Monthly Archives: August 2016

Macbook Review

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Context: As some people know, I have always hated Apple as a company, though I love some of the things they have done for design. However, for all the hype about their design, I have found most of their interfaces confusing.

But all this was based on what I observed from other people using the system. Last week, I had to convince myself to work with Mac for at least a couple of weeks, to be able to collaborate with other designers.

I’m just sharing my experience from the last few days. This is all relative to my past experience with Windows and Ubuntu. Also note that I’m a heavy keyboard-user.

Pluses first – it’s anyway a small list 😉

  • Battery
  • Display sharpness
  • Build quality
  • Keyboard backlight
  • Sound (volume and clarity)
  • Ability to customize keyboard shortcuts for any app

What I found annoying

I’ve just grouped them by the app in which it happened.

Finder

  • Hitting Enter renames the file/folder instead of opening it
  • In grid view, pressing right arrow at last item in a row does not go to next row (gets stuck there)
  • Pressing down arrow does nothing if the next row ended before the current column
  • Cmd+Q does not work for Finder alone
  • No way to go back to the last-viewed folder (Alt+Left Arrow in Ubuntu)
  • In the app switcher (Cmd+Tab), Finder is always there, but selecting it does not do anything
  • Normally opening an image (double click) does not let me navigate to next/previous images in the folder (need to open by pressing space)
  • Moving a file/folder from one place to another is painful (there seems to be no shortcut)

Chrome

  • Keyboard shortcuts to switch to next/previous tab (Cmd+Option+Right/Left Arrow) is cumbersome
  • No way to make a website into a desktop app. So, when I use Slack native app, I cannot add links to Pocket

Window Management

  • Switching between windows of same app vs different apps is different (Cmd+` vs Cmd+Tab)
  • Maximising a window is painful (have to hold two keys and then click on the “+” button)
  • Quitting an app and closing it are different
  • Windows don’t open in full size by default
  • Making a window full-screen moves it to a new workspace. #disorienting

Other

  • Initial setup is more painful than Ubuntu
    • Need to set up Apple ID to use App Store
    • Too many questions at every set up
    • Home folder was not added to sidebar by default
    • Setting profile pic is almost impossible 😦
  • No Home, End, Page-up, Page-down keys
  • Inkscape does not work out of the box (needs X11)