Do you like Liquid Glass on Mac?

[svenmany]

No; I need the standard pointer for fidelity when mixing audio (same reason I have the higher screen resolution - more real estate for onscreen controls). It would be comical to try using a larger pointer in this scenario.

For me the resize handles are the same size as the regular pointer. If I rotate the regular pointer (which is pointing up to the left) to be horizontal, I get the same horizontal extent as the resize handle used on the side of windows. Maybe the resize handles before Tahoe were larger than the normal pointer. Good luck.

I do remember in Sequoia having all sorts of issues for a while with getting the mouse pointer to change to a resize one. I haven't seen that with Tahoe until just today when I started playing with the size (and before restarting the apps that were affected by that).

I will say that I reboot every morning. That means all of my applications are restarted daily. I've found that is the only way to survive software from less than stellar developers. If you're having an issue with the mouse pointer in a particular application, have you tried to restart the application to see if that resolves it?

 

[capamac]

Came across this video yesterday about the current state of tech:

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

If I have one fear, it’s that Liquid Glass won’t evolve from its current principles. I would attribute this to Vision Pro, because (and I’m only speculating) Apple seems to be going all-in on spatial computing. And that’s only going to be possible if their other devices play nice with these headsets to form extended displays; meaning depth would be a requirement.

Maybe I’m overthinking this. I hope not. I just want my old Mac back.

 

[CasualFanboy]

If I have one fear, it’s that Liquid Glass won’t evolve from its current principles. I would attribute this to Vision Pro, because (and I’m only speculating) Apple seems to be going all-in on spatial computing. And that’s only going to be possible if their other devices play nice with these headsets to form extended displays; meaning depth would be a requirement.

Maybe I’m overthinking this. I hope not. I just want my old Mac back.

It's not going to get better. Apple has moved on from macOS. I can't see myself buying another macbook, I'm perfectly happy with KDE on FreeBSD or Linux.

 

[tkermit]

It's not going to get better. Apple has moved on from macOS. I can't see myself buying another macbook, I'm perfectly happy with KDE on FreeBSD or Linux.

What hardware to get though? I'm not seeing anything that comes close to the quality of a MacBook Pro.

 

[darkjungle]

Do you think maybe they are letting A.I. do the coding?

I think Alan Dye used AI tools. It's impossible to make so many bugs in OS with the best programmers on staff. Not for a company like Apple.
The news about what he'll be doing in Meta indirectly confirms this.

“This is a significant hire for Meta, as the company makes a push toward consumer devices like smart glasses and virtual reality headsets. Dye will focus on improving AI features in these devices and report directly to Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth.”

Meta poaches Apple design exec Alan Dye to lead new creative studio in Reality Labs | TechCrunch

Dye led Apple's user interface team for the last decade.

techcrunch.com

 

[capamac]

What hardware to get though? I'm not seeing anything that comes close to the quality of a MacBook Pro.

I've owned a few used Thinkpads over the years .... lately been looking at the T14.

I can't speak to current Thinkpads as I've not used one in many years. But the Thinkpads I had in the past were not like my 2020 M1 Air in that the Thinkpad is very easy to open and upgrade using common tools. The case wasn't quite as solid. The battery was easily swapped-out, not glued-in. Quality was high. Different from a current MacBook though but not in a bad way, just different pros and cons.

 

[capamac]

If I have one fear, it’s that Liquid Glass won’t evolve from its current principles. I would attribute this to Vision Pro, because (and I’m only speculating) Apple seems to be going all-in on spatial computing. And that’s only going to be possible if their other devices play nice with these headsets to form extended displays; meaning depth would be a requirement.

Maybe I’m overthinking this. I hope not. I just want my old Mac back.

The problems I noticed immediately when I first viewed the pre-release screenshots of iOS and macOS 26 are basic design mistakes and must be addressed regardless of whether or not the device is spatial.

This comic image illustrates this perfectly. This doesn't work on flat-panel 2D UI. And it will also not work on a spatial 3D VR UI.

 

[CasualFanboy]

What hardware to get though? I'm not seeing anything that comes close to the quality of a MacBook Pro.

That was true last time I checked, and it may still be just as true now.

I will probably have to give up something in terms of the hardware, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I'm not really sure what I will get though, still a good amount of life left in my 2021 M1 Pro.

 

[JoeSilver]

I've owned a few used Thinkpads over the years .... lately been looking at the T14.

I can't speak to current Thinkpads as I've not used one in many years. But the Thinkpads I had in the past were not like my 2020 M1 Air in that the Thinkpad is very easy to open and upgrade using common tools. The case wasn't quite as solid. The battery was easily swapped-out, not glued-in. Quality was high. Different from a current MacBook though but not in a bad way, just different pros and cons.

I have owned a T14 since 2020, basically when they were introduced.
It’s a solid mid-level workhorse, but it definitely can’t be compared to MacBook Pro. And probably not to an Air either, not least because it’s chunkier, heavier, more power hungry. It could be more powerful in terms of cpu/gpu, although the comparison should be done between models of the same year (so a Mac Air with M5 could still be competitive).

Yes the T14 can be upgraded. I expanded the RAM to a maximum of 48GB from 32GB (with my bare hands… proud of it 🙂) and replaced the battery which was already poor after a couple of years. Unfortunately the battery replacement has been hugely disappointing, as the laptop seems to discharge very quickly even if I don’t use it for just a couple of days.

I have only been using Linux on it, which supported the hardware almost perfectly from the start (as far as I remember only some stupid key for video calls wasn’t mapped until a few months later…). Firmwares can be upgraded easily.

It's not going to get better. Apple has moved on from macOS. I can't see myself buying another macbook, I'm perfectly happy with KDE on FreeBSD or Linux.

