Mac Users Deserve Better – 7 Unacceptable Problems with MacOS

[HC_writes]

Apple has a bigger presence at Linus Media Group than ever before: an increasing number of our staff are choosing their excellent M1 and M2 powered laptops as their work machine or use Macintosh systems at home. But this increased usage has led to more annoyances being discussed around the office… so we put together this list of some of the more noticeable omissions!

 

 

 

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[HenrySalayne]

Outrage incoming in 3 - 2 - 1 - NOW!

 

 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

as a Mac user: 

 

window snapping i just use Rectangle for. iirc Apple can't do the windows-way because Microsoft patented it. not their fault. 

 

the full screen thing in Firefox is a Firefox issue. Chrome and Safari both behave normally. it's just Firefox. 

 

Volume for individual apps is stupid. i dual boot Windows on my Mac and i've never ever felt like wanting to use that. the only time it comes in handy is when i wanna turn down spotify but keep the system volume high for watching coding tutorials on youtube while listening to music. but like, spotify has it's own volume control i don't need the OS for that option. 

 

why you want to create an empty file in a folder is beyond me, i've never needed that. 

[Ultraforce]

17 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

Volume for individual apps is stupid. i dual boot Windows on my Mac and i've never ever felt like wanting to use that. the only time it comes in handy is when i wanna turn down spotify but keep the system volume high for watching coding tutorials on youtube while listening to music. but like, spotify has it's own volume control i don't need the OS for that option.

For volume for individual apps because of the variety of game apps is a factor. Like one of the major times when I personally use individual volume control is for DOS Box and some old weird Japanese Visual Novels where they don't have their own volume control and the volume by default is absolutely terribley loud.

[Lightwreather]

Meh.

I've used macOS for about 6-8 months now, I've not really seen these as "unacceptable", minus window-snapping (but as someone mentioned before, Rectangle is both Free and FOSS).

As for individual volume, while I do use soundsource that provides this option, I've not personally had to use it, but ofc, there are others who might need it

[Dracarris]

Apart from the external display trash fire: How the hell did this video not make any mention whatsoever of the abomination that Finder still is in comparison to Windows Explorer? The utterly poor SMB and in general network drive support? Drag and drop to minimized applications?

[divyanshdxn]

1 hour ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

as a Mac user: 

 

window snapping i just use Rectangle for. iirc Apple can't do the windows-way because Microsoft patented it. not their fault. 

 

the full screen thing in Firefox is a Firefox issue. Chrome and Safari both behave normally. it's just Firefox. 

 

Volume for individual apps is stupid. i dual boot Windows on my Mac and i've never ever felt like wanting to use that. the only time it comes in handy is when i wanna turn down spotify but keep the system volume high for watching coding tutorials on youtube while listening to music. but like, spotify has it's own volume control i don't need the OS for that option. 

 

why you want to create an empty file in a folder is beyond me, i've never needed that. 

From a developer's perspective, snapping window is a really required feature. Almost all linux distros have it, so I dont know how this affects the "patent". 
Agree with the firefox issue, I never felt any issue with the full screen mechanism.
Volume for individual apps is really required because same reason as you've mentioned.
I need to create an empty c++ file in a folder....ahh probably I can open a terminal here and do "tocuh file.cpp".....but hey where is the "Open a Terminal here" option in finder.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

6 minutes ago, divyanshdxn said:

From a developer's perspective, snapping window is a really required feature. Almost all linux distros have it, so I dont know how this affects the "patent". 

in the same way you can add it back to macOS with a third party app. what would be the point in microsoft suing a project that 1% of the market uses? 

 

7 minutes ago, divyanshdxn said:

Volume for individual apps is really required

i did not say that?

 

7 minutes ago, divyanshdxn said:

I need to create an empty c++ file in a folder....ahh probably I can open a terminal here and do "tocuh file.cpp".....but hey where is the "Open a Terminal here" option in finder.

the OS has that, it's just a bit hidden. here's a guide https://www.maketecheasier.com/launch-terminal-current-folder-mac/

[Radium_Angel]

As a new convert to MacOS, the only thing I see as an issue, is the difficulty in removing the iOS-style apps that come pre-installed with my OS. Hell, I can't even move them to a folder entitled "Crap I don't use" and that pisses me off. Beyond that, the thought put into MacOS is light-years beyond Windows and really shows how crudely things are bolted on to Windows (setting vs control panel I'm looking at you)

[Just that Mario]

I've used Windows all my life and just got my first Mac a year or two ago - M1 MacBook Air. I don't have many issues with Mac as I am not a power user of any OS like some people are, though what has annoyed me about Mac:

1. Folder ordering seems to randomly forget what I chose or I am too dumb to set it up properly.

2. Mouse and scroll settings. I like trackpad to work the "mac way" but I prefer my mouse the "windows way". Unfortunately cannot have that without changing options every time I change. Though I don't find this as an issue unless I use an external display. In laptop mode, I always prefer mac's trackpad over a mouse.

