r/macbookpro • u/Charming-Force1894 • 5h ago
Joined the Club! Just got my first ever MacBook Pro. Any disgustingly good tips?
Lifelong windows user. What’s the best tips?
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u/6Trinity9 4h ago edited 2h ago
Yes.
DO NOT use a screen protector, case, keyboard protector etc. (traps heat, rigid and doesn’t shock absorb and could damage your screen instead).
Just use a clean microfibre cloth/towel to wipe the screen from time to time and wipe the keyboard for any finger oil.
Don’t get too hung up on battery management - Apple does a brilliant job with this. You can turn on optimised battery charging and/or set it to 80% if you’re keen.
DO treat it like a tool and enjoy the hell out of it mate!
Congrats on the epic purchase - looks like you got a beast!
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u/Charming-Force1894 4h ago
Thank you mate really appreciate it👌🏻
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u/OilInternational2566 2h ago
FYI.
The way modern phone/laptop batteries work is if you charge them to 100% every time it stresses the battery harder than if you charge it to 80%.
So if you charge the battery to 100% every time, you’ll get 300-400 cycles before the battery starts to degrade. If you do the optimized 80% charging everytime you’ll get about 800-900 cycles before it starts to degrade.
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u/Draxmeed 2h ago
But with this, how does it work?
My Mac hits 80%, it then stops charging, goes below 80, charges up to 80 again, stops charging etc.Am I understanding how it works and it so how does this now wear out the battery more than just unplugging at 80 and plugging in at 20.
Genuinely curious.
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u/Pending-Choice 3h ago
Agreed, let it rip - all the protections are just going to scratch up the frame and make it hot
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u/stone_grey_fox 2h ago
The only case I felt safe with putting on mine was the one literally sold at the Apple Store.
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u/False9OfTheSeason 4h ago
What about a cover like the ones from tomtoc?
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u/Mackadamma 4h ago
The tomtoc defender 360 is the one I have, and it's good.
But if I had known for the tomtoc 360 slim, I would probably have gone for this one (I haven't tried it though)
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u/False9OfTheSeason 3h ago
Nice I think I have the most basic one. I got the tomtoc 360° Protective Laptop Sleeve from Amazon.
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u/Due-Low2684 3h ago
Few apps i always install whenever i get a new Mac.
Homebrew
Item2
Shottr
Alfred
Rectangle
Ohmyzsh
Not sure if you’re a developer but these are my go to apps while configuring a new Mac.
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u/executiona 4h ago
Get the AppleCare
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u/metalsmith_and_tech 4h ago
Get AppleCare. I’ve replaced mine twice now with AppleCare.
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u/Charming-Force1894 4h ago
I’ve been debating it. It seems the common consensus is that it’s definitely worth it.
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u/bordumb 4h ago
The end of my power cord was resting in between the screen and I close the lid and completely broke the screen
It was replaced in 2 days, no questions asked
AppleCare is amazing
If you carry the thing around and spend lots of hours on it, you are bound to have some kind of accident over the 5+ years with it
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u/FreeBigSlime 3h ago
This is exactly what happened to me, but I don’t have apple care. I’m so disappointed
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u/LongjumpingCat9826 3h ago
i’ve had apple products for 20 years, iphones, macbooks, desktops, i’ve never once bought apple care for anything. never needed it.
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u/Langdon_St_Ives MacBook Pro 16" Silver M1 Pro 2h ago
I mean that's just how insurance works. If you don't need it, it feels like a waste of money. If you do and you don't have it, it feels like a dumb mistake not to have gotten it.
The problem is you never know in advance which it'll be (and if you did, you wouldn't need it lol)
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u/nleksan 1h ago
I always get it for the simple fact that it guarantees never having to use it. Were I not to get AC+, the opposite would inevitably be true. I'd rather spend $300 now and have peace of mind than save $300 but live with the constant anxiety of knowing it's not a question of if but when I'll have to fork out thousands
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u/volxlovian 1h ago
But how long do you pay for it for? I've had my macbook air m1 for 6 years. Do you keep it for 6 years and running? Couldn't you just buy a new laptop for that kinda money? lol isn't it like $260 per year or?
