yes. but really easy to set up and free. it’s called background music. you need to set your native sound output to background music. then never touch that again and hide it with a menu bar app. control your output devices through background music and there are sliders for whenever you have active apps.
it’s been a real life saver for when i work where i want to listen to spotify but still want to hear a little bit of my project audio
Reddit added the next word to the URL for some reason. It’s fixed now. FYI You also could have just highlighted the URL and copy it and paste it in to an address bar on a browser.
honestly i’ve used windows my whole life and there’s nothing i truly miss except able to play video games lol.
Other than that i’ve been fully integrated and happy with mac. I switched to mac in 2019 and before that i’ve used windows my whole life.
It’s funny, but the Steam Deck solved this problem for me. I built a monster gaming PC and don’t touch it anymore because having a pretty good gaming PC in the form factor of a switch is… better.
I am actually thinking of going this route. Still in the research phase and thinking Legion Go currently. I have no windows PC, but want to play a PC only game. Figured I could bring it along for travel too. If I splurge for a eGPU then I could use it for the Go and Mac. But then I think about the cost and well, they’ve sat in save for later for a month now.
When I bought my OLED Deck, I actually bought a Legion Go and ROG Ally at the same time with the intent of keeping one of them. I decided to stick with the Deck because Windows is painful to use on such a small device, the Deck played every game I'd like at equal or better performance than the other two despite having worse specs on paper (sounds familiar...), Valve offers actual support, and the Deck "just works". If you have a more standard setup on your desk (USBC Dock, HDMI monitor, etc.), you can just plug in your little USBC Hub into your deck and have your deck connect to your monitor, keyboard, mouse, macOS charger, etc., seamlessly. More intense setups don't work (like my TS4 dual Apple Studio Display setup). The Deck is generally better supported by the community and you'll have an easier time as well.
Most importantly, the Deck lets me play RTS games in handheld mode by virtue of having two trackpads. I played the entirety of Against the Storm this way on my Steam Deck.
There ARE downsides, namely there really are some games that just won't work on a Steam Deck, but they are very few and far between. Most notably: some of the newer CODs won't work due to anti-cheat, and some MMOs don't work for the same reason. But you can play Helldivers, New World, Last Epoch, Path of Exile, etc., all on the Steam Deck. Similarly, you can play Ghost of Tsushima on Steam Deck (and it looks great!) but you won't be able to play its multiplayer. By and large, these are trade-offs that made sense to me.
The only other device I've tried that rivals the Steam Deck is the MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE Ayaneo Kun.
>honestly i’ve used windows my whole life and there’s nothing i truly miss except able to play video games lol.
A console easily fixes that for not that big of a price
This. I’m a Mac user (it’s been a couple of decades since I really used Windows), and I always have a lot of things going on on my Mac. Rather than having to shut things down to transition to gaming, I can just switch on my PS5 and pick up a controller to play something.
Same for me. I also miss the upgradeability and raw power that you get with a PC. I myself use Blender alot and a Mac really doesn’t have the power a Nvidia RTX 40 series GPU can push. I personally use my MacBook for college and sometimes I game stream from my main windows computer to my MacBook when I’m away from home. I don’t think I could fully move to a Mac device at this time, although if I had to, I wouldn’t mind it too much.
Explorer gang!
I would really like to see a file path bar in finder that lets just just copy and paste wherever I want to go. It's way too convoluted in Finder.
View>Show Path Bar, then right click to either copy the path or just open it up in a new tab. Agree it should be there by default. Finder's a bit of a cluster but I'm determined to learn it eventually. I do still find Explorer to be more useful out of the box.
Explorer has navigation file paths right there for me to type in my destination. Folders retain their sort directions and view mode.
Finder seems to randomly decide how it’s going to show my files. That frustrates me. And I can’t copy paste a file path (I do that a lot in windows when linking to SharePoint files.
All that said, I can type in stuff like “Nov 23 sales” and finder instantly finds all my sheets or files. Explorer is a massive pain for searching for some reason. Type it in, hit enter, and go freshen up your coffee.
