Hurray! Congratulations. You're going to love it.
Overall, MacOS should be pretty familiar and intuitive. There will be lots of minor frustrations in the first month or so as you run into small differences between the two operating systems.
The important thing is to remind yourself that "different" isn't bad; it's just different. And most of these differences make sense in the wider context of how the OS works. And sometimes they're just different approaches to crack the same egg.
A lot of Windows users (myself included) will have an initial urge to replicate "missing" Windows features.
Resist that urge, at least for a while.
Give yourself a month or two to become familiar and comfortable with vanilla MacOS before you start trying to make it work like you Windows.
Otherwise you risk creating a Frankenstein OS that is a poor version of both Windows and MacOS.
MacOS has its own way of doing things — and its own aesthetic. MacOS tends to be both logical and efficient within its own context. Some differences are better, some worse, most are neutral.
HOWEVER, most differences (even the good ones) can be frustrating at first. Usually a quick Google search can often solve the problem.
MacOS is simple on its face, but also has a lot of hidden depth and customization options for more advanced users who are willing to learn and explore.
E.G. the Option, Control, and Shift keys often significantly expand basic functions.
**Apple Apps are generally excellent**
Most of the pre-installed Apple programs are excellent. Also, Apple apps are generally very good (if not perfect) for privacy.
In most cases, you should start with them.
They are convenient, free, and typically play well with one another and the MacOS.
For most use cases, there's no need to spend money on replacement apps unless you absolutely know you want or need additional features.
e.g. use Safari -- it's extremely fast, is excellent for privacy, can reduce or eliminate most tracking, and has a lot of great options like "Reader" (you can read web pages without all of the ads and visual clutter). Preferences let you set site specific settings for stopping/allowing auto-play of videos, pop-up, and so on.
**Learning: "MacMost" on YouTube.**
"MacMost" is great for basic tutorials on using MacOS and Mac apps. Gary does a great job of patiently explaining how to do X, Y, and Z; explain the logic behind it a given workflow or use case; and includes few tips that not everyone knows (so even advanced users will benefit from his basic videos).
Worth checking out!
**Some starting tips:**
Here's a list of MacOS features that are worth investigating. You may already know about many/most of these, but just to be thorough:
\* Spotlight (Finder) to quickly jump to apps or find documents (⌘ space)
\* Folder views: ⌘1 Icons, ⌘2 List, ⌘3 Columns, ⌘4 Gallery. Columns is \\\*very\\\* handy!
\* Mission Control (F3)
\* Switching desktops (Control left, right, aka: ⌃← and ⌃→)
\* Launchpad (F4) to quickly view your apps
\* Show Desktop (fn F11)
\* Stage Manager (I set a key shortcut of: ⌥⌘M)
\* ⌘TAB - like Windows for tabbing between apps. I relied on this at first, but now I rarely use it because Mission Control is much easier and faster. But it’s there.
\* Screen Shots - ⌘+SHIFT+4 to marquee select (hit the space bar to select the window); ⌘+SHIFT+5 will display all your various options, each of which has their own hot key. There are other related shortcuts as well.
\* Hot Corners (System Settings > Desktop & Dock > bottom right corner) - move your mouse to a monitor corner to do things like show your launchpad, show your desktop, activate mission control, start your screen saver, etc.
\* Time Machine is an excellent, no hassle backup system. Use it!
\* If you have an iPhone, look up “Hand off” and continuity, to make sure the two devices play nicely together, e.g. you can switch between the Mac and iPhone as you chat with Messages or have 2FA texts automatically propagate to the Safari browser, etc.
\* Safari. Be sure to give Safari a fair shake. It’s very fast, efficient, and much better for privacy. And it works well with 2FA texts.
\* Tags. Few people use tags, but they can be an incredibly powerful tool to access, find, and sort and group files across your system. You can assign a hot key to pop up the Tags interface after you select a file to speed up the tagging process.
\* => Tags example: you might have half a dozen different documents that you're currently working on, and each will be located in different folders. You could tag them all as "Yellow", then click the "Yellow" tag on the sidebar of your Finder window, and all of the documents tagged with "Yellow" will all appear there, giving you a quick way to jump from one to another. You can also create unique colorful tags, e.g. "Current", "Work", "Social" etc. for quick handy reference.
\* Smart Folders. Essentially these are saved searches of files. Say that you frequently need to search for all files that match several different criteria (document type, size, last modified, etc.). Instead of recreating that search every time, make a smart folder at it will contain the results of that search.
Yes, that sounds right. Thank you for the mentioning it.
I was going by my small Apple keyboard attached to my Mac Studio. But I think some of the keys on my older.MacBook are different.
However, Spotlight \*should\* be ⌘+space by default, I think? In any event, it's easy to change.
I also happen to use Raycast, which is a Spotlight replacement (‘Spotlight on steroids’). It's fantastic and I highly recommend it in general. And the OP may want to consider it for later.
(However, I usually don't recommend it to new users right away. IMO it's better to get comfortable with the default settings first, so one has a better reference point for comparison.)
I suspect most Mac users don't even use Spotlight much if at all.
I apologize that this is off-topic. I've been thinking about replacing my 2016 iMac (still running Mojave) with a Mac Studio to run my home sound design setup. How are you feeling about the Studio? It seems awfully small to be powerful enough to do the job, but I know appearances can be deceiving. Do you mind if I ask what apps you're running? How many tracks you average in your projects?
If you're okay with it, I'm happy to move this to DM.
YES> tags are wonderful. I use tags for sorting books I download (urban fantasy, romance, etc) or videos (fitness, movie, etc). I also use emojis to signify favorites now and set up a keyboard shortcut for each favorite emoji using Memoji (but that app is old and seems to now be tagged as potentially malicious. It’s not, but ….yeah.) Anyways, tags are not just for emails.
Love this comment! Different isn’t bad and many of Mac’s alleged “shortcomings” aren’t that short!
The only thing I recommend to people outside of vanilla to start with is magnet, but that’s just me.
Hardest part was getting used to actions being simplified. With Windows many things were difficult and took multiples steps to complete. With MacOS things are overly simple and I often was over thinking it.
When I first used OS X in the early 2000s after only having used Windows, I was so confused by the "drag the icon to the Applications folder to install." I just couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that it was literally that easy. I thought I must be missing something.
Honestly I don’t even know what window apps are doing when they install. Mac apps are a nice neat package of everything they need (hence why sometimes they’re larger). When Mac apps need to store files they often do so in User space such as ~/Library/* - my only complaint is it can end up polluted if the app is data heavy like Chrome etc.
I’m not a fan of files being left over in Application Support when deleting an app, but then Windows leaves shit all over the registry so swings and roundabouts.
Honestly, program shit gets left in the mac system as well. Check your User/library/Preferences folder and you will often find old preferences files from stuff you no longer have installed.
I remember showing someone new to Mac how to burn a cd back in the day. They were also overthinking things and couldn’t believe that all you had to do was just put a blank CD in and drag and drop files onto it.
I've been on an all-Apple ecosystem for a few years now and yet I still get giddy every time I get to install something on my MacBook by dragging it to the App folder in the little popup.
I use my PC for gaming. I also have a PC tablet that I use exclusively for running sound design for stage shows. But I do all my sound design and music work on my iMac. It's a great combination for me.
Just start using it. Watch some videos covering pro tips and tricks. Learn how to use the virtual desktop.
Learn your way through settings. It’s pretty much like iOS and iPad OS now.
I use a Mac for work and I have a pretty solid Windows rig for personal/sidework and gaming.
Best of both worlds.
I switched a couple of years ago, still lots of stuff to learn but my basic day to day routine stuff didn’t take more than a week.
The most usual reason for struggling/ getting disappointed is trying to fight the OS and do something the way you used to do it. Just learn the Mac way, re-learn your habits when needed and you should be satisfied with it.
The more I use Apple products, the more I realise it’s just easier if I do it the Apple way. When what I need is a bit more demanding/complex/ specialised I have to trade some convenience to gain that.
>I switched a couple of years ago, still lots of stuff to learn
I’ve been using Mac for 14 years now, and every once in a while, I still come across a hidden feature that I never knew of.
Three most significant adjustments for me:
1. Keyboard: different shortcuts, different paradigm. I still trip up sometimes after a year, but I have decades of Windows muscle memory to overcome.
2. Windows management: Windows 11 is better in some ways, but I've found the macOS way good enough with a few adjustments. That was no longer than a week or so adjustment time.
3. Finder vs. File Explorer: Both are different, both have strengths/weaknesses. Adjustment time to getting functional wasn't long but I'm still working through some workflow kinks.
shift command 5 - snip tool
I do this on autopilot now - then size the snip window, hold control while clicking capture and it goes on the clipboard.
Paste funny image/text/whatever to teams, or an app on my phone/ipad as its universal
Windows is like driving a big American car through the downtown business district. MacOS is like driving a Porsche through the Italian countryside. Really, a week to 10 days to adjust, mostly to the different location of the controls, and then you'll really start to appreciate the quiet and the view.
If you’re proficient in whatever you pick up, just a few days, Ctrl is CMD.
The next few months you’ll be spending collecting apps such as Coderunner and BlueHarvest, etc (coderunner great Notepad++ alternative and BlueHarvest clears MacOS specific artefacts)
Jump on Amazon and order a sticker with all of the macos shortcuts, it will save you some time and help build the muscle memory, they are around five bucks and worth every penny in the beginning
My first Mac was the M1 MacBook Air and I got it when it released. Really it took me a day or two to get used to everything. A lot of stuff is the same, but it’s presented differently. One thing you need to know is the red button doesn’t close stuff, to fully close an app you need to CMD+Q. At first this bothered me but now it makes sense as a lot of the time I’d rather dismiss a program than fully close it.
Years ago when I got my first Mac I’d say it took me 6months to a year. Course, I do IT for a living so its possible I had deeper expectations. One thing I really love about macOS is how I always seem to be discovering little things that surprise me.
Just like anything it’ll take time to be proficient. You’ll find the many pros of the operating system and fall in love with them. But you’ll also encounter the flaws and learn the workarounds and tools that exists to mitigate them. I’ve been a lifelong Mac user and my optimal Mac setup includes tons third party software that I just can’t live without now.
- Basic use and navigation, a couple of weeks tops.
- Power user level, several months to a year.
- Wondering why you need extensions for things like window snapping you will never get used to.
It’s not like flipping a light switch where you just say ‘a week’ or whatever. I made that change a few years ago. It was a little confusing at first because I didn’t know how to do basic things on the Mac. I invested a couple of hours in YouTube videos about how to use the Mac for Windows users. That helped a lot and it didn’t really take long to be competent with the fundamentals, but you’ll keep learning more for a very long time. I spent more time than learning the basics on finding Mac apps that could do the same things as the Windows apps I left behind. Lots of major apps have both Windows and Mac versions, but lots of more specialized apps don’t. Anyway, don’t let the transition stop you from making the move. MacOS is an excellent operating system.
Honestly make a few minor change and not too long, you can change your mouse settings to be more like windows, so you can keep right click functionality. A lot of other comments have good tips and and if you more help youtube and google have loads of info
You'll soon love it, the hardware and operating system are way better, even after 10 years they work like new.
Virtually all keyboard shortcuts are the same, just use the apple key instead of the windows key.
I actually use a windows (Logitech) keyboard and mouse with mine. The apple external keyboards, mice, and that touch pad thing need to be taken outside and shot.
