Windows user to Mac - Tips, Suggestions & Apps

[CranialBlaze]

@SauRoNZA

Do you have a dock for your laptop? I spent ages searching and the most decent local option I could find was this:

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Also found this cool gadget to complement the MacBook life:

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Got both in transit atm.

Why would you want that? #confused

 

[CranialBlaze]

M1 Air doesn’t.

M1 Pro and Mini do.

But it’s pretty much never ever used to any degree where the user even notices.

To date I’ve never heard mine.

The pro has a fan, flip it could have fooled me. Have not heard it yet… lol

 

[SauRoNZA]

Active in the menu, but clicking Copy just...doesn't do anything. Right-clicking and selecting Copy also does f*kkol.

I can select text and that automatically copies it, but when using vi or nano, I then have to copy what I can see on screen, paste it in VSCode, go back to Terminal/Termius, scroll down, copy the next section on-screen, go back to VSCode, paste it, etc...

That’s always been my experience of Linux terminals.

Better usually to have a setup that logs the entire shell if Termius allows that and then copy from there.

Would need to test this, very rarely need to copy from terminal.

Termius annoyed me when they wanted money and I hate iTerm.

So vanilla Terminal for me, with a whole lot of Oh my zsh.

****

Which could be another part of your problem maybe if you are using Bash instead of Zsh.

 

[PhireSide]

That’s always been my experience of Linux terminals.

Better usually to have a setup that logs the entire shell if Termius allows that and then copy from there.

Would need to test this, very rarely need to copy from terminal.

Termius annoyed me when they wanted money and I hate iTerm.

So vanilla Terminal for me, with a whole lot of Oh my zsh.

****

Which could be another part of your problem maybe if you are using Bash instead of Zsh.

I had a look in Termius' settings and there is definitely support for Copy:



Leaving me to think that it could be a limitation of the shell I am connected to (bash), or maybe I am doing something wrong on my end. I should check out oh my zsh as well, thanks for the mention.

EDIT: I connected again after a reboot and suddenly I am able to copy and paste with gay abandon, so perhaps it was just a bug with macOS preventing me from completing the copy.

 

[Bryn]

Why would you want that? #confused

Err.. to have a nice stand to dock my MBA when it's powering my desktop setup? Having it flat on the desk sucks. It takes up way more space and looks awful.

 

[CranialBlaze]

Err.. to have a nice stand to dock my MBA when it's powering my desktop setup? Having it flat on the desk sucks. It takes up way more space and looks awful.

So you buying a laptop to use as a desktop tower basically. Kinda defeats the purpose, could of just gotten a mini then.

 

[prod]

So you buying a laptop to use as a desktop tower basically. Kinda defeats the purpose, could of just gotten a mini then.

Again...it really depends on the use case? I went through this decision myself, and since I WFH 100%, I find myself moving rooms more and more, I can sit in the lounge/outside and catch up on emails etc. but when I have to focus and get stuff done I prefer the "desktop" feel (second screen, dedicated mouse). MBA with a dock covers both these cases, Mac mini only covers one. Not to mention load shedding and crap like that, which was a huge contributing factor in my scenario.

 

[CranialBlaze]

Again...it really depends on the use case? I went through this decision myself, and since I WFH 100%, I find myself moving rooms more and more, I can sit in the lounge/outside and catch up on emails etc. but when I have to focus and get stuff done I prefer the "desktop" feel (second screen, dedicated mouse). MBA with a dock covers both these cases, Mac mini only covers one. Not to mention load shedding and crap like that, which was a huge contributing factor in my scenario.

I like my touch pad and Touch ID too much to not use the Mac itself. Could also never use a 2nd monitor with a Mac, the virtual desktops and gestures made it less efficient for me.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I like my touch pad and Touch ID too much to not use the Mac itself. Could also never use a 2nd monitor with a Mac, the virtual desktops and gestures made it less efficient for me.

Heh? Fullscreen and gestures still works exactly the same?

And the touchpad of and Touch ID come right with you.

In contrast the desktops didn’t have Touch ID as an option until now.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Again...it really depends on the use case? I went through this decision myself, and since I WFH 100%, I find myself moving rooms more and more, I can sit in the lounge/outside and catch up on emails etc. but when I have to focus and get stuff done I prefer the "desktop" feel (second screen, dedicated mouse). MBA with a dock covers both these cases, Mac mini only covers one. Not to mention load shedding and crap like that, which was a huge contributing factor in my scenario.

Absolutely my case as well since WFH I tend to change scenery all the time.

And as you rightly say for load shedding it’s great.

I’d be lying if I say I don’t work from bed at least 20% or my day and it’s amazingly productive. Probably more so now as we hit winter.

