Issues with macOS.

Discussion in 'all things Mac' started by roger_m, May 31, 2023.

  1. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I'm a long time Windows user and rarely use Macs. However I just purchased used MacBook Pro and have some thoughts. I'm not keeping the Mac, I'll be selling it soon. I only bought it to sell at a small profit. From my limited experience with OS X/macOS in the past, there were some things that I really didn't like about it. I have now have found some more things I don't like. I'm not posting this to bash Macs. I just feel that a lot more thought has been put into the design of Windows. While macOS is often said to be easier to use the Windows. My experience has been that that's not necessarily the case. Of course what OS is the best for you is subjective.

    I couldn't tap to click on the trackpad. I was able to enable this in the Settings app, so it's not a big deal. But I find odd that's it's disabled by default. I upgraded macOS from the installed Mojave to Catalina. At the end of the upgrade process I some user input was required. Once again, I was unable to tap to click. But once the upgrade finished, tap to click was working again. To be fair, on an ASUS laptop I was working on a few months, once I updated from the generic Microsoft touchpad driver to the proper OEM driver, tap to click was disabled by default. But I believe this is the first and only time I've seen this behaviour on a PC.

    I launched the Safari web browser. It didn't start maximised and it seems strange that it doesn't do this by default. I tried to maximise the window. It's odd that the maximise button is a green circle, rather than an icon which could give an indication of what the button does. Rather than maximising the window the way that Windows does, it enters a full screen mode where the window occupies the entirety of the screen. This is fine if you want to to use full screen mode. But I actually had to Google how to maximise the window without entering full screen mode. You can do it, by moving the mouse pointer to one of the corners of the window, and double clicking while holding the Option key. That's not very convenient. While it's good that you can do it, it's strange that it can't be done just by clicking on a button.

    Now on to my next complaint. You can't download apps from the App Store without being signed in with an Apple ID. While there are some benefits to being signed it, on Windows, you don't have to be signed in with your MS account to use the Microsoft Store.

    My final issue is I wanted to see the estimated remaining battery life. I moved the mouse pointer over the battery icon and nothing happened. I had to Google how to show the estimated battery life. You can do this from within Activity Monitor. But it would be better if you could get an estimate by moving the mouse pointer over the battery icon.
     
  2. XIII

    XIII Registered Member

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    Which MacBook Pro did you buy, considering that it came installed with macOS Mojave, which is from 2018?

    And is macOS Catalina (from 2019) the latest it can run?

    (there's a new macOS update every year; the current version is macOS Ventura)
     
  3. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    Hello @roger_m

    It may be helpful for me and @XIII if you could report the data similar to the following from System Information:

    Code:
    
    Model Name:        MacBook Pro
    Model Identifier:   MacBookPro18,1
    Model Number:     MK1F3LL/A
    
    
    Thank you.
     
  4. MisterB

    MisterB Registered Member

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    I just posted on installing Linux on a 2012 Macbook Pro Retina. It came with a 1tb SSD which gave me a lot of room to play with OSes and at this point I have the original OS it came with, Mountain Lion, and Sierra and Catalina on it along with Mint 21.1, Ubuntu 22 LTS, Debian 11 and Windows 10. The last time I used MacOS was more than 10 years ago and I'm not all that familiar with it it. Mountain Lion is the closest to the last version I used, Snow Leopard and is by far the lightest and fastest but severely outdated and useless for the web. Sierra and Catalina are pretty similar and the one thing I do like about MacOS is that the DE is consistent, unlike Windows, where you have to relearn everything with each new version. The main issue I'm having is that I'm just not used to the trackpad and not having two buttons. Another is scaling. MacOS only allows minimal font enlargement and has just a few preset scaling options which is not good on such a high DPI monitor. All my Linux installs have great scaling options and it only took a few minutes to get things adjusted for comfortable viewing. I'm only partway there with MacOS and Windows 10 is just as bad. The old control panel that allowed for font selection and sizing is gone and I can't find any font control in the control panel just scaling in the display control.

