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Impressions from a first-time Mac user

loganmarchione.com

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Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#151

Post by moonchrome »

IncRnd wrote: post #132
moonchrome wrote: post #118

I've had a long background of Windows and Linux usage but I've used MacOS a significant time as well - I'm daily driving a 2018 MacBook Pro 15 and use a Windows Desktop for WFH because it's much more powerful an silent. And I'm also developing on .NET core right now which is a Microsoft tech. With that said I would say MacOS grows on you. On my 34 inch screen using snapping is just not practical - I just move windows…

I constantly use window snapping on my desktop Mac with two widescreen monitors. But, I use keystrokes to do so, using Rectangle, not the mouse.

For me even the vertical space fully extended is too much visual area since I need to move my eyes/head to scan top to bottom. but I do have a 5k panel relatively close at low scaling so maybe your setup is different

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#152

Post by urbandw311er »

olyjohn wrote: post #64
rwc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's right or wrong, but the behavior dates back to the very first implementations of Mac OS and Windows. Mac OS has always been an application switching interface, and Windows has been a window switching interface. Takes getting used to the paradigm shift.

I can't get used to the fact that I can't alt-tab to a minimized window. Nor can I figure out how to switch to any particular minimized window. You have literally no way of knowing that a minimized window exists other than right-clicking the dock icon, or going to the "Window" menu after you switched to the application. The dock was fine 20 years ago when they released OSX, but they've literally done nothing to make…

Ok, so you can actually do this but the keyboard sequence is a bit bonkers.

* Hold down Command and press Tab until the application icon representing the minimised window is highlighted.

* Release Tab but DONT let go of Command.

* Now press Option too so you are holding down Command + Option

* Now release Command so you are just holding down Option

* Finally release Option

Amazingly this will then maximise the window whose application icon you selected in the first place.

Sounds crazy but it works. Try it!

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#153

Post by urbandw311er »

macrael wrote: post #56

I have never spent much time on Windows machines but I _love_ cmd-` on the Mac. I mean, I have a whole rant about how its ordering behavior changed on Lion for the worse but I love having windows grouped by application and picking the app I care about before picking the window I care about. I have never understood why so many people use a single chrome window for all of their tabs but I think it comes from not being…

Big fan here of “appifying” favourite Web apps too. I recently discovered a programme called Web Catalog that is best in class for this.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#154

Post by darkteflon »

olyjohn wrote: post #64
rwc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's right or wrong, but the behavior dates back to the very first implementations of Mac OS and Windows. Mac OS has always been an application switching interface, and Windows has been a window switching interface. Takes getting used to the paradigm shift.

I can't get used to the fact that I can't alt-tab to a minimized window. Nor can I figure out how to switch to any particular minimized window. You have literally no way of knowing that a minimized window exists other than right-clicking the dock icon, or going to the "Window" menu after you switched to the application. The dock was fine 20 years ago when they released OSX, but they've literally done nothing to make…

This will help: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#155

Post by brimble »

sofixa wrote: post #149
brimble wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are people doing with their computers that a Mac is so stifling? I'm late to the Mac game, have been on it for about a decade, and was a 15-year Windows and Linux desktop user before that. Still, I don't even know what it might be.

Docker Desktop is relatively bad compared to native docker on Linux. If you spend your day doing that macOS is very stifling. Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab.

Ah—I've done a lot of Docker on Mac, but just with the command line tools, so I don't know how Docker Desktop is (on any platform).

> Or if you want to change a keyboard shortcut Apple don't allow you to, like cmt+tab.

The only keyboard customization I do is something that Mac makes at least as easy as Linux (use Caps Lock as an extra control) but I bet it is frustrating if you want to customize stuff outside the cases that they explicitly support remapping. That makes sense.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#156

Post by scns »

lbrito wrote: post #99
scns wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 coming secong at 10 watts shortly after a Ryzen at several times that? Check out the reviews on anandtech.

Ryzen 5700 has 25W TDP https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-7-5700U-Processor-Be... IMO a 15-watt difference is basically negligible in this context. It is so insignificant it can be offset by pretty much anything. You know creating aluminum uses a ton of energy; maybe that fancy aluminum case of the Macs used more power than a tiny TDP difference will ever save.

It came second to the desktop processors at 3-4x25W TDP.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#157

Post by darkteflon »

verelo wrote: post #52
loganmarchione wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. I like this perspective, I never thought about it this way!

As someone that came from a windows world for the first 10ish years of my career, i found this pretty frustrating too. I honestly still do. Sometimes it feels like I just cannot get to the window I want.

You don’t have to live with it if you don’t like it; open source to the rescue: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#158

Post by urbandw311er »

jihadjihad wrote: post #24

I totally get the window switching thing, especially if one of the windows is minimized. In that case, hovering over the window using Cmd + Tab will not open the window. You have to press Option while simultaneously letting go of the Cmd key. The only other major thing is how terrible Finder is out of the box. There are ways to make it less terrible, but it's still far less than ideal in usability.

Yes! I provided the same comment above with a step-by-step as the sequence of key presses is a little hard to figure out the first time.

I’ve now finally committed this to muscle memory but I doubt many people are aware of it — it was really good to hear of somebody else using it!

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#159

Post by colinmhayes »

olyjohn wrote: post #64
rwc wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that it's right or wrong, but the behavior dates back to the very first implementations of Mac OS and Windows. Mac OS has always been an application switching interface, and Windows has been a window switching interface. Takes getting used to the paradigm shift.

I can't get used to the fact that I can't alt-tab to a minimized window. Nor can I figure out how to switch to any particular minimized window. You have literally no way of knowing that a minimized window exists other than right-clicking the dock icon, or going to the "Window" menu after you switched to the application. The dock was fine 20 years ago when they released OSX, but they've literally done nothing to make…

The solution is simple. Don't minimize windows. Everything fullscreen on virtual desktops. Three fingers up and choose the window you want if it's one you don't use normally. Three finger swipe between frequently used windows.

Re: Impressions from a first-time Mac user

#160

Post by urbandw311er »

My favourite tool to modify most aspects of the OS is BetterTouchTool.

I have it set to move the window under the mouse cursor when I hold down Fn — and if I also hold down shift then it resizes the window under the mouse cursor until I release Shift

It must have saved me, in aggregate, hundreds of hours as I no longer have to care about finding the top or edge of a window to move/resize.

Try it! An absolute game changer for productivity.

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