I've abandoned my principles...

Cius said:
The wife's work recently switched them over to mac laptops and she has been impressed. She works in design/marketing and they are decent for that. Battery life is amazing, price was honestly better than the windows equivalent, and it works for her. Has been a bit of a mission after so many years of windows to get used to the new shortcuts, and layout of the OS. Anyways, to each their own. While I was an unhappy windows laptop user I am also hoping to see Linux finally crack a solid gaming supported OS at which point I will switch. Not a fan of Windows 11 but also not personally wanting to go Mac at this point for my laptop.
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The keyboard shortcut re-programming is a thing. Took me a couple of months to get used to the new environment, I now struggle a little on Windows haha, but all in I'm good with the Mac way of doing things when you get used to it. It also feels alot more secure, like there are fewer ways you'll accidentally do something stupid. I also missed the mouse right click so I just use a two button mouse now... happy with that (MS Bluetooth 3600 mouse)
 
Swapped to M5 MP Pros at work, since easiest way to get 64GB of RAM at the moment. Been interesting having new hardware, and haven't used MacOS as a proper work machine since 2019.
Speedster said:
Speaking of clipboard - copyclip is a winner
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konfab said:
Raycast is such a productivity booster for me on MacOS.
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Was gonna say, get this, and turn off spotlight / replace it with Raycast, it has a clip tray in it, and you can install other extensions like kill process, and brew (lets you do brew search -> hit install on it), plus actually uninstall stuff easily.

I would also highly recommend Sidebar, MacOS really sucks at window management, either use Raycast and bind the keys there for window management or use Sidebar. I like doing it via Sidebar as you can have it also show zones if you drag to the edge. My set-up I have Spotify, Teams and Outlook set to the right, with Spotify being media, left side is a work client, and center is actual apps.

Then side track / recommend DockDoor has a way better window switcher, I don't understand how MacOS you'd want grouping for multiple windows. In default OS you can alt-tab, and then hit up arrow to swap between specific windows. Why. I rebound my alt-tab to it.

Sidebar

The modern Dock replacement for your Mac. All features at a glance
sidebarapp.net sidebarapp.net
Can do full window with taskbar, and all screens get their copy, plus can set it so app is only on screen it's open on. Use / shortcut to quick type to swap between open apps. Can customize taskbar to be full width or only as wide as what is open, where you want default apps on the taskbar, sort order, etc.

1782157140137.png
As in above you can force to full width as well, so empty space between things. You can customize how many apps on hover preview / when becomes a list, and if apps should have expanded text, plus set it per app basis.

Don't remember which app it is, but one of them is also to help with focus so you don't have to click on an app then click, it directly gives focus to the app you click on. Just in terminal apps like ghostty you need to stop it inserting mouse movements.

Also don't forget that the zoom/pinch gesture, three finger one, is under accessibility somewhere, you want to disable that. I prefer setting click sensitivity to light.

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And this is more dev, you want to install Ghostty as your terminal, you can set its themes if you like with preview and stuff, but I find Ghost Complete great as an add-on. Windows Terminal has the auto complete suggestion stuff, I like it, this adds that plus just checks what commands are possible so you have as a drop-down.
1782157578415.png
Nice shell set-up guide here: https://lucanerlich.com/other/my-shell-setup/ with starship.

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I would still prefer Linux though, miss my old work set-up :(
Still sucks that it doesn't support display port MST, sucks for home with 2x1440p, work I have a 5k2k 40" so it's fine.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Swapped to M5 MP Pros at work, since easiest way to get 64GB of RAM at the moment. Been interesting having new hardware, and haven't used MacOS as a proper work machine since 2019.


Was gonna say, get this, and turn off spotlight / replace it with Raycast, it has a clip tray in it, and you can install other extensions like kill process, and brew (lets you do brew search -> hit install on it), plus actually uninstall stuff easily.