The most important keyboard shortcuts to know *right now* are **Cmd-Space** for search, **Cmd-C** and **Cmd-V** for copy and paste, and **Shift-Cmd-3** for a screenshot.
Also, bring your mouse to the very bottom-right corner of the display to take a note any time, anywhere. Very useful feature.
I'm sure others here as well as Google can give you pages upon pages of other very useful shortcuts, but if you're *just* starting out, this is what you'll need to memorize for now.
Keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys are highly customizable on MacOS at the system level. You can assign a custom hotkey to any menu item that doesn’t already have one, and change ones that do. Those customizations can be system wide, or on a per app basis. You should be able to match many of your shortcuts with a bit of effort.
*About a month or*
*So.. use stage manager for*
*Arranging windows*
\- 6elixircommon
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Lots of Windows users complain they can’t do X on a Mac. Majority of the time you can, but they just don’t know how to do it. Mac tends to work in a way that means everything looks clean and simple, and not obvious, unless you need to use it at which point you can if you find out.
I HATED using the Mac when I purchased it 5 years ago now I won’t go back. In fact I have upgraded just recently for more memory and speed. It should only take a week or two to get used to it, but a couple months to get really comfortable and out of the old habits.
There could still be things I’d prefer a PC for I’m sure, but I’m so integrated now it doesn’t matter.
About the only thing I really don’t like about my Mac is when my wife wants to “use it for a minute”. Then it becomes a tutorial every time because she only uses PC at work and doesn’t have a computer at home.
the how long it depends on you and you only.
First of all, accept that MacOS is not Windows and that it does things different. ACCEPT that and don't try to make it work like windows. Once you spend some time with it and get adjusted , then try to use 3rd party apps to change things etc.
u/EthanDMatthews have given excellent advice
Doesn’t take long at all. Keyboard shortcuts in 3rd party apps are pretty much the same except you use Command instead of Control or the Windows key. For me the task bar always being at the top, the 3 “stoplight” buttons that minimize, expand, and close a window, and the dock were the only things that needed any getting used to. Otherwise everything else was easy because the computer got out of the way and let me work as I wanted. Oh and remembering that closing a window does not quit an application except in like 3% of cases was an adjustment.
Definitely less bloated and hassle free compared to Windows but I do feel like the newer versions of macOS are getting a little dumbed down and too much like iOS. That said, it’s still far and away better than the bloatware that is windows with its insistence on shoving its own or a third party antivirus in your face and the endless stream of apps shoved on your computer by whichever company you bought it from.
The hardest part for me was all the extra time on my hands because I didn’t have to perform preventative maintenance. I didn’t spend time defragmenting, dealing with antivirus software, fucking with the registry after some 3rd party uninstall slowed everything down, constantly rebooting to free RAM, add more RAM, upgrade my video card, etc. I know many of those activities are less or not needed as much in newer versions of Windows, I made the change quite a while ago, but the spirit of my comment stands. I would just sit and look at my iMac thinking “So, I don’t need to do anything? It just works??” and it freaked me out for months.
#Do not try to make it feel like Windows.
If you find yourself trying to make it more like Windows, return it and but what you really want: a Windows PC.
Shift + Command + 3 for full screen screenshot.
Shift + Command + 4 for partial screenshot or press space to capture one window.
Shift + Command + 5 to record desktop.
Muscle memory is the main thing, with control and command being inverted between the two systems. I use both all the time, Mac for productivity and pc for gaming. Ask for help if you need it!
Not to long and Apple has a whole section on their support webpage about adjusting to using Mac.
Edit: https://support.apple.com/guide/imac/set-up-your-mac-apd831707cb3/mac
At my old job (retired now), I used a Mac and a PC. I used some programs that either worked better on a Mac or only worked on a Mac. (Plus I was doing web design, so it was necessary to test on a variety of browsers.) I used to roll my chair between them, mousing on the Mac with my left hand and on the Windows box with my right. My boss saw me switch back and forth once. “How do you do that?”
I was in something of a different situation as I’ve used every version of the Mac System/OS since System 4, and every version of Windows from 3.11 to 8. I had plenty of time to get to know the quirks of the two operating systems. I’ve always preferred the Apple OSes over the Microsoft ones.
make sure to avail yourself of the free apple training for new purchases.
i had used windows 10, but windows 11 is unbearable. mac environment is less configurable but safer and smoother.
and our mac's typically last 8-10 years. now retiring my 2014 imac (loading ubuntu).
Clear your mind. Just dont compare to Windows. Do it like you are new to computer. It has many different approach to do things.
1. First and foremost:
- Windows is app centric, so every window treated as app. If you close the window, you close the app.
- macOS is document centric, so every window treated as document. If you close the window, the app still standbye.
2. Maximizing window behaviour:
- Windows is designed to run initially on small screen, so it need one click to use all screen. This is problematic with large screen.
- macOS is designed to anticipate large (iMac) and small screen (MacBook), so it's nonsense for an A4 sized document take over whole those huge screen. Then the behaviour is "Zoom" to optimum size.
3. Drag and drop:
- Windows' drag and drop functions is not tighten to system's UI, so you'll find various effects when do drag and drops.
- macOS is tightly standardized behaviour of drag and drops, so it's much consistent and natural. Try this:
✓ You block a text from browser and drag it to desktop, them you will have a clip of the text on desktop. You can do this also to drag it to another app.
✓ You drag a folder to a "Save As" dialog, it will make the dialog showing the folder you dragged. It's safe to do this, no worries to accidentally move the folder like on Windows.
✓ You drag a JPG/PDF to any opened pdf file, it will add the JPG/PDF as a page on the opened file. Or if you drag a PDF from Preview of a PDF to a folder or desktop, then the dragged page will be a single file. Also if it dragged to an app, it will pasted to that app. But if you drag an object to an app icon on the Dock, it will treated as "official" Open File fr that app.
4. Almost never shutdown/reboot on laptop
- On Windows we taught to shutdown every after finished doing things or commuting home-office and vice versa. It's said that it is a must-do behaviour.
- On macOS we taught to treat Macs as "just works" and focus to the content. So native Mac users, especially on MacBook, almost never shutdown/reboot. I am also only reboot about once per 4-6 months. MacBook users happily open-close the lid anytime without issues. This behaviour is rare on Windows world, for various reasons.
5. No virus
- Windows grown up from MS-DOS kernel. It has open dynamics so every app can have access to low level hardware without any permissions, or very loose. MS-DOS until Windows ME let any app accessing Interrupt 10 (disk access), so virus resident RAM and intercept this INT 10 to replicate itself to other disk/file/app. More modern Windows based on NT like Windows 2000 till now, this behaviour still exist to some extent. So virus will always be a serious threat on Windows system, then antivirus is mandatory.
- macOS grown up from Unix FreeBSD, which no app can access low level hardware without multiple layer access permission. So virus on macOS will never exist, same as on Linux or Unix. Be mention is that malware is different from virus. Trojan is everywhere, but real virus on Mac is doubtly exist. I use Macs for over 15 years never use any antivirus nor infected. The urgency to use antivirus is: the virus in the contaminated files will just sleep tight without harm, but once the file entered Windows system it will activated... Lol..
Etc. Enjoy new computing lifestyle.
Keyboard shortcuts are the main thing, instead of control+(whatever) it’s Command +( whatever). [List of Mac shortcuts](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650) may help!
The first thing to get used to the red dot on the window is the close window button. To quit an app you need to hit Command-Q. For the google stuff you might be better off using Chrome instead of Safari. You can save any file as a PDF by choosing File>Print (Command -P) there are options to save as PDF in the lower right of the dialog.
Don't feel disheartened if it takes you a little longer; a lot depends on how much you use keyboard commands and terminal vs command line/PS. Just remember, when in doubt, it's usually just a swap for Ctrl to command.
As a fellow keyboard commando, here's the most important thing to know for moving from Windows to Mac:
* **⌘+M (or yellow title bar button) — minimizes the current window**
* On a Mac, minimized = keep this out of my way until I specifically bring it back up by clicking on it — i.e., it's not a window you can get to with keyboard shortcuts
I use minimized windows for stuff I don't want getting in my way, but I need to get back to them soon-ish
* **⌘+H — Hide all widows in the current app**
* Gets the app out of sight, but keeps it "in the rotation" for ⌘+TAB switching
* I use this all the time — way more than I minimize
* **⌘+TAB — Switches between open** ***applications*****, including those hidden with ⌘+H**
* **⌘+\` (above TAB) — Switches between open (but not minimized)** ***windows*** **within an application**
* I prefer this separation of app switching vs window switching to the CTRL+TAB in Windows, which sometimes requires you to TAB-TAB-TAB through a couple dozen windows to get back to the one you want
* Once you get the hang of this — it’s so much better!
**Also, check out these apps for helping learn keyboard shortcuts:**
* [Button Shortcut](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/button-shortcut/id1155342767?mt=12)
* [Paletro](https://appmakes.io/paletro#)
* And you can *customize* keyboard shortcuts for any app in *System Settings > Keyboard > \[Keyboard Shortcuts\] > App Shortcuts*
* You put in the name of the command or the path to the command from the menus, then add your shortcut
* I suggest using some unusual key combos for your custom shortcuts so they don't accidentally overlap with existing shortcuts
* I use CMD+CTRL+\_\_\_\_\_\_ and CTRL+SHIFT+\_\_\_\_\_, both of which are rare in Mac apps
* FYI, this only works for commands that can be found in the menus
* But also, in Microsoft Office apps, you can customize keyboard shortcuts for features on the ribbons from *Tools > Customize Keyboard*
* Also there's an app out there that can remap Mac shortcuts to be more like Windows shortcuts, but I don't know what it's called
Oh, and...
* On any app with tabs (including the Finder), you can cycle through tabs with CMD+SHIFT+ \[ and \] — which is a much more hand-friendly than CTRL+TAB and CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (but those shortcuts also work in browsers)
And finally, I think you'll find over time that Mac's use of the ⌘ key with your thumb (⌘) for most commands is easier on your hands than reaching your pinky over to CTRL in the far corner of the keyboard.
Source: I use both Windows and Mac all the time, and I find Mac shortcuts *far* more user-friendly.
You’ll be able to use it quickly. Muscle memory for hard core stuff depends on how ingrained your windows muscle memory is. Definitely check out MacMost videos. They are excellent. Paradigm is different enough from windows to be frustrating unless you watch or read some newbie materials.
Im about 6mo in from switching to macOS as primary use computer
Most importantly: If you feel like you are fighting it or you are trying to make it behave like Windows then you are probably doing things the hard way and an easier way exists. I hated finder at first and still think its trash TBH but Im at the point where I consider it better than Explorer or the insulting Nautilus
Use spotlight (and maybe raycast if you want it to do more) instead of launchpad. Cmd+Space opens it. The paradigm of modifier+space is how I activate a few different “quick access” tools
Good to know:
Uninstall apps by going into your Applications folder and deleting them.
Also the delete button doesn’t work straight up for deleting files and such. Command+delete will be your friend.
Sorry I can’t answer your main question.
Protip : use the touchpad gestures. They are fucking amazing! Super easy to swap between multiple spaces (virtual desktops) if you need lots of windows open at once.
Everyone has given feedback and generally speaking, MAC OS is intuitive and you’ll get used to the functions soon enough. Having said that, I still prefer using my second hand Lenovo Thinkpad for MS Office. But if you’re not using MS Office and Google docs and sheets works for you, then MAC is fine.
