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Just got a MacBook Pro for work; what are your tips?

• slater 3y ago
  "I sometimes minimize a window" First thing to learn in macOS: Never do this. It's like the #1 thing Windows users new to Macs have to un-learn. Leave the app windows open and where they are, and learn to love the CMD-tilde (top left next to the "1" key on most keyboards) command to jump between an application's open windows.
  • Pooge 3y ago
    What I meant is that instead of pressing "@" I press the shortcut to minimize windows unwillingly. I use Alt+Tab or 3-finger swipe to switch open windows.
  • user_7832 3y ago
    Do you know any application or desktop environments that could emulate this MacOs (or a linux/unix) type behavior on windows? I'm curious to see what it means in practice (I've never used a mac.)
• johng 3y ago
  I like to use full screen and 4 fingers to swipe between full screen processes. Homebrew is amazing. I hate "natural scroll".
• k310 3y ago
  There are many things to learn. Start with terminal :-) You can modify key mapping. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-the-behavior-of-the-modifier-keys-mchlp1011/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-the-behavior... And here is a giant list of shortcuts. You won't need them all! Good to know. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236 Others can point to developer tools such as homebrew and so on. Good luck.
• deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
• jbj 3y ago
  disable mouse acceleration and install unnatural scroll wheel to flip scrolling direction https://github.com/ther0n/UnnaturalScrollWheels https://github.com/ther0n/UnnaturalScrollWheels
  • dieortin 3y ago
    AFAIK you don’t need to install anything to reverse the scrolling direction. Although the natural one is much better when you use the trackpad.
    • jbj 3y ago
      you are correct. however this allows you to keep touch pad scrolling separate from mousewheel scrolling that will otherwise be tied together
• syndicatedjelly 3y ago
  For some reason mac os lacks window snapping, so i bought a program called BetterSnapTool for a few bucks. it’s super customizable and let’s you snap windows however you prefer.
• unilynx 3y ago
  If you do anything in editors or edit command lines in the terminal, maximise the keyboard repeat rate and minimise the repeat delay.
  • speedgoose 3y ago
    FYI you can use many "emacs" shortcuts in shells like bash or zsh but also many CLI programs using the GNU readline lib. In a text editor you should favour vim mode, obviously. Then you will very rarely feel the need to press a key and wait.
• FinalDestiny 3y ago
  Try Cmd+h to quickly hide a window. Night Shift is also nice to have. Cmd+tab for switching between apps. Alt+backspace is really handy (it deletes the previous word.) In fact, the alt key has a lot of functions that are often overlooked. Rectangle is awesome for macOS. It makes it easier to put windows in the corner of the screen, etc. I also like to install Dozer to keep the menu bar clean on macOS.
• clay_the_ripper 3y ago
  Shortcuts I rely on every day: Command-space: shortcut to search Command-tab: Toggle between recent applications Command-~: Toggle between windows in same application Shift-Cmd-4: screenshot Productivity things: I uncheck natural scroll direction. Trackpad set to fast. Change screenshot destination to a folder, drag folder into dock, set display to date added, display as fan. Do the same as above with downloads folder. Disable zooming in the dock. Enable dictation in accessibility and set the activation to double tap “control” on key board: dictate emails and other writing when you get bored of typing. Install chrome and never look at safari again in my life. Delete all the useless apple apps from the dock (maps etc).
• nickjj 3y ago
  Disable mouse accel by running this from the terminal: defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling -integer -1 There's a setting in iterm2[0] to disable the terminal from growing and shrinking if you adjust the font size. By default iterm2 will resize the terminal but it does it in the worst way possible by extending it past the viewable screen. If you pair or screenshare a lot this setting is critical to disable IMO. https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy is really nice for managing multiple clipboards. It's about as good as Ditto for Windows. [0]: https://iterm2.com/faq.html#:~:text=Q%3A%20How%20can%20I%20prevent,window%20when%20changing%20font%20size https://iterm2.com/faq.html#:~:text=Q%3A%20How%20can%20I%20p....
