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Just got my MPB 16 Max and now I am sort of lost what to do...
- Thread starter scorpio vega
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You’ve got quite an impressive Mac! I have the M1 Pro version of this, and it is incredible. Logic/GarageBand are excellent apps for music creation, and Keynote/Pages/Numbers I prefer over Microsoft comparable apps. Keynote is so powerful from a story boarding/prototyping perspective.
Lots of suggestions on this board, so I’ll leave you with this — coming from a PC, a Mac may feel foreign to some — but after a while, using a PC will feel foreign. You can get work done on both, but I prefer the Mac and am happily invested in the whole ecosystem.
Lots of suggestions on this board, so I’ll leave you with this — coming from a PC, a Mac may feel foreign to some — but after a while, using a PC will feel foreign. You can get work done on both, but I prefer the Mac and am happily invested in the whole ecosystem.
No, coconut battery is not a must have. However, if you do plan to keep it plugged in most of the time and used as a desktop replacement, I would recommend Al Dente, which you can limit the charge. I mean the built in feature Optimized Battery Charging would do the same but it learns your habit (I think), and eventually will remain at 80%. I personally prefer the Al Dente because I can set it to what % I want to have it charged to when I have it on as a desktop. If I need to travel with it, I'll disable the al dente and charge it full before I am out the door.Well that was easy
a friend of mine mentioned something called Coconut battery is a must have. Is it necessary?
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) is pretty good for the Mac and almost on par with the Windows versions. It would make the transition a bit easier if you are already familiar with it.
Consider running Windows on your Mac so you have less reason to go back to your Surface. Windows Arm works surprisingly well for many apps. Parallels Desktop is more polished than VMWare Fusion.
Also consider Codeweavers Crossover if you want to run Windows apps "natively" on your Mac rather than through a virtual machine. Not all apps work, and their focus is on gaming apps, but other stalwarts like Quicken for Windows run well. It's built on much of the same technology Apple is using for its game porting kit. Codeweavers maintains a good database on what apps do and do not work with it.
But most of all, just start using the Mac and get familiarized with how it works.
Consider running Windows on your Mac so you have less reason to go back to your Surface. Windows Arm works surprisingly well for many apps. Parallels Desktop is more polished than VMWare Fusion.
Also consider Codeweavers Crossover if you want to run Windows apps "natively" on your Mac rather than through a virtual machine. Not all apps work, and their focus is on gaming apps, but other stalwarts like Quicken for Windows run well. It's built on much of the same technology Apple is using for its game porting kit. Codeweavers maintains a good database on what apps do and do not work with it.
But most of all, just start using the Mac and get familiarized with how it works.
- Use the cmd key where you would have used the ctrl key in Windows (cmd-C to copy for example).
- macOS, unlike Windows or even iOS is document-centric, not app-centric. Closing the last window with an open document in an app does NOT close the app.
- Of course there is no touch screen (at least not yet). But if you get an iPad you can recreate some of the effects if you use SideCar.
- Pin the Application folder to the right side of the dock, and it will act sort of like the Start button in Windows, showing you a list of apps.
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I bought my first toaster box Apple around 2000, and I was hooked. Funny thing I worked in government which was a Windows world. Over the years I have acquired several Macs, and currently using my M1 with 16 megs of memory. It won’t be long before you are believer.
Add the apps within MS Office if that is what you are used to but I suggest that you defer any extra apps for now and just enjoy using the integration between the iPhone and your new beast of a laptop.
Or, just click & hold / Control + click on the 'Launchpad' icon in the Dock to achieve this without having to add anything.
And I disagree. Mac OS takes good care of Macs w/o adding freeware. Best protocol is to avoid adding freeware of any kind. Your Mac will just work.
I hate it when people say this word.
You can find tens of reports on Bugzilla from me which are still open after half a decade. Like for example on Windows when you have a network printer and it's turned off, your LibreOffice Calc documents all take 30 seconds to 60 seconds to open.
I would rather pay for Excel than use that absolute garbage. It could be a good product but there isn't anyone left on the project who wants to make it one.
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On Office packages, start at requirements. If you have to collaborate with other people then it's probably MS Office. If you can get away with mailing PDFs or work solo then Pages and Numbers are adequate. Actually Pages is pretty good once you get used to it.