3. For whatever reason my external display doesn't work properly unless I use USBC -> DP cable. Haven't tried USBC -> HDMI yet, but did try through a hub and that did not pick up the correct colours.
4. IDK why the folder icons are so ugly in the Mac. Feels outdated.

 

Something I find odd as a windows person is how apps are installed and uninstalled, but I do like that they all install to one location.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

8 minutes ago, Just that Mario said:

I've used Windows all my life and just got my first Mac a year or two ago - M1 MacBook Air. I don't have many issues with Mac as I am not a power user of any OS like some people are, though what has annoyed me about Mac:

1. Folder ordering seems to randomly forget what I chose or I am too dumb to set it up properly.

2. Mouse and scroll settings. I like trackpad to work the "mac way" but I prefer my mouse the "windows way". Unfortunately cannot have that without changing options every time I change. Though I don't find this as an issue unless I use an external display. In laptop mode, I always prefer mac's trackpad over a mouse.

3. For whatever reason my external display doesn't work properly unless I use USBC -> DP cable. Haven't tried USBC -> HDMI yet, but did try through a hub and that did not pick up the correct colours.
4. IDK why the folder icons are so ugly in the Mac. Feels outdated.

 

Something I find odd as a windows person is how apps are installed and uninstalled, but I do like that they all install to one location.

1. go to any folder you want to permanently change, then press command+j. that opens up the view options menu. set whatever you wish then at the bottom click on Use as defaults. from now on the Finder will use those view options for that folder and iirc subfolders.

 

2. yes that is stupid, iirc you can download an app to fix it, but i never use a mouse with my Mac so idk

 

3. a hub fucks with a lot of signaling and it might not properly support the displayport spec that either the Mac or the display need. best avoid hubs for displays.

 

4. icons for any file or folder or app can be changed. see this tutorial: https://www.laptopmag.com/how-to/change-folder-icons-or-color-on-a-mac

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

16 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

As a new convert to MacOS, the only thing I see as an issue, is the difficulty in removing the iOS-style apps that come pre-installed with my OS. Hell, I can't even move them to a folder entitled "Crap I don't use" and that pisses me off. Beyond that, the thought put into MacOS is light-years beyond Windows and really shows how crudely things are bolted on to Windows (setting vs control panel I'm looking at you)

uuh, Launchpad works just like iOS. 

 

 

if you mean in the Finder, that's not Apple's fault. a lot of third party software relies on the applications being in those locations in the Applications folder. for example some apps can open the terminal for you to do a task, but if the terminal isn't where the app expects it to be then it'll fail obviously. 

[Just that Mario]

5 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

1. go to any folder you want to permanently change, then press command+j. that opens up the view options menu. set whatever you wish then at the bottom click on Use as defaults. from now on the Finder will use those view options for that folder and iirc subfolders.

 

2. yes that is stupid, iirc you can download an app to fix it, but i never use a mouse with my Mac so idk

 

3. a hub fucks with a lot of signaling and it might not properly support the displayport spec that either the Mac or the display need. best avoid hubs for displays.

 

4. icons for any file or folder or app can be changed. see this tutorial: https://www.laptopmag.com/how-to/change-folder-icons-or-color-on-a-mac

Yeah, I somehow changed the folder sorting but then randomly it changed to default after a while. Hub was just something I got for USBC -> USBA tbf, but haven't really even used the thing. It's some Anker 7 in 1 hub. Even got a wireless mouse and used that thing like twice for total of few hours, lol. TBF I cannot be arsed to download third party apps and fixes to fiddle and "fix" the annoyances. It isn't that annoying and well, I would find more annoying getting someone's third party garbage to work as I want than the original issue. I've got to the point in life where I want my tech stuff to just work. If I want to fix and fiddle with something I have other projects

[hishnash]

The displays issue your having is a hardware issue not with TB but with display controllers on the chip.

You cant drive a display unless you have a display controller for it, this is not software. The M1/M2 base models only have 2 display controllers, just have a look at the die shots that people have lobbed the display controllers take up more space than 2 high perfomance CPU Cores (each) so adding a 3rd display would make the die a LOT larger (costly a lot more). 

Why are apple's display controlers so large? when the main reason seems to be power draw optimisation, it is clear that these controlers have a massive local cache likly large enough for a enough data to do the entier display stream compression for 5k without needing to round trip to memory meaning they can save a LOT of power, but then you do need to ask if your putting to a 5k display with display stream compression are not not also plugged into power? 
 

[just_dave]

I'm sorry @AlexTheGreatish @GabenJr but you guys simply NEED to spend more than 30 seconds on Google while researching the shit you talk about.

