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If you don't want to use the Microsoft Teams app (which uses a lot of resources), you can: 1. Install the Microsoft Edge Web browser on your Mac 2. Log into h

If you don't want to use the Microsoft Teams app (which uses a lot of resources), you can: 1. Install the Microsoft Edge Web browser on your Mac 2. Log into https://teams.microsoft.com https://teams.microsoft.com 3. Click ... > Apps > Install this site as an app This will create an Edge app for Teams that uses almost no resources but has feature parity with the regular Microsoft Teams app. We tell all of our students to do this, and it has solved all Microsoft Teams performance issues on student Macs (both Intel and Apple Silicon).

twoquestions 4y ago
Can you still share your screen with this version?
- jasoneckert 4y ago
  Yes
- twoquestions 4y ago
  Took me a minute to set up a test meeting, but it looks like you can!
- approxim8ion 4y ago
  Screen sharing works. Screen control (as in, controlling a screen someone else has shared) does not.
spaetzleesser 4y ago
And you can have multiple windows.
gnicholas 4y ago
What features does this allow that aren't available if you just use the website via FF/Brave?
- Foivos 4y ago
  When I tried to do the same, it complained about lack of features on browsers other than edge, without specifying anything.
- fnord123 4y ago
  Teams doesn't work with Firefox on Linux or macos. You need chrome or chromium. Brave probably works.
  - uselpa 4y ago
    On macOS Teams audio does work in calls, but video does not.
harha 4y ago
One note on that: last time I tried installing edge it asked me to enter my password, which I find unnecessary.
- obert 4y ago
  it’s optional to sync your settings across devices, not mandatory
  - harha 4y ago
    See step 8 on the installation instructions [0], the installer prompts the password, I don't recall firefox or chromium requiring that. [0]: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/all/how-to-install-microsoft-edge-on-macos/eb7f7351-ee6c-48d3-8fd8-e126d5e31c98 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/all/...
k6hkUZtLUM 4y ago
This tip is gold. I had no idea Edge had this feature on Mac. I have used a variety of other tools in the past to create website "apps". Thanks!
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  Also possible with Chrome.
  - dstroot 4y ago
    How?
    - rictic 4y ago
      Hot dog menu -> More tools -> Create Shortcut -> check the "Open as Window" checkbox For PWAs (web apps that do additional things to make them work more like apps) there may also be a simpler install button in the url bar itself
    - xeromal 4y ago
      Just check out the little button in the address bar on the right.
peppertree 4y ago
Nice. Fight cancer with cancer.
- hjek 4y ago
  Yea, or just use a Firefox add-on[0] to change the user-agent to Edge for the Teams web app [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/teams-phone-fix https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/teams-phone-f... (or even better, don't use Teams at all, obviously)
  - zelphirkalt 4y ago
    Tried that before, doesn't work. It'll f up, when you try to actually talk in a call or share screen and so on.
- LAC-Tech 4y ago
  I mean they're already using a Mac...
  - suction 4y ago
    edgy!
    - LAC-Tech 4y ago
      No edgier than calling microsoft edge "cancer", surely..
      - michaelcampbell 4y ago
        Sure, but tbf he said "edgy" and not "edgiest".
abujazar 4y ago
It «works», but still takes up a lot of resources (gigabytes of RAM and a whole CPU core while in video meetings),and depending on sso policies might require you to sign in several times a day. It’s also limited to four video streams.
animesh 4y ago
I did this, but the problem was that I never got any notifications. I did not block notifications at all, but I got little to no notifications especially for when meetings started. I had to revert to full app because of this.
- winston_bruce 4y ago
  I just tried this as well, didn't work at first but I enabled notifications when it prompted me & now appears to have worked (once at least). Any idea how to get notification badges to work (if possible)?
  - mmis1000 4y ago
    Messing around the edge://flags to toggle native notification on or off, I remembered that the default notification mode has bug currently. Also ensure you grant it permission of notification in system setting. That isn't done by default.
    - winston_bruce 4y ago
      Thank you! I checked windows system notifications & it looks like edge notifications were already enabled but I did need to turn on the teams.microsoft.com notifications in edge.
AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