I would also highly recommend Sidebar, MacOS really sucks at window management, either use Raycast and bind the keys there for window management or use Sidebar. I like doing it via Sidebar as you can have it also show zones if you drag to the edge. My set-up I have Spotify, Teams and Outlook set to the right, with Spotify being media, left side is a work client, and center is actual apps.

Then side track / recommend DockDoor has a way better window switcher, I don't understand how MacOS you'd want grouping for multiple windows. In default OS you can alt-tab, and then hit up arrow to swap between specific windows. Why. I rebound my alt-tab to it.

Sidebar

The modern Dock replacement for your Mac. All features at a glance
sidebarapp.net sidebarapp.net
Can do full window with taskbar, and all screens get their copy, plus can set it so app is only on screen it's open on. Use / shortcut to quick type to swap between open apps. Can customize taskbar to be full width or only as wide as what is open, where you want default apps on the taskbar, sort order, etc.

View attachment 1916506
As in above you can force to full width as well, so empty space between things. You can customize how many apps on hover preview / when becomes a list, and if apps should have expanded text, plus set it per app basis.
Click to expand...
Thanks, exactly what I was looking for. It was starting to bug me when you select a window and all of them pop up at once, and the only other way was a 4 finger swipe to go to Mission Control, but then you have a bunch of other noise to contend with.

Also Finder really sucks at file management. Most free options have their quirks too, and anything else that looks kind of decent seems to have a subscription attached to it.

Other than that it's pretty cool so far...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Thanks, exactly what I was looking for. It was starting to bug me when you select a window and all of them pop up at once, and the only other way was a 4 finger swipe to go to Mission Control, but then you have a bunch of other noise to contend with.

Also Finder really sucks at file management. Most free options have their quirks too, and anything else that looks kind of decent seems to have a subscription attached to it.

Other than that it's pretty cool so far...
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Hang in there. :p
 
Think MacOS’s built in window placement shortcuts would have been fine for me if it wasn’t using an Ultra Wide primarily.

So I use Magnet so I get a 1/3rd and 2/3rd split more easily.

Tend to have Slack in my left 1/3rd and all my personal stuff like Telegram/Whatsapp and so on in the right 1/3rd and then have my primary working window of whatever sitting in the middle overlapping them.

Occasionally will flip to two side by side “full screens” depending what I’m doing.
 
MCGA (make computers great again)

Just remember to stick one of these on the back of your car so others can be aware of your bad driving "skills"
1782195721784.png
 
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Couldn't stand Finder anymore. Bit the bullet and bought QSpace.

QSpace - A Better Finder

QSpace is a clean and efficient Multi-Pane File Manager, also can be a FTP,SFTP,WebDAV,OneDrive client. It has the same operating habits and interface presentation as Finder, and supports more flexible and practical features.
qspace.awehunt.com

Oh what a joy to not have to click on that stupid smiley face again. Plus immediate terminal access...
 
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SauRoNZA said:
Explain?

I don’t understand the Finder hate, but I guess I’ve used it for so long it just doesn’t even occur to me.
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1782198967445.png

And yeah I know you can add it to Finder, but you can't customise the crap out of Finder to do exactly what you want.

And the whole point of being able to do so is to help you be more efficient in a way that works for you. What you've done is adapted to a limitation...
 
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Mike Hoxbig said:
View attachment 1916566

And yeah I know you can add it to Finder, but you can't customise the crap out of Finder to do exactly what you want.
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But that's built right into the right-click on any folder? Or the three dots top-right in Finder.

1782204436855.png

I wouldn't want to use Terminal in such a tiny window. It's a weird way of working to me because I would just open Terminal directly and go where I need to go...not open Finder to go find it and then expect the Terminal to follow along.

Mike Hoxbig said:
View attachment 1916571

And the whole point of being able to do so is to help you be more efficient in a way that works for you. What you've done is adapted to a limitation...
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It's actually more a case of being a shell die hard and not really doing File Management with the GUI much at all so I don't really spend much time in Finder or see a major need for it so the limitations haven't really applied.