I do a lot of document authoring and haven't used word for around 5 years now. It's all either Pages (mostly for writing letters) or LaTeX via MacTeX.
Edit: Word is a despicable turd, just a popular one. I have no idea how anyone puts more than 5-6 pages together without it spontaneously turning into a tyre fire.
Pages and Numbers are not junk. They are different, however, so anyone tuned in to MS should probably stay with the MS apps even though they became bloatware over the decades.
He got it from Apple and yeah I got Apple care
Always lol.I plan to keep it for as long as possible. I still have/use my Surface Pro (1st gen) from 2013 with it's dinky 10.6 inch screen haha (even though I have upgraded several times over the years to newer Surface Pro Models and Surface Book lol).
I dont really get rid of the stuff unless it just shuts down and dies (my Lumia 1020 from 2012 still works fine).
nothing to add here other than to say congratulations on finishing grad school!! It's definitely no small challenge
Thank you. It has been a labor of love and TONS of whiskey lol
I was going to advise her not to bother with Pages, Keynote and above all Numbers.
Here are my general Mac tips:
Apps I like that either replicate windows features or improve my day to day usage:
- Stock notes and reminders are actually pretty incredible and work well with iPhone. Same with Safari. Lots of subtle features that come alive when you use several different Apple devices.
- Universal Clipboard is amazing, just built into iCloud and lets you copy and paste anything between your devices.
- In Finder, you can preview just about any file by highlighting it and pressing the space bar. You can even mark up images and pdfs from here. It’s really useful.
- Preview is also extremely useful for PDFs, there are more comprehensive tools out there, but Preview does a really good job for a built in app.
- If you have an Apple Watch, you can set it up to unlock your Mac.
- Most keyboard shortcuts are the same but instead of control, you’ll use the command key.
- Command + spacebar is your friend! It opens spotlight which gives you access to just about everything on your computer. I use it to open up apps and find files.
- Just clicking the red x on a window doesn’t always close an application (some do, some don’t, I avoid it). If I want to completely close something, I use the keyboard shortcut command + q. There are other ways to close apps, but that’s by far the easiest for me. This doesn’t apply to Finder - Finder always stays open.
- Activity Monitor is the equivalent to the task manager, if you need to force close something for whatever reason that’s where you’ll go.
- You can airplay to your laptop from another Apple device
- As others have said, learn the shortcuts and trackpad gestures!
Apps I like that either replicate windows features or improve my day to day usage:
- Onyx is a utility for a few random tasks around cleanup and changing some system level settings that aren’t otherwise available. You probably don’t need it but I like it!
- AppCleaner is nice if you need to delete programs and want any related configuration files also cleaned up (not necessary, but if you’re obsessive about that like I am…).
- Magnet works well for snapping windows like windows does out of the box (people will recommend better touch tool and other similar things, comes down to preference, I like the simplicity of magnet, it onlu does window snapping).
- Dozer hides menu bar shortcuts but keeps them accessible behind a button. Bartender was mentioned somewhere in here, this does the same thing for free.
- Flycut is awesome if you want to keep your clipboard history (copy several things and still be able to paste them without having to switch back and forth).
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THank you for this. this will be a godsend.
Is there something similar for iPhone?
Numbers actually misses some very important stuff for advanced scenarios. For simple spreadsheets Numbers is the better choice.
Congratulations on being near the end of Grad School and your MacBook Pro gift!
Two suggestions:
Two suggestions:
- Focus first on getting familiar with macOS. Here is a great tutorial for someone switching from Windows:
- Defer adding new apps until you are familiar with macOS. This is because macOS contains lots of built-in capabilities (e.g., Preview multi-featured utility) that eliminates the need and clutter of many third-party apps. The one exception to this suggestion is MS Office as you’ve stated your preference.
Congrats on getting a new Mac. Like with any new system, do not download software on it that you do not need. There is no added utility that Macs needs out of the box. They can bog down your system and can affect the stability.
Congrats on finishing grad school, many or most schools will have a free software page that often has Microsoft Office for free, not to mention some Adobe software. I would look into that since you are still a student. Having at least Word on your machine when you can get it for free is a good idea, just my opinion of course. Like one or more others said you don't need any certain software. enjoy!!