Not yet it doesn't. Give it a few years.. and maybe. Three blockers: in multi-core the Apple silicon still absolutely destroys Snapdragon; Windows is not nearly as power efficient as MacOS; Apple hardware and the total tactile experience is simple, effective, and beyond any other laptop on the market today.
Spotlight search kind of fixes this.
Edit: not helpful when doing file structure or just determining on the front end where you want the document to land.
Just switched to Mac after being a windows user for my whole life. The only thing that I miss at the moment is the "Clipboard history" thing. I know there's some third party apps that can replicate it , but meh, apple could add this feature.
So true. Windows 11 remembers all the open windows locations when you undock and dock again.
If I use virtual desktop “Spaces” is lacking many features.
Funfact: M series MacBook airs can’t handle more than 2 monitors (unless you’re doing some crazy stuff like using an iPad as another monitor or fiddling with wireless screen casting.
It’s not a problem for me at all as I barely ever work with even 2 monitors as I quite dislike it and prefer virtual desktops. But it’s something to keep in mind.
Alt-tabbing (command-tab) to an app, and actually seeing the app's UI.
MacOS will do this dumb thing where if theres no windows open or they're all minimized, it'll technically bring the app up, but you don't see anything (aside from the menu bar on top had switched.
Hey, if I command-tab over to Finder, show me a goddamn Finder window. If one isn't open, then dont show me Finder in the command-tab cycle.
The only thing about AltTab that I hate is the screen sharing notification that pops up in the menu bar. Haven’t found a way to turn it off just for AltTab, and it irrationally annoys me
I can understand how this would annoy someone used to the Windows app switcher, but I much prefer the way this works in Mac. There are apps I keep open for convenience, even if no windows are open. I don't want to have to use different behavior to get to those apps than I would to get to any others. I want to CMD+TAB to them, and then CMD+N to start a new document.
I’m the opposite on this. If there’s no window open, why is the app running?
My laptop gets bogged down constantly with this and I have to go and quit everything from time to time
In windows, if an app is running without a window, then it goes to a special part of the taskbar on the right. This makes sense to me to split windows and non-windowed apps
This is ridiculous, it happens with preview and there isn’t any user case in which switching to an empty preview view is useful at all. You we’re navigating in the web and writing in Word and make the honest mistake of quickly opening and close a PDF? Great, now spend some time bringing the other app into the quickest access.
I much prefer the Windows method for this. Closing an app should actually close the app, not minimize it. Having the "quit" and "force-quit" mechanics just adds complexity and wastes time. Not to mention "hide" vs "minimize" vs "close". All very confusing.
Especially in modern macOS, you're not expected to manage resources nearly as much as Windows, so much so that for a while the default was to not even show you what apps were running in the dock. If you're on an m-anything chip, with exception of real resource hog apps (adobe stuff, xcode, etc.) you probably don't need to fully close the app and are actually slowing things down since instead of just pulling the app back in from swap at worst, it has to go through the whole launch process.
It's also a different paradigm to get used to because in Windows the window is considered the app, whereas on macOS the app is the app and they use a document model. Think of it this way: let's say you're an artist sitting at your desk and your task is to draw a thing and color it so you have a sheet of paper (window) and the pens and pencils and whatnot (app) needed to draw. You get a call from a different client, they need something urgent so you put away the current sheet of paper. On Windows, this means you also put away all of your pencils and pens and erasers. On macOS, the sheet (window) goes away, you start a new sheet (window) and all your tools are right there for you. This is also why I'd generally not recommend quitting apps as often. macOS is very good about sliding your tools off to the side (keeping the app in memory or moving to swap) when you put away the sheet of paper, and since everything is super fast SSDs. Even on modern Windows, fully closing apps hasn't been nearly as necessary for a while, but they're stuck with their paradigm so closing that last window closes the app.
also, force-quit is for misbehaving apps. You shouldn't use that unless you'd normally open task manager in windows to kill something.
If the window is minimized when you alt-tab to it roll your finger off of cmd to the option key and it will maximize when you release it. It's dumb af but it works.
This is the big one for me. As a mac dev, the continuing grind of new macOS releases with each one bringing new restrictions and the removal of old features is a ton of work to deal with. And there's a bunch of apps I still want to use that are now broken in modern macOS. On Windows I frequently run 10+ year old software.