By and large I am a Spotlight by default person on MacOS and occasionally Command + Shift + G to get directly to an obscure path.

All I see in that screenshot is a failure to adapt to MacOS and it's shortcuts and just making everything like Windows.

The Limitation you speak of is failure to adapt...not anything wrong with the tool.
 
JerryMungo said:
Welcome
Just remember, only one external monitor for Air, but still a lekker machine to use. So you’ve come from windows? Need tips to stay sane (especially with the keyboard)?
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Nope.

If you gave a thunderbolt dock you can have 2 external displays. (source: I have this setup)
 
SauRoNZA said:
But that's built right into the right-click on any folder? Or the three dots top-right in Finder.

View attachment 1916594

I wouldn't want to use Terminal in such a tiny window. It's a weird way of working to me because I would just open Terminal directly and go where I need to go...not open Finder to go find it and then expect the Terminal to follow along.



It's actually more a case of being a shell die hard and not really doing File Management with the GUI much at all so I don't really spend much time in Finder or see a major need for it so the limitations haven't really applied.

By and large I am a Spotlight by default person on MacOS and occasionally Command + Shift + G to get directly to an obscure path.

All I see in that screenshot is a failure to adapt to MacOS and it's shortcuts and just making everything like Windows.

The Limitation you speak of is failure to adapt...not anything wrong with the tool.
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I think we're going to disagree on this and neither one of us is going to change our minds.

MS did a lot of annoying things, but one of the things they got right was Explorer. So much so that it remained pretty much untouched since Windows 3.0 and various flavours of Linux have tried to emulate it. There's a reason why people keep asking for their file managers to function more like that, and it's not a failure to adapt.

I'll concede the terminal point and put it down to still being fresh at this. So far I've been accessing it from Spotlight, didn't think to right-click. In hindsight it should have been more obvious to me because that's exactly how it works on Linux...
 
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Mike Hoxbig said:
I think we're going to disagree on this and neither one of us is going to change our minds.

MS did a lot of annoying things, but one of the things they got right was Explorer. So much so that it remained pretty much untouched since Windows 3.0 and various flavours of Linux have tried to emulate it. There's a reason why people keep asking for their file managers to function more like that, and it's not a failure to adapt.

I'll concede the terminal point and put it down to still being fresh at this. So far I've been accessing it from Spotlight, didn't think to right-click. In hindsight it should have been more obvious to me because that's exactly how it works on Linux...
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I was referring to your screenshot's immediate actions being to change the default shortcuts for a number of things, as a failure to adapt, not so much the usage of Finder itself. Most of everything in that screenshot is augmenting the standard MacOS shortcuts to make them like Windows.

Which isn't a good thing because it likely means you will now get stuck in other things failing to understand why it isn't working the way you expect it to because you've overridden the defaults in one app but can't necessarily do so in another.

My opinion is that vanilla is always best for that very reason and implore anyone switching over to at least run for a month "as is" before going to fix things with third party tooling.

If we are talking strictly GUI then I would agree Explorer is probably more user friendly, which goes hand in hand with the file/folder structure people have gotten used to and not the *nix "weird" people struggle to get their heads around with MacOS.

But for the very reason that MacOS is *nix based is why the Finder thing has never really been a deep issue for me and I struggle to point out a particular failure point comparing it to Explorer if you ignore the fact that shortcuts are different. On the flip side however if you wanted to do more command line work in Windows it was an abomination comparatively until they started bringing more and more Linux into the mix.

Finder vs Explorer is just not a thing that even comes up in my head when comparing the two systems, they are such a small part of the entire thing that it's not even something I consider worth a mention which is why I find it so baffling that people just to install third party tools to compensate for it.

So not really something I disagree with, just something I don't understand why it gets such priority.

Same way I don't understand the moans about Spotlight and people jumping to more third party tools, because it's always done what it said on the tin and now even more so with the clipboard and Actions etc.
 
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