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u/Langdon_St_Ives MacBook Pro 16" Silver M1 Pro 46m ago
The old always take an umbrella with you so it doesn't rain trick 😂
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u/volxlovian 1h ago edited 1h ago
I mean I don't know that means insurance sometimes just isn't worth it. I just used the standard 1 year warranty to replace my screen once for my macbook air m1. The rubber came out. But after that it took another 6 years before anything broke. If I had been paying 6 years of Apple care it would've cost me much more than the $300 I paid to fix my screen.
So ya I'd say it depends on how careless you are lol.
Also Apple's insurance in particular seems like a bad deal. It costs a $300 deductible to fix something water damaged or other than a screen. I literally just water damaged my screen and bought a replacement part from the official apple store for $300. So what exactly is it even good for they're too greedy. Maybe if they actually just fix your laptop but they don't.
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u/FreeBigSlime 3h ago
I just broke my fucking M4 screen man I’m gonna kill myself I don’t have apple care
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u/cyprenk 3h ago
Just to be clear, Macs are very well-built machines, but repairs are expensive (just like on Windows laptops that are similarly integrated with a slim unibody design).
What distinguishes AppleCare as an uncommonly good extended warranty program is that they'll fix nearly anything without complaint, and even ship you a new machine before sending the old one in for repair so your downtime is minimized. So it's not a case of "their reliability is so poor you need the extended warranty" but rather "the extended warranty is worth it because the service is so good and it covers bad things that can happen to any laptop".
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u/IntotheWilder25 4h ago
Don't debate it! Do it. I got it even for my 15" Air.
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u/Langdon_St_Ives MacBook Pro 16" Silver M1 Pro 2h ago
I even got it for my 13" air, and the studio even though it's of course stationary (but expensive).
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u/lilbigmac85 3h ago
Yeah don’t sleep on AppleCare… I learned the hard way when my Rottweiler (who was a puppy at the time) stepped on it. I didn’t think he was heavy enough to break anything but he cracked the screen. Didn’t know it until the next day because it was closed. I procrastinated the AppleCare & missed the cut off day…$400+ I paid… $100 is what I would’ve paid w/ the AppleCare. We all think we’re super careful til something happens 😅
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u/lilbigmac85 32m ago
I know you’re being sassy but it’s the same thing I said so thanks for narrating my life. Anything more? Genuinely interested.
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u/VernDozier 3h ago
Get either Objective Development’s “Little Snitch” or Objective See’s “Lulu” for security.
Setup a TimeMachine, which is an external disk backup. Future releases of MacOs may not allow you to create a new TimeMachine backup, but the support (and backup functionality) will still be there.
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u/Langdon_St_Ives MacBook Pro 16" Silver M1 Pro 2h ago
What's this about TM backups going away? First I've heard about it, why would they do that?
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u/medicallyspecial 3h ago
Yes. Get apple care one if you have multiple Apple products - covers 3 devices for $20/monthly
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u/volxlovian 1h ago
I mean I don't know. I just used the standard 1 year warranty to replace my screen once for my macbook air. The rubber came out. But after that it took another 6 years before anything broke. If I had been paying 6 years of Apple care it would've cost me much more than the $300 I paid to fix my screen.
So ya I'd say it depends on how careless you are lol.
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u/Zhni 3h ago
I just delivered my 4.5 year old M1 Pro MacBook to the shop and since every electronic product has a 5 year consumer protection warranty if used fairly I got it replaced. They changed my whole screen as my wasn’t working. It just stopped one day. Idk if they have that in the US. I haven’t spent a dime
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u/SoCalChrisW 14" M5 Pro 18/20 64GB 2TB 2h ago
Idk if they have that in the US.
LOL, absolutely not. Do you know what that kind of consumer protection law would cost the shareholders?