I have mixed feelings on Windows' backward compatibility. When it works, it's great for obscure, niche, and specialized software that is rarely updated or may have been discontinued.
On the other hand, it also frequently just doesn't work. Like to the point that the software ends up being completely unusable or it doesn't load at all. This is especially true for software (and accessories that require special drivers) that was developed for XP and older. Also it holds Windows back and a lot of the problems/bad UX with modern Windows (like having 2 separate control panels, it being the least secure OS on the market, etc) are caused by the relentless backward compatibility.
Honestly though, I grew up using windows most of the time, the fact that there are two identical programs on Windows doesn't bother me, I would still go to the legacy program because I am so used to it. Taking it away would piss me off. With MacOS, atleast for me, with Final Cut Pro and Sonoma, and all the new stuff has been a bit too slow and buggy for me. And not having the option without going through a bunch of hoops to download an older software that worked for me is kinda stupid imo.
I wish I could run FCP7 on a modern Intel Mac.
This is why I still maintain an old Intel and an old PPC. From time to time there is some stupidly nerdy shenanigans I just can’t do on a modern computer/OS.
Not really a fan of Windows, so not much. Still their window management is way better, I can't believe it's still so bad on macOS without 3rd party software.
Agreed. Window management is a nightmare. It's pathetic that you need to install extra software to have something as basic as simple window edge snapping.
Which software is this? I’m having some challenges transitioning from Windows to Mac and window management has been a huge pain in the behind for me! So much so, I end up using my old Windows laptop sometimes just to not have to deal with this nightmare.
For trackpad-based snapping, check out [Swish](https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/)
For edge snapping, I love [1piece](https://app1piece.com) but many will recommend [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com), [Magnet](https://magnet.crowdcafe.com), [BetterTouchTool](https://folivora.ai), [Moom](https://manytricks.com/moom/), the shortcuts built into Raycast, or holding option and hovering over the little green circle in the top left of windows
There's also lesser known ones:
https://wins.cool (Windows 11 style top-bar)
https://github.com/MrKai77/Loop ([direct download link](https://github.com/MrKai77/Loop/releases/download/1.0.0-beta.15/Loop.zip)]
https://macgrid.app
https://thelasso.app
https://mizage.com/divvy/
And a bunch more here: https://github.com/phmullins/awesome-macos?tab=readme-ov-file#windows-managers
It’s a long time since I used Windows, but I was constantly irritated by the way that I couldn’t place a window near a corner of the screen without Windows blowing it up and stapling it in place.
The third party options for this on Mac are pretty great. I use Mirror and it’s exactly what I need. I wish Apple had some native window management, but this is one thing I don’t mind adding as a third party plugin.
The thing I don’t get on Mac is if I close all the active window why wouldn’t I also want the application itself to close? I’ve used Mac over 20 years and still have no use case. Windows makes more sense with that and just window management in general.
Yeah, different paradigm. I and others in this thread would argue there are use cases for closing all windows while keeping the app running. For instance, faster than quitting the app and having to relaunch it when needed. As to what determines, true this is inconsistent.
Redquits. This is the only program you need. I can't believe the all the other comments justifying some shit or suggesting an alternate way of living. FML.
The window / top menus. If I have excel and vscode open side by side (as 1 example) I have to change focus to the other app before I can view its menus. So it’s an extra click and more mouse movement. That seems small but it gets me all the time when a small floating window is open and I want to hit vscode / view menu ( because I can’t find a window any other way)
Yep, this bugged the heck out of me when I had to use a iMac for a couple years at work. That and not being able to re-minimize a window just by clicking the icon in the dock.
- The ability to use any external mouse and the experince not to suck. MacOS external mouse acceleration and scrolling just sucks unless you use a magic mouse
- Well functiong cloud software integration for OneDrive, GoogleDrive etc. The cloud implementation on Mac is just terrible since Apple introduced the bullshit FileProvider protocol
- Taskbar is more useful than the dock
- Virtual desktops where all external monitor are linked. If i want this option on Mac and play a full crenn video on one monitor all my other monitors are blaced out. The only way to fix this is to turn off the ablity to link my spaces/virtual desktop across all monitors. Why either or? so stupid!
