Life long windows user just pulled the switch

[maflynn]

My current thinking is along these lines: https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/goodbye-apple-goodbye-microsoft-hello-linux-1.3295781

I tried Linux a while ago, just for giggles. One issue I found was that to get it to work the way it should, I had to manually update the conf files, manage the system at a deeper level that I never did for Windows or OS X. It was kind of fun for a little while but once I needed to upgrade to the newer version, I had to re-do all my customizations. Perhaps time has changed and its easier to upgrade but I couldn't proceed with the upgrade, but I needed a fresh install and re-do everything.

Also the open source apps are wildly inconsistent, there are some great apps out there, there's also some nice apps that haven't been updated and appear to be abandoned. The user interface at times between these apps seems inconsistent as well.

Overall, I found Linux to be fun to play with, but inadequate to use as a replacement for OS X or Windows. Just my experience a few years ago and YMMV

 

[unsharptooth]

Another new switcher...

7 years of Windows -> 1 year of Ubuntu (still dual boot with Windows because no apps and not stable) -> back to Windows almost 1 year -> macOS from 3 weeks ago.

Linux on a laptop... don't even think of it. Drivers are a joke, 15.04 broke the Wifi driver I used and I had to change the card just to get Wifi again. Extremely customizable, sure but everything really sucks if you don't. Things change for political reasons, like systemd. Countless distros that don't work well in one thing or another; if only these devs actually work with each other and make just one distro that's usable instead of gazillion variants of the same Linux kernel. So much for open source...

Windows... I could have sticked to it if it weren't for the antivirus and updates that always slow the machine. I need a UNIX terminal and Windows 10 + WSL kind of do the job fine, but then back to all the updates again. The last Fall Creators Update made my laptop unusably slow for an entire day that I just switched it off and went outside.

3 weeks later on macOS and so far so good. Hardware is great (secondhand MacBook Pro 15" late 2013), the thing can still run on battery for like 6 hours. I got familiar with macOS in just a week and Handoff is a bonus. Many of the apps I use are open source anyway so they work on all 3 platforms.

 

[The Mercurian]

I tried Linux a while ago, just for giggles. One issue I found was that to get it to work the way it should, I had to manually update the conf files, manage the system at a deeper level that I never did for Windows or OS X. It was kind of fun for a little while but once I needed to upgrade to the newer version, I had to re-do all my customizations. Perhaps time has changed and its easier to upgrade but I couldn't proceed with the upgrade, but I needed a fresh install and re-do everything.

Also the open source apps are wildly inconsistent, there are some great apps out there, there's also some nice apps that haven't been updated and appear to be abandoned. The user interface at times between these apps seems inconsistent as well.

Overall, I found Linux to be fun to play with, but inadequate to use as a replacement for OS X or Windows. Just my experience a few years ago and YMMV

Yeah I hear ya. I used it in the 1990's a bit.......kind of taking it on faith that it has imp[roved but perhaps I am wrong

 

[Larvas]

Welcome to the club,

since I was in a similar position as you a few years ago, I actually missed some proper guidance from the internet. Most of them would be like "yeah, everything just works", without explaining to you what you actually need to do.

These are my favorite switch friendly apps:
Magnet - you have the windows 10 feature of moving windows around, perfect for larger screens
Lightshoot - I was using Greenshot on windows, works better there, but Mac OS doesn't have it, so check lightshoot out.

Learn how to use icloud.com:
Whenever I'm not at my mac, I just open icloud.com, log in with my apple ID and take/edit the documents which I need. Good stuff.

Learn how to use "desktops" with the touchbar:
I have spend years in getting use to the "taskbar" of mac os, until I figured out that you shouldn't actually use it as the traditional windows taskbar. The smartest thing which you can do is have one desktop with your smaller apps in normal mode (I have skype, calculator, calendar and fb messenger), the second desktop with your main app in full screen (mine is Safari), the third desktop with your second app (mine is photoshop), and then you just swipe left/right, depending on what you need, and not going with the mouse to the taskbar to actually "click" on it.

Dual monitors are not working the same as on Windows, learn how to use them:
Same thing as above, if you're working with an external monitor, like I do, then I would suggest you a similar setup as above. On the monitor you have the two main desktops in full screen, where you swipe left/right, depending on the need. And on the mbp monitor you have the small apps. That way you're using the touchpad and keyboard from the laptop, the laptop screen is providing you with the smaller apps, and the external monitor is providing you with the full screen apps. I also sometimes combine Magnet to have two apps on one desktop, so that I can switch around if I need to compare something.

Don't game on your mac if you have been gaming on Windows
Just don't, you'll be disappointed. I owned an iMac with a good gpu, and it's just not the same experience. I don't know why but the mouse feels weird, I think it's because of the mouse acceleration which you just can't disable (or bring to work like it works on Windows). If you really want to play games, install windows on it on a smaller partition.

