I don't know why people love this brand so much. My work-mandated MacBooks have been the worst machines I've ever used.
Shitty Bluetooth, terrible keyboard, unreadable glossy screen, accidentally active trackpad, slow and heavy, cold metal feel.
Finder is the worst navigation experience in the world. Windows 95 and the first version of Nautilus were better. Why does it try to pretend like there is no filesystem?
My Thinkpad is much better and hasn't needed a refresh.
I switched from a MacBook to ThinkPad T480 with Archlinux and it's the best decision I've ever done in my software development career. I don't understand the obsession for macs as a developer machine when every year macOS just keeps getting heavier and slower with unnecessary translucency and animations and less reliable hardware. My colleague had to send his mac in twice already for keyboard and speaker repair on a fairly new mac. Not to mention some ThinkPads are a fraction of the cost and upgradable.
You can send ThinkPads in for repair too if you have the warranty. MacOS may be the most cohesive unix OS but it's functionality and capabilities are restricted and limited unlike any other linux desktop environment.
> Why does it try to pretend like there is no filesystem?
I've seen this complaint before from Windows users interacting with Finder, but I've never understood where it is coming from.
Aside from the "Recents" tab, everything is organized into files and folders, just like any other file system explorer. The sidebar is mostly shortcuts to different folders, and I always navigate down in a nested folder hierarchy to find my files.
Is it that the "Recents" tab is the default view that gives this impression?
Officially that’s true, but I’ve been running OSX since at least .8, and in practice it just does not honour the “I want all finder windows like this” ideal.
As I posted elsewhere in these comments, this does not bring up the current path. To get the current path (into your clipboard, but not into any text field) you can hit Cmd+Opt+C.
Over here it copies the current path or the path to the currently selected file, which is frustrating. My hammerspoon script that tries to do cmd+l has now grown to 5 hotkeys, one of which is executed only conditionally.
There's a "Show Path Bar" setting accessible from the View menu in Finder. You can see the file's path right from the Get Info menu and drag and drop it into a terminal or whatever and have the path immediately available. You can copy a file's path by holding the option key with the right click menu is open.
It's pretty accessible. Most of the complaints I see regarding Finder seem to be a result of trying to use a Mac in the same way as another OS. It's different, but takes just a quick search to find all the shortcuts and stuff and it's very simple.
These are great Finder tips, but they all involve the mouse, which I find mildly infuriating.
Command-Option-C: copy the full path of the selected file or folder as plaintext, with space characters not escaped with backslashes.
Command-C, then Command-V into a terminal prompt: paste the full path of the copied file or folder, with space characters backslash-escaped. Tested in Terminal and iTerm2.
In file dialogs, like saving a file, you can start typing a path and it will pop up. You can also drag and drop a folder into the save dialog to save it there.
You can see your current path on the bottom of the window if you enable it in the options of Finder. But you can just click it, you can't actually edit it and hit enter to go to a different path. We simply don't have the technology yet ;)
You can make finder show the current path (including file path) with Cmd+Option+P. You can manipulate the path with Cmd+Shift+G. These options are also right there in the menus.
Cmd+Shift+G does not seem to default to the current location. Over here, I just tried it and got ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData. I haven't been there in months. So it's a significant step down from hitting Cmd+L in a browser.
The actual keyboard shortcut, if you'd like to reproduce the behavior you get with Cmd+L in a browser, is Cmd+Opt+C Cmd+Shift+G Cmd+V.
You can start typing a relative path and that works from the directory you're in. If you have folder/sub and you are in folder, you can type 'sub/' to enter it. Only navigating up is not possible I think.
I don't know about others, but I think there might be an inertia component to it.
I first used mac os seriously starting with 10.5, when it was possible to it run on a PC, and I was lucky enough to have a compatible enough PC.
The experience was unbelievable to me. Everything was so smooth and snappy. I was using mainly linux at the time, with KDE. I naturally wanted to get an actual mac, especially since I was tired of the plastic laptops of the time, failing in random ways, being noisy, shoddy linux support, etc.
