Totally new to Macs!

[ste20man]

Hi.

Can I just ask a few questions please as I've bought Macbook M1 MAX to do music production.

I am starting to get to grips with the Mac keyboard and its combinations which feel pretty strange coming from a Win 11 machine.

One question I have is can I get rid of the ever-present menu bar at the top of the screen? As far as I can tell it represents whatever application is currently running in the "front" of the screen if you know what I mean. I just don't want it popping up when I move my mouse to the top of the screen. It's really annoying when I switch between Tabs in chrome for example.

Also, how do I minimize and maximize a window (chrome for example) using keyboard shortcuts? I just can't find the answer and I know it must be some really simple keystrokes. I just can't find the answer no matter where I search.

Finally, I am going to be using FL Studio to do my music and I am going to be using Native Instruments Komplete 14 software together.

The Komplete 14 software requires some parts to be using Rosetta 2.

What would be the correct way to install these products?

Should I install FL natively which it can do or should I use Rosetta 2 if that makes any logical sense?

Should I then install Komplete as Rosetta 2?

I'm confused about this especially and don't want to get off on the wrong foot, I don't wanna wreck the Mac before I've even got started!

If any of you guys have done this kind of thing I would be really grateful for your advice and knowledge.

All advice would be more than welcome.

If you can think of any other ideas that I might not have thought of then please let me know.

Can't wait to be making music, cheers, all the best, ste. :O)

 

[Mr.Blacky]

If you don't want the menu bar popping up, just keep it on the screen.
Also in the corresponding menu (in your case 'Window') it shows the keyboard command for a specific menu item and if you hold the 'Option' key on the keyboard you get secondary actions for that command (for example, if you press 'Command'+W you close the current window, but if you press 'Command'+'Option'+W you close all windows of the current app).

 

[ste20man]

That's some really important advice about the windows, thnx!

Am I right in thinking that there is no way that I can get rid of the menu bar at top and that I will at best have it come up when I hover my mouse over the area?

It just feels weird to me that it should pop up doing different things on every app, say like Chrome for example.

On chrome the menu has file - edit - view - history....(like why should it be necassary to have a "history" tab at the top menu bar when you can access the history "within" thee chrome app.

I just want to get rid of it altogether is poss. I can't find a way to do it so far in the help sections etc.

Thnx for getting back to me, really appreciate it, ste :O)

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Go to System Preferences (in the dock, or you can go to the apple logo at the top left, and scroll down to "System Preferences..."), then go to "Dock & Menu Bar" and uncheck "automatically hide and show menu bar on desktop"

 

[ste20man]

Hi Jthesnark!

Yeah, I tried what you said in combination with both "automatically hides...." but could only get the menu bar to go away temporarily until I swung my mouse up to the top of the screen.

i'm starting to think that the menu bar will always be up top when your mouse hovers over it.

That apple has done this as a design choice. I could see them keeping the battery and wifi icons etc. on the top right of the screen but as for the rest on the left I could really do without. I am starting to think that its built in to the system.

Ta, ste.

 

[Toutou]

but as for the rest on the left I could really do without. I am starting to think that its built in to the system.

Of course it's built-in, it's literally the single most important area of macOS. It's where all the controls for the currently active app are. You can't make it go away permanently, it's either always visible on ready to pop out when you need it.

 

[Gregg2]

One question I have is can I get rid of the ever-present menu bar at the top of the screen? As far as I can tell it represents whatever application is currently running in the "front" of the screen if you know what I mean. I just don't want it popping up when I move my mouse to the top of the screen. It's really annoying when I switch between Tabs in chrome for example.

So I take it you use everything in full screen mode. Thus, whenever you need to move your cursor to the top of the screen, the Menu Bar pops up, messing with, for example, your tabs in Chrome. Right?

If that's the case, the answer is in post #4. If you keep the Menu Bar there permanently, even if you're not planning to use it, it can't pop up over your app window. Nothing will override that, so nothing else can occupy that strip at the top.

But that's not full screen!!!! EEEeeekkk! Oh well. Figure out why that bothers you, then find a therapist who can help. (or maybe do that in reverse)

Personally, I rarely use full screen mode, only for Zoom. Otherwise, can't stand it covering up my Menu Bar. I use that all the time. I take it you try to use keyboard shortcuts whenever possible. Right?