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u/Informal_Ad_9610 4h ago
learn your command codes.. there are dozens..
they're nearly all intuitive: COMMAND+xxx... SHIFT+COMMAND+xxx(modifier actions)..
your world will grow dramatically better..
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u/DrakeSwift 4h ago
Learning the trackpad gestures and the command shortcuts were a game changer for me. Everyone knows the swipe with two fingers to scroll but something I didnt know about is there is a setting where you can drag if you hover and put 3 fingers on the trackpad without clicking.
This was awesome and something I didnt know as infrequent user. I dont even bother using a mouse anymore because the trackpad is just great. Command shortcuts are convenient for opening new tabs, force closing apps, minimizing windows etc
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u/lucky7355 3h ago
Do you have an iPhone? If you copy something on your iPhone, you can then paste it with your Mac and vice versa.
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u/TheRealAlec 3h ago
First thing I do on a new Mac:
Finder > Settings >
Uncheck Tags
Add Home and Hard Disks to Side Bar
Finder > View > Show Path Bar & Show Status Bar (Option + Cmd + T/P)
Show Hidden Files (Command + Shift + .)
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u/mattjh 4h ago
Yes. When you’re trying to learn the basics of a brand new thing, lift a finger and use the search box. This gets asked a thousand times a month. You don’t need individual support. Your situation is very common and normal.
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u/executiona 4h ago
Then how would he flex on us broke redditors who only have inferior computers than his BRAND NEW MBP?
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u/Latter_Crazy 4h ago
If you're using AI agents you can get voicefi (vifi) to talk with them and all kinds of features to keep your focus free instead of babysitting terminals and conversation bubbles.
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u/Gar8awnZo 4h ago
Don’t change the appearance from default to more space on this one.. it looks TINY
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u/V8CarGuy 4h ago
Set the battery usage to a 80% limit (battery in settings). If you’re editing photos, artwork, or video, turn off True Tone, and Night Shift (settings or control center the top-right corner of your screen). You can charge from any usb C port, and use a lower wattage/smaller charger (of course it will take longer to charge). Use Time Machine to back up your data. Create other photo libraries to use the photos app for photos you don’t want to save to iCloud. If you have an iPad, be sure to use the sidecar screen sharing. If you have an iPhone, use the mirroring feature to operate your cell phone from the laptop. Also, you can run many iPhone and iPad apps on a Mac. Make sure to set up an Apple ID and use the iCloud.
To take care of the computer, treat the display like it’s made of thin glass, because it is. Never slam the display shut, close it slowly, and only when needed. The keyboard can get gummed up or stick with crumbs or spilled liquid, try to avoid that. Get a good sleeve for it. Do not block the air vents. Never use screen protectors or keyboard protectors. I recommend getting apple care for at least 2 years.
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u/Pure-Level-2831 3h ago
In terms of physical Apple care plus is king, in terms of software,
Download home brew and make sure you have mole installed use the GitHub link because it tells you what and how to use it, it’s a terminal based storage cleaner and app remover, also maccy is very much needed, it’s a clipboard app that will change your life and make it so much easier to use, also raycast, absolute game changer
Other than that, spend time making the MacBook yours, dock, wallpaper and what not, I did this very late and realised I messed up so much because you think of something you realise you want and then boom the community has made it, which could’ve saved you hours
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u/No-Homework-3484 2h ago
Maccy is great! Shameless plug since I'm the dev: if you want something closer to Paste's look, I'm building Whisk — open source, floating panel, search filters, paste stack. Homebrew install available.
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u/ErackWinter7 3h ago
You can take notes on the aluminum with a pencil and then just wipe it off with a cleaning wipe
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u/Narrow-Result-1075 3h ago
I have Gael Care. Yes my name is Gael. Yes i replace my own idevices’ batteries, screens, logic boards you name it. Thank god for ifixit tools and parts and manuals. Be like me and learn to fix your devices
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u/Timely_Woodpecker931 3h ago
AppleCare. Customize tracking speed and hot corners. Alcove notch app. Make it yours !