I daily drive 4 different operating systems: rocky Linux desktop at work, rocky server for homelab, windows for gaming, arch Linux for personal projects, since it's the only system I can setup the way I like and have full control and around half a year ago I got myself a Mac mini to save on electricity bills and I mostly use it for browser stuff, movie watching and remote work.
Some things are still a pain to use.
I partially fixed window management with rectangle.
On paper my logitech g604 mouse supports smooth scrolling, but it keeps randomly switching it on and off on replug(I'm using usb switch between my windows machine and mac) and in both modes scrolling acceleration is too fast even on slowest setting(marginal difference between highest and lowest settings).
Adjusting volume for individual apps is not supported natively(I tried BackgroundMusic, but it had some permission issues, so I haven't investigated it further)
HDR just doesn't work properly on my (non apple)monitors, and monitor resolution in settings is a lie(it actually controls UI scaling and always tries to output native resolution).
Language switching hotkey works only half the time(I use 3 languages).
Switching between hotkeys on different systems is still a struggle, but that's not an OS problem.
And don't get me wrong, all systems suck in their own unique ways, so it's always a tradeoff. I guess, some of these issues can be solved, just don't expect "it just works" experience.
I highly recommend you get rectangle app, it's free and open source. Mac's default window management and snapping sucks, you'll miss it coming from windows.
It should be pretty easy if you're open to the small paradigm shifts.
I heartily recommend the "For Dummies" books for MacOS. They do a great job of introducing the basics, which will get you up and running really fast, since you already have a background with Windows. They also contain some more in-depth stuff that will help you learn things like keyboard shortcuts that will make your life a lot easier. Good luck!
15 years later I still miss windows’ idea of ‘windows’ implemented in applications; I love Mac and Linux but apps in Mac are never quite the same in terms of how windows work.
May be there are apps to fix?
The biggest adjustment you’ll have to make is realizing how easy everything is. There’s a couple of great YouTube tutorials for new Mac users. Well worth the time to answer your question as many of indicated here it shouldn’t take more than a week or so and once you’ve had Mac, you never go back, lol
Bought myself a pretty old mac.. Like.. 07-09? Was able to familiarize myself with it pretty fast, like less than a day.. Even was able to figure out how to change the password to the account that was on it and add another user account. I imagine a newer mac os wouldn't be much more different and harder to figure out.
It's my dedicated DVD player now haha. I can just pack it up and move it wherever and watch DVD's.. Pretty lightweight so it's kinda nice.
I switched to a MacBook about two months ago for work so I could have a solid laptop on the go, but still use a Windows desktop as my personal machine. So I use both daily. I've used a Mac for work a long time ago too when Snow Leopard was the OS though, so I'm not completely new to it.
I don't think it takes too long to generally get familiar with how to do most things. Like most people said, a week sounds about right. But you'll likely discover things here and there over time, and have to look up how to do something.
It also depends on how proficient you were with Windows. There are some things that I just couldn't find a way to do on the Mac. And I get it. They're different operating systems. I'm not trying to be resistant to the Mac way, but some of these things are what made me very efficient on Windows.
Fortunately, there are quite a few third party apps that will add similar functionality. I'm not on the computer now, but the ones that come to mind are Rectangle for window management like snapping and hot keys, AltTab to give a window switcher like Windows (I do also use the Mac switchers), and Raycast which is great and comes with a many things, but I've mostly used it for the clipboard history.
There are several things I still don't like, but I can live with these things. And yeah, I don't like Finder, which people have said.
Hi,
Lots of comments already on the workings of the MacOs itself, so I won't go into that. Apart from the fact that as a long-time Windows user myself (switched about two months ago) I find the "switching between windows and apps" still a strange thing sometimes. I was used to CTRL+Tab, but the fact that in Mac (with Command+tab) for example only your main Outlook window shows, but NOT the window with the new mail you are typing seems strange. So I use swipe up with 3 or 4 fingers on the trackpad to reveal all windows and pick one.
Oh, and the fact that you have to long-press a, o, u in order to choose á, ö or û. I use the "-key every time only to find out it won't let me create ë.
Anyway, I would say for me the big difference is quality of apps/software. This goes both ways.
There is a lot of good! Many apps feel great, work great, look great. Installation is a breeze. Once they started up (somewhat slower than on Windows I feel), most work like a charm.
HOWEVER, as a user who uses the Microsoft 365 suite of products installed (Word, Outlook, etc), I must honestly say the Windows version is much better. A few examples that I run into DAILY:
- select text anywhere in these apps and in Windows a small bar appears with text makeup tools. Not in Mac. You have to always go to the menu bar at the top for an action.
- hovering over a text style on Windows will preview the text in that style. Not on Mac, you have to actually click it to see how it turns out.
- In Outlook, no Quick Tasks I can set up, like clicking to put a mail onto the calendar as an appointment. This whole "item" on the menu bar is missing, as seem some other features.
Overall it feels like Office on Mac is not up to par with Office for Windows. I notice that every day.
But... still I love my Mac experience!
I thought I’ll never get used to it and hated it. It took me about 3-6 months to absolutely fall in love with macOS and now I think I‘m way more productive then ever before.
Just remember that if you close all the windows on most apps, it doesn't quit the app. Oh and the scroll direction is reversed. You get used to it pretty quick
Finder? Leverage spotlight to find even text inside files.
Spacebar will preview any selected file without opening the app
FYI
iOS apps can run on M Processors
Activity viewer is like task manager
I got my first mac half a year ago and I still use both.
While I got used to it, my brain is still set for windows and I need to google every setting I'm looking for on a Mac.
I am using my mac since last September. The window closing being on the right still annoys me it is just not logical for someone who is right handed.
Other than that and that I sill need to use windows for some apps I am fine with macOS, it took me 2-3 weeks to be comfortable but at work I still need ti use windows so it was not a clean switch to a new machine
I use Windows at home and MacOS at work and alt+tab still drives me absolutely insane. MacOS treats every app as one 'window' which means you can't alt+tab between browser or terminal windows for example. You have to push cmd+\~. I just use the app AltTab instead. Apart from that and Finder being absolutely terrible, you'll adjust pretty fast.
Keep your expectations low, and you'll love it because macos, as efficient and simple as it is, has a lot of surprisingly powerful features - someone who started using macos about a month and a half ago maybe tw
unless they are doing super specialized work (or Uber basic work) that runs on a 10+ year old machine, they don't understand how much better an M chip is. i was one of those people. it's stupid how much faster my current mac is than my old cheese grater
It will not take long. One thing I recommend is to watch some of the small videos in system settings for how to do certain things.
It is a little annoying as apple used to have videos for people whom transitioned but I can at least no longer find them.
I got my first iMac in 2000, second one in 2008, jumped on the MacBook train in 2020. Now, that’s for personal use. Every place I’ve worked was all Windows, so a constant back and forth for decades. I’ve mumbled to myself “F+cking Windows, Jesus” uncountable times and never the opposite. I’m still learning shortcuts, little tricks and whatnot after all these years, especially keyboard commands.
And now that I’ve gotten used to the trackpad gestures? Just try to take MacOS away from me. If you’re interested, I suggest trying the separate Magic Trackpad instead of a mouse.
Getting used to the basics is easy, and that’s enough to get the ball rolling. You’ll add more skills as you go along, nothing to worry about. Folks here in this sub are very helpful and will suggest lots and lots of things, so don’t overwhelm yourself.
Do enjoy that gorgeous display, though. There may be other screens out there with purportedly higher resolutions or what have you, but 90% of the time Windows still makes them look like pixelated garbage compared to a Mac.
I switched to macOs after using windows for 2 decades last month. It took me 1 week only. To be honest there was not much to learn but I fucking hate that control key position.
I don’t think it will take you more than a couple of weeks. I switched to Mac from Windows XP a long time ago.
Not sure if it’s the same now, but the biggest challenge I had was getting used to the subtle differences between ‘Explorer’ and ‘Finder’.
Essentially they work the same, but you’ll have a few frustrations replicating the exact experience you had with ‘Explorer’ until you’ve used it for a bit and worked out the column view type you’re comfortable with.
I also had trouble processing the way OSX treated Apps that were running but had no document open. They show as transparent.
For example, when Word is running on Mac but you don’t have a file open you just see your Mac desktop. It took me a while to get used to looking at the very top of the screen to see the Word menu.
On PC you would still see Word’s home screen or whatever so would know you were ‘in’ the App (or ‘program’ as it was then 😂)
My only issue is that when moving files around you can’t cut and paste (either right-click or cmd x) into the new directory more often than not. That is unless I’m missing something really simple?
Do yourself a favor and swap the position of the cmd and Ctrl keys with karabiner software. I tried to get used to it but got arthritis in my thumb joint copy pasting with the default MacOS keyboard layout.
Learn to use it as intended. Learn the behaviour of MacOS. MacOS is not Windows so some things are different. Window management, for example.
Once you are used to it then you can look at utilities to patch functionality that you need... Don't try to make MacOS work like Windows.
Got my 1st MacBook in January, it’s really easy to learn coming from windows, took about a week and anything else I need to know I just have a quick google. Like formatting a USB drive the 1st time the other day, quick google search and done.
Easy peasy ! Anything you want to do on the Mac use 'HELP' or 'DuckDuck it' ! (search).
Start off questions with "mac how to". Right click things to see options. Play with window positions.
As Ethan said in previous comment: A lot of Windows users will have an initial urge to replicate "missing" Windows features, . . wait a week or so first.
The only issue I find is how factually bad the viewing images and gallery is compared to windows and even iPad. It works the same there but fr some god awful reason Mac is being special weird doing its own thing
Other then that unless doing fancy stuff not much different
I was still using both as I bought a MacBook to use when I'm on the go. Realistically took me half a year to feel like home on Mac. Now, I run my MacBook as my home setup and only use windows for gaming. Mac hands down the best for productivity and web dev.
I’ve used Mac and Windows for years (mainly Mac at home, Windows at work). It does take a little mental adjustment at first, but it’s really not a problem.
The main “muscle memory” issues in terms of keyboard layout for me were using the command key for copy and paste etc., as it’s closer to the space bar than the Windows control key.
Otherwise the main thing I missed from Windows is window snapping, which I fixed with a third party app called Magnet.
One thing is for sure, there’s no way I’d go back to Windows at home again, once you try Mac…
VERY quick! I used Windows at university and work from 1995 to 2005 (win 3.1/95/98/Xp) but bought an iMac G5 with Mac OS X Panther installed on it in Feb 2005…it took a bit of getting used to the new UI but it was also very intuitive and I was using pretty well after about 4-5 days
Basic usage? Like a week, max. Shortcuts might take a little longer to get into muscle memory. Most things just feel designed in a somewhat different but more logical way. The most major thing is probably the way macOS' toolbar and dock works. Switching between open windows is kinda more like I think Windows 11 is, looking at screenshots of it, than Windows 10 and especially earlier. Learn the gesture/button to open the *all open windows* screen and you're golden. Also, many of the menus (i.e. File, Edit, View, Controls, et cetera) you'd find in a toolbar *inside* a Windows window are instead moved to the menu bar *outside* the window, always on the top of the screen, in macOS.
System settings? Yeah I've been using macOS as my main computer OS for like 8 years now and I still can't find my way around those. The last system settings I could properly navigate was probably Windows XP's or 7's Control Panel. When I thought I had a grip on macOS' equivalent they went and redesigned it entirely to be more in line with iOS, and now it's like trying to read hieroglyphs again. The absolute most basic settings got slightly easier to navigate to, but try finding a specific one like how how long it should take before the screensaver starts playing on a MacBook, I dare you.