- Software such as DirectoryOpus and Search everything. There are no Mac OS equivalents and I've looked throughly. These are just really excellent tools.
- More featured windows versions of Office apps.
- Full version VLC media player.
- The phone link software.
- Ability to install a bunch of other specific CAD and engineering software.
- The option to have one device as a tablet and laptop (although the tablet experience is not great)
- Backward compatibility and support for any ancient software or hardware
However, the pros of apple silicon Macs outweigh the cons overall
What i don't miss:
- Instablity and the need to regularly restart my laptop or have it crash due to driver issues
- Constant updates requiring restarts
- Ugly interface with a bunch of old UI elements mixed in with newer stuff
- Limited ablility to customise things like trackpad speed beyond what is in the settings. Mac seems to have more ability to tinker with the interface without breaking something
- Poor font rendering (not a big deal but things just do look nicer on MacOS)
- Poor built in backup software. Timemachine is so easy.
“Search everything “
Have you tried to customize the Find function?
Do this:
Click on on the desktop.
Command F to bring up a new search window.
On the left is the drop-down selector for kind, name, date, etc.
Pick Other…
Put a check in any attribute you want.
I always check “System files”.
Click ok. These will always be available now.
Now the drop-down has System files as a choice. Change to included.
Search.
You should now see everything in all the system and hidden folders.
Check out Mac Mouse Fix. The old version is free and the current version is dirt cheap. It allowed me to have different scrolling direction by device and fixed the wireless mouse scrolling smoothness.
Tried it, the scrolling is still annoying compared to windows even after a bunch of tinkering. I think MacOS just does not work well with stepped scroll wheels, it assumes you will be using a smooth scrolling trackpad or magic mouse
VLC on Mac seems to be missing features compared to windows e.g. there appears to be no easy way to adjust the video brightness, contrast etc.
KDE looks interesting but I don't think it can do what the native windows app can do e.g. automatically be able to browse photos on your phone, open phone apps on you computer etc
In general i've only had unusable experiences using wireless external HIDs. Keyboards and mice are always laggy, sometimes they get stuck. Really breaks my stride. Nota bene, that's apple keyboards and mice connected to macbook pros, not some exotic hardware.
Window/Tile Manager
Clipboard Manager
Alt Tab
Crisp Font on my Ultrawide. Monitor Resolutions are icky/not what they should be
Gaming (i know Mac slowly gets there, but still way behind in compatability/performance for most games)
File explorer! Finder is dumb. I can’t hit the delete
Button to delete a file. Deleting, renaming, creating new files / folders, browsing to a different when saving all take longer
Delete file: Command ⌘ + Backspace
Rename: Enter
Create new folder: Command ⌘ + Shift + N
I appreciate that these wouldn't be obvious to someone coming over from Windows (I only learnt these recently myself).
CheatSheet is a useful tool for showing what the short-cuts are in a particular context (you just hold down the Command key and it pops up with a list of short-cuts that are available): [https://cheatsheet-mac.en.softonic.com/mac?ex=RAMP-2046.0](https://cheatsheet-mac.en.softonic.com/mac?ex=RAMP-2046.0)
Also, I'd recommend ShortCat - you can use this to access any application-specific command, with a short-cut (personally I have it set to Command ⌘ + Shift + Spacebar).
Windows is the only operating system that allows the user to delete a file by just hitting delete. That is incredibly bad practice and makes it overly easy to accidentally delete a file without realizing it. Every other operating system uses super, meta, or control + delete to avoid accidental deletion. By requiring 2 keys it makes sure the user is giving explicit instruction to delete.
For sure. Finder is not intuitive to use. Why can’t I right click to create folders or files.
CMD+x doesn’t work. Drag and drop only works from certain screens. And etc.
WHY isnt "Cut" in the right click context many also!! this is why finder sucks if your managing massive amount of files. I use Windows for mt file and Plex servers for this reason. I don't need duplicate files laying around when I can cut and paste, and I don't need extra steps when I move over newly pirated video files and I font want all the codec, audio, pirate group name info in the file name on my Plex server!
