security and Privacy panel in System Preferences.

 

7. Command + Option + Escape will bring up a force close menu in case you want to close a non-responsive app. To get more details on system processes you can use the Activity Monitor app.

 

8. The Menu Bar at the top of the screen changes depending on the app you are on and many apps implement functions through that menu bar. It can become hard to remember where everything is in the Menu Bar but the Help menu has a search box that will point to the exact function you need and its location in the Menu Bar.

 

9. Command + Space will bring up Spotlight search (similar to Windows Search)

 

10. MacOS has really useful Window Management features in the form of Mission Control (All open app windows + all of your desktops) and App Expose (minimized and active windows pertaining to a single application, you can switch between apps in this mode by going through the dock). You can configure it to your liking in System Preferences.

A) You can setup hot corners so when you take your mouse to a certain corner it will trigger a certain window management function.

B) There are keyboard shortcuts and trackpad gestures you can use to activate various window management functions

C) You can view all installed apps on your Mac by going into LaunchPad (icon is in the dock, and you can set a keyboard and/or trackpad shortcut).

 

11. Since we are in the middle of transition from Intel to Apple Silicon, you might want to check to see if the apps that you are using are optimized for your system. Go into the Apple Menu in the Menu Bar, press "About This Mac", and the go into "System Report" (here you can see lots of details about your hardware and software). In System Report press "Applications". From here you can see the kind of apps that are on your system. Apple Silicon apps will only run on Apple Silicon Macs, Universal Apps will work under both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs natively, Intel apps will run on your Mac through Rosetta's translation layer (try to find Universal equivalents to these if you want the best performance and long-term compatibility), iOS apps are apps made from iPhone and iPad that run on Apple Silicon apps (they run natively, but because Macs do not have touchscreen some might not function well).

 

12. If you want to uninstall App Store apps simply go into launchpad hold the app icon until it starts jiggling and press the x button (like on iPhone). For apps you got off of the internet you can usually just drag them to the trash from the Application folder, but sometimes they leave residue files around your system (usually these files are in your user Library folder, which you can access by holding option + going into the Go menu in the Menu Bar while in finder), under Application Support; but for downloaded non-App Store apps the location where files are kept can be different and some have helpful uninstaller to remove the app and the residue files.

A) If you download apps from the browser or through a non-App Store source you should manually drag the app in the Application folder as best practice (if the App has an installer usually it will do it automatically).

[allannyholm]

Just adding a few more tips from what've I learned in my years as a Mac user:

1) The shortcut Command + H will hide the window or app highlighted. Could be much easier than quitting or closing apps. On the keyboard it's often a more convenient shortcut because of the keyboard layout.
You can experiment.

1.1) The Zoom window instead of fullscreen will come forth when you hold down the Option key when on the right-most window controls(the close, minimize section) Could be useful. That's the classic look that I "grew" up with seeing.

2) When in the menubar for e.g Finder - try holding down either Command or Option or a combination of the two to see if there's something in there that you could find useful to have on the ready when using keyboard only.
There's hidden diagnostic and reset options that appear for this. For the Wifi module(if set up to be in the menubar on Big Sur) there's  Shift+Option and right click on the mouse or trackpad that will give you more information about said Wifi connection or your Bluetooth module for that matter - the same shortcut applies to that too.

3) In terms of applications that can help you "soften" the switch - there's AltTab for macOS here https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos
 

3.1) While the company ManyTricks has Witch(that I use) there's the free alternative above. Command + Tab on the Mac has an OK way of operating, but sometimes I find myself wanting to have the functionality of Alt + Tab available on Windows be present on macOS - for whatever reason.

 

3.2) The shortcut mentioned earlier; Command + H will come in handy for use with the built-in application switcher on macOS. You will probably see why once you try out using macOS for a period of time.

3.3) I almost forgot.. System Preferences - the right-most icon with the gears on the default Dock setup. Open that and look around. Accessibility settings for instance; Reduce Motion of the OS is in there and there's much more to be looked at; Settings for the Dock and Menubar and system Sounds and so on.

 

3.4) Finder has its own Preferences at Command+, (that last thing is a comma) That shortcut can be used to access preferences/settings on most macOS applications - some applications that could be exempt for having macOS shortcuts support is those ported from Windows or Linux; XNViewMP does have support for macOS shortcuts, but some could not have.

4) I'd like to just step back to what I mention in my 3rd point - about third-party applications. I think that you'll quickly find out what your needs are. And I apologize in advance if the programs I mentioned isn't updated for the M1 processor.. It just struck me that it's a thing now.

 

4.1) Please give a holla back and enjoy what comes next with your Mac computer for which I sort of envy you. I'm sure the M1 will completely obliterate my i5 CPU from around 2015.

 

Closing thoughts, why did I write so much about shortcuts? Makes no sense. I know so much more than that. Anyway.. holla back. I can help out with most application needs, as I'm sure plenty more than me can. If not, then there's Mac-centric forums.

 

[adrynalyne]

Here is what I’ve learned recently. Big Sur is buggy AF. Expect gremlins for a few months. 