This is great especially because there is still no M1 version of teams and running the Intel version of teams on M1 makes the whole computer slow to a crawl. But, at this point, I have to wonder if teams is just abandonware. Stuff like this thread and the lack of M1 support 2.5 years after the M1 transition was announced and over a year after you could walk into an apple store and buy an M1 computer? I don't understand what could prevent them from releasing an M1 version besides a complete lack of will to do so.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  Almost all Microsoft software feels like abandonware, which is wild when you consider how heavily they're promoting and profiting from it and how many and how heavily people use it.
  - AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
    I use excel/word daily and they work great on my M1 mac and feel modern.
    - m463 4y ago
      Do you mean a mac version? Honestly just having microsoft software adhere to apple human interface guidelines and the menu system improves it infinity percent (∞%) Using office360 is a confusing jumbled mess. I can't help but think it's on purpose. I remember talking to an ex-microsoft guy decades ago about some incompatibility with some third party thing. I said sometimes new engineers didn't know how their software would be used or interact with other stuff. He told me not to be naive. Microsoft had meetings trying to figure out "how can we own this?"
  - uoaei 4y ago
    My Win10 laptop has started shutting off the WLAN device at the worst times, and it seems to happen when a Bluetooth mouse is connected and a battery charger is plugged in at the same time. The troubleshooter and report forms both crash on opening. I guess that's one way to hit a "zero negative feedback" KPI!
klipklop 4y ago
> 1. Install the Microsoft Edge Web browser on your Mac You had me up until here. It is pretty amazing how slow "modern" chat apps run.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  It's depressing to see that chat (both textual and video) was a solved problem over a decade ago with single-core CPUs measured in hundreds of megahertz and low-hundreds of megabytes of RAM but nowadays despite orders of magnitude more resources it's apparently became an impossible problem.
solarkraft 4y ago
This also works with Chrome. I would recommend using that to at least have slight vendor diversity (did you know that Microsoft likes to EEE?).
- babypuncher 4y ago
  If you are actually worried about diversity then Edge and Chrome are no different. Both contribute to the Blink monoculture. If we want to split hairs then Edge is slightly better purely because it doesn't have the same 65% market share as Chrome.
sogen 4y ago
Thanks! I made the HN submit link because I was looking for solutions to the performance, greatly appreciated, downloading.
nostromo 4y ago
The Teams webapp is hot garbage though. On video you can't even see all the participants. It's years behind Google Meet and Zoom.
- spicybright 4y ago
  It's the same for the desktop version. Not being able to see everyone is egregious.
  - DHPersonal 4y ago
    I think it's meant to save on bandwidth/resources by only showing the "speaking" video feeds.
    - Nextgrid 4y ago
      It's most likely still receiving all feeds in the background though.
      - DHPersonal 4y ago
        You may be right. I don’t know how it works. I’ve noticed that when a new video-enabled user shows up on the screen, there is a delay between the user profile showing and the video overlay presenting itself, so I was assuming that was where a stream was being started for that video feed.
      - kortex 4y ago
        Yes, although I'm not sure if the hidden streams use bandwidth. Also, to the best of my knowledge, Teams handles individual streams usually, while meet usually muxes them to save bandwidth. Zoom is easily the most efficient of the big four and I think uses a whole bunch of compression tricks.
    - pvorb 4y ago
      It's somehow still using more bandwidth than Google Meet with the same number of video streams.
deltarholamda 4y ago
Very nice tip. I've filed this away in my brain for later. Many thanks!
chazeon 4y ago
Notion is also better as an Edge App than its own standalone app.
solvitor 4y ago
I do this on a Pixelbook (Linux version of Edge). Works quite well for all of Office 365, for me.
iforgotpassword 4y ago
Since we're on this topic: Up until a few weeks ago I swear when I got an invitation link and opened it in Firefox I could just join with the browser. Then two weeks ago it forced me to download the app for linux, no way to join with the browser. Is there any workaround for that? Faking the user agent? I didn't have the time then to grab an extension and start fiddling around, so I just spun up a VM and installed the app...
bravetraveler 4y ago
Forgive my ignorance, but what makes these apps practically different from say, a bookmark? I find it hard to conceptualize these apps as little more than your browser, but ever so slightly more pointed
- slantyyz 4y ago
  They are just a bookmark, but on Windows, they become a first class citizen on your task bar. If you are the type to have a ton of tabs open across many windows, this also makes the "app" easier to spot. You can also pin the app to the taskbar and have it launch with Windows.
  - bravetraveler 4y ago
    Ah I see, thank you!
- vel0city 4y ago
