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macOS Big Sur

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671–680 of 837 posts

Re: macOS Big Sur

#671

Just want to put here that if you're using a Mac and haven't tried Safari recently, you're missing out. A few things: - Battery life is fantastic compared to Chrome/FF - Privacy seems to be top-notch - The tab ordering situation is now chrome-like (my biggest gripe in older versions of safari) - Experimental features are 1 click away, easily enable/disable WebGL2 - Support for the WebExtensions standard means addons…

Reason why I use Firefox is multiplatform support. On daily bases I use OS X, Windows, Linux, and iOS. It is nice to have browser history synced and being able to pull open tabs from one machine to another.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#673
post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They never split from Chrome. Chrome forked WebKit into Blink because Apple's wasn't merging Google's patches

Not sure why you're getting downvoted but this is correct. KHTML -> WebKit -> Blink.

And now we only can only hope for the next iteration to take over: KHTML → WebKit → Blink → Edge

Re: macOS Big Sur

#674
I just updated and now everything feels quite a bit slower. I'm on a 2015 Macbook Pro with Retina display. Scrolling on site especially feels worse.

Spotlight no longer seems to autocomplete when I start typing anymore wither which I rely on heavily.

EDIT: Seems spotlight is just a matter of everything having to be re-indexed.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#675
post #666

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that skeuomorphism is back, baby! Updated icons for things like the iSuite apps are a step backwards, the old design was more coherent visually across the suite. Maybe we'll fully return to simulated woodgrain and rich Corinthian leather in macOS 12...

Skeuomorphism is always on macOS and it's just getting worse in Big Sur in my opinion. They forced every icon to be a rounded rectangle which comparing to previous versions with free contour, does not present the beauty of skeuomorphism. Also the shadow on the message and app store icon is just visually horrifying and irredeemable. Apple moved to flat design years ago, now they are starting to move to no design. As one stated in a comment above, the new visuals there's no cohesive design language.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#676
post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nags for regular apps don’t bother me too much, but the fact that I still can’t figure out how to run GDB worries me. The old CLI overrides don’t work in Catalina anymore. I’ve only ever owned Mac laptops and I’m seriously considering switching to a Linux/arm on the next laptop. I’m fine with the lack of ability to run random apps on my iPad, but not on my computer. Big Sur apparently won’t let me run the ZFS ext…

I switched to Linux after the TouchBar was introduced. I've been using it for work exclusively for 3 years. It crashes, hangs, and generally acts weird every day. It's not always greener on the other side. The upside is 1) total customization, 2) if there is a problem you have a lot more power to fix it. There are just a lot more problems. Here's a list of my daily Linux issues (NVIDIA driver required to use external…

You need a laptop with verified compatible hardware.

I run an IdeaPad p400 with Ubuntu 20.04. Everything just works. Had a sager and a System76 that worked without issues, too.

Sometimes, it's the hardware that's the problem. Had a Dell and an HP for work that were so bad with Ubuntu that I had to give them up entirely for Linux machines.

Honestly, my next laptop is going to be a System76, top of the line model. If it can last as long as my Lenovo (2010, I think), it will be money well spent.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#677
post #541

I don't think I will give this a shot anytime soon. I'm still unhappy about upgrading 2012 Macbook Air to 2019 Macboook Pro. The main reason for that is that audio setup seems much less stable; there are glitches when I play on output speakers half the time and the audio inteface I use for recording also stopped being reliable. There's also a bug when laptop resets itself in sleep mode unless it's connected power cha…

I still use an old 17 in Macbook Pro 2011. The keyboard is like butter compared to the garbage we have now. That Apple backlight is just awesome. It just works.

The only thing that keeps me is MacOS, but even that's going down the tube. I don't want new features for the Macbooks every year on schedule. I just want the thing "to work".

I've been slowly moving back to Windows because if I'm unhappy with a computer, I might as well pay less for it.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#678
post #568
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am wondering if this marks the death of Safari on the web tbh. That and most OS X apps. If a user can download and run the Amazon Prime app, why bother supporting Safari? The App version supports detection of VPNs, supports analytics etc... Same applies with Netflix, Disney+ etc... Then there are the devs which have OS X and iOS apps. Why would they maintain two code bases when now they can just support the iOS app…

> If a user can download and run the Amazon Prime app, why bother supporting Safari? The App version supports detection of VPNs, supports analytics etc... At least for me, to purchase books on Amazon for my kindle app. Can't do that in the kindle app or prime app.

Apple will probably push to get a cut on every Mac transaction too at some point.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I'm describing as the "opt" behavior is the classic maximizing behavior on both Mac and Windows (except Windows doesn't have a top bar). If you don't hide the dock/start bar it maxes to its limit, if you hide it goes to the bottom. Maybe it was unclear when I didn't mention it'll max side to side too if the bar is on the bottom. If bar is on the side it'll leave a gutter on the side. TL;DR it's a normal maximize…

I just did that on the Safari window I was using to type the comment and it just went tall. That is not what I would call "maximize".

It's been like that for ages, isn't that typical macOS behavior?

Note that I hate that behavior as well :) I fixed it first with a hotkey and a little Lua hacking within Hammerspoon. Now I just use Amethyst.

Re: macOS Big Sur

#680
post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the best ~15" Linux laptop to ask for as a new hire these days?

Dell XPS 15, Thinkpads

XPS13 is very good for Linux but I don’t think I’d recommend an XPS15. Dell don’t sell them with Linux themselves.

You’d be better looking at the Precision line if you want a 15” Dell with Linux.

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