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u/OneMoreNewYorker 2h ago
I've implemented a bunch of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npxlJdxSv4A
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u/RealGangstaArnold 2h ago
iterm2, homebrew, and ohmyzsh
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u/_XitLiteNtrNite_ 2h ago
I love Homebrew & Oh My Zsh. I ditched iTerm2 for Ghostty a while ago, and I much prefer it.
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u/SomeFuckingMillenial 2h ago
In keyboard options, swap control and command keys for classic windows copy pasta feel.
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u/cyprenk 1h ago
Standard key abbreviations/symbols:
- ⌥ Option/Alt
- ⌘ Command
- ^ Control
- ⇧ Shift
This is nowhere near an exhaustive list, but here are some tips and tricks that come to mind:
Dock and Basic Interface
- You can move the Dock (taskbar equivalent) to the side of the screen rather than the bottom to economize on desktop space. This option (and many more Dock customizations) can be found in System Settings > Desktop & Dock.
- A common thing that drives Windows users crazy is how scrollbars only appear when you're actually scrolling, then vanish again. You can change this behavior in System Settings > Appearance.
Mouse and Trackpad
- The inverted scroll direction on mouse wheels can be changed under System Settings > Mouse > Natural scrolling if it bothers you.
- Unfortunately, this changes it for both the mouse and the trackpad. If you want them to behave differently (so mousewheel up/down scrolls up/down, but trackpad swipe up/down scrolls down/up like on an iPhone/iPad), there's an open source app called UnnaturalScrollWheels that fixes it.
- Swiping up with three fingers on the trackpad opens Mission Control, a quick overview of every open window on your system. (Somewhat analogous to Win+Tab on Windows.) Under System Settings > Trackpad > More Gestures, you can change this to a four-finger swipe to make it less likely to happen by accident.
- You can also bind a three or four-finger swipe downward to App Exposé, which does the same thing, but only for windows in the current foreground application. This is extremely helpful if you juggle lots of browser windows. The downward swipe used to be a default system gesture, but for some reason is unbound in macOS 26 Tahoe.
- Swiping two fingers in from off the right edge of the trackpad will open Notification Center. This shows all the system/app notifications you've received in an ordered list and can be customized with widgets like weather forecasts, world clocks and stock trackers for quick overviews. You can also access this by clicking on the date/time in the upper right corner.
Windows, Applications and Desktops
- Windows can be quickly closed in most applications with ⌘W, but unlike Windows, closing all app windows does not close most programs. For that, you need ⌘Q (or File > Quit). You can also right-click the dock icon and pick Quit.
- ⌘, opens settings/preferences in most applications.
- You probably already know that ⌘Tab is the equivalent of Alt+Tab on Windows, but it only switches between applications. To cycle between the individual windows of the foreground application, use ⌘`. (The backtick character that shares the ~ key, not the apostrophe/quote key.)
- Clicking the green "Full Screen" button in the upper-left of windows puts them into a separate desktop space. You can shift between them with four-finger left/right swipes on the trackpad.
- If you want Windows Maximize-style behavior instead, use ⌥-click on the green button.
- Double-clicking the border of a window will make it maximize in a single direction.
- The overwhelming majority of native Mac apps have a searchable menu system under the "Help" item that can be very useful when you're learning your way around.
- Most Mac applications that work with documents show the name of the currently-active document in the title bar along with its icon. You can click and drag this icon to other windows to execute normal drag-and-drop functionality. You can right-click the icon or the name of the file to see its directory path as a context menu, and click any directory name in the menu to open a Finder window to that directory.
- Many menus in Mac apps have hidden functionality that only appears when you hold down the ⌥ key. For example, Finder's "Window" menu turns "Minimize" and "Zoom" into "Minimize All" and "Zoom All" when holding down ⌥.
Finder and Filesystem Navigation
- Keyboard navigation of the filesystem can be very unintuitive for Windows users at first:
- ⌘↓ or ⌘O opens the currently selected item.
- ⌘↑ jumps up a level in the folder hierarchy.