I’m not sure that FreeBSD would work as seamlessly as Linux, though, my experience with it in the past 2 decades is that it lags behind Linux in terms of hardware coverage and also of software available. So while the latest FreeBSD might work well on my 5-year old T14, I’m not sure that the same could be said of the latest models.

 

[CasualFanboy]

I’m not sure that FreeBSD would work as seamlessly as Linux, though, my experience with it in the past 2 decades is that it lags behind Linux in terms of hardware coverage and also of software available. So while the latest FreeBSD might work well on my 5-year old T14, I’m not sure that the same could be said of the latest models.

FreeBSD can definitely be more of a challenge with newer hardware. I have an old ~2013 Thinkpad T530 and FreeBSD works very well with that, but that hardware is obviously a massive downgrade from the current Macbook Pro hardware in every way. The most significant factors for me are display resolution and touchpad. Some PC display resolutions have almost caught up, but the touchpad on the MBP is unmatched and it ain't even close. As for the battery life, most of the time I'm plugged in so it's not all that relevant.

When the hardware is supported by FreeBSD, I find it so much more enjoyable to use than Linux. But that's a big "if."

 

[kkclstuff]

Poll update: as of macOS 26.2

pretty consistent throughout, though the NO vote is inching up...

 

[kkclstuff]

In macOS 26.2 (LG "Tinted"/Transparency Reduced), there are still glaring 'overlooked' omissions in the UI (a necessity for those of us with visual impairment)...

just in the menu bar alone, notice some native macOS menu items have a nice shadow differentiating the menu from the background while other macOS native menus item don't?

The least they could do (if not using the shadow effect), is give us a black outline (instead of white) to the window/menu/dialog, to make it have a visual edge to the item.

Passwords - YES

Control Center - No

Focus - No

Sound - No

Wifi - No

BT - No

(3rd party menu items have shadows- why are these basic things being overlooked by Apple?)


Universal Audio - YES

 

[iBookmaster]

Liquid Glass is just ok for me. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Mac OS 26.2 is running just fine for me on my main computer which is a 14" MacBook Pro M1. Not looking to switch to Windows or some other version of Linux. Long time Mac user since 1987 and plan to keep using them.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Drop-shadows have increased significantly in .2. Just look at Control Centre...

 

[CasualFanboy]

Liquid Glass is just ok for me. Nothing great, nothing horrible. Mac OS 26.2 is running just fine for me on my main computer which is a 14" MacBook Pro M1. Not looking to switch to Windows or some other version of Linux. Long time Mac user since 1987 and plan to keep using them.

The preferred outcome for me is that Apple makes a major adjustment in the direction of their desktop OS and gets back to what worked so well for them.

Then, I will stick with Macbooks forever.

 

[maflynn]

The preferred outcome for me is that Apple makes a major adjustment in the direction of their desktop OS and gets back to what worked so well for them.

What specifically are you looking for them to change?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Font chooser (FreeForm) in a league of its own.

I'm not too sure what's going on here. The general appearance is a non-active window - which I think looks decent - but the toolbar has a lot of irregular sized fonts and symbols.

 

[CasualFanboy]

What specifically are you looking for them to change?

The obsession with convergence needs to stop. Some things being standardized is fine, where it makes sense.

Designing UI elements for touch screens, on non-touch-screen devices, doesn't make sense. There's too much extreme padding everywhere. Then, the obsession with oversimplified icons, flat elements, hidden menus, outright fewer options, etc.

The change from Preferences to Settings is a perfect example of this obsession with making everything more like the phone OS.

 

[maflynn]

The obsession with convergence needs to stop. Some things being standardized is fine, where it makes sense.

I would have to agree with you, Microsoft in its failed windows 8 tried this very thing, and made windows a touch first, tablet/phone OS and a computer OS second - we all know how that went.

 

[kkclstuff]

more grey-areas....

Home Widget (among others) WHITE on GREY background! WHY/how is this user-friendly (even for users with good eyesight)?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

more grey-areas....

Home Widget (among others) WHITE on GREY background! WHY/how is this user-friendly (even for users with good eyesight)?
View attachment 2587541

Ssshhh... Liquid Glass is cool!

 

[tomekwsrod]

Somehow relevant:

 

[capamac]

Love the Jobs quote above.

I listened to a new video today (below. Here's some quotes I liked from the speaker:

“The reason I’m so frustrated with Apple is that they made their play back in 2017 when they really went all-in on the iPad. They hated the Macintosh. the Macintosh was getting hardly any love back then.”

“[iOS] is different than desktop UX and it’s good for many things but it’s clearly not winning over hearts and minds … Apple basically has just given up. And of course, who doesn’t love Liquid Glass [sarcasm]. If your big claim to your operating system is you’ve got some fancy, shiny pixels you’e really lost the plot. So i think there’s very little leadership that comes from them.”

“Of course mobile won, but it won consumers. It didn’t win productivity. You don’t see huge consulting companies with people designing industrial products on their phones. You need the big screens, you need the big keyboards. People completely underestimate desktop as to how powerful it is because it’s boring and people want the cool shiny thing.”

“The iPhone is a consumption-based machine, right? And that’s awesome and it’s good for consumers but it’s not good for productivity.”

“The original Mac screen … is nearly the same size as the iPad mini … we have 75,000 times more RAM. We have two and a half million times more storage and we have a hundred million times faster CPUS and yet we’re kinda doing the same **** we were doing back in 1984.”

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

If your big claim to your operating system is you’ve got some fancy, shiny pixels you’e really lost the plot.”

Love this. It really hits home that it’s not enough to simply be ‘different’, and ironically Apple has said this in years gone by. It has to be better.