12 ms·

What are the cons of mac? for me: - Sluggish UI - Inadequate package manager - Unintuitive ways to install stuff - Slow and large updates - Can't do Linux

What are the cons of mac? for me: - Sluggish UI - Inadequate package manager - Unintuitive ways to install stuff - Slow and large updates - Can't do Linux development - Can't try server tools - Slow boot-to-work time - Hard to add memory and ram - Limited interfaces - Hacker unfriendly - Can't have a minimal desktop - High memory usage of base system

fsflover 6y ago
> - Hard to add memory and ram In fact, impossible for a long time already. Upd: I mean laptops; not true for other products.
- tonyedgecombe 6y ago
  Except where it isn't (iMac, Mac Mini, iMac Pro, Mac Pro).
  - fsflover 6y ago
    Thanks for the correction, edited my comment.
FoomFries 6y ago
I'm curious how you arrived at some of these conclusions. - Sluggish UI -> I've never experienced this in the last three years of using my 2017 MBP. - Inadequate package manager -> Somewhat nebulous, most package managers on Linux are available on Unix. - Slow and large updates -> I honestly don't pay much attention as I have updates install automatically while I'm sleeping, but what size differences have you noticed? - Slow boot to work -> Never experienced this, boot is less than a minute regularly. - Can't have a minimal desktop -> Beyond hiding all icons and the dock, what more are you looking for? - High memory usage of base system -> Never seen this come close to the main applications I use on a daily basis. What quantified results are you receiving to notice this?
- angio 6y ago
  Not OP, but I share some of his views. > Inadequate package manager -> Somewhat nebulous, most package managers on Linux are available on Unix. Here he probably compares homebrew with apt/dnf/zypper. Compared to these three, homebrew is quite primitive and prone to be in a bad state. Luckily now you can use nix on MacOS which is a good package manager. > Can't have a minimal desktop -> Beyond hiding all icons and the dock, what more are you looking for? I run a minimal desktop with a tiling window manager (bspwm) and a status bar (polybar in my case), I don't need a window decorator and so I don't have one. I also don't need drop shadows on windows and so I disabled them (while keeping them on popups). AFAIK that is simply impossible to achieve on MacOS.
  - zdw 6y ago
    MacPorts is a better long-term experience than Homebrew. It takes the BSD ports approach, where all packages are maintained together in a centralized repository. The Homebrew approach is closer to a bunch of PPA's and other independently maintained stuff of questionable integration status. If all you've tried is Homebrew, then I'm not surprised at the reaction.
- mattlondon 6y ago
  > - Sluggish UI -> I've never experienced this in the last three years of using my 2017 MBP. Not the author, but perhaps they meant that the UI was sluggish to use? I find OSX great if you have one browser window open, but start to multitask at all and I personally find it a real pig to work with. Open windows are hidden behind a tiny white dot on the task bar, lots of wasted space around the task bar, no snapping or window-splitting, the menus are detached from the windows they are for and you need to focus the window to get the menu to appear, the task switcher thing (expose?) is a horrible jarring swooshy animation that is awfully distracting with things moving around on the screen on their own as you are trying to look at them. I find it so frustrating to use after almost a decade of using macs now - it does not get any better once "used to it". Linux (Cinnamon or Plasma) + Windows 10 are just so much more intuitive for me. I'd 100% bite the hands off of the IT team here if they offered me a Windows 10 machine instead of a mac for my engineering laptop.
aeyes 6y ago
- machine marketed as "Pro" dies from a drop of water
- pwython 6y ago
  Did this happen to you? Funny story, I spit a mouthful of La Croix on my 2016 touchbar MacBook Pro just the other day (not for fun, wrong pipe). Keyboard, screen, etc. I thought it was a goner. But I wiped it down and it's still fine.
  - vicedvin 6y ago
    Make sure to dry it completely, and the insides too. My friend spilled coffee on a macbook air and it was fine for a month and then died. All the internals were rusted. Coffee is different from soda, but still, take care.
- hashedout 6y ago
  This monsoon my backlight started to die. Kept it in a dry environment, it fixed itself. ffs apple.
- rbanffy 6y ago
  OTOH, my wife's MBP was on the backseat of her car when another driver hit the back of her car at high speed, totalling both cars. Her car's trunk and backseat were compressed into about 70 cm. The computer survived with one scratch to one of its corners.
Jaepa 6y ago
> - Can't do Linux development How do you figure that? Docker gives you a native linux runtime, and you can use x11 if you're developing GTK/QT clients.
- tgv 6y ago
  To be fair, docker doesn't run well on macOS. I've got a few containers that are mostly idle on Linux, but take two cores on my mac.
  - Jaepa 6y ago
    The divide between doesn't work, and doesn't work as well is pretty wide.
  - AtomicOrbital 6y ago
    all my laptops/servers run linux and I too have noticed Docker run on osx is just not the same smooth tool as when run on a linux host although Docker was far worse on osx until a year or two ago ... to me the fixation people have for osx is purely inertia and over time the linux laptop will continue to gain converts from the Apple fan clubbers
- CSDude 6y ago
  And it burns you or the desk in the process. I hate Docker based workflows on macOS although loving the tool.
KptMarchewa 6y ago
Extremely bad thermals. My i9 mbp spends more time throttled then working full power, even though I'm using cooling pad.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  Try Macs Fan Control or TG Pro, you can set custom fan curves.
loxs 6y ago
For me, the worst of all is that you can minimize an app and it's still on focus. That gets me every single time. I don't know who thought of this, but last time I checked, it was supposed to be a feature, not a bug :D

fsflover 6y ago

> - Hard to add memory and ram In fact, impossible for a long time already. Upd: I mean laptops; not true for other products.

tonyedgecombe 6y ago
Except where it isn't (iMac, Mac Mini, iMac Pro, Mac Pro).
- fsflover 6y ago
  Thanks for the correction, edited my comment.