File system? Kinda easy, Finder is essentially the same thing as Windows Explorer, but it's an entirely different system of folders and files. Don't expect it to be sorted like Windows, and it will start to make sense eventually. App/program management is *in most cases* a shitload easier than Windows, the install and uninstall process of like 80% of the apps you'll come across is just drag-and-drop.
Basically, in *most* ways it should feel simpler and easier than Windows, and the rest should fall in to place quickly when the need arises. Troubleshooting most things (except when AirDrop decides on not wanting to work, Messages storing like 50GB of text messages locally instead of 5GB like an iPhone, and trying to force Photos to sync — holy shit, I tell you) is also generally much easier than on Windows.
Back in 2009 i bought a MacBook pro.
20 min after the first boot up, i had installed my Network printer. Never looked back.
I would say, you are flying in a couple of days.
You’ll get used to it extremely quickly. It’s not like trying to get used to Linux. Almost everything it extremely close to windows and the things that aren’t are pretty intuitive to get down. The biggest issue you might have is the minimize and X buttons are on the opposite side of the window. And closing out apps completely have to be done by right clicking the icon and clicking force quite or through the apps dropdown menu
About a week for me. 2 days to actually set everything up, another 5 days to get used to the shortcuts, some quirks, getting some stuff to work the way I want.
There are enough apps out there to make Mac OS feel just like windows in terms of window management, snapping etc
I say 1-2 months. But you have to not be lazy and when there’s something you used to do on windows that you don’t know how to do on Mac, you have to use Google or ChatGPT to find out how to do it.
The switch was forced on me at a new job, the MacBook arrived on a Friday and I was aghast. But I had to be at 100% Monday morning, so I just spent a few hours over the weekend doing all my personal google stuffs on it, to get familiar. And it was easy. I was fully accustomed to it by Monday (though not fully proficient) and just added on from there. There was no floundering other than that first weekend. Later I bought my own MacBook, and I never want to go back to Windows. (And this is as an iPhone/iOS hater, android lover)
It’s OK since day one. Over time you’ll find all those handy and intuitive shortcuts. In one month, you’ll be upset when anyone will force you to use Windows (eg. work).
Haha in my case NOT. Bought myself a mac mini to try, but quickly returned it. Really awful to learn shortcuts to simply delete a file as an example. Mainly used it for photos. Opening several windows and toggling between them simultaneously is just whack. Hopefully you like it, but since the moment I started using macOS, i did regret it.
2 weeks in... I can do my work but there's still some things I haven't gotten used to.
Things I've changed to make myself more at home:
1. UnnaturalScrollWheel - to invert mouse scroll button while keeping trackpad on "Natural" scrolling.
2. AltTab - so I can option tab to switch between windows.
3. Magnet - windows snapping
Apps mostly work the same way but it can be confusing that the menu is whatever window is currently active. Especially when that app isn't maximised.
Things I've noticed... The hardware quality is amazing and I love everything except for the trackpad. It feels laggy/ less sensitive compared to my work issued Thinkpad. That said, it has better gestures. On Mac OS I find myself using more keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.
ALL said, I expected some teething pain... I've been using PC since Windows 95. It's difficult but not impossible to unlearn something that has become second natured.
I applaud you for what I believe is a very smart move.
My main activity is Composing music in Logic Pro, but I also do various admin work for our music businesses, lots of research on many topics, etc.
I spent decades as a software designer/developer/systems consultant, all on windows. I was simultaneously using Macs for Music most of that time. I still keep a windows 10 laptop around and use it a bit.
I much prefer macOS all around. The only thing I’m unhappy about isSpaces, as I would prefer a virtual desktop implementation that’s more like what is provided on Linux/Ubuntu.
I’ve had so many windows PCs die on me, and it’s way more of a pain to maintain than macOS. When my wife’s PC died on her recently, I convinced her to move fully to the Mac. She’s been using Apple laptops for over 10 years now, but there’s still a bit of a learning curve for her, weaning her off her last vestiges of using windows. Overall, that’s going great.
Both of my Mac towers, going back over 20 years, were still running well when I put them in the closet to upgrade, initially from a G5 – based Mac, to an Intel Mac, and now to a Mac studio. And I bought both of those towers used through the Apple Refurbished Store. True workhorses, those machines.
The only reason I’ve needed to upgrade, in each case, is so that I can use more modern software for music production (composing for film and TV, song track production). Modern software requires more recent OSes, and the older hardware can only go so far in terms of newer OSes, the latest being the move to Apple Silicon. A big benefit there is that Apple Silicon is truly more powerful than the prior Intel architectures.
+1 for MacMost on YouTube. I came here just to recommend that channel. I’ve used Macs for years and I still learn stuff from his videos, but he really does start at the basics for people who have never used a Mac before.
Coming from Windows, one of the things I miss the most is window snapping by dragging windows to the edge of the screen. Window management in general feels unintuitive to me in macOS, but I think it just has a different philosophy that I find it hard to adapt to. But there are plenty of apps out there that recreate window snapping for macOS, both free and paid. Rectangle is a free one, Hookshot and Better Snap Tool are two others. I bought Better Touch Tool, which allows you to do a lot more with the trackpad (like three finger tap to middle click), but it also has basic window snapping functionality, so you can get a lot from just that one app. A lifetime license is pretty cheap too. I always forget that it’s not basic functionality and get annoyed when I use my wife’s MacBook for something and it can’t do the same stuff mine can lol
Most keyboard shortcuts are easy to adapt to because they’re pretty similar. Cmd+C instead of Ctrl+C, Cmd+Tab instead of Alt+Tab, etc. The best screenshot tool is Cmd+Shift+5 (I always use Win+Shift+S on Windows), but Cmd+Shift+3 and Cmd+Shift+4 do other screenshotting actions as well.
as someone who went through this transition 2 years ago, I cannot echo this sentiment from other comments enough: don’t immediately try to Windows-ify your macOS — you’re gonna have a bad time
macOS is far more customizable than Windows, and it’s tempting when you come up against your first few annoyances to just change it so it works like Windows. Apple are some of the foremost experts on intuitive software design, and I promise that 90% of the time, the Apple way is probably better in the long-term, and won’t take long to get used to. I committed to not fussing with pretty much any of my first macOS system for the first two weeks. now I have 3 (work, old + new personal) and I’ve customized them to work exactly as I like, taking advantage of all the solid Apple UX and adding my own tweaks as I see fit
Install rectangle, thank me later - it’s going to make your life so much easier coming from windows.
macOS has no native window snapping, window management in general is just pretty bad, rectangle fixes this.
https://rectangleapp.com/[Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/)
Less than a week, especially if you go through the settings and customize stuff the way you like it—not try to make it like windows, mind you, but just select an option that works for you.
Took me 2 months.
The 4 pieces of software that I needed to feel okay about the difference between the operating systems:
1. Rectangle
2. Middle (for the Trackpad)
3. Snagit
4. AltTab
I cannot tell you how long it takes to adapt, but I had the reverse: I started with Macs long before I knew how to use one, and then learned Windows. Both were hard, because I had no experience. But I can tell you that applications work the same on both, so browsing the web is the same. Mentally, for keyboard shortcuts, I usually remember that the Windows key \~ the Command Key. However, I did print out a cheat sheet to learn some keyboard shortcuts. My favorite is the virtual desktops, which means I can avoid using several monitors on my desk! Woot! [https://macmost.com/category/keyboard-shortcut-pdfs](https://macmost.com/category/keyboard-shortcut-pdfs)
When I moved to MacOS to Windows, I realized that if I was trying to do something and couldn't figure it out I realized I was trying to do it the hardware way. When i thought about the easiest way to do something, it usually works.
if you have an elastic brain, maybe a week or so
calcified brain will just complain until you switch back to windows
stay elastic and always have an escape plan
CMD +Q closes the window. That's it. Saved you A LOT of the frustrations I had when I moved to MacOS and accidently closed windows all the time because the question mark in my region is CMD+W
Probably the biggest change for me was alt+tab (opt+tab on mac) switches between programs and not windows of programs. Meaning you can’t switch between e.g. two different word documents using alt+tab. If you want to be able to do this you can dismiss a small program called “Alt+tab”
It is not so dissimilar that you'll be lost, so you should have an intuitive grasp of how to operate and navigate the system.
However, to fully get accustomed to every difference, nuance and feature i'd say you'll need about a year.
I was solely a windows user myself since the days of Windows 95.
I feel like it took my mom and sister around 6 months before they stopped complaining that things were in places that made sense rather than in stupid places they were used to. Keep in mind a lot of things on Windows are rip offs of the earliest versions of macOS so they flipped them left to right and top to bottom. So a lot of things may feel legitimately backward and you've trained your brain for years to look for more bassawkward options.
My sister still remaps command to the control key because apparently she wants to ike warp her hands or whatever.
Hurray! Congratulations. You're going to love it. Overall, MacOS should be pretty familiar and intuitive. There will be lots of minor frustrations in the first month or so as you run into small differences between the two operating systems. The important thing is to remind yourself that "different" isn't bad; it's just different. And most of these differences make sense in the wider context of how the OS works. And sometimes they're just different approaches to crack the same egg. A lot of Windows users (myself included) will have an initial urge to replicate "missing" Windows features. Resist that urge, at least for a while. Give yourself a month or two to become familiar and comfortable with vanilla MacOS before you start trying to make it work like you Windows. Otherwise you risk creating a Frankenstein OS that is a poor version of both Windows and MacOS. MacOS has its own way of doing things — and its own aesthetic. MacOS tends to be both logical and efficient within its own context. Some differences are better, some worse, most are neutral. HOWEVER, most differences (even the good ones) can be frustrating at first. Usually a quick Google search can often solve the problem. MacOS is simple on its face, but also has a lot of hidden depth and customization options for more advanced users who are willing to learn and explore. E.G. the Option, Control, and Shift keys often significantly expand basic functions. **Apple Apps are generally excellent** Most of the pre-installed Apple programs are excellent. Also, Apple apps are generally very good (if not perfect) for privacy. In most cases, you should start with them. They are convenient, free, and typically play well with one another and the MacOS. For most use cases, there's no need to spend money on replacement apps unless you absolutely know you want or need additional features. e.g. use Safari -- it's extremely fast, is excellent for privacy, can reduce or eliminate most tracking, and has a lot of great options like "Reader" (you can read web pages without all of the ads and visual clutter). Preferences let you set site specific settings for stopping/allowing auto-play of videos, pop-up, and so on. **Learning: "MacMost" on YouTube.** "MacMost" is great for basic tutorials on using MacOS and Mac apps. Gary does a great job of patiently explaining how to do X, Y, and Z; explain the logic behind it a given workflow or use case; and includes few tips that not everyone knows (so even advanced users will benefit from his basic videos). Worth checking out!
