macos Mac OS tips for dummies

[himynameisryan21]

I'm a lifelong windows user and I am switching to mac (in around 6 months, maybe longer depending on upcoming devices at the time) since I don't play games anymore (except on my switch) and do a lot of video editing.

If you would like, pls provide tips and tricks for new macos users. I have watched many videos for beginners on yt but the more i know, the better. 

 

PS, My main reason for not wanting to build an editing rig is that after using imovie (on a phone), movie maker, sony vegas pro (11 or 12, I don't remember it was a long time ago), davinci resolve and premiere pro, I want to use final cut pro since the magnetic timeline would considerably speed up MY workflow.

[zeusthemoose]

Honestly, there isn’t much to know about macOS. That’s the beauty of it. It is very simple and straightforward. As an ex macOS user, the main things I used were f3 and f4 to see workspaces and all the apps, control-shift-eject to put it to sleep, and control-shift-escape to force quit poorly behaving apps. You will probably find it useful to look at lists of shortcuts and choose some you think you will use often and memorize them. You will also want to enable right click in the settings. I believe the default for right click is command-left click and too many people don’t realize they can change it.

Some notes:

1. you will have a learning curve for using the control and command keys instead of the one regularly used on windows as the position is different
2. please consider getting a different mouse than the one it comes with. The Magic Mouse 2 is one of my least favorite mice I have ever used (including $5-10 dell ones). The shape is pretty awful and the charging port is on the bottom so you can’t charge and use it at the same time
3. the file system is meh. Expect it to get disorganized if you are not on top of it.

[himynameisryan21]

4 minutes ago, zeusthemoose said:

Honestly, there isn’t much to know about macOS. That’s the beauty of it. It is very simple and straightforward. As an ex macOS user, the main things I used were f3 and f4 to see workspaces and all the apps, control-shift-eject to put it to sleep, and control-shift-escape to force quit poorly behaving apps. You will probably find it useful to look at lists of shortcuts and choose some you think you will use often and memorize them. You will also want to enable right click in the settings. I believe the default for right click is command-left click and too many people don’t realize they can change it.

Some notes:

1. you will have a learning curve for using the control and command keys instead of the one regularly used on windows as the position is different
2. please consider getting a different mouse than the one it comes with. The Magic Mouse 2 is one of my least favorite mice I have ever used (including $5-10 dell ones). The shape is pretty awful and the charging port is on the bottom so you can’t charge and use it at the same time
3. the file system is meh. Expect it to get disorganized if you are not on top of it.

Thanks for your help.

in terms of "some notes" 1. that is unfortunate but no kind of deal breaker

2. I will be using an mx master 3 with a macbook

3. I will make sure to stay organised.

again, thanks

[zeusthemoose]

1 minute ago, ryan_lennoxbradley said:

that is unfortunate but no kind of deal breaker

Yeah it can be kind of annoying for the first few weeks but then you get used to it. Nothing too bad.
 

2 minutes ago, ryan_lennoxbradley said:

I will be using an mx master 3 with a macbook

I love that mouse series. Since you are using a MacBook and not an iMac, the shortcut to put it to sleep is control-shift-powerbutton instead of eject.

[himynameisryan21]

1 minute ago, zeusthemoose said:

 Since you are using a MacBook and not an iMac, the shortcut to put it to sleep is control-shift-powerbutton instead of eject.

Thanks again

[Action_Johnson]

MacOS is wonderful. For doing anything involving photo or video editing, it's vastly superior, even if Apple computers are slower to process.

Once you get used to it, Windows will reveal how much of a total jenk-fest it truly is. For example - The control panel, start menu search, color management...

 

THE reason you see so many creative professionals swear by Mac's, is because since there's no diversity in hardware, the software is generally more stable, and color management is an absolute cake-walk to nail, vs Windows where it's a complete mess and a half. 

 

Apples move to ARM, and the unification of MacOS and iOS, cannot come soon enough IMO

[ProjectBox153]

When it comes to macOS just play around with it. Go around different menus, learn how things can interact with each other and just explore the OS. In my opinion that's probably the easiest way to get started with it.

[maplepants]

On GitHub there are quite a few lists of some great mac software. Since it's on GitHub it obviously leans more towards developers, but the basic productivity tools listed are often great.

 

I like this list, this one and this list of open source apps.

 

In terms of specific apps that I couldn't do without:

* I love Terminal Notifier. It lets me use the native notification system as the output for any script. Super useful for when you are running a job in the background and want to know when it finishes, or if you have a scheduled task and only care about the result if it fails.

* In a similar vein, bitbar lets you put the output of any script/program into your menu bar. Really handy, and a project that I have contributed to myself.

 

Lots of recommendation lists will tell you about Alfred as a replacement for Spotlight. I love Alfred use it constantly, but before giving it a go you should just use Spotlight for a while. Spotlight is really good now, and comes with some very useful integrations like currency and measurement conversions built it.

 

If you're doing video work though, you probably already know about Handbrake. It's great on macOS (like it is everywhere).

 

edit: I almost forgot; get a clipboard manager! WIndows 10 has one built in with Win+V, but on a mac their mostly third party. I use the Alfred's but I've heard good things about PasteBot.

Edited September 17, 2020 by maplepants
adding clipboard manager.

[himynameisryan21]

On 9/15/2020 at 12:31 PM, Action_Johnson said:

Apples move to ARM, and the unification of MacOS and iOS, cannot come soon enough IMO

As an android guy (definitely won't switch to iPhone), the ability to run IOS apps will be nice (I can run apps I can't run cause android)

[imcaspar]

Have a look at https://brew.sh/

[Roswell]

On 9/18/2020 at 12:43 AM, ryan_lennoxbradley said:

As an android guy (definitely won't switch to iPhone), the ability to run IOS apps will be nice (I can run apps I can't run cause android)

Might be worth considering an iPhone. Taking calls, texting, AirDrop, handoff, and the other bazillion integrations are incredibly helpful.

[himynameisryan21]

On 9/21/2020 at 2:13 PM, Vitamanic said:

Might be worth considering an iPhone. Taking calls, texting, AirDrop, handoff, and the other bazillion integrations are incredibly helpful.

While those features are nice, iPhones still aren't customizable enough (but maybe in the future)

I would not take calls on my computer, I will miss texting from my computer, airdrop and handoff seem nice but aren't worth the switch

[himynameisryan21]

On 9/15/2020 at 8:22 PM, ProjectBox153 said:

When it comes to macOS just play around with it. Go around different menus, learn how things can interact with each other and just explore the OS. In my opinion that's probably the easiest way to get started with it.

ngl that's what I did with windows when I was 2, should be easier now