  Continuing on with what the other poster said, when run as an "app" it then also eliminates the regular address bar and other buttons that are common on a full web browser so it "feels" more like a native app. There's also metadata that the app can use to add to the "jump list" feature of the Windows taskbar. You can then also get added as a target to "share" on Windows. There's a number of features that you get access to as an installed PWA at least on Windows compared to just being a webpage in the browser.
  - bravetraveler 4y ago
    Cool! I hadn't considered OS/Windows integration :) The more minified window sounds useful on my Linux installation, things like Slack randomly fall behind on Electron and stop working
hank_z 4y ago
You can allow cross-site tracking and third party cookie in safari, then use teams from safari. I have been using it this way without any issues for all my Teams meetings.
goodfight 4y ago
You are my hero!
gerdesj 4y ago
I quietly use Teams every day. I'm not a particular fan of it but it doesn't get in my way more than an Electron splash at boot and an ugly purple icon at bottom right. This is on a rather elderly HPE laptop - dmidecode says: "HP 250 G6 Notebook PC" I used to have audio snags with it but those went away and I migrated to pipewire about 12 months ago and the audio quality has improved. I do lack some "features" like background blurring etc but I note that BBB manages to do it fine. It does look like there is a lack of love for Team on Linux but it sounds like the third class citizen is Mac.
LAC-Tech 4y ago
Does desktop Safari not run Teams, or is the installing edge suggestion just so you can install it?
- spartanatreyu 4y ago
  Apple has always had piss-poor PWA (progressive web apps, aka websites that can be installed and used offline as apps) support. It's done by design to try and force more people to use their app store, where apple can take a cut of everything it can.
  - LAC-Tech 4y ago
    Yeah I knew it doesn't have the install button. Just wondering if teams flat out refuses to work on Safari. (Only time I use teams is when someone sends me a meeting link. I just run it on the browser. I use Void Linux btw)
    - mr_toad 4y ago
      > Just wondering if teams flat out refuses to work on Safari. Yes. Every other office app works, just not teams.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  It completely refuses to launch. Now I wouldn't be surprised if audio/video features may legitimately not be supported, but at least text messaging should work.
jaimehrubiks 4y ago
I have two small issues with this 1. That when I close outlook (this doesn't happen on teams), and open it again, I need to put my password, it doesn't stay logged in. 2. That whenever I open teams or outlook, an empty Edge stays on as a different window. Any solutions?
trauco 4y ago
I can’t find this option anywhere.
Too 4y ago
Does that really help? I’ve tried teams web app in chrome and the performance is equally depressing as the Linux desktop app. Memory usage is ok but I really don’t enjoy waiting 2 seconds for every click. A more extreme tip is to not use it on your desktop at all. Just use the iOS app, it hurts me to praise Teams but that app is not just decent, it’s actually very good. Fast, stable, good ux, all the features you need. Just missing a way to connect a proper keyboard and share my main desktop screen.
- mejutoco 4y ago
  IMO the iOS app is better, but there are some bugs if one uses many instances. I was using both desktop and iPad versions and somehow I was getting incoming calls on the iPad from people who were not calling me, but who did maybe 30 min before. Not just the notification but "so and so is calling you right now". It was very confusing.
- suction 4y ago
  That's because MS hasn't found a way to run electron on iOS yet ;-)
raspyberr 4y ago
There's literally 3 "..."s to click on.
josephd79 4y ago
ok, gonna have to try this out.
chang1 4y ago
Thanks for the tip. I'll give this a try! For work, I have to run Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Discord. Of those 3, Slack surprisingly uses the least amount of memory (~700 MB), and Teams uses the most (~1.5 GB). I dusted off an old Intel Mac (literally) and interact with it using Universal Control. It only runs those 3 chat apps + mail. It's turned out to be a great way to offload resource hogs and as an added benefit, it minimizes distractions. I'll occasionally glance at the dock to see if there are any notification badges, whereas on my main Mac, I'd feel compelled to deal with notifications immediately. When I have to share my screen or focus on a conversation, I'll fire up one of those 3 apps on my main (M1) Mac and quit it when I'm done. Universal Control still feels rough around the edges, but it has saved me from ditching my Macbook Air and shelling out for an M1 Macbook Pro. Sometimes there are issues with reconnecting to the Intel Mac, but it seems to resolve itself if I wait a bit or turn off/on wifi.
michelb 4y ago
Hmm for me this is a lot slower than the M1 app, and it also used way more RAM.

