Why a Mac is not for me

[NullVoxPopuli]

If you're thinking about pushing mac usage on non-mac users, consider these frustrations.

Software

• If primarily using a desktop, the mac will be used in clamshell mode:

  • External Keyboard and Mouse (non-apple) are poorly supported, and don't wake the machine.
  • Have to open the laptop (so it can't be stowed away) so you can login / unlock the screen (this is a big problem as well, since the mac laptop has so few ports on it, and has to have things plugged in on both sides (left: power, headphones. right: keyboard, monitor (HDMI))

• Fullscreen mode is incorrect, it creates a whole new desktop, and ruins your spacial mapping of the virtual space by placing windows out of order. Fullscreen should overlay on the current virtual workspace.

• All hotkeys are wrong. This goes beyond copy/paste/cut and swapping command for control. the home/end end of word / beginning of word keys are wrong in MacOS. Misaligned hotkeys cause worse productivity overall, because the misalignment between OSes causes worse habits to develop because the wrong behavior keeps happening (for what is expected -- for example, using arrow keys))

  • home goes to the beginning of the page - should go to start of line
  • end goes to the end of the page - should go to the end of the line
  • control-right/left should go to the end/beginning of a word, instead, they go to the end/beginning of the line.

• Default bash is ancient. v3, when current is v5. v3 was released 20 years ago. (have to install bash from brew or similar)

• If you switch from zsh to bash, the built in terminal tells you to switch back, and you have to add to your profile

• No built in package manager -- brew is common tho.

• The default terminal is really bad

• Xcode will break every OS update and you have to re-install it.

• No devtools work without Xcode being installed

• Every time I wake the mac from a sleep, my hotkeys get disabled, which makes it hard for me to switch virtual desktops to get back to the terminal that re-enables the hotkeys

• on the lockscreen

  • cannot hit spacebar to focus the password field from the pre-field-visible view, you must use the mouse / move the cursor

• multi-monitor support

  • can't disable the laptop screen while using an external display without closing the laptop -- this is bad because of aforementioned wake-from-sleep / reboot procedure..

Required Additional Software

• bash v5+ - because the default bash version is > 20 years old.
  • https://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/bash/bashtop.html
• Yubai - for tree-based tiling and changing how fullscreen behavior works
  • https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai
  • this provides a fix for fullscreen mode, which I've mapped to F11 (via shkd)
  • Bug: even though this is the best tiling tool out there for MacOS, it has super buggy window resizing behavior, resulting in opposite-sides moving around when you're trying to resize a specific window-boundary
• SHKD - for scripting hotkeys and remappings
  • https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
• JankyBorders - for showing a focus ring around tiled windows
  • https://github.com/FelixKratz/JankyBorders
  • Bug: constantly resets back to the default color
• Alacritty, because the default terminal is terrible
  • https://alacritty.org/
  • though, even this is slow when resizing a neovim sesh
  • probably a mac performance issue
• Inconsistently placed window controls make for an annoying time when I do use a mouse
  • chrome
  • activity monitor
  • alacritty
  • iterm
  • terminal
  • vscode
  • discord
  • slack

One off problems?

After an update to MacOS 14.5 (from 14.4),

• I lost all of my OS-level and Window-level navigation keys

  • my shortcut for opening spotlight is gone
  • I can't focus or move windows to the right (CMD+N)
  • Karabiner seems to be slightly disabled?
  • This is a huge problem because I'm a heavy keyboard user, and have tried to emulate my experience with non-Mac
  • Seems this is a common / non-one-off problem? https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/docs/help/troubleshooting/stopped-working-after-macos-update/
  • Karabiner switched from interpreting the software key to interpreting the hardware-pressed key. So since I don't use QWERTY, my whole Karabiner config broke.

  • Hardware

• HDMI is not on the same side as power

  • this means that you have to use both sides for plugins, so the laptop can't be used in clamshell effectively unless you can somehow have access to both sides (such as through a wire/mesh laptop holder to stow the laptop out of the way)

---

I have a lot more, but this is all I had energy to write at the moment. Dealing with mac machines is exhausting.

I'll add to this list as I run in to new things.

[scottmessinger]

I don't have the muscle memory of linux, so I can't speak to the difference in semantics of keys. I use alt+arrow to get to the begging/end of a word. I wonder if you could use Karabiner (or skhd) to map control+arrow to alt+arrow to enable the same functionality. You could also map home/end to control+left/right to get the functionality you're looking for.

I never use mac's full screen -- I just maximize a window and I always have the menubar hidden, so it's effectively full screen.

I've definitely encountered the issues with waking from sleep. I've found that my Thunderbolt 4 dock lets me wake the computer up after I've closed it by using the keyboard. Also, having a dock solves the ports and power issue as it's just one usb-c cable.

I haven't encountered my shortcut keys not working after sleep, but I use Karabiner - unsure if that's why.

can't disable the laptop screen I use Raycast and use "Sleep displays" to get my displays to sleep.

Have you tried Warp as a terminal? https://www.warp.dev/ You use a terminal WAY more than I do, but it's built in Rust and seems to have speed a first class goal.

[NullVoxPopuli]

I also use Karabiner -- and I'm pretty sure it's made my experience worse -- like, some key combinations just don't work now.

Warp

I have tried it, it does to much, and is visually noisy, requires login (which is against my being) Alacritty is a decent terminal, written in Rust. I think a lot of my performance issues may have to be due to "corporate bloat/spy ware".

[rtablada]

HDMI is not on the same side as power

I find using USBC (ideally with a dock as to not need multiple cables) is best for power and docking. All models except the Air now have USBC on the right side so if you do utilize the onboard HDMI you can use one side for all the things.

Misaligned hotkeys

Home/End - this is older and aligns to previous M$ office standards. As you note this is moved to CTRL arrow instead

Alt+arrow jumps to beginning of words. FWIW on Windows this is often handled at a per app override basis and will jump from Ctrl, Alt, or not working at all...

[rtablada]

Fullscreen mode is incorrect

I hate full screen modes 1000% of the time and all OS's to a terrible job. Alt+Maximize will maximize to current window and is handled universally. Even outliers like Zoom chat and spotify listen to Alt+Maximize

[NullVoxPopuli]

ideally with a dock

this is how they get you. It's just more accessories.

With https://frame.work/, you can just put whatever ports you need on the side you need. (and one of these is my personal laptop, and it's just far superior to Apple)

[rtablada]

"They"? Apple doesn't make any first party dock. It's a simple universal USBC or Thunderbolt dock. I get 100W charging two 4k monitors at 60hz, usb 3 speed for backup drives, and ports enough for all my keyboards/mouse/DAC/guitar interface/cricut. And it's compatible with any computer: I use it on my home lab, partner uses it for her work laptop (Dell), and have had friends plug in when staying over with Linux or Windows laptops from different brands.

[NullVoxPopuli]

Sounds like you have a good dock! :tada:

they

But i mean, "the ecosystem" -- I don't vibe with them, is all. Which is why I have a frame.work, and make my computer what I want it to be :tada: :muscle:

[scottmessinger]

this is how they get you. It's just more accessories.

Oh, definitely not defending it. Frame.work seems great -- I wish mac had the same ethos. I mention a dock just as a possible solution since you're forced to use Mac.