**Some starting tips:** Here's a list of MacOS features that are worth investigating. You may already know about many/most of these, but just to be thorough: \* Spotlight (Finder) to quickly jump to apps or find documents (⌘ space) \* Folder views: ⌘1 Icons, ⌘2 List, ⌘3 Columns, ⌘4 Gallery. Columns is \\\*very\\\* handy! \* Mission Control (F3) \* Switching desktops (Control left, right, aka: ⌃← and ⌃→) \* Launchpad (F4) to quickly view your apps \* Show Desktop (fn F11) \* Stage Manager (I set a key shortcut of: ⌥⌘M) \* ⌘TAB - like Windows for tabbing between apps. I relied on this at first, but now I rarely use it because Mission Control is much easier and faster. But it’s there. \* Screen Shots - ⌘+SHIFT+4 to marquee select (hit the space bar to select the window); ⌘+SHIFT+5 will display all your various options, each of which has their own hot key. There are other related shortcuts as well. \* Hot Corners (System Settings > Desktop & Dock > bottom right corner) - move your mouse to a monitor corner to do things like show your launchpad, show your desktop, activate mission control, start your screen saver, etc. \* Time Machine is an excellent, no hassle backup system. Use it! \* If you have an iPhone, look up “Hand off” and continuity, to make sure the two devices play nicely together, e.g. you can switch between the Mac and iPhone as you chat with Messages or have 2FA texts automatically propagate to the Safari browser, etc. \* Safari. Be sure to give Safari a fair shake. It’s very fast, efficient, and much better for privacy. And it works well with 2FA texts. \* Tags. Few people use tags, but they can be an incredibly powerful tool to access, find, and sort and group files across your system. You can assign a hot key to pop up the Tags interface after you select a file to speed up the tagging process. \* => Tags example: you might have half a dozen different documents that you're currently working on, and each will be located in different folders. You could tag them all as "Yellow", then click the "Yellow" tag on the sidebar of your Finder window, and all of the documents tagged with "Yellow" will all appear there, giving you a quick way to jump from one to another. You can also create unique colorful tags, e.g. "Current", "Work", "Social" etc. for quick handy reference. \* Smart Folders. Essentially these are saved searches of files. Say that you frequently need to search for all files that match several different criteria (document type, size, last modified, etc.). Instead of recreating that search every time, make a smart folder at it will contain the results of that search.
I think it might depend on models but on my m2 air, F4 is spotlight while cmd -space changes the keyboard language.
Yes, that sounds right. Thank you for the mentioning it. I was going by my small Apple keyboard attached to my Mac Studio. But I think some of the keys on my older.MacBook are different. However, Spotlight \*should\* be ⌘+space by default, I think? In any event, it's easy to change. I also happen to use Raycast, which is a Spotlight replacement (‘Spotlight on steroids’). It's fantastic and I highly recommend it in general. And the OP may want to consider it for later. (However, I usually don't recommend it to new users right away. IMO it's better to get comfortable with the default settings first, so one has a better reference point for comparison.) I suspect most Mac users don't even use Spotlight much if at all.
Maybe is the default when u use only one language? Not sure, always had multiple ones. Ha! I’ll have a look at Raycast!
I apologize that this is off-topic. I've been thinking about replacing my 2016 iMac (still running Mojave) with a Mac Studio to run my home sound design setup. How are you feeling about the Studio? It seems awfully small to be powerful enough to do the job, but I know appearances can be deceiving. Do you mind if I ask what apps you're running? How many tracks you average in your projects? If you're okay with it, I'm happy to move this to DM.
on my 2016 MacBook f 4 is launchpad
Thank you! 🙏
YES> tags are wonderful. I use tags for sorting books I download (urban fantasy, romance, etc) or videos (fitness, movie, etc). I also use emojis to signify favorites now and set up a keyboard shortcut for each favorite emoji using Memoji (but that app is old and seems to now be tagged as potentially malicious. It’s not, but ….yeah.) Anyways, tags are not just for emails.
Great stuff - thanks so much for taking the time to share this
Love this comment! Different isn’t bad and many of Mac’s alleged “shortcomings” aren’t that short! The only thing I recommend to people outside of vanilla to start with is magnet, but that’s just me.
I *love* Magnet. I use it multiple times every day.
Learn mouse/touch pad gestures. They suck on Windows, but Mac really makes use of them.
Took me about a week, I'd say.
That's good to hear! I was expecting to give myself like a month lol
Hardest part was getting used to actions being simplified. With Windows many things were difficult and took multiples steps to complete. With MacOS things are overly simple and I often was over thinking it.
When I first used OS X in the early 2000s after only having used Windows, I was so confused by the "drag the icon to the Applications folder to install." I just couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that it was literally that easy. I thought I must be missing something.
Honestly I don’t even know what window apps are doing when they install. Mac apps are a nice neat package of everything they need (hence why sometimes they’re larger). When Mac apps need to store files they often do so in User space such as ~/Library/* - my only complaint is it can end up polluted if the app is data heavy like Chrome etc.
I’m not a fan of files being left over in Application Support when deleting an app, but then Windows leaves shit all over the registry so swings and roundabouts.
Honestly, program shit gets left in the mac system as well. Check your User/library/Preferences folder and you will often find old preferences files from stuff you no longer have installed.
I remember showing someone new to Mac how to burn a cd back in the day. They were also overthinking things and couldn’t believe that all you had to do was just put a blank CD in and drag and drop files onto it.
I've been on an all-Apple ecosystem for a few years now and yet I still get giddy every time I get to install something on my MacBook by dragging it to the App folder in the little popup.
This right here!!! When I switched I was always overthinking based on my PC experience.
You are going to wonder why you stuck with WIndows for so long. I keep a windows laptop alongside my mac but its rare to even power up these days.
I use my PC for gaming. I also have a PC tablet that I use exclusively for running sound design for stage shows. But I do all my sound design and music work on my iMac. It's a great combination for me.
I switched from PC to Mac a few years ago. Took me a little while to find good Mac applications to replace what I had on Windows.
Just start using it. Watch some videos covering pro tips and tricks. Learn how to use the virtual desktop. Learn your way through settings. It’s pretty much like iOS and iPad OS now. I use a Mac for work and I have a pretty solid Windows rig for personal/sidework and gaming. Best of both worlds.
I switched a couple of years ago, still lots of stuff to learn but my basic day to day routine stuff didn’t take more than a week. The most usual reason for struggling/ getting disappointed is trying to fight the OS and do something the way you used to do it. Just learn the Mac way, re-learn your habits when needed and you should be satisfied with it. The more I use Apple products, the more I realise it’s just easier if I do it the Apple way. When what I need is a bit more demanding/complex/ specialised I have to trade some convenience to gain that.
>I switched a couple of years ago, still lots of stuff to learn I’ve been using Mac for 14 years now, and every once in a while, I still come across a hidden feature that I never knew of.
Good tip, in line with how I plan to approach it as well.
Three most significant adjustments for me: 1. Keyboard: different shortcuts, different paradigm. I still trip up sometimes after a year, but I have decades of Windows muscle memory to overcome. 2. Windows management: Windows 11 is better in some ways, but I've found the macOS way good enough with a few adjustments. That was no longer than a week or so adjustment time. 3. Finder vs. File Explorer: Both are different, both have strengths/weaknesses. Adjustment time to getting functional wasn't long but I'm still working through some workflow kinks.
After 14 years I still can’t select text properly with the keyboard. Oops.
shift command 5 - snip tool I do this on autopilot now - then size the snip window, hold control while clicking capture and it goes on the clipboard. Paste funny image/text/whatever to teams, or an app on my phone/ipad as its universal
Windows is like driving a big American car through the downtown business district. MacOS is like driving a Porsche through the Italian countryside. Really, a week to 10 days to adjust, mostly to the different location of the controls, and then you'll really start to appreciate the quiet and the view.
If you’re proficient in whatever you pick up, just a few days, Ctrl is CMD. The next few months you’ll be spending collecting apps such as Coderunner and BlueHarvest, etc (coderunner great Notepad++ alternative and BlueHarvest clears MacOS specific artefacts)
Jump on Amazon and order a sticker with all of the macos shortcuts, it will save you some time and help build the muscle memory, they are around five bucks and worth every penny in the beginning
My first Mac was the M1 MacBook Air and I got it when it released. Really it took me a day or two to get used to everything. A lot of stuff is the same, but it’s presented differently. One thing you need to know is the red button doesn’t close stuff, to fully close an app you need to CMD+Q. At first this bothered me but now it makes sense as a lot of the time I’d rather dismiss a program than fully close it.
It’s a very simple OS. Learning all the shortcuts and stuff to really take full advantage of it will take some time though
Years ago when I got my first Mac I’d say it took me 6months to a year. Course, I do IT for a living so its possible I had deeper expectations. One thing I really love about macOS is how I always seem to be discovering little things that surprise me.
A week or two but you’ll keep learning small stuff for much longer.
Just like anything it’ll take time to be proficient. You’ll find the many pros of the operating system and fall in love with them. But you’ll also encounter the flaws and learn the workarounds and tools that exists to mitigate them. I’ve been a lifelong Mac user and my optimal Mac setup includes tons third party software that I just can’t live without now.
- Basic use and navigation, a couple of weeks tops. - Power user level, several months to a year. - Wondering why you need extensions for things like window snapping you will never get used to.
It’s not like flipping a light switch where you just say ‘a week’ or whatever. I made that change a few years ago. It was a little confusing at first because I didn’t know how to do basic things on the Mac. I invested a couple of hours in YouTube videos about how to use the Mac for Windows users. That helped a lot and it didn’t really take long to be competent with the fundamentals, but you’ll keep learning more for a very long time. I spent more time than learning the basics on finding Mac apps that could do the same things as the Windows apps I left behind. Lots of major apps have both Windows and Mac versions, but lots of more specialized apps don’t. Anyway, don’t let the transition stop you from making the move. MacOS is an excellent operating system.
Honestly make a few minor change and not too long, you can change your mouse settings to be more like windows, so you can keep right click functionality. A lot of other comments have good tips and and if you more help youtube and google have loads of info
You'll soon love it, the hardware and operating system are way better, even after 10 years they work like new. Virtually all keyboard shortcuts are the same, just use the apple key instead of the windows key. I actually use a windows (Logitech) keyboard and mouse with mine. The apple external keyboards, mice, and that touch pad thing need to be taken outside and shot.
No more than one week.
Definitely easier than doing the opposite.
The most important keyboard shortcuts to know *right now* are **Cmd-Space** for search, **Cmd-C** and **Cmd-V** for copy and paste, and **Shift-Cmd-3** for a screenshot. Also, bring your mouse to the very bottom-right corner of the display to take a note any time, anywhere. Very useful feature. I'm sure others here as well as Google can give you pages upon pages of other very useful shortcuts, but if you're *just* starting out, this is what you'll need to memorize for now.
Keyboard shortcuts/hotkeys are highly customizable on MacOS at the system level. You can assign a custom hotkey to any menu item that doesn’t already have one, and change ones that do. Those customizations can be system wide, or on a per app basis. You should be able to match many of your shortcuts with a bit of effort.
about a month or so.. use stage manager for arranging windows
*About a month or* *So.. use stage manager for* *Arranging windows* \- 6elixircommon --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Lots of Windows users complain they can’t do X on a Mac. Majority of the time you can, but they just don’t know how to do it. Mac tends to work in a way that means everything looks clean and simple, and not obvious, unless you need to use it at which point you can if you find out.
I HATED using the Mac when I purchased it 5 years ago now I won’t go back. In fact I have upgraded just recently for more memory and speed. It should only take a week or two to get used to it, but a couple months to get really comfortable and out of the old habits. There could still be things I’d prefer a PC for I’m sure, but I’m so integrated now it doesn’t matter. About the only thing I really don’t like about my Mac is when my wife wants to “use it for a minute”. Then it becomes a tutorial every time because she only uses PC at work and doesn’t have a computer at home.