Don't update your system immediately
I update my apple stuff at least 4 weeks after the update has been released, in most cases you get the main update + a smaller one which came a week later since they discovered some stupid little bug.

I'll update if I remember something else, but as of now, I think these were the main problems which I hade.

 

[YanniDepp]

I've been using Macs for DJing for years. The experience has been great, if you ignore the Core Audio bug Apple introduced into Mavericks and didn't fix until El Capitan. Essentially, USB audio interfaces plugged into a USB3 port on certain Macs would stutter and disconnect for a few seconds, then reconnect as if nothing had happened. It was a rare thing - it wouldn't happen for an entire month, then it would suddenly happen a few times in one night. One of my colleagues solved it by upgrading to El Capitan, I solved it by downgrading to Mountain Lion.

I don't know what kind of places you DJ, but I'd never take my fancy $2,000 MacBook into a club DJ booth. There's too much chance of a drink getting spilled on it, or someone being sick on it, or it falling off a CDJ stand. That's why I bought "the twins" - two old 2009/2010 MacBooks - that I use for DJing. You can get these things for 200 bucks on eBay, so I don't really care if one gets broken. I'll just buy a new one and move the RAM and SSD across.

 

[The Mercurian]

haha "the twins" - love it

 

[YanniDepp]

I'm thinking about buying another one or two. It's completely unnecessary - two is enough. But I've become a bit obsessed with these old unibody MacBooks.

There's been a lot of discussions about Linux in this thread. I bought my first Mac in 2005 because I was bored of Windows and wanted something with better hardware and software support than Linux. Apple announced the Mac mini and I bought one.

Linux has come a long long way since then. It's got a lot more polish than it did in 2005. It still doesn't have the polish of OS X, but it's come a long way. I'd say it's probably better than Windows 8 and on a par with Windows 10.

If you're looking for a nice, smooth Linux experience, there are a few recent releases you may be interested in. There have always been OS X style Linux releases, but they usually focussed on putting OS X style graphics and buttons on the same clunky Linux tools. That has changed over the last few years, as GNOME 3 has come a long way in terms of usability with its Mac-style header bars.

You should definitely check out Ubuntu Budgie. The desktop doesn't look exactly like OS X, but it has a top bar, a notifications sidebar and a dock. It's a fairly new distro, but it's very polished and works well. It's also worth checking out Elementary, which looks a lot more like OS X. It's a small project and they're still in 'beta' releases, and there isn't much additional software that fits nicely with the polish of the built-in apps, but it's the most OS X-like Linux distro you'll find.

 

[The Mercurian]

Thanks for the info dude!

 

[DJChris]

Welcome to the club,

since I was in a similar position as you a few years ago, I actually missed some proper guidance from the internet. Most of them would be like "yeah, everything just works", without explaining to you what you actually need to do.

These are my favorite switch friendly apps:
Magnet - you have the windows 10 feature of moving windows around, perfect for larger screens
Lightshoot - I was using Greenshot on windows, works better there, but Mac OS doesn't have it, so check lightshoot out.

Learn how to use icloud.com:
Whenever I'm not at my mac, I just open icloud.com, log in with my apple ID and take/edit the documents which I need. Good stuff.

Learn how to use "desktops" with the touchbar:
I have spend years in getting use to the "taskbar" of mac os, until I figured out that you shouldn't actually use it as the traditional windows taskbar. The smartest thing which you can do is have one desktop with your smaller apps in normal mode (I have skype, calculator, calendar and fb messenger), the second desktop with your main app in full screen (mine is Safari), the third desktop with your second app (mine is photoshop), and then you just swipe left/right, depending on what you need, and not going with the mouse to the taskbar to actually "click" on it.

Dual monitors are not working the same as on Windows, learn how to use them:
Same thing as above, if you're working with an external monitor, like I do, then I would suggest you a similar setup as above. On the monitor you have the two main desktops in full screen, where you swipe left/right, depending on the need. And on the mbp monitor you have the small apps. That way you're using the touchpad and keyboard from the laptop, the laptop screen is providing you with the smaller apps, and the external monitor is providing you with the full screen apps. I also sometimes combine Magnet to have two apps on one desktop, so that I can switch around if I need to compare something.

Don't game on your mac if you have been gaming on Windows
Just don't, you'll be disappointed. I owned an iMac with a good gpu, and it's just not the same experience. I don't know why but the mouse feels weird, I think it's because of the mouse acceleration which you just can't disable (or bring to work like it works on Windows). If you really want to play games, install windows on it on a smaller partition.

Don't update your system immediately
I update my apple stuff at least 4 weeks after the update has been released, in most cases you get the main update + a smaller one which came a week later since they discovered some stupid little bug.

I'll update if I remember something else, but as of now, I think these were the main problems which I hade.

While everyone's post is either full of great info or funny comments this my friend was an excellent post and the kinda of info i was looking for. Thank you.