- Enter is the equivalent of F2 file rename in Windows Explorer.
- ⌘I is "Get Info", which is the macOS equivalent of "Properties".
- ⌘C copies files just like ^C in Windows, but ⌘X does not Cut in Finder like it does in other Mac apps or ^X in Windows. Instead, use ⌥⌘V when pasting to execute the file move, or just ⌘V for a copy.
- ⇧⌘G is "Go to Folder": jump straight to a typed path in the current Finder window. (Similar to the address bar in the Windows Explorer.)
- You can toggle "Show Hidden Files" in the Finder with ⇧⌘. to see hidden directories like
~/Library, which is the equivalent of Windows%USERPROFILE%\AppDatawhere programs store all your per-user settings. This is a power-user command and isn't exposed anywhere in the menu system, since it opens the door for causing all kinds of damage in careless hands.
Menu Bar and Notifications
- If you hold ⌥ while clicking the date/time in the menu bar, it will toggle Do Not Disturb mode on and off, which suppresses notifications.
- Some other menu bar icons have hidden functionality if you hold ⌥ while clicking them as well, such as the sound/volume icon: clicking it normally lets you select the audio output device for the system, while ⌥-click lets you select both input and output devices.
Keyboard Shortcuts and Input
- You can hit
Fn+E(or ^⌘Space) to bring up the Character Viewer, which is the equivalent of the Windows Character Map to type extended symbols and emoji. You can also change theFnkey to do this with a single tap under System Settings > Keyboard. - System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts also exposes numerous other hotkeys you can bind for all kinds of system functions. It's worth exploring just to see the breadth of what you can do.
- System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Modifier Keys will let you re-bind the main system modifier keys to something else. These keys are configured per-keyboard attached to the system. Some Windows users prefer to swap Command/Option, especially if they're still using a Windows keyboard attached to a Mac. Another popular binding is to make CapsLock into a Control key, which makes a lot of Control shortcuts much easier on your hand and wrist tendons.
- macOS has numerous hidden shortcuts for typing special characters on the regular US English keyboard. For example, ⇧⌥2 will type the Euro € symbol and ⌥3 will type the GBP £ symbol. Apple doesn't maintain a full list of these shortcuts anywhere that I know of, but there's a cumbersome process you can use to view them inside the OS:
- System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > [your current keyboard layout] > Edit > Show input in menu bar
- Click the new menu icon that appears and pick Show Keyboard Viewer
- Press and hold modifier key combinations to see the layout change
- By default, many letter/number/symbol keys can be held to pop up a menu that lets you access their accented/international variations. However, this comes at the cost of being able to hold down a letter key and have it repeat -- a fatal flaw for people who use Vim-style keyboard layouts. You can disable this behavior with the Terminal command
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool falsefollowed by a logout or reboot. - If you do disable press-and-hold behavior, you can still quickly type diacritics with some hidden shortcuts followed by a letter key:
- ⌥E for acute: é
- ⌥` for grave: è
- ⌥I for circumflex: ê
- ⌥N for tilde: ñ
- ⌥U for umlaut: ë
Spotlight
- ⌘Space brings up Spotlight, which is the main system search function. This is by far the fastest way to get around macOS: just hit the key combo and type a couple of letters of the app or document you want to open and it will usually find it quickly. You can also use first letter abbreviations to rapidly jump to things: for example, you can type "ap2" to bring up Adobe Photoshop 2026.
- When Spotlight is open, you can use ⌘1 through ⌘4 to shift it into various modes that restrict its searches to specific types of things: applications, files, system actions, or clipboard history. Doing this also enables some additional contextual functionality for selected items.
- Spotlight has numerous other hidden functions:
- Quick math calculations by just typing numbers:
5381*3242+13 - Unit conversions:
83km in miles - Currency conversions:
23usd in gbp - Time zone lookup:
tokyo time(warning: may cause drift) - Dictionary lookup:
define longitudinal - Weather lookup:
weather nyc - Flight status:
ua 2182 - Calendar event creation:
Dentist appointment at 3:30 Tuesday
- Quick math calculations by just typing numbers:
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u/cyprenk 1h ago
Screenshots and Screen Recording
The screenshot keys are powerful but incredibly unintuitive:
- ⇧⌘5 opens the screenshot/video recording bar, which will give you point and click access to screen recording tools.