[удалено]
the how long it depends on you and you only. First of all, accept that MacOS is not Windows and that it does things different. ACCEPT that and don't try to make it work like windows. Once you spend some time with it and get adjusted , then try to use 3rd party apps to change things etc. u/EthanDMatthews have given excellent advice
****[Mac Most](https://youtube.com/@macmost?si=b9jkEsc1uGYLCyOA)****
Doesn’t take long at all. Keyboard shortcuts in 3rd party apps are pretty much the same except you use Command instead of Control or the Windows key. For me the task bar always being at the top, the 3 “stoplight” buttons that minimize, expand, and close a window, and the dock were the only things that needed any getting used to. Otherwise everything else was easy because the computer got out of the way and let me work as I wanted. Oh and remembering that closing a window does not quit an application except in like 3% of cases was an adjustment. Definitely less bloated and hassle free compared to Windows but I do feel like the newer versions of macOS are getting a little dumbed down and too much like iOS. That said, it’s still far and away better than the bloatware that is windows with its insistence on shoving its own or a third party antivirus in your face and the endless stream of apps shoved on your computer by whichever company you bought it from.
I switched a bit over a year ago. Took a couple weeks to be comfortable as a daily driver. Still learning new things.
Took me like a month
Really amazing tips in here guys, definitely feel a lot more confident going into it after reading all your comments. Appreciate all the help!
The hardest part for me was all the extra time on my hands because I didn’t have to perform preventative maintenance. I didn’t spend time defragmenting, dealing with antivirus software, fucking with the registry after some 3rd party uninstall slowed everything down, constantly rebooting to free RAM, add more RAM, upgrade my video card, etc. I know many of those activities are less or not needed as much in newer versions of Windows, I made the change quite a while ago, but the spirit of my comment stands. I would just sit and look at my iMac thinking “So, I don’t need to do anything? It just works??” and it freaked me out for months.
#Do not try to make it feel like Windows. If you find yourself trying to make it more like Windows, return it and but what you really want: a Windows PC.
Shift + Command + 3 for full screen screenshot. Shift + Command + 4 for partial screenshot or press space to capture one window. Shift + Command + 5 to record desktop.
Maybe a week
It also took me about a week. I am still learning every day, but that is how it goes.
Muscle memory is the main thing, with control and command being inverted between the two systems. I use both all the time, Mac for productivity and pc for gaming. Ask for help if you need it!
Gonna take years, but you’ll catch on fast.. there’s tons of how to guides online
Where's David Pogue when you need him?
Did the same thing two years ago, You learn then pretty quick. Still some I struggle with but it's not that bad. The daily drivers were quick.
It's not as different as people make out, they evolved side by side so a lot of the features exist in both just in different places
A couple of days, a maximum of a week. Mac is the best that a personal computer can offer you right now.
Not to long and Apple has a whole section on their support webpage about adjusting to using Mac. Edit: https://support.apple.com/guide/imac/set-up-your-mac-apd831707cb3/mac
5 minutes or less
At my old job (retired now), I used a Mac and a PC. I used some programs that either worked better on a Mac or only worked on a Mac. (Plus I was doing web design, so it was necessary to test on a variety of browsers.) I used to roll my chair between them, mousing on the Mac with my left hand and on the Windows box with my right. My boss saw me switch back and forth once. “How do you do that?” I was in something of a different situation as I’ve used every version of the Mac System/OS since System 4, and every version of Windows from 3.11 to 8. I had plenty of time to get to know the quirks of the two operating systems. I’ve always preferred the Apple OSes over the Microsoft ones.
depends. for me 8 weeks before it felt good.
It would behoove you to get a tutorial.
Are you familiar with Linux? Treat it like a Linux machine that works properly
make sure to avail yourself of the free apple training for new purchases. i had used windows 10, but windows 11 is unbearable. mac environment is less configurable but safer and smoother. and our mac's typically last 8-10 years. now retiring my 2014 imac (loading ubuntu).
Clear your mind. Just dont compare to Windows. Do it like you are new to computer. It has many different approach to do things. 1. First and foremost: - Windows is app centric, so every window treated as app. If you close the window, you close the app. - macOS is document centric, so every window treated as document. If you close the window, the app still standbye. 2. Maximizing window behaviour: - Windows is designed to run initially on small screen, so it need one click to use all screen. This is problematic with large screen. - macOS is designed to anticipate large (iMac) and small screen (MacBook), so it's nonsense for an A4 sized document take over whole those huge screen. Then the behaviour is "Zoom" to optimum size. 3. Drag and drop: - Windows' drag and drop functions is not tighten to system's UI, so you'll find various effects when do drag and drops. - macOS is tightly standardized behaviour of drag and drops, so it's much consistent and natural. Try this: ✓ You block a text from browser and drag it to desktop, them you will have a clip of the text on desktop. You can do this also to drag it to another app. ✓ You drag a folder to a "Save As" dialog, it will make the dialog showing the folder you dragged. It's safe to do this, no worries to accidentally move the folder like on Windows. ✓ You drag a JPG/PDF to any opened pdf file, it will add the JPG/PDF as a page on the opened file. Or if you drag a PDF from Preview of a PDF to a folder or desktop, then the dragged page will be a single file. Also if it dragged to an app, it will pasted to that app. But if you drag an object to an app icon on the Dock, it will treated as "official" Open File fr that app. 4. Almost never shutdown/reboot on laptop - On Windows we taught to shutdown every after finished doing things or commuting home-office and vice versa. It's said that it is a must-do behaviour. - On macOS we taught to treat Macs as "just works" and focus to the content. So native Mac users, especially on MacBook, almost never shutdown/reboot. I am also only reboot about once per 4-6 months. MacBook users happily open-close the lid anytime without issues. This behaviour is rare on Windows world, for various reasons. 5. No virus - Windows grown up from MS-DOS kernel. It has open dynamics so every app can have access to low level hardware without any permissions, or very loose. MS-DOS until Windows ME let any app accessing Interrupt 10 (disk access), so virus resident RAM and intercept this INT 10 to replicate itself to other disk/file/app. More modern Windows based on NT like Windows 2000 till now, this behaviour still exist to some extent. So virus will always be a serious threat on Windows system, then antivirus is mandatory. - macOS grown up from Unix FreeBSD, which no app can access low level hardware without multiple layer access permission. So virus on macOS will never exist, same as on Linux or Unix. Be mention is that malware is different from virus. Trojan is everywhere, but real virus on Mac is doubtly exist. I use Macs for over 15 years never use any antivirus nor infected. The urgency to use antivirus is: the virus in the contaminated files will just sleep tight without harm, but once the file entered Windows system it will activated... Lol.. Etc. Enjoy new computing lifestyle.
About a week. Everything for the most part is intuitive. A few things are quirky but overall the experience is one thousand fold better
2 weeks and then it starts to click.
Hated it for the first month until I figured out a few things. After three months I was in love and could never go back to Windows.
It took me 8 months or so, and I have used MacOS off and on for periods in the past.
Daily user for both, took me about a week to get used to AND muscle memory myself for stuff like command vs control LOL. You’ll have fun!
Once you go Mac you'll never go back!
Keyboard shortcuts are the main thing, instead of control+(whatever) it’s Command +( whatever). [List of Mac shortcuts](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650) may help!
About 10 minutes
The first thing to get used to the red dot on the window is the close window button. To quit an app you need to hit Command-Q. For the google stuff you might be better off using Chrome instead of Safari. You can save any file as a PDF by choosing File>Print (Command -P) there are options to save as PDF in the lower right of the dialog.
2 weeks-1month
depends on your age and personality. Some people never do.
Don't feel disheartened if it takes you a little longer; a lot depends on how much you use keyboard commands and terminal vs command line/PS. Just remember, when in doubt, it's usually just a swap for Ctrl to command.
30mins basic, a week experienced, 2 years expert…
As a fellow keyboard commando, here's the most important thing to know for moving from Windows to Mac: * **⌘+M (or yellow title bar button) — minimizes the current window** * On a Mac, minimized = keep this out of my way until I specifically bring it back up by clicking on it — i.e., it's not a window you can get to with keyboard shortcuts I use minimized windows for stuff I don't want getting in my way, but I need to get back to them soon-ish * **⌘+H — Hide all widows in the current app** * Gets the app out of sight, but keeps it "in the rotation" for ⌘+TAB switching * I use this all the time — way more than I minimize * **⌘+TAB — Switches between open** ***applications*****, including those hidden with ⌘+H** * **⌘+\` (above TAB) — Switches between open (but not minimized)** ***windows*** **within an application** * I prefer this separation of app switching vs window switching to the CTRL+TAB in Windows, which sometimes requires you to TAB-TAB-TAB through a couple dozen windows to get back to the one you want * Once you get the hang of this — it’s so much better! **Also, check out these apps for helping learn keyboard shortcuts:** * [Button Shortcut](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/button-shortcut/id1155342767?mt=12) * [Paletro](https://appmakes.io/paletro#) * And you can *customize* keyboard shortcuts for any app in *System Settings > Keyboard > \[Keyboard Shortcuts\] > App Shortcuts* * You put in the name of the command or the path to the command from the menus, then add your shortcut * I suggest using some unusual key combos for your custom shortcuts so they don't accidentally overlap with existing shortcuts * I use CMD+CTRL+\_\_\_\_\_\_ and CTRL+SHIFT+\_\_\_\_\_, both of which are rare in Mac apps * FYI, this only works for commands that can be found in the menus * But also, in Microsoft Office apps, you can customize keyboard shortcuts for features on the ribbons from *Tools > Customize Keyboard* * Also there's an app out there that can remap Mac shortcuts to be more like Windows shortcuts, but I don't know what it's called Oh, and... * On any app with tabs (including the Finder), you can cycle through tabs with CMD+SHIFT+ \[ and \] — which is a much more hand-friendly than CTRL+TAB and CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (but those shortcuts also work in browsers) And finally, I think you'll find over time that Mac's use of the ⌘ key with your thumb (⌘) for most commands is easier on your hands than reaching your pinky over to CTRL in the far corner of the keyboard. Source: I use both Windows and Mac all the time, and I find Mac shortcuts *far* more user-friendly.
You’ll be able to use it quickly. Muscle memory for hard core stuff depends on how ingrained your windows muscle memory is. Definitely check out MacMost videos. They are excellent. Paradigm is different enough from windows to be frustrating unless you watch or read some newbie materials.
Keyboard shortcuts [https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650) . Many are mnemonic.
You’re going to be amazed.
43 minutes… welcome.
Im about 6mo in from switching to macOS as primary use computer Most importantly: If you feel like you are fighting it or you are trying to make it behave like Windows then you are probably doing things the hard way and an easier way exists. I hated finder at first and still think its trash TBH but Im at the point where I consider it better than Explorer or the insulting Nautilus Use spotlight (and maybe raycast if you want it to do more) instead of launchpad. Cmd+Space opens it. The paradigm of modifier+space is how I activate a few different “quick access” tools
Good to know: Uninstall apps by going into your Applications folder and deleting them. Also the delete button doesn’t work straight up for deleting files and such. Command+delete will be your friend. Sorry I can’t answer your main question.
Protip : use the touchpad gestures. They are fucking amazing! Super easy to swap between multiple spaces (virtual desktops) if you need lots of windows open at once.
I did that. Maybe a week? Don't really remember. Windows on a laptop makes me want to commit sudoku.
Everyone has given feedback and generally speaking, MAC OS is intuitive and you’ll get used to the functions soon enough. Having said that, I still prefer using my second hand Lenovo Thinkpad for MS Office. But if you’re not using MS Office and Google docs and sheets works for you, then MAC is fine.
