Just bought one of the above.Never used a Mac book before I had a windows 10 desktop.
Look for some tips on using this machine.
Many thanks David .
Look for some tips on using this machine.
Many thanks David .
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
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MacBook Air 13ins
- Thread starter Davidharry
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Congratulations and welcome to the apple side of computing.
Are you looking for hardware or software tips? Which model did you get?
Are you looking for hardware or software tips? Which model did you get?
I don't even know where to start, man... There's so much you'll learn with time.
Few quick tips though
1) Spotlight (cmd+space or the icon next to Siri in the menu bar) is extremely powerful and can find pretty much anything on your system or the web. It can also do maths, conversions and various other neat tricks. I often use Spotlight for converting currencies and finding definitions of words and such.
2) Cmd+shift+3 = screenshot of the entire screen
Cmd+shift+4 = screenshot of a portion of the screen that you use the cursor to mark
Cmd+shift+4 then the spacebar = screenshot of a single app window. When in this mode, just click any window to take a screenshot of it
All screenshots appear on the Desktop
3) Clicking the red "x" in the top left of an open window does not, I repeat, does not quit the application. I've seen many people coming from Windows make this mistake and think their Macs get slow after a while, but they're just filling up their RAM with a hundred apps they neveer quit out of. On macOS an app's window and the app itself are often two separate entities, for good reasons. To quit the whole app, it's cmd+q or you click on the app's name in the menu bar, thne "Quit" (alternatively an option-click (right click in the PC world) on the Dock icon and then quit.
If configured so in the system preferences, if you quit an app without closing its windows, the app will still be quit entirely, but will be exactly like you left it when you open it again.
4) If you ever have any questions or problems you can always PM me on here. Take note that I don't always respond to notifications, but I always do to PMs and I'm happy to help with anything.
5) Since you're coming from Windows you may feel like using Chrome as your web browser - Keep in mind that Safari is a really good option that uses way less power, so I'd at least recommend giving it a nice long trial period before deciding to go back to what you know, if that's what you're planning on. I'm personally not a big fan of the way Chrome renders pages compared to Safari.
6) Start using the trackpad geastures. They're great. Organising yourself with different spaces is brillant, especially with the option to change space with the Trackpad. Right now, I have Safari and iTunes in Space 1, Steam in space 2, and Xcode in space 3. The setup allows easy focus on what you're doing, whilst simultaneously giving easy access to what you might need. I also have an old copy of iStat, namely iStat Pro, in my Dashboard (a feature disabled by default in System Preferences), so I can always swipe all the way to the left for a quick glance at things like how much free space is on my various drives, and how much CPU utilisation the system is at.
7) Cmd+h hides all of an app's contents until you go to the app again. Personally I find this much better than minimising 90% of the time, especially if you quickly want to clear the screen of more than a single window (i.e. 5 Safari windows).
8) If you think the brightness or volume controls are too sensitive, if you hold down option and shift whilst you click them, they'll change in increments of 25% of a normal click.
9) No antivirus software, and no cleaners unless there's a very particular issue you're dealing with. 99% of them are ******** that has no benefits to a normally functioning Mac. If you keep your system reasonably up to date, you don't really need to worry about virusses and all that. This is not to say that Macs are immune to everything - Any computer or digital device can get attacked. But a vast majority of attacks target Windows, and unless you do something stupid yourself, your Mac is super unlikely to get infected by anything, and in those cases, an anti-virus program likely wouldn't help you either. There's good security in the OS as it is.
10) For most apps, when you delete them, it's fine to just throw them in the trash. However, if the app comes with an uninstaller or the developer has instructions for uninstalling, always use the uninstaller or follow the instructions or you'll be left with a lot of residual files after throwing the .app bundle in the trash. All this can of course be cleaned up regardless, but it's a more annoying process than it needs to be.
Few quick tips though
1) Spotlight (cmd+space or the icon next to Siri in the menu bar) is extremely powerful and can find pretty much anything on your system or the web. It can also do maths, conversions and various other neat tricks. I often use Spotlight for converting currencies and finding definitions of words and such.