• xeonmc 3y ago
  Enable three-finger drag.
• coffeebeqn 3y ago
  Command + arrow keys. Play around with them in your text editor of choice and you’ll never move your cursor another way
• fellowniusmonk 3y ago
  I used the app rcmd and karabiner together to ensure I have deterministic app switching. I remap caps lock to right-command key using karabiner and then use rcmd for app switching. Caps-lock + letter key means I can jump to any app instantly. Other people map caps lock to escape or turn it into a "super key" but I don't like fiddling very much. If you are doing web dev I find using chrome beta to always have your app front and center so it doesn't get lost in research tabs, since mac used "app switching" instead of "window switching" it's a nicer workflow. So I have capslock+a mapped to terminal, +s mapped to chrome beta, +d mapped to editor, +c mapped to normal chrome, etc.. I've used a bunch of different approaches over the years like workspaces, multi monitor, global terminal hotkey, windows style "alt-tab" etc... I've found deterministic app switching to be way better.
  • deanmoriarty 3y ago
    I have always wanted to move to a "deterministic app switching" workflow, since on any given day I go through cmd+tab thousands of times. I rely on it so much that on every macbook I've ever used the cmd key becomes visibly discolored and beaten up after a couple years :) Have you found a way to do it for free, without paying for rcmd?
    • fellowniusmonk 3y ago
      I just paid for it, it was $4 at the time. It and bettertouchtool (for tiptap window tiling, moving windows between monitors and 3 finger middle click) and sublime's text and merge are the primary dev/env gui tools I've paid for over the years.
• speedgoose 3y ago
  Rectangle and AltTab are two must have open-source apps if you are used to those basic features.
• efxhoy 3y ago
  The only customization app I use is Rectangle. Try to embrace the oddities of the system instead of trying to make it behave exactly like you’re used to. Make it yours but don’t bother trying to make it i3 or windows or whatever. brew is probably the package manager you want. For terminals I’ve used the built in, warp and iterm2. The built in works best for me. asdf works great if you need multiple versions of programming languages. I use and paid for Sublime Text and Merge. One thing about MacOS is it broke my idea to only use Free (as in beer) software. Paying for software that feels right becomes less strange when the rest of the system has the feeling that you paid more for the feeling of it. I gave up on safari and switched to chrome, because I also use windows and the sync is convenient. If mac is now your only system I suggest giving Safari a fair chance. Don’t feel tethered to your power cord or screen, M cpu macbooks have great battery life, use it.
• jhogervorst 3y ago
  Speed up the showing/hiding animation of the Dock by running this in Terminal[1]: defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -int 0 defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.4 killall Dock [1]: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/70598/23372 https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/70598/23372
• TheLoafOfBread 3y ago
  Install Parallels with Windows so it is actually usable.
• torunar 3y ago
  I’m going to be torched by Apple enthusiasts, but I gotta say it: if you have the older model with Intel CPU, use BootCamp and install Windows 10 on it. I did it half a year ago and it changed my life drastically: now I finally have an OS that is not breaking in half after yet another upgrade because “muh we decided you don’t need 32 bit apps” or “muh we decided you don’t need kernel extensions”. And the performance is much snappier in general, typing was and is sluggish in macOS.
• mouse_8b 3y ago
  Get a better text editor and file browser, and probably terminal. I use Sublime as my text editor, but there are other options. I use PathFinder for a dual-pane file explorer. I use iTerm2 for my terminal. Otherwise, I don't recommend customizing too much out of the gate. If you are continuously hitting a pain point, then it could be worth it, but you'll learn the Mac way soon enough.
• avinassh 3y ago
  enable Tap to Click, your RSI will thank you.
• markx2 3y ago
  https://www.alfredapp.com/ https://www.alfredapp.com/ The Powerpack is well worth the money.