FoomFries 6y ago

I'm curious how you arrived at some of these conclusions. - Sluggish UI -> I've never experienced this in the last three years of using my 2017 MBP. - Inadequate package manager -> Somewhat nebulous, most package managers on Linux are available on Unix. - Slow and large updates -> I honestly don't pay much attention as I have updates install automatically while I'm sleeping, but what size differences have you noticed? - Slow boot to work -> Never experienced this, boot is less than a minute regularly. - Can't have a minimal desktop -> Beyond hiding all icons and the dock, what more are you looking for? - High memory usage of base system -> Never seen this come close to the main applications I use on a daily basis. What quantified results are you receiving to notice this?

angio 6y ago
Not OP, but I share some of his views. > Inadequate package manager -> Somewhat nebulous, most package managers on Linux are available on Unix. Here he probably compares homebrew with apt/dnf/zypper. Compared to these three, homebrew is quite primitive and prone to be in a bad state. Luckily now you can use nix on MacOS which is a good package manager. > Can't have a minimal desktop -> Beyond hiding all icons and the dock, what more are you looking for? I run a minimal desktop with a tiling window manager (bspwm) and a status bar (polybar in my case), I don't need a window decorator and so I don't have one. I also don't need drop shadows on windows and so I disabled them (while keeping them on popups). AFAIK that is simply impossible to achieve on MacOS.
- zdw 6y ago
  MacPorts is a better long-term experience than Homebrew. It takes the BSD ports approach, where all packages are maintained together in a centralized repository. The Homebrew approach is closer to a bunch of PPA's and other independently maintained stuff of questionable integration status. If all you've tried is Homebrew, then I'm not surprised at the reaction.
mattlondon 6y ago
> - Sluggish UI -> I've never experienced this in the last three years of using my 2017 MBP. Not the author, but perhaps they meant that the UI was sluggish to use? I find OSX great if you have one browser window open, but start to multitask at all and I personally find it a real pig to work with. Open windows are hidden behind a tiny white dot on the task bar, lots of wasted space around the task bar, no snapping or window-splitting, the menus are detached from the windows they are for and you need to focus the window to get the menu to appear, the task switcher thing (expose?) is a horrible jarring swooshy animation that is awfully distracting with things moving around on the screen on their own as you are trying to look at them. I find it so frustrating to use after almost a decade of using macs now - it does not get any better once "used to it". Linux (Cinnamon or Plasma) + Windows 10 are just so much more intuitive for me. I'd 100% bite the hands off of the IT team here if they offered me a Windows 10 machine instead of a mac for my engineering laptop.

aeyes 6y ago

- machine marketed as "Pro" dies from a drop of water

pwython 6y ago
Did this happen to you? Funny story, I spit a mouthful of La Croix on my 2016 touchbar MacBook Pro just the other day (not for fun, wrong pipe). Keyboard, screen, etc. I thought it was a goner. But I wiped it down and it's still fine.
- vicedvin 6y ago
  Make sure to dry it completely, and the insides too. My friend spilled coffee on a macbook air and it was fine for a month and then died. All the internals were rusted. Coffee is different from soda, but still, take care.
hashedout 6y ago
This monsoon my backlight started to die. Kept it in a dry environment, it fixed itself. ffs apple.
rbanffy 6y ago
OTOH, my wife's MBP was on the backseat of her car when another driver hit the back of her car at high speed, totalling both cars. Her car's trunk and backseat were compressed into about 70 cm. The computer survived with one scratch to one of its corners.

Jaepa 6y ago

> - Can't do Linux development How do you figure that? Docker gives you a native linux runtime, and you can use x11 if you're developing GTK/QT clients.

tgv 6y ago
To be fair, docker doesn't run well on macOS. I've got a few containers that are mostly idle on Linux, but take two cores on my mac.
- Jaepa 6y ago
  The divide between doesn't work, and doesn't work as well is pretty wide.
- AtomicOrbital 6y ago
  all my laptops/servers run linux and I too have noticed Docker run on osx is just not the same smooth tool as when run on a linux host although Docker was far worse on osx until a year or two ago ... to me the fixation people have for osx is purely inertia and over time the linux laptop will continue to gain converts from the Apple fan clubbers
CSDude 6y ago
And it burns you or the desk in the process. I hate Docker based workflows on macOS although loving the tool.

KptMarchewa 6y ago

Extremely bad thermals. My i9 mbp spends more time throttled then working full power, even though I'm using cooling pad.

cercatrova 6y ago
Try Macs Fan Control or TG Pro, you can set custom fan curves.

loxs 6y ago

For me, the worst of all is that you can minimize an app and it's still on focus. That gets me every single time. I don't know who thought of this, but last time I checked, it was supposed to be a feature, not a bug :D