 

[ste20man]

Yes, sorry man. It's just like everything is back handed, I didn't mean to upset you Gregg, I guess I'm just wanting everything my own way. I reealize now that I won't get it. The Macbook MAX is a power beast there's no doubt, I'm really glad I got it. The only thing I can say which is wierd is that I always imagined the jean wearing guy to be the very best at concept designing. You wouldn't think the nerd gates would conjour up Win 11. I suppose you get "best" things here and there. I was gonna get the latest iPhone for its camera and then got my hands on both that and the Galaxy Ultra 22 and the 22 was way better. It's a catch 22 as I want to go fully Apple. It's not the best having a Macbook and an Ultra but my work is kind of seperate anyhow. I'm still trying to get a hold of this but I am sure I will. Thanks for getting back, you've made some great points, especially digging into shortcuts wherever possible. Thanks again, all the best, ste.

 

[Technerd108]

Yes, sorry man. It's just like everything is back handed, I didn't mean to upset you Gregg, I guess I'm just wanting everything my own way. I reealize now that I won't get it. The Macbook MAX is a power beast there's no doubt, I'm really glad I got it. The only thing I can say which is wierd is that I always imagined the jean wearing guy to be the very best at concept designing. You wouldn't think the nerd gates would conjour up Win 11. I suppose you get "best" things here and there. I was gonna get the latest iPhone for its camera and then got my hands on both that and the Galaxy Ultra 22 and the 22 was way better. It's a catch 22 as I want to go fully Apple. It's not the best having a Macbook and an Ultra but my work is kind of seperate anyhow. I'm still trying to get a hold of this but I am sure I will. Thanks for getting back, you've made some great points, especially digging into shortcuts wherever possible. Thanks again, all the best, ste.

That is the problem with software it is customizable to a point. It is their way most of the time and you either learn their way or try another platform.

Windows and and MacOs have their respective strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately Android and MacOS don't play as nicely together as Android and Windows.

It seems both platforms want to push you into their respective ecosystems.

I have an iPhone 13 Pro Max and a Samsung s22 plus. The iPhone is a lot better in most ways. The software is smoother and more stable. The battery life is amazing. Apps seem to be more polished and better optimized. I like the anti-reflective coating on the iPhone. The S22 plus has a brighter screen. The S22 plus has a slightly better camera setup. Integration between iOS and MacOS and iPadOS is better than Android and windows but Samsung does a great job with their tablets. Integration is almost on par but Apple is easier to set up and works more seamlessly.

Once you get used to how MacOS works it is pretty good. Coming from Windows there are some things that might annoy you but over time you figure everything out and get over it.

I like using multiple platforms but to be honest if I could only choose one it would be Apple. Their products just work more seamlessly together. The quality of the OS and software for it are better generally speaking. The iPhone is more reliable. Generally Apple products have longer update support.

Android is under rated by a lot of Apple enthusiasts though. So is Windows. If budget is the primary concern and their are hardware features like OLED screen on a laptop or other things then Windows and Android are better. There is simply more software available for Windows. You have more freedom in Windows and Android. There are more options to customize the OS in Windows and Android.

So in your case if you are going to use only a Mac then eventually you are going to have to get an iPhone. Apple is smart and makes it so the integrate and feature set is so tempting eventually you will cave. Being able to send texts and calls from any device you own with shocking ease is very convenient. FaceTime is an excellent software. And once you start using an iPhone it works so well that it is hard to go back to android. The only thing that still sucks on iPhone is notifications. Also a lot of features that iPhones have first arrive on Android. You get more hardware for your money on Android and Windows.

Just enjoy your s22 ultra and your Mac. You have the best of both worlds but they are like magnets with reversed poles repelling each other. Unless you get an iPhone it is going to stay that way. Not telling you to buy an iPhone just sharing my experience. Right now I am using my S22 plus but there are some times when it bothers me I can't respond to a text on my Mac like I can with my iPhone. If I have my Windows laptop then it is almost as seamless. So if your primary work flow revolves around a Mac at some point you are going to have to make a decision. Or buy a windows laptop and use that from time to time??

 

[ste20man]

Yes, I will moove to iPhone sonner rather than later, thnx.

 

[ArkSingularity]

Unfortunately, as others mentioned, the top menu bar is pretty much always going to be there. It contains the global menu, which is why it's pretty hard to get rid of (even if you autohide it, it will pop up when you push your mouse to the top of the screen).

It does "take up" space at the top of the screen like this, but it actually saves you a lot of screen real estate from not having the individual menus on each app taking up space. They all share the top menu area instead. You really do get used to it pretty quickly, it felt foreign to me for a couple of weeks when I switched but afterwards it was second nature (I still autohide the dock to save the screen space, but I like the menu being persistent at the top now).

Some things, like the key combinations, are definitely very different. It took me a couple of months to really get used to them, but now it's second nature and I'm used to it. It still throws me off a bit when I get on my Linux machine and have to get used to CTRL, my brain gets stuck in one mode or another but that's a pretty minor thing. You can get applications that remap some of the keys which might make it easier to switch, but I usually recommend just getting used to the new layouts, Mac OS is pretty heavy on keyboard shortcuts and you'll get familiar with them over time.