twoquestions 4y ago

Can you still share your screen with this version?

jasoneckert 4y ago
Yes
twoquestions 4y ago
Took me a minute to set up a test meeting, but it looks like you can!
approxim8ion 4y ago
Screen sharing works. Screen control (as in, controlling a screen someone else has shared) does not.

spaetzleesser 4y ago

And you can have multiple windows.

gnicholas 4y ago

What features does this allow that aren't available if you just use the website via FF/Brave?

Foivos 4y ago
When I tried to do the same, it complained about lack of features on browsers other than edge, without specifying anything.
fnord123 4y ago
Teams doesn't work with Firefox on Linux or macos. You need chrome or chromium. Brave probably works.
- uselpa 4y ago
  On macOS Teams audio does work in calls, but video does not.

harha 4y ago

One note on that: last time I tried installing edge it asked me to enter my password, which I find unnecessary.

obert 4y ago
it’s optional to sync your settings across devices, not mandatory
- harha 4y ago
  See step 8 on the installation instructions [0], the installer prompts the password, I don't recall firefox or chromium requiring that. [0]: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/all/how-to-install-microsoft-edge-on-macos/eb7f7351-ee6c-48d3-8fd8-e126d5e31c98 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/all/...

k6hkUZtLUM 4y ago

This tip is gold. I had no idea Edge had this feature on Mac. I have used a variety of other tools in the past to create website "apps". Thanks!

chrisseaton 4y ago
Also possible with Chrome.
- dstroot 4y ago
  How?
  - rictic 4y ago
    Hot dog menu -> More tools -> Create Shortcut -> check the "Open as Window" checkbox For PWAs (web apps that do additional things to make them work more like apps) there may also be a simpler install button in the url bar itself
  - xeromal 4y ago
    Just check out the little button in the address bar on the right.

peppertree 4y ago

Nice. Fight cancer with cancer.

hjek 4y ago
Yea, or just use a Firefox add-on[0] to change the user-agent to Edge for the Teams web app [0]: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/teams-phone-fix https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/teams-phone-f... (or even better, don't use Teams at all, obviously)
- zelphirkalt 4y ago
  Tried that before, doesn't work. It'll f up, when you try to actually talk in a call or share screen and so on.
LAC-Tech 4y ago
I mean they're already using a Mac...
- suction 4y ago
  edgy!
  - LAC-Tech 4y ago
    No edgier than calling microsoft edge "cancer", surely..
    - michaelcampbell 4y ago
      Sure, but tbf he said "edgy" and not "edgiest".

abujazar 4y ago

It «works», but still takes up a lot of resources (gigabytes of RAM and a whole CPU core while in video meetings),and depending on sso policies might require you to sign in several times a day. It’s also limited to four video streams.

animesh 4y ago

I did this, but the problem was that I never got any notifications. I did not block notifications at all, but I got little to no notifications especially for when meetings started. I had to revert to full app because of this.

winston_bruce 4y ago
I just tried this as well, didn't work at first but I enabled notifications when it prompted me & now appears to have worked (once at least). Any idea how to get notification badges to work (if possible)?
- mmis1000 4y ago
  Messing around the edge://flags to toggle native notification on or off, I remembered that the default notification mode has bug currently. Also ensure you grant it permission of notification in system setting. That isn't done by default.
  - winston_bruce 4y ago
    Thank you! I checked windows system notifications & it looks like edge notifications were already enabled but I did need to turn on the teams.microsoft.com notifications in edge.