    I'm keeping mine. I have some Mac oriented audio hardware that works best with a MacOS. Apart from that, I'll be using Linux on it. The drivers are just as good as the native MacOS drivers and the OS is much easier for me to deal with. A lot of what makes an OS work for someone is familiarity and at this point, I'm more used to Linux than anything else. The modern versions of both Windows and MacOS both suffer from the same drawbacks. They are both extremely commercial and filled with bloat and do their best to induce you into buying more bloat in their app stores and registering an account with the their respective corporations. Linux has none of that.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2023
  5. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    A mid 2012 model and Catalina is the latest OS it can officially run.
    I've already sold it. But it was the following.
    https://support.apple.com/kb/sp694
     
  6. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    My MBA has amazing battery life, I can literally use it all day. My Juno (Ubuntu) has 2 hours maybe. Apple ID is very annoying!
     
  7. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Totally agree on the annoying Apple ID.:thumb:
     
  8. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I've never spoken to a Mac user who gets on with it.
     
  9. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    To be fair, Microsoft are doing their best to ensure that everyone uses a Microsoft account these days, rather than a local one. Even going so far as to make it seem that you can't install Home versions of Windows without using a MS account, even though it's not the case. But at least it's still possible to use a local one and to use the store without a MS account.
     
  10. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    This is exactly the type of stuff that would get on my nerves, that's why I don't see myself ever switching to the macOS. Overall I'm quite happy with the way that Windows works.
     
  11. ProTruckDriver

    ProTruckDriver Registered Member

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    Have you ever really tried macOS for a week / month or so?
    I have the best of both worlds, Mac and Windows. :D :thumb:
     
  12. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I have the best of both worlds: Ubuntu/macOS lol.
     
  13. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    My guess, no. Not even for a few seconds.
     
  14. diginsight

    diginsight Security Expert

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    I switched to macOS after using MS-DOS, *NIX and Windows starting from 3.11. You have to grab my macBook from my cold, dead hands before I return to Windows ;) I must admit Windows 11 is looking exceptionally good compared to Windows 10. The primary reason I like macOS is that at the time many productivity apps weren't available on Windows, Cmd-Q works out of the box for closing programs instead of Alt-F4 and questions if I'm sure. More important is Spotlight: hit cmd+space type in search phrase and it will find anything in almost any file including e-mails and calendars.

    For hardware the macBook Retina display and touchpad responsiveness was unbeatable when I purchased mine in 2014. I can still work on my 2014 macBook and battery life also is a couple of hours. Haven't seen this in any 8 year old Windows laptop.

    Apple comes with Apple tax where purchased apps expire after some OS upgrades and you have repurchase them or you need to pay for a subscription. I stopped using most commercial software with this business model and switched to Open Source or free software. Alternatively you can use setapp subscription for $ 9.99 p/m and use many popular apps without being concerned about re-occurring upgrade fees.

    One essential and one-time purchase has been Magnet as macOS was lacking Windows functionality placing app windows where I wanted them. With Magnet I have hotkeys or areas where I can drag app windows where they will stick such as left, right, bottom, top, center or max screen (which is default for Windows).

    Lately I have seen a lot of mac only also available on Windows or alternatives that also work on Windows. Windows laptop display also have become sharp as Retina, but touchpad remains hopeless. I now have a € 1499 Windows laptop and the touchpad still feels like trash compared to my 2014 macbook.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2023
  15. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    While the touchpads on MacBooks are good, I don't have an issue with the majority of Windows touchpads. Until a year ago when I switched to a desktop, I was using a Windows laptop seven days a week and never used an external mouse. But there are some touchpads on laptops I've encountered that are terrible.

    The first thing I do on a Mac is to enable touch to click, as it's something I can't live without.
     
  16. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Would ActualTools be useful to you? I remember them from way back. And you have been a member even longer than me, but you didn't post a lot, quite a surprising comeback! Did you use to have some other nickname?

    https://www.actualtools.com

    What I meant is that I'm quite geeky and can't easily adapt. I even hate it how Win 11 has changed the look of the taskbar, to make it look more like macOS. That's why I always install tools like Classic Shell, so I can get my old style Win XP features back. I'm quite happy with Windows approach when it comes to the taskbar and traybar. I'm not a fan of the macOS dock and the menubar on top of the screen.
     
  17. diginsight

    diginsight Security Expert

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    Thanks for the tip. I'll first see how Windows 11 works out of the box before installing any 3rd party tools.

