Damn, I done did it now! My first Mac is coming...

[Flight Plan]

I've ordered an M1 MacBook Pro. Should ship by 2nd half of February.

I plan to take a couple months to get familiar with it first, but eventually I want to learn how to code for Mac as well as for iOS and iPadOS.

I did order the one with 64 GB RAM, 8 TB hard drive, and it's going to come pre-loaded with Logic.

It will not become a replacement for Windows, by the way. I have 2 other Windows machines, and I'm not planning to break away from that platform. If anything, I'll try Surface one day, and then maybe Linux again. It's been over 10 years since I tried Linux, so I'm about due for another shot at it.

So to prepare for my new Mac and the differences between MacOS and Windows, is there anything I can do now, or should I just wait for it to come and jump right in?

Thanks!

 

[KaliYoni]

I would buy at least one external drive for backups (I use Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner, each on its own drive) so that you can start making backups, assuming you will be storing data on your Mac you will want to back up, right away.

 

[firedept]

Congrats! Just wait and jump right in. Always worked for me. I also second an external drive or NAS for backups and file storage. CCC is great program to run with external drives.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I've ordered an M1 MacBook Pro. Should ship by 2nd half of February.

I plan to take a couple months to get familiar with it first, but eventually I want to learn how to code for Mac as well as for iOS and iPadOS.

I did order the one with 64 GB RAM, 8 TB hard drive, and it's going to come pre-loaded with Logic.

It will not become a replacement for Windows, by the way. I have 2 other Windows machines, and I'm not planning to break away from that platform. If anything, I'll try Surface one day, and then maybe Linux again. It's been over 10 years since I tried Linux, so I'm about due for another shot at it.

So to prepare for my new Mac and the differences between MacOS and Windows, is there anything I can do now, or should I just wait for it to come and jump right in?

Thanks!

WELCOME ABORD PILGRIM!🤓

 

[Flight Plan]

Thank you all!

Yeah, I'll get a couple or three external drives for backups. I also have a Synology NAS for things like replication and file-sharing within my home network, but not for backups.

Sometime in 2022 I plan to add a second NAS for network-stored backups.

The second NAS would be for online/near-online backups for all of my devices, but it would not replace my local backups because I always want to have SOME form of "offline backup storage", even if it's for older images.

My feeling is that there's nothing better than an air-gap to protect at least some of my older backups from ransomware, and what better air-gap could there be than having an external drive sitting on a shelf 10 feet away from the device who's backup files it is holding?

 

[mkelly]

Coming from Windows, you're probably going to miss the ability to "snap" windows by dragging them to the side of the screen. If so, then you might want to give Magnet a try - it replicates Windows' snap feature and expands on it:

‎Magnet

‎Every time you multitask with many apps open, you need all the windows arranged accordingly. Magnet makes this process swift and effortless. ——— FEATURES ——— • Activated by trigger areas (optional/customizable) • Activated by keyboard shortcuts (optional/customizable) • Operated via green...

apps.apple.com

It's one of the first things I install on any new Mac.

 

[AZhappyjack]

Coming from Windows, you're probably going to miss the ability to "snap" windows by dragging them to the side of the screen. If so, then you might want to give Magnet a try - it replicates Windows' snap feature and expands on it:

‎Magnet

‎Every time you multitask with many apps open, you need all the windows arranged accordingly. Magnet makes this process swift and effortless. ——— FEATURES ——— • Activated by trigger areas (optional/customizable) • Activated by keyboard shortcuts (optional/customizable) • Operated via green...

apps.apple.com

It's one of the first things I install on any new Mac.

I prefer Moom over Magnet.

OP, there are a few threads on "must have" software... check them out for some great tips.

 

[bradl]

Thank you all!

Yeah, I'll get a couple or three external drives for backups. I also have a Synology NAS for things like replication and file-sharing within my home network, but not for backups.

Sometime in 2022 I plan to add a second NAS for network-stored backups.

The second NAS would be for online/near-online backups for all of my devices, but it would not replace my local backups because I always want to have SOME form of "offline backup storage", even if it's for older images.

My feeling is that there's nothing better than an air-gap to protect at least some of my older backups from ransomware, and what better air-gap could there be than having an external drive sitting on a shelf 10 feet away from the device who's backup files it is holding?

When you get that second NAS, I would also suggest to get a dock or hub for your Mac. The reason for this is to not limit your Mac’s connection to your network and your NAS to WiFi speeds. Most USB-C docks/hubs support Gigabit speeds so you can run Cat-5/6/7 cable from that dock/hub to the router your NAS is on and run backups over that.

It’s great that WiFi allows for portability, but the cost of that portability is network speed.

BL.

 

[AxiomaticRubric]

I plan to take a couple months to get familiar with it first, but eventually I want to learn how to code for Mac as well as for iOS and iPadOS.

App creation is the best part of macOS. Xcode has its share of issues like any other IDE but the developer experience is incredible.

While you wait for your new Mac you can get up to speed on the Swift programming language.

Although they are a bit outdated, the recorded Stanford lectures on iOS by Professor Paul Hegarty are an excellent resource. He used to work at NeXT Inc. before it was acquired by Apple. Avoid the last recorded class though. Things were rushed that semester and the school didn't give him enough time to properly cover everything.