AdamJacobMuller 4y ago

This is great especially because there is still no M1 version of teams and running the Intel version of teams on M1 makes the whole computer slow to a crawl. But, at this point, I have to wonder if teams is just abandonware. Stuff like this thread and the lack of M1 support 2.5 years after the M1 transition was announced and over a year after you could walk into an apple store and buy an M1 computer? I don't understand what could prevent them from releasing an M1 version besides a complete lack of will to do so.

solarkraft 4y ago
Almost all Microsoft software feels like abandonware, which is wild when you consider how heavily they're promoting and profiting from it and how many and how heavily people use it.
- AdamJacobMuller 4y ago
  I use excel/word daily and they work great on my M1 mac and feel modern.
  - m463 4y ago
    Do you mean a mac version? Honestly just having microsoft software adhere to apple human interface guidelines and the menu system improves it infinity percent (∞%) Using office360 is a confusing jumbled mess. I can't help but think it's on purpose. I remember talking to an ex-microsoft guy decades ago about some incompatibility with some third party thing. I said sometimes new engineers didn't know how their software would be used or interact with other stuff. He told me not to be naive. Microsoft had meetings trying to figure out "how can we own this?"
- uoaei 4y ago
  My Win10 laptop has started shutting off the WLAN device at the worst times, and it seems to happen when a Bluetooth mouse is connected and a battery charger is plugged in at the same time. The troubleshooter and report forms both crash on opening. I guess that's one way to hit a "zero negative feedback" KPI!

klipklop 4y ago

> 1. Install the Microsoft Edge Web browser on your Mac You had me up until here. It is pretty amazing how slow "modern" chat apps run.

Nextgrid 4y ago
It's depressing to see that chat (both textual and video) was a solved problem over a decade ago with single-core CPUs measured in hundreds of megahertz and low-hundreds of megabytes of RAM but nowadays despite orders of magnitude more resources it's apparently became an impossible problem.

solarkraft 4y ago

This also works with Chrome. I would recommend using that to at least have slight vendor diversity (did you know that Microsoft likes to EEE?).

babypuncher 4y ago
If you are actually worried about diversity then Edge and Chrome are no different. Both contribute to the Blink monoculture. If we want to split hairs then Edge is slightly better purely because it doesn't have the same 65% market share as Chrome.

sogen 4y ago

Thanks! I made the HN submit link because I was looking for solutions to the performance, greatly appreciated, downloading.

nostromo 4y ago

The Teams webapp is hot garbage though. On video you can't even see all the participants. It's years behind Google Meet and Zoom.

spicybright 4y ago
It's the same for the desktop version. Not being able to see everyone is egregious.
- DHPersonal 4y ago
  I think it's meant to save on bandwidth/resources by only showing the "speaking" video feeds.
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    It's most likely still receiving all feeds in the background though.
    - DHPersonal 4y ago
      You may be right. I don’t know how it works. I’ve noticed that when a new video-enabled user shows up on the screen, there is a delay between the user profile showing and the video overlay presenting itself, so I was assuming that was where a stream was being started for that video feed.
    - kortex 4y ago
      Yes, although I'm not sure if the hidden streams use bandwidth. Also, to the best of my knowledge, Teams handles individual streams usually, while meet usually muxes them to save bandwidth. Zoom is easily the most efficient of the big four and I think uses a whole bunch of compression tricks.
  - pvorb 4y ago
    It's somehow still using more bandwidth than Google Meet with the same number of video streams.

deltarholamda 4y ago

Very nice tip. I've filed this away in my brain for later. Many thanks!

chazeon 4y ago

Notion is also better as an Edge App than its own standalone app.

solvitor 4y ago

I do this on a Pixelbook (Linux version of Edge). Works quite well for all of Office 365, for me.

iforgotpassword 4y ago

Since we're on this topic: Up until a few weeks ago I swear when I got an invitation link and opened it in Firefox I could just join with the browser. Then two weeks ago it forced me to download the app for linux, no way to join with the browser. Is there any workaround for that? Faking the user agent? I didn't have the time then to grab an extension and start fiddling around, so I just spun up a VM and installed the app...

bravetraveler 4y ago

Forgive my ignorance, but what makes these apps practically different from say, a bookmark? I find it hard to conceptualize these apps as little more than your browser, but ever so slightly more pointed

slantyyz 4y ago
They are just a bookmark, but on Windows, they become a first class citizen on your task bar. If you are the type to have a ton of tabs open across many windows, this also makes the "app" easier to spot. You can also pin the app to the taskbar and have it launch with Windows.
- bravetraveler 4y ago
  Ah I see, thank you!
vel0city 4y ago
Continuing on with what the other poster said, when run as an "app" it then also eliminates the regular address bar and other buttons that are common on a full web browser so it "feels" more like a native app. There's also metadata that the app can use to add to the "jump list" feature of the Windows taskbar. You can then also get added as a target to "share" on Windows. There's a number of features that you get access to as an installed PWA at least on Windows compared to just being a webpage in the browser.
- bravetraveler 4y ago
  Cool! I hadn't considered OS/Windows integration :) The more minified window sounds useful on my Linux installation, things like Slack randomly fall behind on Electron and stop working

hank_z 4y ago

You can allow cross-site tracking and third party cookie in safari, then use teams from safari. I have been using it this way without any issues for all my Teams meetings.