    I started as moderator on Becky! forums before we moved to Wilders. With kids and work I didn't have much time leftt. Later on I started using macOS and kind of lost interest. With my recent Windows 11 laptop I have a lot of fun discovering all the new features and implementing them. AFAIK I've only used this nickname and another I've forgotten about for work related posts.

    Maybe I've been more geeky ;) I've customizing GUI's as long as I know using all kinds of tools especially those from Stardock with all kinds of add-ons. I've skipped Windows ME, Vista and 8 and only used Windows 10 with Classic Shell or Start10. I love the macOS menubar as it shows everything I want. I've always hidden Windows traybar and same for macOS dock. I run everything from Spotlight just as I did with Windows with Cmd-R. Dates back from my MS-DOS and *NIX days where I only had a command line.

    Still love macOS. Every window closes with cmd-w and every app with cmd-q, no exceptions. And all my browser tabs open with cmd-t and also close with cmd-w. I've installed a Total Commander clone for file management as Finder is useless for me. Essential is also an app named Overkill that kills iTunes the moment macOS decides it wants to push its crap into my face. Lately I'm using AltTab to switch between app and any window it might have opened. One big annoyance with macOS is that default task switcher only switches between apps, and not app windows and every time an app wants to update I often lost the update window and couldn't access it with the shortkey cmd-~ to switch between in-app windows. With AltTab I can switch between minimized and get rid of the Finder window in my task list.
     
  18. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I think Actual Tools allow you to place windows in certain screenpositions. What always drove me nuts is that Windows often doesn't maximize or center app windows, so I needed a third party tool for this. I'm using AutoSizer, which is a basic tool, so you will probably need more features.

    http://www.southbaypc.com/autosizer/

    OK I see, I didn't know about the Becky! forum. And yes, there are not much security tools available on macOS, so I can understand you lost interest.

    I have always liked the Windows Taskbar and System Tray. What I don't like is this stupid pinning stuff that was introduced in Win 8. And they also removed the Quick Launch feature, which you can get back with a trick, see link. I'm way too geeky to get used to the differences between macOS and Windows.

    https://www.howtogeek.com/1389/add-the-quick-launch-bar-to-the-taskbar-in-windows-7/
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2023
  19. diginsight

    diginsight Security Expert

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    For this I'm using Magnet. See options from menu bar below. Also works by dragging windows.
    upload_2023-8-7_22-41-53.png

    So my top 3 essential macOS apps are Magnet for placing windows, Overkill to eliminate iTunes and AltTab to switch between windows while removing Finder from the task list. Number 4 is ItsyCal so I always have my calendar in my menu bar. Number 5 is enabling "Show keyboard and emoji viewers in menu bar" from Keyboard preferences, so I have access to emojis.

    macOS has some extremely annoying bugs. Most important for many non-US users is the lack of ~ on your keyboard as you see from https://superuser.com/questions/64072/cant-type-tilde-character-in-mac-os-x I gave up long time ago trying to fix it, although I just saw some new solutions I can try to fix this.

    OTOH macOS is loaded with productivity apps, so that's where I spent most of my time

    I understand. I've intensively used quick launch before I decided to hide task bar.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2023
  20. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    OK I see, I believe Actual Tools can do this too on Windows. But it's ridiculous that Windows can't do this by itself. Same with those annoying file open/save dialog boxes. Why on earth can't they always remember screen position and size? I used to use a tool called FileBox eXtender, but it doesn't work on Win 10 anymore.

    https://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/FileBox-eXtender.shtml

    Most annoying bug in Windows, besides not always being able to remember window screensize, is Windows Explorer not always being able to remember columns and file sorting options, it's mind boggling that M$ never bothered to fix this in over 25 years. Sadly enough, I was never able to find a good enough third party file manager.
     
  21. diginsight

    diginsight Security Expert

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    I've used this on Windows XP and 7. Shame it doesn't work anymore. I try to use as much Open Source as possible. Looking on GitHub I found Files, maybe can solve this?

    I used PC Tools and Norton Commander (clones) on MS-DOS and *NIX and use Total Commander on Windows ;)
     
  22. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Thanks, but I can't even install it virtualized via Sandboxie, this is never a good sign. Very weird that nobody has been able to develop a good Windows Explorer replacement, there is always something that I don't like about them. XYplorer isn't bad though, I sometimes use the free version.
     
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