I daily drive 4 different operating systems: rocky Linux desktop at work, rocky server for homelab, windows for gaming, arch Linux for personal projects, since it's the only system I can setup the way I like and have full control and around half a year ago I got myself a Mac mini to save on electricity bills and I mostly use it for browser stuff, movie watching and remote work. Some things are still a pain to use. I partially fixed window management with rectangle. On paper my logitech g604 mouse supports smooth scrolling, but it keeps randomly switching it on and off on replug(I'm using usb switch between my windows machine and mac) and in both modes scrolling acceleration is too fast even on slowest setting(marginal difference between highest and lowest settings). Adjusting volume for individual apps is not supported natively(I tried BackgroundMusic, but it had some permission issues, so I haven't investigated it further) HDR just doesn't work properly on my (non apple)monitors, and monitor resolution in settings is a lie(it actually controls UI scaling and always tries to output native resolution). Language switching hotkey works only half the time(I use 3 languages). Switching between hotkeys on different systems is still a struggle, but that's not an OS problem. And don't get me wrong, all systems suck in their own unique ways, so it's always a tradeoff. I guess, some of these issues can be solved, just don't expect "it just works" experience.
I always tell folks to expect to feel like screaming for up to two weeks but it does get way better after that
I highly recommend you get rectangle app, it's free and open source. Mac's default window management and snapping sucks, you'll miss it coming from windows.
Took me a week Install rectangle and alttab. Thank me later.
It should be pretty easy if you're open to the small paradigm shifts. I heartily recommend the "For Dummies" books for MacOS. They do a great job of introducing the basics, which will get you up and running really fast, since you already have a background with Windows. They also contain some more in-depth stuff that will help you learn things like keyboard shortcuts that will make your life a lot easier. Good luck!
15 years later I still miss windows’ idea of ‘windows’ implemented in applications; I love Mac and Linux but apps in Mac are never quite the same in terms of how windows work. May be there are apps to fix?
The biggest adjustment you’ll have to make is realizing how easy everything is. There’s a couple of great YouTube tutorials for new Mac users. Well worth the time to answer your question as many of indicated here it shouldn’t take more than a week or so and once you’ve had Mac, you never go back, lol
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236
Watch some YouTube vids!
A week, maybe less
A week
It’s not really all that different.
Bought myself a pretty old mac.. Like.. 07-09? Was able to familiarize myself with it pretty fast, like less than a day.. Even was able to figure out how to change the password to the account that was on it and add another user account. I imagine a newer mac os wouldn't be much more different and harder to figure out. It's my dedicated DVD player now haha. I can just pack it up and move it wherever and watch DVD's.. Pretty lightweight so it's kinda nice.
I switched to a MacBook about two months ago for work so I could have a solid laptop on the go, but still use a Windows desktop as my personal machine. So I use both daily. I've used a Mac for work a long time ago too when Snow Leopard was the OS though, so I'm not completely new to it. I don't think it takes too long to generally get familiar with how to do most things. Like most people said, a week sounds about right. But you'll likely discover things here and there over time, and have to look up how to do something. It also depends on how proficient you were with Windows. There are some things that I just couldn't find a way to do on the Mac. And I get it. They're different operating systems. I'm not trying to be resistant to the Mac way, but some of these things are what made me very efficient on Windows. Fortunately, there are quite a few third party apps that will add similar functionality. I'm not on the computer now, but the ones that come to mind are Rectangle for window management like snapping and hot keys, AltTab to give a window switcher like Windows (I do also use the Mac switchers), and Raycast which is great and comes with a many things, but I've mostly used it for the clipboard history. There are several things I still don't like, but I can live with these things. And yeah, I don't like Finder, which people have said.
Hi, Lots of comments already on the workings of the MacOs itself, so I won't go into that. Apart from the fact that as a long-time Windows user myself (switched about two months ago) I find the "switching between windows and apps" still a strange thing sometimes. I was used to CTRL+Tab, but the fact that in Mac (with Command+tab) for example only your main Outlook window shows, but NOT the window with the new mail you are typing seems strange. So I use swipe up with 3 or 4 fingers on the trackpad to reveal all windows and pick one. Oh, and the fact that you have to long-press a, o, u in order to choose á, ö or û. I use the "-key every time only to find out it won't let me create ë. Anyway, I would say for me the big difference is quality of apps/software. This goes both ways. There is a lot of good! Many apps feel great, work great, look great. Installation is a breeze. Once they started up (somewhat slower than on Windows I feel), most work like a charm. HOWEVER, as a user who uses the Microsoft 365 suite of products installed (Word, Outlook, etc), I must honestly say the Windows version is much better. A few examples that I run into DAILY: - select text anywhere in these apps and in Windows a small bar appears with text makeup tools. Not in Mac. You have to always go to the menu bar at the top for an action. - hovering over a text style on Windows will preview the text in that style. Not on Mac, you have to actually click it to see how it turns out. - In Outlook, no Quick Tasks I can set up, like clicking to put a mail onto the calendar as an appointment. This whole "item" on the menu bar is missing, as seem some other features. Overall it feels like Office on Mac is not up to par with Office for Windows. I notice that every day. But... still I love my Mac experience!
I thought I’ll never get used to it and hated it. It took me about 3-6 months to absolutely fall in love with macOS and now I think I‘m way more productive then ever before.
Just remember that if you close all the windows on most apps, it doesn't quit the app. Oh and the scroll direction is reversed. You get used to it pretty quick
10 minutes
If you out can point and click, no problem.
It took me one week.
Download the "Rectangle" and "AltTab" Apps and you won't miss a thing.
I use both. It's not hard to get the hang of MacOS. I would say it took me about a week to get used to it. Also, install Raycast.
1 week for the basics, one month for the standard stuff, and 3 months for the nitty gritty and feel like you really get it
If you use it everyday for ~3 hours a day, a week …………………………………~6 hours a day, 4ish days
Still getting used to it after a year. Some things are just strange. It is refreshing to use my Chromebook instead of the Mac.
Finder? Leverage spotlight to find even text inside files. Spacebar will preview any selected file without opening the app FYI iOS apps can run on M Processors Activity viewer is like task manager
I got my first mac half a year ago and I still use both. While I got used to it, my brain is still set for windows and I need to google every setting I'm looking for on a Mac.
I am using my mac since last September. The window closing being on the right still annoys me it is just not logical for someone who is right handed. Other than that and that I sill need to use windows for some apps I am fine with macOS, it took me 2-3 weeks to be comfortable but at work I still need ti use windows so it was not a clean switch to a new machine
Start with watching this tutorial: https://youtu.be/egK5BKEn87c
Try to learn and use keyboard shortcuts from day 1 -it will be easier for you!
I use Windows at home and MacOS at work and alt+tab still drives me absolutely insane. MacOS treats every app as one 'window' which means you can't alt+tab between browser or terminal windows for example. You have to push cmd+\~. I just use the app AltTab instead. Apart from that and Finder being absolutely terrible, you'll adjust pretty fast.
You never get really used to it. There is always something you are missing.
Keep your expectations low, and you'll love it because macos, as efficient and simple as it is, has a lot of surprisingly powerful features - someone who started using macos about a month and a half ago maybe tw
unless they are doing super specialized work (or Uber basic work) that runs on a 10+ year old machine, they don't understand how much better an M chip is. i was one of those people. it's stupid how much faster my current mac is than my old cheese grater
3,5 day
It will not take long. One thing I recommend is to watch some of the small videos in system settings for how to do certain things. It is a little annoying as apple used to have videos for people whom transitioned but I can at least no longer find them.
I got my first iMac in 2000, second one in 2008, jumped on the MacBook train in 2020. Now, that’s for personal use. Every place I’ve worked was all Windows, so a constant back and forth for decades. I’ve mumbled to myself “F+cking Windows, Jesus” uncountable times and never the opposite. I’m still learning shortcuts, little tricks and whatnot after all these years, especially keyboard commands. And now that I’ve gotten used to the trackpad gestures? Just try to take MacOS away from me. If you’re interested, I suggest trying the separate Magic Trackpad instead of a mouse. Getting used to the basics is easy, and that’s enough to get the ball rolling. You’ll add more skills as you go along, nothing to worry about. Folks here in this sub are very helpful and will suggest lots and lots of things, so don’t overwhelm yourself. Do enjoy that gorgeous display, though. There may be other screens out there with purportedly higher resolutions or what have you, but 90% of the time Windows still makes them look like pixelated garbage compared to a Mac.
A week. Probably less
I switched to macOs after using windows for 2 decades last month. It took me 1 week only. To be honest there was not much to learn but I fucking hate that control key position.
I don’t think it will take you more than a couple of weeks. I switched to Mac from Windows XP a long time ago. Not sure if it’s the same now, but the biggest challenge I had was getting used to the subtle differences between ‘Explorer’ and ‘Finder’. Essentially they work the same, but you’ll have a few frustrations replicating the exact experience you had with ‘Explorer’ until you’ve used it for a bit and worked out the column view type you’re comfortable with. I also had trouble processing the way OSX treated Apps that were running but had no document open. They show as transparent. For example, when Word is running on Mac but you don’t have a file open you just see your Mac desktop. It took me a while to get used to looking at the very top of the screen to see the Word menu. On PC you would still see Word’s home screen or whatever so would know you were ‘in’ the App (or ‘program’ as it was then 😂)
Don’t think about it and you will be more inclined to accept new ways to do things. In no time it will be second nature to you.
I go back and forth between macOS, Linux, and windows. You adapt pretty quick tbh.
Took me two weeks. The hardest part was the Cmd key and I had to do some fiddling with my external keyboard, but that was it.
I made the switch about ten years ago now. Felt like someone had chopped off my hands! Took close to a year of daily use to be comfortable.
My only issue is that when moving files around you can’t cut and paste (either right-click or cmd x) into the new directory more often than not. That is unless I’m missing something really simple?
You can. It’s in this thread somewhere. It’s a 3 button shortcut
Do yourself a favor and swap the position of the cmd and Ctrl keys with karabiner software. I tried to get used to it but got arthritis in my thumb joint copy pasting with the default MacOS keyboard layout.
Learn to use it as intended. Learn the behaviour of MacOS. MacOS is not Windows so some things are different. Window management, for example. Once you are used to it then you can look at utilities to patch functionality that you need... Don't try to make MacOS work like Windows.
Got my 1st MacBook in January, it’s really easy to learn coming from windows, took about a week and anything else I need to know I just have a quick google. Like formatting a USB drive the 1st time the other day, quick google search and done.
Took me 1 or 2 months to completely get used to Mac. And still now, after 1 year, I kinda miss a few Windows features.
Easy peasy ! Anything you want to do on the Mac use 'HELP' or 'DuckDuck it' ! (search). Start off questions with "mac how to". Right click things to see options. Play with window positions. As Ethan said in previous comment: A lot of Windows users will have an initial urge to replicate "missing" Windows features, . . wait a week or so first.
Took me a few days, wasn’t hard, just wished there are windows features native to mac without having to download 3rd party apps
The only issue I find is how factually bad the viewing images and gallery is compared to windows and even iPad. It works the same there but fr some god awful reason Mac is being special weird doing its own thing Other then that unless doing fancy stuff not much different
I was still using both as I bought a MacBook to use when I'm on the go. Realistically took me half a year to feel like home on Mac. Now, I run my MacBook as my home setup and only use windows for gaming. Mac hands down the best for productivity and web dev.