2) Cmd+shift+3 = screenshot of the entire screen
Cmd+shift+4 = screenshot of a portion of the screen that you use the cursor to mark
Cmd+shift+4 then the spacebar = screenshot of a single app window. When in this mode, just click any window to take a screenshot of it
All screenshots appear on the Desktop
3) Clicking the red "x" in the top left of an open window does not, I repeat, does not quit the application. I've seen many people coming from Windows make this mistake and think their Macs get slow after a while, but they're just filling up their RAM with a hundred apps they neveer quit out of. On macOS an app's window and the app itself are often two separate entities, for good reasons. To quit the whole app, it's cmd+q or you click on the app's name in the menu bar, thne "Quit" (alternatively an option-click (right click in the PC world) on the Dock icon and then quit.
If configured so in the system preferences, if you quit an app without closing its windows, the app will still be quit entirely, but will be exactly like you left it when you open it again.
4) If you ever have any questions or problems you can always PM me on here. Take note that I don't always respond to notifications, but I always do to PMs and I'm happy to help with anything.
5) Since you're coming from Windows you may feel like using Chrome as your web browser - Keep in mind that Safari is a really good option that uses way less power, so I'd at least recommend giving it a nice long trial period before deciding to go back to what you know, if that's what you're planning on. I'm personally not a big fan of the way Chrome renders pages compared to Safari.
6) Start using the trackpad geastures. They're great. Organising yourself with different spaces is brillant, especially with the option to change space with the Trackpad. Right now, I have Safari and iTunes in Space 1, Steam in space 2, and Xcode in space 3. The setup allows easy focus on what you're doing, whilst simultaneously giving easy access to what you might need. I also have an old copy of iStat, namely iStat Pro, in my Dashboard (a feature disabled by default in System Preferences), so I can always swipe all the way to the left for a quick glance at things like how much free space is on my various drives, and how much CPU utilisation the system is at.
7) Cmd+h hides all of an app's contents until you go to the app again. Personally I find this much better than minimising 90% of the time, especially if you quickly want to clear the screen of more than a single window (i.e. 5 Safari windows).
8) If you think the brightness or volume controls are too sensitive, if you hold down option and shift whilst you click them, they'll change in increments of 25% of a normal click.
9) No antivirus software, and no cleaners unless there's a very particular issue you're dealing with. 99% of them are ******** that has no benefits to a normally functioning Mac. If you keep your system reasonably up to date, you don't really need to worry about virusses and all that. This is not to say that Macs are immune to everything - Any computer or digital device can get attacked. But a vast majority of attacks target Windows, and unless you do something stupid yourself, your Mac is super unlikely to get infected by anything, and in those cases, an anti-virus program likely wouldn't help you either. There's good security in the OS as it is.
10) For most apps, when you delete them, it's fine to just throw them in the trash. However, if the app comes with an uninstaller or the developer has instructions for uninstalling, always use the uninstaller or follow the instructions or you'll be left with a lot of residual files after throwing the .app bundle in the trash. All this can of course be cleaned up regardless, but it's a more annoying process than it needs to be.
Many thanks both. Will be having a good read of what you supplied.
One thing regarding what model Exactly where would I find that full info.
David
One thing regarding what model Exactly where would I find that full info.
David
You click the Apple icon in the top left. Then you click About This Mac.
What's in there is probably enough for @Audit13 but you can click "System Report" for even more details
Macbook Air 13ins 2017
High Sierra 10.13.2
Processor 1.8GHZ
intel core i5
memory 8GB 1600DDR3
Graphics Intel HD.Graphics 6000 1536 MB
Would that be what I was looking for.
Thanks David
High Sierra 10.13.2
Processor 1.8GHZ
intel core i5
memory 8GB 1600DDR3
Graphics Intel HD.Graphics 6000 1536 MB
Would that be what I was looking for.
Thanks David
Many thanks for that info. Not quite sure about section 6.Can you explain if possible Please.