As far as installing software using Rosetta, usually it's pretty transparent and you just install software normally and let Mac OS figure it out (virtually everything runs flawlessly under Rosetta, it's very fast and typically runs at over 80% of native performance too). With audio production, some folks like to purposefully run it under Rosetta to make sure that their audio plugins are compatible. You can go into the Finder/File browser, right click on the application (or the installer) and check the "open with Rosetta" box. That will force it to open in Rosetta if you are using a universal binary (basically, if FL studio only offers one download, it's a universal binary. Certain apps still offer two downloads, one for each platform, in which case it's even easier).

As far as minimizing and maximizing, this is one of the things I never fully got used to. The green maximize button makes an application full screen, but if you hold down the option key while you click it, it will maximize it without making it full screen. Mac OS likes full screen apps, they're actually pretty nice to work with when you use mission control (click the mission control key on your keyboard or alternatively swipe up on the track pad with three fingers). That being said, I do kinda wish that there was an easier way to maximize windows without keyboard shortcuts, it's a bit weird that it doesn't exist.

As far as other differences, Spotlight is how you search for stuff on Mac (unlike windows where you have the start menu). There is an icon in the top menu bar for it, but it's usually easiest to launch it with CMD + Space instead. Spotlight is great and it's very intelligent, you can even search for things you might find in your photos and it will automatically use AI and search for photos that match your description.

Applications are launched with launchpad (since there is no start menu), but I set mine to have a hot corner at the top right to trigger it, which makes it easier to reach than going to the launchpad icon on the dock. Some users also like to declutter their Dock a bit by unchecking "show recent applications on dock" and by checking "minimize windows into application icon" in the dock settings, which makes the Dock re-use the icons that you already have for pinned apps rather than being redundant (this, too, is a matter of preference of course).

All in all, it's pretty easy to get used to after a few weeks. There are lots of little things that are different on Mac, but it's great once you get the hang of it. Mac OS "just works" and gets out of your way a lot more. Settings are simpler and easier to find, updates don't get in your way, malware is rarely an issue, and the interface is very consistent and doesn't switch up on you much. Welcome to the new ecosystem, and feel free to post any other questions you have!

 

[satcomer]

Sense your newer to Macs Suggest a few sites to bookmark beside this site:

1. Roaring Apps.com - great site to see if an app is updated for M1-2
2. Accelerate Your Mac - great site for reviews on all sort devices you can connect to your Mac
3. Daring fireball - Mac News blog
4. DuckDuckGo.com - use instead of Google tracking

 

[ste20man]

Can I just say a MASSIVE thanks to ARK and satcomer.

After Gregg telling me to "go see a psychiatrist" I was kind of put off with it all but seeing as you spoke at such length and then followed up with great websites, I feel I'm getting to grips with it. I took your advice about not remapping the keyboard and look forward to digging through the websites. Thanks so much, ste.

 

[Gregg2]

I feel I'm getting to grips with it.

👍 Good for you! As the old saying goes, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

 

[ArkSingularity]

Can I just say a MASSIVE thanks to ARK and satcomer.

After Gregg telling me to "go see a psychiatrist" I was kind of put off with it all but seeing as you spoke at such length and then followed up with great websites, I feel I'm getting to grips with it. I took your advice about not remapping the keyboard and look forward to digging through the websites. Thanks so much, ste.

Yea we all had to learn when we switched to Mac too. For most of us, the first few weeks involved a lot of head scratching ("Why does the mouse scroll backwards? Where is the maximize button? How do I copy/paste? Why does cut/paste not delete the original file in the file browser? Where is the search bar for files?")

It's definitely a very different workflow, and a lot of those differences span back decades (Apple has always done certain things differently. Apple tends to design something once and kinda sticks with it, Mac OS' basic interface has been more or less the same over the last 20 years). Sometimes those of us who have used Mac OS for a while take those things for granted, but then we bang our heads against a wall when we need to figure out how to use Windows again too ("How do I save a file? Where is the menu? Why are there two control panels? How do I find a list of programs? Why are all the keyboard shortcuts so wacky?")

Sometimes I wish the two ecosystems played more nicely with each other. You still have to format a drive as exFAT if you want to share files across both systems. Not sure who is more to blame for that, but neither seems to be too keen on supporting the other.

 

[ste20man]

Hi Ark,

I've got to the point where I like learning all of this new stuff.

I don't know why I was so against it. It's not like I have to learn brain surgery. It's a very cool system from what I can gather. I think it would be interesting to get 2 high-end developers of Win and Mac OS together for a pint and just let them go at each other. It'd be interesting to see if any ideas were implemented based on the other's ideas.