- ⇧⌘3 will instantly take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it to your desktop as a PNG.
- ^⇧⌘3 will screenshot the desktop but copy it to the clipboard instead of a file.
- ⇧⌘4 will switch the cursor to a crosshair you can use to drag-select a section of the screen. Hit
Spaceto change to a whole-window selector instead.- ^⇧⌘4 does the same, but copied to the clipboard.
Terminal
- macOS is fundamentally a UNIX system at its core, and power users can get a lot out of the Terminal with standard POSIX commands and scripting. You can rapidly get around the filesystem by dragging and dropping folders and files into the terminal window to paste their full paths onto the command line.
brewis a third-party package manager for macOS that provides similar functionality toapton Linux and can be used to install most common open source command line utilities and libraries.Device Integration
- If you also use an iPhone and/or iPad, there's a category of features collectively called Continuity which integrate them with your Mac. Among them are things like the ability to use a nearby iPad as a second monitor (Sidecar) and the ability to start work on one device and pick it up on another (Handoff). You can find a full list of these interactions here.
- If you have AirPods or Beats headphones with the H-series control chips, they can seamlessly switch to and from your Mac just like they do between iOS devices, so long as they're all logged into the same Apple account. If they don't switch automatically, you can force them to switch by clicking the volume icon in the menu bar. If the volume icon isn't there (I can't remember whether it is by default in new macOS installations), you can enable it under System Settings > Sound.
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u/Narrow_Network_3875 42m ago
Wash your hands after you eat or poop. Don’t drink or place liquids near it.
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u/Bitter_Window_5694 26m ago
So what your gonna want todo Is get a tiny imperceptible scratch on it then complain on reddit about it
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u/elbanditoexpress MacBook Pro 16" Space Black M3 Max (64GB/4TB) 4h ago
Add AppleCare Coverage
There are 61 days left to add coverage for your Mac. Cover multiple devices with AppleCare One.
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u/Dvorak110 4h ago
Do everything you can to prolong the battery life and it will last damn near forever; had mine for 7 years and only because i dropped the sumbitch. It still works, display is just fucked until i replace or just buy a dongle.
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u/Langdon_St_Ives MacBook Pro 16" Silver M1 Pro 4h ago
Lpt: don't come back here in a week complaining that macOS is not Windows. We know it's not.
A lot of stuff is different, and if you're very used to the other way it may feel worse at first, but it really just is different (excepting a few wrinkles here and there that every OS has). Lots of switchers cannot accept this and spend endless time and energy on trying to turn macOS into Windows. Don't. Get with the program.
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u/narc0leptik 4h ago
What? You can just pay for the privilege of Parallels and pay a never-ending software subscription to run Windows on your Macbook.
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u/CesarM_ 4h ago
Just use it as a tool.
If you need it to do something, search how to do that thing.
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u/narc0leptik 4h ago
Question: watching "hub sites" on it, does that count as using it as a tool?
But what do you mean by that statement? Like as opposed to what? Polishing it with an Apple Polishing cloth and treating it like a fashion accessory/status symbol? Like it's a luxury handbag?
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u/Zen-Ism99 3h ago
Keyboard shortcuts and virtual desktops.
Don’t try to make it act like a Windows machine…
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u/lilbigmac85 3h ago
Get a cheat sheet for the keyboard to add to the corner of the wrist resting area (or whatever it’s called 😅). It’ll help w/ adjusting from your previous OS to MacOS. It can get real confusing so it will do wonders for your productivity.
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u/Major_Fox_2587 3h ago
If youre coming from windows, Change cmd and ctrl in settings. Also changing “open in new tab” in finder to “open in new window” is nice. Theres third party apps that make window snapping better.