Agreed on this, especially since apple removed the top up function from the system. Some other random tips that come to mind:
To the OP: You don’t need paid malware protection unless you spend a lot of time on the seedy side of the internet. I’d get 1Blocker (the safari equivalent of ublock origin), and of course, 1Password. If you use office, install that again - the apple numbers and pages are ok, not great. Keynote rocks.
Strongly suggest Time Machine, and turning on FileVault. Reverse the brain-dead ‘natural’ scroll direction on the trackpad, and set the preference to always show scroll bars. Turn on ‘Prevent sleep when screen blanks’ in settings too (apple’s way overly aggressive).
Get yourself a good thunderbolt or USB-C Dock (not a hub) - cheap ones don’t work right with Macs.
Do not turn on icloud files - it screws up a lot of things. Do turn on advanced data protection. Don’t try to install an NTFS driver to access old external drives (they’re unstable). Do write off most of your games, as there aren’t Mac equivalents….or, get the free version of VMWare Fusion and install Windows 11 ARM - that’ll let you run old windows software during the transition (you will need to buy a windows license).
If you’re a quicken fan, look at Banktivity on the Mac instead of quicken Mac, or run windows quicken inside the virtual machine.
Most of all, have fun!
A few comments here:
- macOS’s built in password manager may be sufficient. It integrates well with iOS and iPadOS.
- Time Machine is easy to set up either with a physically attached drive or a NAS drive. I prefer a NAS as it replicates the old Time Capsule and automatically backs up. One advantage of using a physically attached drive is that Time Machine can now use APFS volumes, which makes subsequent backups a bit faster. Be sure to select encrypted backups when setting up Time Machine!
- For making image backups, Carbon Copy Cloner is good. It’s a small one-time license fee. Just don’t set it to copy files in a cloud folder such as OneDrive.
- Quicken for Windows runs excellently on Codeweavers Crossover and uses much less RAM than a virtual machine. The same for many games.
- ExFAT is a good format for removable media if you need cross platform compatibility. A NAS may also be a good solution as it is basically its own little Linux-based PC that mounts as a network drive.
I personally would recommend that you purchase AppleCare+ for your MBP and that you get the annual renewing version of AppleCare+. That way you never have to worry about the battery or, more importantly, the risk that dropping your MBP and shattering the screen will result in a costly repair. The annual renewing version can be renewed each year for as long as you want. I have a 2018 iPad Pro that is still covered by AppleCare+, which renews every year.
Screens are so expensive these days, I get AppleCare+ for anything I have that has a screen. I'm very diligent with my equipment (which typically looks like new whenever I sell it). However, about a year ago, I dropped my iPad mini 6 on a tile floor and shattered the screen in a freak accident. AppleCare+ replaced it with a brand new iPad mini 6 for the cost of the $50 deductible. The peace of mind you get from having AppleCare is worth the cost IMHO.
The other thing I purchase with any new Mac is a lifetime license for Microsoft Office, since I really hate the idea of subscription software, and I agree with the folks who say Pages and Numbers are junk by comparison with MS Office. You can get a one-machine license for Office at a steep discount (typical cost around $50) from Cult of Mac.
If you do video editing (and it sounds like you do), you might want to check out Final Cut Pro. I think they still offer a 1 month free trial.
Screens are so expensive these days, I get AppleCare+ for anything I have that has a screen. I'm very diligent with my equipment (which typically looks like new whenever I sell it). However, about a year ago, I dropped my iPad mini 6 on a tile floor and shattered the screen in a freak accident. AppleCare+ replaced it with a brand new iPad mini 6 for the cost of the $50 deductible. The peace of mind you get from having AppleCare is worth the cost IMHO.
The other thing I purchase with any new Mac is a lifetime license for Microsoft Office, since I really hate the idea of subscription software, and I agree with the folks who say Pages and Numbers are junk by comparison with MS Office. You can get a one-machine license for Office at a steep discount (typical cost around $50) from Cult of Mac.
If you do video editing (and it sounds like you do), you might want to check out Final Cut Pro. I think they still offer a 1 month free trial.