I'm sure they all look at the competing products. It's quite an interesting topic because when you go past a certain point of utility, it kind of becomes a form of art. I just experienced a lot of cognitive dissonances as I attempted to hold two sets of beliefs under the same roof lol.

Lots of good times to come though, thnx for getting back again.

All the best, ste.

 

[meson]

ste,

Perhaps a little bit of history will help you understand the role of the menu bar and some of the design language of macOS. Before the introduction of OS X, there was MacOS. In those days, the Menu Bar was everything. The Apple Menu functioned similarly to the Start button in Windows, in addition to pointing toward the items it has today, it pointed to the Applications folder and various parts of the File System. In those days, applications would have a main window where you worked and additional windows or palettes that could be opened to provide essential functions such as formatting, etc. Today those palettes exist in slide out windows as a result of Apple pulling design language from the iPhone and iPad into OS X and macOS. Because of the array of small windows, Apple chose to put the application menus at the top of the screen in the Menu Bar. When working on small laptop displays and the low resolution displays of days gone by, the Menu Bar was by far the more elegant solution to providing access to application functionality in a multi-window environment. This is something that is at the core of Apple's UI design, so I do not expect it to change any time soon.

Personally, I leave the Menu Bar visible at all times. I use the menus often in applications other than a browser, I like to have the time visible on my screen, and I use some tools to monitor my resources that show in the Menu Bar. You can think of the right side of the Menu Bar as functioning like the System Tray in Windows. The left side is reserved for the menus in your active application as well as the Apple/System menu. The Dock functions like the Task Bar with shortcuts on one side and minimized windows on the other.

One thing I don't care for in macOS is that they changed the green dot button from maximize to full screen. If you want the expected behavior of maximizing a window, hold the Option key and click the green butt. You will see it change to a + sign and it does what you expect. Along those lines, Option is the key to advanced functionality. Hold down the Option key with a menu showing and you will see some additional options pop up.

For many cross-platform apps, the command button provides similar functionality to the control key in Windows.

If you like to snap windows into various places and preset sizes on the screen, there are some apps to help with that. The one I've used for years now is called Magnet. There are others that are far more customizable, but Magnet does what I need.

 

[ArkSingularity]

If you like to snap windows into various places and preset sizes on the screen, there are some apps to help with that. The one I've used for years now is called Magnet. There are others that are far more customizable, but Magnet does what I need.

Interesting. I frequently snap windows side by side by click-holding the green maximize button and tiling it, but it only supports tiling to the left or the right side of the screen. The 13" inch screens aren't really big enough to do super advanced tiling on most of the apps I use, but I could see something like this being useful on my external monitor.

 

[meson]

On a 13" screen things do get cramped, and 1/2 seems to be a nice compromise, but when I am doing work that makes heavy use of the Terminal, the ability to snap it into 1/4 of the screen is nice.

On a 1080p external display, I like the ability to pop a browser window into 2/3 of the display width as many web pages will collapse the sidebar when only shown on half of the display. With so much content designed for a 1280x720 resolution, this works well.

On my 13" display when moving around files in Finder in columns mode, I like to split things 50/50 vertically rather than horizontally.

I just find the default iPad-like behavior too limiting.

 

[ste20man]

Hi all!

With use, I am really coming to grips with the nuances of a system that has obviously gone through many iterations.

macOS Monterey is such a well-polished piece of software. I'm a huge fan of it, not least the Macbook M1 MAX.

Can I ask another question (although I have searched far and wide and believed the answer to be "no"):

Is there any way of simply clicking on an icon in a dock to minimize it back to the dock?

For example, when I left-click on Finder in the dock, the Finder window opens on screen as you would expect. Then when I left-click on the Finder icon in the dock once again, the Finder window does not minimize back to the dock.

Is there any way I can get the functionality of this "left-click" minimized to happen?

I've looked through the system preferences but can't see anywhere that would make this happen.

I would love to do it without installing any third-party software (in fact I'm not even sure that would exist).

Would be great to hear your view, thnx, ste.

 

[Gregg2]

I think you're correct; that's not possible natively. However, if you hold down the command key and hit W, the window will close. The window that opens is set in Preferences.

For what you want, what would you expect to happen if there were two (or more) Finder windows open? Logic would dictate that such a command would operate on whichever one was "active". Since that would involve a mouse click, Apple opted for having the yellow dot do that. But, this minimizes that window to the right side of the Dock, which is what you have to click to reopen it.

The same logic would apply to any app that allows multiple windows to be open simultaneously.

 

[ste20man]

I have a Mac Iq of roughly 63.

I'm learning, thnx :O)