 

I am saying this as someone who uses all-Apple devices and I could tell you about one bazillion problems with macOS and Apple's ecosystem. Things that are so retarded and prevent me from doing all of my scientific computing on my Mac, dumb UI decisions and OS architecture differences compared to Linux (my 2nd most encountered OS). 

 

It's been CLEARLY stated and RESEARCHED the M1/M2 series chips CANNOT drive more than 1 external display because of a very straightforward silicon limitation - there is just 1 external display driver. That's it. Die shots and silicon analysis have shown Apple's ExDP controller is implemented differently, likely for maximum efficiency, and takes up a lot of die space (and therefore cost for fabbing). @hishnash

 

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1549672494210113536

 

So the fact at 6:50 in the video you say the Thunderbolt bus on M1 or M2 Macbooks could easily support 2 external displays is just straight up misinformation. 

 

Apart from the objectively wrong aspects of the video, it's arguable whether window-snapping is an issue considering Rectangle exists and provides excellent experience costing you only 15 seconds of download and installation time. There also the patent thing, but that's a grey zone as no real official statement from Apple or related parties exists (https://patents.google.com/patent/US10592080B2/en). 

 

Also, you guys focus a lot on bad developer implementations and just throw the blame on the operating system, which I also don't find to be relevant.

 

Food for thought on what actually sucks balls on macOS: 

Totally inflexible coreaudio framework which doesn't allow you to change output formats for external audio devices as well as for example ASIO on Windows

Poor documentation for Apple's otherwise excellent HW accelerators (M1 Matrix processor) leading to performance being left on the table with libraries such as SciPy (https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/dev/roadmap-detailed.html) 

[just_dave]

7 minutes ago, hishnash said:

The displays issue your having is a hardware issue not with TB but with display controllers on the chip.

You cant drive a display unless you have a display controller for it, this is not software. The M1/M2 base models only have 2 display controllers, just have a look at the die shots that people have lobbed the display controllers take up more space than 2 high perfomance CPU Cores (each) so adding a 3rd display would make the die a LOT larger (costly a lot more). 

Why are apple's display controlers so large? when the main reason seems to be power draw optimisation, it is clear that these controlers have a massive local cache likly large enough for a enough data to do the entier display stream compression for 5k without needing to round trip to memory meaning they can save a LOT of power, but then you do need to ask if your putting to a 5k display with display stream compression are not not also plugged into power? 
 

Ayo you were faster while I typed it out and mentioned you XD

[ducky17z]

Can't believe they didn't mention the free and open source app BackgroundMusic https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic for setting volume for individual apps. It works pretty good for outputs, but needs work with inputs.

 

[hishnash]

2 minutes ago, just_dave said:

Totally inflexible coreaudio framework which doesn't allow you to change output formats for external audio devices as well as for example ASIO on Windows

Poor documentation for Apple's otherwise excellent HW accelerators (M1 Matrix processor) leading to performance being left on the table with libraries such as SciPy (https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/dev/roadmap-detailed.html) 

I do understand why they do not just document the instruction set since that would commit them to not being able to change the instruction set between silicon generations. But what they should do is at minimum provide useful docs on the Accerate framework that explain the details of the algorithms they are using, including the floating point errors you can expect. As it is right now using the AMX for scinttifc workloads is hard as there is not documentation on how much flowing point errors you will build up making it mostly only useable for short runs.  

[hishnash]

As to why airDrop does not work over wired networking? the reason is AirDrop is an end to end (encrypted) connection between the 2 devices (it does not go over your router) the devices create an ad-hoc connection between them.

This is not possible over a wired connection, all the data (even if the stream were encrypted) would be passing through your switch (if not your router). 

[Needfuldoer]

I still miss System 7. No dock, just WindowShade. No unnecessarily flashy UI elements wasting screen real estate when every pixel is precious. Eric's Ultimate Solitaire Sampler.

 

7.6.1 screams on my PowerBook 1400.

[EdgyVenison]

50 minutes ago, hishnash said:

The displays issue your having is a hardware issue not with TB but with display controllers on the chip.

 

43 minutes ago, just_dave said:

It's been CLEARLY stated and RESEARCHED the M1/M2 series chips CANNOT drive more than 1 external display because of a very straightforward silicon limitation - there is just 1 external display driver. That's it. Die shots and silicon analysis have shown Apple's ExDP controller is implemented differently, likely for maximum efficiency, and takes up a lot of die space (and therefore cost for fabbing).

I wanted to bring this point up as well, but my opinion/interpretation here isn't as harsh. I think it's borderline disingenuous to make the claim that the 1 external display limitation is intentional market segmentation (given that it's easy to find out as @just_dave pointed out).