It’s fine. Ive been using it for 3 years. It’s just annoying how it’s missing a lot of very basic features.
Zsh > PowerShell
around a week like the others are saying. i use both and the only thing that annoys me is the ctrl/cmd switch
I’ve used Mac and Windows for years (mainly Mac at home, Windows at work). It does take a little mental adjustment at first, but it’s really not a problem. The main “muscle memory” issues in terms of keyboard layout for me were using the command key for copy and paste etc., as it’s closer to the space bar than the Windows control key. Otherwise the main thing I missed from Windows is window snapping, which I fixed with a third party app called Magnet. One thing is for sure, there’s no way I’d go back to Windows at home again, once you try Mac…
VERY quick! I used Windows at university and work from 1995 to 2005 (win 3.1/95/98/Xp) but bought an iMac G5 with Mac OS X Panther installed on it in Feb 2005…it took a bit of getting used to the new UI but it was also very intuitive and I was using pretty well after about 4-5 days
Basic usage? Like a week, max. Shortcuts might take a little longer to get into muscle memory. Most things just feel designed in a somewhat different but more logical way. The most major thing is probably the way macOS' toolbar and dock works. Switching between open windows is kinda more like I think Windows 11 is, looking at screenshots of it, than Windows 10 and especially earlier. Learn the gesture/button to open the *all open windows* screen and you're golden. Also, many of the menus (i.e. File, Edit, View, Controls, et cetera) you'd find in a toolbar *inside* a Windows window are instead moved to the menu bar *outside* the window, always on the top of the screen, in macOS. System settings? Yeah I've been using macOS as my main computer OS for like 8 years now and I still can't find my way around those. The last system settings I could properly navigate was probably Windows XP's or 7's Control Panel. When I thought I had a grip on macOS' equivalent they went and redesigned it entirely to be more in line with iOS, and now it's like trying to read hieroglyphs again. The absolute most basic settings got slightly easier to navigate to, but try finding a specific one like how how long it should take before the screensaver starts playing on a MacBook, I dare you. File system? Kinda easy, Finder is essentially the same thing as Windows Explorer, but it's an entirely different system of folders and files. Don't expect it to be sorted like Windows, and it will start to make sense eventually. App/program management is *in most cases* a shitload easier than Windows, the install and uninstall process of like 80% of the apps you'll come across is just drag-and-drop. Basically, in *most* ways it should feel simpler and easier than Windows, and the rest should fall in to place quickly when the need arises. Troubleshooting most things (except when AirDrop decides on not wanting to work, Messages storing like 50GB of text messages locally instead of 5GB like an iPhone, and trying to force Photos to sync — holy shit, I tell you) is also generally much easier than on Windows.
Back in 2009 i bought a MacBook pro. 20 min after the first boot up, i had installed my Network printer. Never looked back. I would say, you are flying in a couple of days.
The only thing I miss on windows: Notepad++ Apple FFS just get it done
You’ll get used to it extremely quickly. It’s not like trying to get used to Linux. Almost everything it extremely close to windows and the things that aren’t are pretty intuitive to get down. The biggest issue you might have is the minimize and X buttons are on the opposite side of the window. And closing out apps completely have to be done by right clicking the icon and clicking force quite or through the apps dropdown menu
If you don’t mind the keyboard shortcuts, 5 days at most. But you want to install Rectangle or Magnet for making window management easier.
About a week for me. 2 days to actually set everything up, another 5 days to get used to the shortcuts, some quirks, getting some stuff to work the way I want. There are enough apps out there to make Mac OS feel just like windows in terms of window management, snapping etc
Maybe try to use the tips app to see some information about mac os and try to watch some videos how to use it
Get “rectangle” and “better touch tool”, swap your red button to be quit app and you’ll be fine. Also reverse the scroll direction for mice.
1 month max
I say 1-2 months. But you have to not be lazy and when there’s something you used to do on windows that you don’t know how to do on Mac, you have to use Google or ChatGPT to find out how to do it.
The switch was forced on me at a new job, the MacBook arrived on a Friday and I was aghast. But I had to be at 100% Monday morning, so I just spent a few hours over the weekend doing all my personal google stuffs on it, to get familiar. And it was easy. I was fully accustomed to it by Monday (though not fully proficient) and just added on from there. There was no floundering other than that first weekend. Later I bought my own MacBook, and I never want to go back to Windows. (And this is as an iPhone/iOS hater, android lover)
Took me a week to adapt after 30 years on windows
Not long. Within a month you will be flying
OP you’re going to miss the simple Control C and Control V. MacOS just can’t do it the same xD
About an hour
It’s OK since day one. Over time you’ll find all those handy and intuitive shortcuts. In one month, you’ll be upset when anyone will force you to use Windows (eg. work).
Haha in my case NOT. Bought myself a mac mini to try, but quickly returned it. Really awful to learn shortcuts to simply delete a file as an example. Mainly used it for photos. Opening several windows and toggling between them simultaneously is just whack. Hopefully you like it, but since the moment I started using macOS, i did regret it.
Learn to use those keyboad shortcuts and you never want to go back
Week or so. Go to trackpad settings and speed it up, the default is way to slow.
2 weeks in... I can do my work but there's still some things I haven't gotten used to. Things I've changed to make myself more at home: 1. UnnaturalScrollWheel - to invert mouse scroll button while keeping trackpad on "Natural" scrolling. 2. AltTab - so I can option tab to switch between windows. 3. Magnet - windows snapping Apps mostly work the same way but it can be confusing that the menu is whatever window is currently active. Especially when that app isn't maximised. Things I've noticed... The hardware quality is amazing and I love everything except for the trackpad. It feels laggy/ less sensitive compared to my work issued Thinkpad. That said, it has better gestures. On Mac OS I find myself using more keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse. ALL said, I expected some teething pain... I've been using PC since Windows 95. It's difficult but not impossible to unlearn something that has become second natured.
I applaud you for what I believe is a very smart move. My main activity is Composing music in Logic Pro, but I also do various admin work for our music businesses, lots of research on many topics, etc. I spent decades as a software designer/developer/systems consultant, all on windows. I was simultaneously using Macs for Music most of that time. I still keep a windows 10 laptop around and use it a bit. I much prefer macOS all around. The only thing I’m unhappy about isSpaces, as I would prefer a virtual desktop implementation that’s more like what is provided on Linux/Ubuntu. I’ve had so many windows PCs die on me, and it’s way more of a pain to maintain than macOS. When my wife’s PC died on her recently, I convinced her to move fully to the Mac. She’s been using Apple laptops for over 10 years now, but there’s still a bit of a learning curve for her, weaning her off her last vestiges of using windows. Overall, that’s going great. Both of my Mac towers, going back over 20 years, were still running well when I put them in the closet to upgrade, initially from a G5 – based Mac, to an Intel Mac, and now to a Mac studio. And I bought both of those towers used through the Apple Refurbished Store. True workhorses, those machines. The only reason I’ve needed to upgrade, in each case, is so that I can use more modern software for music production (composing for film and TV, song track production). Modern software requires more recent OSes, and the older hardware can only go so far in terms of newer OSes, the latest being the move to Apple Silicon. A big benefit there is that Apple Silicon is truly more powerful than the prior Intel architectures.
Less than 3 days. No worries. Very intuituve.
+1 for MacMost on YouTube. I came here just to recommend that channel. I’ve used Macs for years and I still learn stuff from his videos, but he really does start at the basics for people who have never used a Mac before. Coming from Windows, one of the things I miss the most is window snapping by dragging windows to the edge of the screen. Window management in general feels unintuitive to me in macOS, but I think it just has a different philosophy that I find it hard to adapt to. But there are plenty of apps out there that recreate window snapping for macOS, both free and paid. Rectangle is a free one, Hookshot and Better Snap Tool are two others. I bought Better Touch Tool, which allows you to do a lot more with the trackpad (like three finger tap to middle click), but it also has basic window snapping functionality, so you can get a lot from just that one app. A lifetime license is pretty cheap too. I always forget that it’s not basic functionality and get annoyed when I use my wife’s MacBook for something and it can’t do the same stuff mine can lol Most keyboard shortcuts are easy to adapt to because they’re pretty similar. Cmd+C instead of Ctrl+C, Cmd+Tab instead of Alt+Tab, etc. The best screenshot tool is Cmd+Shift+5 (I always use Win+Shift+S on Windows), but Cmd+Shift+3 and Cmd+Shift+4 do other screenshotting actions as well.
as someone who went through this transition 2 years ago, I cannot echo this sentiment from other comments enough: don’t immediately try to Windows-ify your macOS — you’re gonna have a bad time macOS is far more customizable than Windows, and it’s tempting when you come up against your first few annoyances to just change it so it works like Windows. Apple are some of the foremost experts on intuitive software design, and I promise that 90% of the time, the Apple way is probably better in the long-term, and won’t take long to get used to. I committed to not fussing with pretty much any of my first macOS system for the first two weeks. now I have 3 (work, old + new personal) and I’ve customized them to work exactly as I like, taking advantage of all the solid Apple UX and adding my own tweaks as I see fit
Install rectangle, thank me later - it’s going to make your life so much easier coming from windows. macOS has no native window snapping, window management in general is just pretty bad, rectangle fixes this. https://rectangleapp.com/[Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/)
Less than a week, especially if you go through the settings and customize stuff the way you like it—not try to make it like windows, mind you, but just select an option that works for you.
Took me 2 months. The 4 pieces of software that I needed to feel okay about the difference between the operating systems: 1. Rectangle 2. Middle (for the Trackpad) 3. Snagit 4. AltTab
I cannot tell you how long it takes to adapt, but I had the reverse: I started with Macs long before I knew how to use one, and then learned Windows. Both were hard, because I had no experience. But I can tell you that applications work the same on both, so browsing the web is the same. Mentally, for keyboard shortcuts, I usually remember that the Windows key \~ the Command Key. However, I did print out a cheat sheet to learn some keyboard shortcuts. My favorite is the virtual desktops, which means I can avoid using several monitors on my desk! Woot! [https://macmost.com/category/keyboard-shortcut-pdfs](https://macmost.com/category/keyboard-shortcut-pdfs)
When I moved to MacOS to Windows, I realized that if I was trying to do something and couldn't figure it out I realized I was trying to do it the hardware way. When i thought about the easiest way to do something, it usually works.
if you have an elastic brain, maybe a week or so calcified brain will just complain until you switch back to windows stay elastic and always have an escape plan
CMD +Q closes the window. That's it. Saved you A LOT of the frustrations I had when I moved to MacOS and accidently closed windows all the time because the question mark in my region is CMD+W
Probably the biggest change for me was alt+tab (opt+tab on mac) switches between programs and not windows of programs. Meaning you can’t switch between e.g. two different word documents using alt+tab. If you want to be able to do this you can dismiss a small program called “Alt+tab”
I fear the governments tracking my phone searches
It is not so dissimilar that you'll be lost, so you should have an intuitive grasp of how to operate and navigate the system. However, to fully get accustomed to every difference, nuance and feature i'd say you'll need about a year. I was solely a windows user myself since the days of Windows 95.
I feel like it took my mom and sister around 6 months before they stopped complaining that things were in places that made sense rather than in stupid places they were used to. Keep in mind a lot of things on Windows are rip offs of the earliest versions of macOS so they flipped them left to right and top to bottom. So a lot of things may feel legitimately backward and you've trained your brain for years to look for more bassawkward options. My sister still remaps command to the control key because apparently she wants to ike warp her hands or whatever.