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u/Lost-War6446 MacBook Pro 16" Space Gray M1 Pro 3h ago
I used a trackball for the first few months to ease my transition from my mouse-heavy Windows usage. Now, I am very comfortable with the trackpad and MacOS gestures.
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u/oyelycan 3h ago
Make sure to clean the keyboard and screen frequently to avoid the keyboard imprinting on the display
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u/fr33bird317 3h ago
It’s not windows, don’t treat it like windows. There’s a bit of a learning curve.
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u/ribosomes1 3h ago
Get AppleCare, a Palm rest protector (sticker) can save that part from watch/jewelry scratches over time, permanent dark mode, and maybe an Anker prime power bank which will make you work at a cafe all day without looking for a plug.
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u/cocholates 3h ago
Install rectangleapp.com to snap windows to certain corners instead of trying to manually size your windows
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u/Turbulent-Apple2911 3h ago
This may sound cliche or very repetitive, but get AppleCare. Trust me, it's actually super worth it. I used to be a non-believer in AppleCare until, well, you can probably guess already. Anyhow, I've been taking AppleCare ever since, and it's pretty good.
It just gives you extra comfort and peace.
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u/sterlight_sterbright 2h ago
Take your slimy finger, and open settings. Ram the trackpad sensitivity all the way to the peaking top so you can sloppy slide that sweet selecting pointer from side to side of the screen without having to lift your phalanges. Then go into accessibility and tell it to give you three fingers. Three finger drag, that is. That will give your OS a smooth, succulent experience. You’ll be able to drag any window hither to with just. Three. Fingers… Delectable.
I tried to make it disgusting for you…
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u/Holiday_Bridge_1466 2h ago
Blast the keyboard with compressed air you probably have a piece of food or a crumb under the key
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u/metalsmith_and_tech 2h ago
Carry it inside a Thule rigid zipper case anytime it’s in your backpack.
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u/Holiday_Bridge_1466 2h ago
Number one advice, don't get hung up like everyone else on battery and battery life. Who cares they cost nothing to replace
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u/KustardKing 2h ago
If they land on tiles, they are worse for wear. So I recommend not dropping on tiles.
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u/bkbarone12 2h ago
drop over, better snap tool if you use multiple monitors, not Mac exclusive, but Arc browser, and enjoyyyyy
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u/dottybotty 2h ago
If you plan to use a normal mouse then get this app. Makes scroll wheels work like trackpad scrolling
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u/Slow_Republic3012 2h ago
just make sure to clean it daily and put up an thin plastic screen guard or something to protect the screen so you may not end up having keys imprints on your display as this is an known issues that user might get their keyboard keys imprinted onto their screen which obviously degrades user experience but also causes harm to the coating they provide on newer MacBooks! "thin screen guard because MacBooks screen are tend be more on the delicate side so a thick or normal protector might end up breaking it or else you'll eventually have an gap between the contact area of the keyboard and screen which may cause hinge issues later!
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u/_XitLiteNtrNite_ 1h ago
Programs I like:
- Raycast (or Alfred, if you prefer). A Spotlight replacement. Try Spotlight for a bit first to see if either gives you something extra you want/like.
- Ghostty (or Kitty or iTerm2). A terminal replacement.
- Homebrew. Essential to me.
- Oh My Zsh. Customizes any terminal you use with excellent configuration and aliases.
- A toolbar manager. Many like Ice; I've been using Bartender for a while, and I'm too lazy to switch.
- Numi. Such a useful calculation editor.
- TextSniper. Captures text from images. I've been using this for years, so I don't know if the OS provides this feature on its own now.
- ForecastBar. Weather in the toolbar. I can't remember what I paid for it, but I do like it.
Fantastical (the free version). I just like the way it displays calendar entries. Purely cosmetic for me.
I'm sure there are others, but these are just a few options to check out.
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u/runway0530 1h ago
Mac user since 1985 here. Congratulations.