 

That being said, I think it is still good that this is brought up in the video regardless. It brings more awareness of the issue, and sends more signal to the people at Apple that this is not great and they should try to allow more than one external display in future iterations.

[Martycrane]

35 minutes ago, just_dave said:

I'm sorry @AlexTheGreatish @GabenJr but you guys simply NEED to spend more than 30 seconds on Google while researching the shit you talk about.

 

I am saying this as someone who uses all-Apple devices and I could tell you about one bazillion problems with macOS and Apple's ecosystem. Things that are so retarded and prevent me from doing all of my scientific computing on my Mac, dumb UI decisions and OS architecture differences compared to Linux (my 2nd most encountered OS). 

 

It's been CLEARLY stated and RESEARCHED the M1/M2 series chips CANNOT drive more than 1 external display because of a very straightforward silicon limitation - there is just 1 external display driver. That's it. Die shots and silicon analysis have shown Apple's ExDP controller is implemented differently, likely for maximum efficiency, and takes up a lot of die space (and therefore cost for fabbing). @hishnash

 

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1549672494210113536

 

So the fact at 6:50 in the video you say the Thunderbolt bus on M1 or M2 Macbooks could easily support 2 external displays is just straight up misinformation. 

 

Apart from the objectively wrong aspects of the video, it's arguable whether window-snapping is an issue considering Rectangle exists and provides excellent experience costing you only 15 seconds of download and installation time. There also the patent thing, but that's a grey zone as no real official statement from Apple or related parties exists (https://patents.google.com/patent/US10592080B2/en). 

 

Also, you guys focus a lot on bad developer implementations and just throw the blame on the operating system, which I also don't find to be relevant.

 

Food for thought on what actually sucks balls on macOS: 

Totally inflexible coreaudio framework which doesn't allow you to change output formats for external audio devices as well as for example ASIO on Windows

Poor documentation for Apple's otherwise excellent HW accelerators (M1 Matrix processor) leading to performance being left on the table with libraries such as SciPy (https://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/dev/roadmap-detailed.html) 

So i literally just went and checked because in my experience the segment about multiple displays is wrong, and sure enough my 13" M1 Macbook pro will drive 2 external displays. With the lid closed, it will drive my 4k monitor as the main display and my PA248 (1920x1200) as an extended display. With the lid open, it will mirror to the 4k and extend to the PA248.

 

i agree with almost everything else you wrote, but the bit about monitors in particular isn't true. might not be able to drive multiple 4 k monitors, but that is very different only being able to drive 1 monitor, which is simply false.

 

 

[EdgyVenison]

10 minutes ago, Martycrane said:

So i literally just went and checked because in my experience the segment about multiple displays is wrong, and sure enough my 13" M1 Macbook pro will drive 2 external displays. With the lid closed, it will drive my 4k monitor as the main display and my PA248 (1920x1200) as an extended display. With the lid open, it will mirror to the 4k and extend to the PA248.

 

i agree with almost everything else you wrote, but the bit about monitors in particular isn't true. might not be able to drive multiple 4 k monitors, but that is very different only being able to drive 1 monitor, which is simply false.

I think the tweet @just_dave brought up still holds true.

As shown in the tweet image, the M1 Pro die has 2 DISP EXT blocks, and for all intents and purposes, the macbook screen itself might as well count as one "external display" since it needs to be outputted somehow lol.

I think this explains why closing the lid allows you to use 2 external displays; one display feed (the macbook screen) is no longer in use, and the freed up DISP EXT can then be used to drive the second external display, so it's probably a hardware limitation and not an intentional market segmentation.

[Ultraforce]

54 minutes ago, just_dave said:

Apart from the objectively wrong aspects of the video, it's arguable whether window-snapping is an issue considering Rectangle exists and provides excellent experience costing you only 15 seconds of download and installation time. There also the patent thing, but that's a grey zone as no real official statement from Apple or related parties exists (https://patents.google.com/patent/US10592080B2/en).

They do explicitly say that the criticisms are specifically for vanilla MacOS and I think they even mention or at least show Rectangle as a third party choice.

[Martycrane]

7 minutes ago, EdgyVenison said:

I think the tweet @just_dave brought up still holds true.

As shown in the tweet image, the M1 Pro die has 2 DISP EXT blocks, and for all intents and purposes, the macbook screen itself might as well count as one "external display" since it needs to be outputted somehow lol.

I think this explains why closing the lid allows you to use 2 external displays; one display feed (the macbook screen) is no longer in use, and the freed up DISP EXT can then be used to drive the second external display, so it's probably a hardware limitation and not an intentional market segmentation.

That's probably the case, because there is definitely different behavior when the lid is opened vs closed, and i made sure to test both. regardless what @AlexTheGreatish said in the video about only being able to drive one monitor is definitively false.