My current daily driver is a late 2013 15" MBP and it is honestly the best computer I've ever had. It's almost 7 years old and it never had any kind of problem whatsoever. Connectivity is superb (integrated optical out, sd card, thunderbolt, 4K60 output, HDMI). The only thing I sometimes missed was an ethernet port (I work in operations). I actually enjoy the touch of the metal, prefer it to the plasticky PCs. Yes, the glossy screen is sometimes a pain, but it's actually usable outside whereas my work PC with the matte screen is a mess. Performance is sufficient for my needs, though, granted, I don't do heavy lifting with it.
While I love the computer itself and used to love mac os, I do have the feeling that it's gone downhill. As others have noted, there's random lagging in Safari, random system services start using the cpu at 100% for no reason, etc.
So I guess my point is that a lot of people used to love the mac ecosystem, which I think was really great, and they still want to love it despite the drop in quality, maybe hoping it's only temporary. There might also be some kind of "brand loyalty" / "emotional investment" going on. Although, as far as I'm concerned, I seem to be looking much more at thinkpads as a possible replacement if I had to get a new computer right now.
My work-mandated MacBooks have been the worst machines I've ever used.
Hardware aside, I honestly don't understand why anyone who writes software would write software on a closed source OS.
The excuse I most often hear is that "they have better things to do than mess with Linux configuration". That's a healthy viewpoint, for say, a scientist or an artist. But if a software developer does not like hacking around with software they are probably in the wrong career. In my opinion, giving up control over your most important tools for a bit of short term convenience is bad economics.
When I was 14yo hacking around in Linux was fun because I had a lot of free time, now I'm an adult and have other obligations I need my work computer to just work. Apple has been getting worse at the 'it just works' stuff but it's still lower maintenance than a customised Linux distro. Its not that I don't enjoy fiddling and tinkering, I still might play with Linux on the weekend, I just can't have it as my daily driver.
Then don't maintain a customized distro? I use Manjaro at home and Mac at work, and the user experience is far better on Manjaro without any tweaking. Also it's easier to install the developer tools I need, but that depends on your use-case of course.
Just need to find the right distro. I can't stand Ubuntu because it has too many commercial interests attached and its bloated but it's the safest choice because its the most battle tested. The first thing I notice about Manjaro is that their website layout doesn't work on mobile, call me superficial but it makes me question their attention to detail.
Yeah, it's got less cruft than Ubuntu. Apple doesn't need to put adware into their OS because they make enough money from selling hardware and appstore commissions.
Try Manjaro. I've switched from Ubuntu to Manjaro a few months ago and I don't think I'll ever look back. Latest kernel and Gnome version make a huge difference in performance and stability (that was the main reason I switched, Ubuntu desktop kept breaking for some reason) and Pacman is a dream. I used to just apt update everything, which was nice, but now with snaps you don't know what you get and you sometimes need to download some deb or add a repo. Pacman has everything (when enabling AUT) and I haven't even touched the terminal for it, because the UI is so good.
I think the fiddling and tinkering thing is usually massively overstated. Linux can be a perfectly reliable daily driver with no regular tinkering. Windows is the high-maintenance daily driver IME.
I guess it's been a while. Last time I played around with Linux properly was around 2009. Having worked with Ubuntu servers as recently as 2018 though I did find getting python 3.7 up and running a bit of a pain, with differences in the process for minor versions of Ubuntu.
Not to diminish any of your problems; and I'm aware that this is not (yet) reality in most places, but:
1.) I absolutely agree on the Ubuntu front (though I don't believe for a second that things are better elsewhere. E.g.: Python on Windows is way worse in my experience). But I dislike Ubuntu (and Debian, for that matter) for many related experiences I had in the past.
2.) I'd say, though, that you're missing out on good containerization solutions if you're wrestling with Python installations on a server distribution.
3.) Most importantly: Where things like Docker or LXC don't apply (or don't apply as much; like development/desktop usage), the single best concept I've encountered so far would be the way NixOS and Guix handle installations. I sincerely hope that model will take off in the next couple of years. And I'm pretty sure that if it takes off, it will be on either Linux (most likely) or BSD.
I've worked with Docker before but I found it too resource intensive on my local machine. I now use docker to get consistent deployments but for local dev I find it too heavy. I'll have to look into NixOS and Guix
As a mac user i shifted all my development to use containers for deps management and runtime efficiency. My thought process was this would also translate well to a productive move to Linux (i have similar concerns to you) and it just so happens to also work with my cicd platform. The biggest pain on linux is dependency management across a variety of languages and software stacks. I believe you can be productive on Linux today with a similar approach.