 

[CranialBlaze]

Heh? Fullscreen and gestures still works exactly the same?

And the touchpad of and Touch ID come right with you.

In contrast the desktops didn’t have Touch ID as an option until now.

Not if your Mac is closed and docked and are using an external mouse and keyboard.

Even the Magic Mouse while supporting gestures is not as smooth and intuitive as using the trackpad. I literally gave mine away.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Not if your Mac is closed and docked and are using an external mouse and keyboard.

Even the Magic Mouse while supporting gestures is not as smooth and intuitive as using the trackpad. I literally gave mine away.

Oh right I see now what you mean I forgot he wanted to close up the dock in a stand.

Yeah I also don’t understand that notion.

But he does have an external touchpad and there’s a whole thread about that experience.

 

[s0lar]

Not if your Mac is closed and docked and are using an external mouse and keyboard.

Even the Magic Mouse while supporting gestures is not as smooth and intuitive as using the trackpad. I literally gave mine away.

I’ve got two magic mice. First gen that works with AAs and the rechargeable. Both live in a drawer in my desk. Terrible user experience.

 

[Bryn]

So you buying a laptop to use as a desktop tower basically. Kinda defeats the purpose, could of just gotten a mini then.

Yes I did. It doesn't defeat the purpose. Performance is identical when docked, but if I need to meet a client, go on holiday, lose power or just feel like working on the patio for a bit, I can pick it up and take my Mac with me. That's a pretty big benefit of the form factor.

Not if your Mac is closed and docked and are using an external mouse and keyboard.

Even the Magic Mouse while supporting gestures is not as smooth and intuitive as using the trackpad. I literally gave mine away.

I agree that the Magic Mouse 2 gestures are incomparable to the trackpad. Only if you have oily or damp fingers does the mouse work great, otherwise it's junk imo. But there is a solution to this conundrum: the Magic Trackpad 2. I'm using one right now. It's identical to the MacBook trackpad but much larger and able to be more comfortably positioned.

 

[PhireSide]

2h30m on battery and it's down by 4% today. Busy with some VSCode and spooling up some Docker containers on a remote host

 

[Bryn]

2h30m on battery and it's down by 4% today. Busy with some VSCode and spooling up some Docker containers on a remote host

View attachment 1074861

Nice. I'm constantly amazed at my MBA's battery life when using it as a laptop. Even for folks who don't particularly care for macOS, it's a compelling reason by itself to buy a MacBook. Staying on is a pretty important feature for any laptop.

 

[prod]

I like my touch pad and Touch ID too much to not use the Mac itself. Could also never use a 2nd monitor with a Mac, the virtual desktops and gestures made it less efficient for me.

I use my second screen arrangement like this:



So the laptop is still the main screen, at least for now until I can upgrade my ageing 2k Dell display to something better. I've also realised macOS doesn't play so well with older displays (something something HiDPI scaling). An external mouse is nice to have but I can (and do) still use the touchpad if I need to and I still get to use TouchID of course.

Agreed on the gestures and virtual desktops though, it's really efficient to swipe your way through.

 

[Speedster]

I use my second screen arrangement like this:

View attachment 1075643

So the laptop is still the main screen, at least for now until I can upgrade my ageing 2k Dell display to something better. I've also realised macOS doesn't play so well with older displays (something something HiDPI scaling). An external mouse is nice to have but I can (and do) still use the touchpad if I need to and I still get to use TouchID of course.

Agreed on the gestures and virtual desktops though, it's really efficient to swipe your way through.

Interesting setup. What's the reason for the 2nd screen "above" the first? I've always used mine to the side, so am curious as to why the up/down setup?

 

[CranialBlaze]

Interesting setup. What's the reason for the 2nd screen "above" the first? I've always used mine to the side, so am curious as to why the up/down setup?

I changed to that and I found you need to move your head less with up and down as when correctly setup your eye line is level with “split” so you only adjust your gave instead of moving your head to switch between screens.

These days I just use the Mac, work gave me a screen 3 times already and after like 2 days I just stop plugging it in, the gestures and multiple desktops are more efficient for me than dealing with 2 displays.

 

[prod]

Interesting setup. What's the reason for the 2nd screen "above" the first? I've always used mine to the side, so am curious as to why the up/down setup?

Yea look, I don't think it's the most ergonomic set up. But I'm just trying it out for now. I used to have a desktop with 2 screens next to each other but since switching to the MBA I actually prefer working on the laptop. So the second screen is mostly just for reference documents/video/YouTube or whatever have you. I'm contemplating getting something like a proper 32" and then only using that (with a separate kb & mouse), but then again you lose the trackpad and touchid functionality, so not quite sure yet.