goodfight 4y ago

You are my hero!

gerdesj 4y ago

I quietly use Teams every day. I'm not a particular fan of it but it doesn't get in my way more than an Electron splash at boot and an ugly purple icon at bottom right. This is on a rather elderly HPE laptop - dmidecode says: "HP 250 G6 Notebook PC" I used to have audio snags with it but those went away and I migrated to pipewire about 12 months ago and the audio quality has improved. I do lack some "features" like background blurring etc but I note that BBB manages to do it fine. It does look like there is a lack of love for Team on Linux but it sounds like the third class citizen is Mac.

LAC-Tech 4y ago

Does desktop Safari not run Teams, or is the installing edge suggestion just so you can install it?

spartanatreyu 4y ago
Apple has always had piss-poor PWA (progressive web apps, aka websites that can be installed and used offline as apps) support. It's done by design to try and force more people to use their app store, where apple can take a cut of everything it can.
- LAC-Tech 4y ago
  Yeah I knew it doesn't have the install button. Just wondering if teams flat out refuses to work on Safari. (Only time I use teams is when someone sends me a meeting link. I just run it on the browser. I use Void Linux btw)
  - mr_toad 4y ago
    > Just wondering if teams flat out refuses to work on Safari. Yes. Every other office app works, just not teams.
Nextgrid 4y ago
It completely refuses to launch. Now I wouldn't be surprised if audio/video features may legitimately not be supported, but at least text messaging should work.

jaimehrubiks 4y ago

I have two small issues with this 1. That when I close outlook (this doesn't happen on teams), and open it again, I need to put my password, it doesn't stay logged in. 2. That whenever I open teams or outlook, an empty Edge stays on as a different window. Any solutions?

trauco 4y ago

I can’t find this option anywhere.

Too 4y ago

Does that really help? I’ve tried teams web app in chrome and the performance is equally depressing as the Linux desktop app. Memory usage is ok but I really don’t enjoy waiting 2 seconds for every click. A more extreme tip is to not use it on your desktop at all. Just use the iOS app, it hurts me to praise Teams but that app is not just decent, it’s actually very good. Fast, stable, good ux, all the features you need. Just missing a way to connect a proper keyboard and share my main desktop screen.

mejutoco 4y ago
IMO the iOS app is better, but there are some bugs if one uses many instances. I was using both desktop and iPad versions and somehow I was getting incoming calls on the iPad from people who were not calling me, but who did maybe 30 min before. Not just the notification but "so and so is calling you right now". It was very confusing.
suction 4y ago
That's because MS hasn't found a way to run electron on iOS yet ;-)

raspyberr 4y ago

There's literally 3 "..."s to click on.

josephd79 4y ago

ok, gonna have to try this out.

chang1 4y ago

Thanks for the tip. I'll give this a try! For work, I have to run Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Discord. Of those 3, Slack surprisingly uses the least amount of memory (~700 MB), and Teams uses the most (~1.5 GB). I dusted off an old Intel Mac (literally) and interact with it using Universal Control. It only runs those 3 chat apps + mail. It's turned out to be a great way to offload resource hogs and as an added benefit, it minimizes distractions. I'll occasionally glance at the dock to see if there are any notification badges, whereas on my main Mac, I'd feel compelled to deal with notifications immediately. When I have to share my screen or focus on a conversation, I'll fire up one of those 3 apps on my main (M1) Mac and quit it when I'm done. Universal Control still feels rough around the edges, but it has saved me from ditching my Macbook Air and shelling out for an M1 Macbook Pro. Sometimes there are issues with reconnecting to the Intel Mac, but it seems to resolve itself if I wait a bit or turn off/on wifi.

michelb 4y ago

Hmm for me this is a lot slower than the M1 app, and it also used way more RAM.