) Start using the trackpad geastures. They're great. Organising yourself with different spaces is brillant, especially with the option to change space with the Trackpad. Right now, I have Safari and iTunes in Space 1, Steam in space 2, and Xcode in space 3. The setup allows easy focus on what you're doing, whilst simultaneously giving easy access to what you might need. I
) Start using the trackpad geastures. They're great. Organising yourself with different spaces is brillant, especially with the option to change space with the Trackpad. Right now, I have Safari and iTunes in Space 1, Steam in space 2, and Xcode in space 3. The setup allows easy focus on what you're doing, whilst simultaneously giving easy access to what you might need. I
Yes, of course
The trackpad on your Mac supports many gestures. You can toggle them on/off and change how to activate them under the trackpad section of System Preferences. Pinching with four/five fingers for instance, brings you to the Launchpad with all your apps, spreading your fingers shows the desktop, and swiping up with three fingers takes you to Mission Control. In Mission Control, all your open windows are laid out so you get a good overview of it all. In the top, you can also see the Spaces on your machine, or "virtual desktops". This basically gives you the functionality of having more than one display. You can add another Space by clicking at the top right of Mission Control. Now, swiping with three fingers to the right or left changes which Space you're in.
Anything open in one space, stays in that space, so you can have different things in each space, and easily swich between them. You can also assign different background pictures to each space. I'll attach a video example
Example video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qlSTkYWXu_r9aQp5SxMGJCKGcAEACusY/view?usp=sharing
Also, something else I just thought of
11)
Under accessibility in System Preferences (or if you click cmd+option+F5 and enable it), you can enable "zoom". Now this feature is meant for people with bad eyesight like myself, but it can be useful under some circumstances for anyone. If enabled, when you hold control, scrolling with two fingers on the trackpad, can zoom in and out anywhere on your screen. Quite handy
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You're welcome
. Hope you find it helpful, and remember, you can always ask me if you stumble upon issues or have any questions
Hi. Thanks for earlier reply.
Could I ask you another question Regarding Folders in Documents, Been trying to move one or two from the bottom to the top but failed.Is there a way to overcome this Please.ps Is there a way to change folders from blue to any other colour.
Many Thanks once again.David.
Could I ask you another question Regarding Folders in Documents, Been trying to move one or two from the bottom to the top but failed.Is there a way to overcome this Please.ps Is there a way to change folders from blue to any other colour.
Many Thanks once again.David.
There are a ton of great youtube videos on getting accustomed to MacOS. Sometimes it's easier to see someone doing something rather than reading it on a forum. Try searching terms like "Basic MacOS tutorials" or something similar, or if you're looking to figure out something specific, you can try searching for that as well.
Also, I'd recommend (as someone who "switched" almost a decade ago, but still needs reminders) copy - or keep on your desk-top a list of useful commands - the ones that do the same task as Windows, but require different keys - or words; "Windows to Apple short cut commands" that sort of thing, as a handy set of useful reminders.
Even now, for example, there are days when I still have to use google to find out - or remind me - how to 'right click' on an Apple.
By the way, the MBA is the best, and most reliable computer - to my mind - that Apple have ever made; enjoy it.
Even now, for example, there are days when I still have to use google to find out - or remind me - how to 'right click' on an Apple.
By the way, the MBA is the best, and most reliable computer - to my mind - that Apple have ever made; enjoy it.
This is so true. I need something more powerful, and I want a retina screen, but yet I'm still trying to convince myself that replacing my 2012 MBA with the 2017 (or 2018 if we get an update this year) is a viable move. I just like this thing so damn much.
Click on the folder in question, 2 fingers: choose "Get Info".
On top of the "Info" window you see the blue icon, correct?
Leave that open for a second......and follow me:
Go to any picture you want, open it with Preview.
Command + A, then Command + C.
You have now got the entire picture on the clipboard. (Copy Ctrl + C on Windows)
Go back to the Get Info window of the folder in question, and single click the blue icon you want to get rid off.
Command + V (Paste) and voila......the folder now looks like the pic you selected.
Cheers,
Showmaster.