[spy beef]

Some recommended software,

 

Terminal emulator : iTerm2
Text editor               : MacVim
Package Manager   : MacPorts
VNC client                : TigerVNC
Hex Editor                : Hex Fiend

 

 

[Matthew S.]

1 hour ago, adrynalyne said:

Here is what I’ve learned recently. Big Sur is buggy AF. Expect gremlins for a few months. 

I haven't experienced any issues on my iMac 5k (2015 model) or MacBook Pro 15inch (2018/19 model), got any examples of buggy-ness, except that developer one where you can't hard code library paths anymore?

 

My only tip to provide is make sure you install xcode and install the command line tools, then install either Homebrew or Macports that way you'll have a package manager for software and or development libraries and can install updated packages when apple lets the stock ones age without updating, looking at you PHP...

 

 php --version
WARNING: PHP is not recommended\nPHP is included in macOS for compatibility with legacy software.\nFuture versions of macOS will not include PHP.
PHP 7.3.22-(to be removed in future macOS) (cli) (built: Oct 30 2020 00:19:11) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) 1997-2018 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.3.22, Copyright (c) 1998-2018 Zend Technologies

 

Interesting...

Edited November 28, 2020 by Matthew S.

[adrynalyne]

6 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

I haven't experienced any issues on my iMac 5k (2015 model) or MacBook Pro 15inch (2018/19 model), got any examples of buggy-ness, except that developer one where you can't hard code library paths anymore?

Battery life tanked even after indexing, it’s noticeably slower than Catalina, there are memory leaks. I’m even getting severe battery drain when my 16 is asleep. I see frequent beach balls and mouse skipping that only gets resolved on reboot. I shouldn’t have to guess if an app is going to launch or just bounce in the dock until I force close it. 
 

I had hoped this wouldn’t have been a repeat of early Catalina days but...

 

Even M1 macs seem to be getting hiccups. 
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/out-of-system-memory-with-photos-on-mac-os-big-sur.2270770/

[adrynalyne]

Look at this memory  leak. 
 

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/huge-safari-memory-leak.2268183/

[Matthew S.]

Weird, haven't experienced any of that :S or i'm just lucky?

 

Mind you I also don't use Safari or many of the stock apps, but I do leave Chrome and Firefox running constantly and with over 50+ tabs each on my iMac which has 32gb of ram, mind you chrome itself is a memory leak on any platform so will rule that one as a false dud lol

[adrynalyne]

23 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

Weird, haven't experienced any of that :S or i'm just lucky?

 

Mind you I also don't use Safari or many of the stock apps, but I do leave Chrome and Firefox running constantly and with over 50+ tabs each on my iMac which has 32gb of ram, mind you chrome itself is a memory leak on any platform so will rule that one as a false dud lol

Well as you know, not all of us have the same experiences, but they are out there.

 

This one is interesting, only because its also made it to YouTube and seems to be common to the M1.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/big-sur-is-locking-up-my-m1-macbook-air.2270062/

~7:25. This almost looks like it might not be a Big Sur issue, but for M1 owners, I hope it is.

[UKer]

On 27/11/2020 at 13:45, Jonezy712 said:

Hi!

So the lure of Mac finally got me. I have a MacBook Pro M1 ordered and expecting delivery in the next week and a half. I am heavily invested in the apple ecosystem - owning iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch so finally took the plunge into the full Mac environment. Prior to this I’ve always been a Windows user.

 

Just looking for any tips or things to be mindful of as a soon to be new Mac OS user. Can’t wait to get my hands on it!

 

Thanks

I'd definitely recommend Keyboard Maestro - it allows you to create macros visually and bind them to keys or events. Using this, you can just about control any aspect of the Mac using keyboard shortcuts. I have keyboard shortcuts that resize windows, do exports from applications, control the clipboard and lots more.

[allannyholm]

On 27/11/2020 at 15:44, Farchord said:

I do alot of Windows Console app building and ASP.net, to be frank I mostly code in VB so I need the full Visual Studio.... I think.

 

Not a professional coder btw

Have you tried downloading Visual Studio for your Mac also? From here, right-most segment: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com

 

[adrynalyne]

1 hour ago, allan.nyholm said:

Have you tried downloading Visual Studio for your Mac also? From here, right-most segment: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com

 

It is very limited in what legacy stuff it supports. Basically, it supports what Mono supports.

[allannyholm]

31 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

It is very limited in what legacy stuff it supports. Basically, it supports what Mono supports.

Ah, well. I just noticed it some time ago when initially looking for the Visual Studio Code application. I'm only a hobbyist coder, and coder is stretching it a bit.

I have only contributed to the ThemeEngine and Mousecape programs and produced a few Xcode projects that produce CoreAnimationArchives for ... ThemeEngine.. So yea, coder is stretching it.

I am not well-versed in the coding-universe so my suggestion came from that. Thanks for elaborating.
 

[Jonezy712]

Thanks for all the tips everyone, some really useful information and pointers. My MacBook finally arrived today - safe to say I don't think I'll be regretting making the switch. Absolutely beautiful machine & OS.