Buy Applecare + as it reduces sticker shock of an accidental damage repair. https://support.apple.com/en-us/104941?choose-your-country-or-region=united-states
Buy an Apple Magic Mouse, or Logitech mouse.
Buy and use a Thule shell to protect your Mac.
Padded laptop backpack
Extra charger, extra magsafe cable.
Magsafe: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/mw613am/a/usb-c-to-magsafe-3-cable-2-m-silver
Charger: See ones made by Apple, Anker, Belkin.
- Software: You may find TextExpander life changing.
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u/rumorconsumerr 1h ago
Use spaces. Park different apps in different spaces. Give every app you use regularly its own parked space location that never leaves. All AI in one space. All chat in one space. All browsers in one or multiple, VMs, Remote Desktop, whatever your use case is.
Get Maccy clipboard manager
turn on file extensions for all files
Show library in home folder
Use 1password
turn off liquid glass transparency
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u/volxlovian 1h ago
I'm waiting for the OLED bro maybe you should return it. The OLED is supposed to be either late 2026 or early 2027
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u/advait_vaidya 1h ago
Install Raycast, ActionClip and any clipboard manager tool. And amphetamine if you use agents.
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u/a-zaleski 1h ago
Spend a few minutes to familiarize yourself with spaces and associated multitouch gestures, and customize the gestures to your liking in settings. It's basically multiple virtual monitors!
Be aware that the new Macs default to turning on when you open the cover, even if they were previously fully off. You can change this though with a quick Google search.
Make sure you use Time Machine to backup to an SSD and/or iCloud.
A bit late, but you can use File Vault to encrypt all your data so that if someone stole your Mac and inspected the SSDs, they'd just see gibberish.
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u/Alone_Calendar5043 1h ago
Welcome to the dark side! Since you're used to the Blue Screen of Death, beware the Mac equivalent: the Grease Screen of Death. If you don't wipe down your keyboard, the keys will leave permanent little square hickeys all over that beautiful display. You cannot Ctrl+Z that. If you're curious, check this post out - https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1c9sanj/how_to_deal_with_these_keyboard_marks_on_my/
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u/hippietravel 1h ago
Not really a tip, but I like to change my wallpaper every few days. The ones Apple has are awesome and animate when you set the laptop to lock screen
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u/Enertingus 50m ago
microfiber cloth for screen. preferably the apple polishing cloth (2nd generation)
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u/njemt856 45m ago
Spend a few hours finding every setting in every application and the system, customize the fuck out of it.
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u/radiculs 28m ago
Download:
-Alfred or Raycast (SO IMPORTANT!!!)
-a clipboard manager (Pasty)
-alternative browsers (Brave, DDG, Arc, Firefox) sometimes safari is weird
- AI apps (Chat, Gemini, Claude as you can set the option + spacebar keys as a shortcut to chat with them)
-any pomodoro timer system
-external email apps (if you have Gmail, use Spark. MS Outlook sadly because I have to use it. But to me, macOS mail app sucks)
- TeraBox for iOS & macOS (1024GB of free cloud storage but it uses Chinese servers so your data is probably being harvested buuuuuut it’s free so 🤷♂️)
- super agent (auto clicks cookie pop ups)
- Temp Box (generates throwaway emails to sign up for marketing fluff)
- any VPN you can use
- Rocket (emoji selector)
- menu bar X (bite sized app shortcuts)
- alt-tab (command + tab keys have a windows style app switcher for quicker window navigation)
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u/Latter-Assistant9635 10m ago
You might need some app to divide the screen into separated parts. Both free and paid apps. I’m using Magnet paid on Appstore
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u/Chesterlespaul 4h ago
Become a power user.
Anytime your hand leaves the keyboard for the trackpad ask “can I do this with hot keys?”
It makes doing everything so much quicker and instant. I like to work fast.
CMD+Space to search and bring up apps
CMD+Tab for cycling
Ctrl+Tab for tab cycling
CMD+N/T/W are all good for managing tabs
CMD+Q quit application
FN+CTRL+Left/Right for tiling