I have tried using Docker but I find it's just a little too resource intensive. I prefer to have a local Postgres instance for development and then deploy to a test environment to check it will work on the real infrastructure.
I have a hackintosh for iOS development (faster build times than a MacBook without paying for a MacPro). It's a lot of work to get it up and running, maybe 8 - 12 hours if you've never done it before plus an additional 12 hours getting Bluetooth, WiFi, USB mapping and iMessage working but it's worth it. Once it is up and running it does 'just work' plus it's a hell of a lot cheaper. The only thing you have to worry about is doing it all again in 6-12 months if you want to stay on the latest OSX.
> if a software developer does not like hacking around with software they are probably in the wrong career
This is some gatekeeping right here. There's a lot more to developing software than hacking and dealing with low level linux configuration just to get my graphics and sound working at the same time after a system update
Because my customers are 90% on Windows and most of the rest are on Mac and it's them I need to worry about. Hence I develop in Windows and test on Mac.
I also agree with the first 2, BT is inconsistent, i hate the keyboard and i would easily switch it with my MBP 2014 one. Screen is fine for me, and it overheats so much that does not have this cold metal feel. :D
In general i can live with the all the aforementioned, but i hated the previous 2 year period with the random Wifi disconnection issues; it sometimes made my work unbearable.
Hence, i would say that the biggest issue with MBPs is the deterioration in apple software.
I had the same problem with my 2012 MBP constantly overheating until I recently opened it up and removed a pad of dust that had accumulated between each fan. There was no way for the hot air to escape anymore. Problem solved, I've not even heard the fans run once since.
> Why does it try to pretend like there is no filesystem
I've had sane settings for macos for years and migrated with them.
But I've set up a fresh machine recently and I will say the default settings for macos have changed. There are a lot of annoying "recent apps" and "recent files" and non-filesystem things in sidebars that I keep banging my head against.
It takes a while to set it up to do just simple files and folders.
I do keep applications and utilities in the dock, and set that up as:
Reading about Macs, I'm beginning to suspect that different vintages are very different.
I'm no Mac fanboy, at all. But I love my 2014 MBP, best money I ever spent on tech. Its 2020 now, it runs like new, withstood mechanical stress, battery still holds all day with careful use. Bluetooth works fine. Keyboard is fine for laptop. CPU is fine for intensive calculations. Terminal is as good as Linux. Homebrew 'just works'; I can't count how many times I got my apt package manager into a major pickle, that required awkward backtracks. I went through a number of system upgrades that didn't break anything. 'Setting up' the computer involved powering it up, I didn't have to debug my hardware like I had to every time with new/upgraded Linux.
This is 180 deg different to my Linux experience, never mind Windows (that's a disaster). Linux is cute, but caused me issues with all the points above.
Sounds like this is very different to your experience, so much so that perhaps it is just that Macs have a large variance in quality over the years. Reading what I see now, I'm not sure I would buy another Mac. This makes me sad - my trusty 2014 MBP is the perfect computer, as far as I'm concerned, but surely at this age its days are counted.
People who seem to share this opinion often mention the 2014 vintage.
> Finder is the worst navigation experience in the world.
Because you just can't abstract away the existence of a filesystem to create a "simpler" experience for some users. You just have to teach them how to use one and avoid letting them shoot themselves in the foot.
I'm genuinely curious what you hate about Finder. What makes you think it tries to pretend that there is no file system?
I personally love Miller Columns and the lack of them in any other file browser is one of many things keeping me from switching to Linux. Navigating my entire file system just with arrow keys feels like a breeze.
If I remember correctly, Windows 95 opened a new window for every folder you clicked on. I recall very messy desktops on being five levels deep.
Have you gave ranger file manager a try for miller column layout? It's a cli which you can enable drag and drop for files, and the vim keybindings for navigation and copy/pasting, plus the file preview makes it an awesome choice for moving around quickly.
Shitty Bluetooth, terrible keyboard, unreadable glossy screen, accidentally active trackpad, slow and heavy, cold metal feel.
Finder is the worst navigation experience in the world. Windows 95 and the first version of Nautilus were better. Why does it try to pretend like there is no filesystem?
My Thinkpad is much better and hasn't needed a refresh.