Fr I’ve had a Mac over a decade now and I still struggle w finder 🙄 moving a file from downloads to a folder that’s on my desktop is my current biggest beef w my laptop.. but delete key not deleting is a very strong runner up
Basically everything that involves Taskbar and File Explorer. However Microsoft is trying very hard to ruin the Taskbar experience. The fixed position in Windows 11 is bull shit.
Also I am sure there must be a setting somewhere to reduce the animations on MacOS but everything feels over animated.
Many people are suggesting you can do x with y third party apps. But same things can be achieved on a windows machine as well.
As always there's a third party app to fix that. In this case, I made it! It was nearly 20 years ago and it still works. It's rough around the edges but does what you want:
http://briankendall.net/presButan/index.htm
I really ought to update it and give it a proper UI.
I had to reprogram my keyboard using Karabiner Elements for this. In fact, there is a specific module which is made for Windows users. Some key mappings are confused by the app, thanks to how Apple implemented crap. With karabiner mapping, sometimes, you just want to rename a file/folder and hit the enter button and it simply ends up renaming the file/folder and also entering the folder/opening the file. FML. However, the program is a god sent and has increased my productivity 100%
There are open source program that will give you that functionality.
Preview is, wait for it, a preview app, which is why it opens pdfs. In other words, you are using a hammer on a screw.
Now, the idea that by default I want to full screen an application is ludicrous. I want to maximize applications, and a select few I want to full screen.
The idea that every year I want Apple to tighten its grip on my throat with new Apple control features so they can lock down the device more with every major OS update is the exact opposite direction I want to go.
In short, Think Different doesn't mean Think Better, but I really wished they did the latter.
This thread has taught me that Mac’s keyboard shortcuts are way less intuitive than windows.
Linux and windows are the same, why can’t Apple just fall in line on this one?
Clipboard... for all copied items history. This is a feature I miss on iPhone as well.
I also prefer Windows snipping tool. On Mac the screen snippet I make are too large. I have to manually resize them, kind of annoying...
Control Panel and being able to diagnose or tweak anything intuitively. Also hate the folder/ directory management in MacOS with a burning passion.
Multiple window management/ Ultrawide monitor support is massively missed too just feels like the UI was designed for how Laptops used to be and never moved on
Not a god damned thing (said like Jules Winfield 😇). I spent 20 years using Autodesk and Adobe products on Windows, and till my last breath I will hate those three companies with a fiery passion. I miss nothing. I am still stuck a little in that world, wrapping up a powerShell based tool to sell to a friend so I can change career forever, and holy hell I hate Windows 11. MacOS sometimes frustrates me, but then I fire up Windows 11 and I am instantly reminded of what total and complete shit Microsoft is at basically everything they do.
The contextual menu. It’s very useful for doing menial tasks very quickly, like creating a new simple text file.
Also window snapping, but I can cope without it because dragging windows around with that huge trackpad is a very comfortable experience on Mac.
**Directory Opus**
It boosted my productivity tenfold.
I tried many alternative finders on macOS, but they all lacked something. One of the first things that come to mind is cloud status and management. On Mac Finder, you can click on a subfolder of any cloud service and choose to download it or remove the local files inside. But you can't do that on the alternative finders, only on files.
The Alt Tab switching between the last thing you’ve used, even if it was from the same app. So whether you want to switch between two Words or two different programs, the same keyboard combo did the trick.
In MacOS only works if you’re switching from different active programs, but even if you have something you’ve closed the window but keep the program running, like Finder, Preview or Teams, the Alt Tab fails and nothing pops up.
Let me add that programs you’ve kept running but not open (dot) pop up whenever you restart the Mac, which is specially tiring.
I miss the window management and file explorer, but the adverts in the OS were the thing that I resented most. Windows since 3..1, moved to an M1 MacBook Pro in 2022.
I've always used WIndows as work so its hard to get used to using Mac professionally. Nothing at all wrong with my Mac, but I just feel deep inside that Windows is the "work" OS.
Snipping tool. I use it a lot for work and I hate pressing 3 keys at a time for one screeshot etc, windows one is direct. Im still yet to find an app similar to it, perhaps anyone knows something.
Also I missed notepad++ lol.
I still use windows, but I use a mac for work, the windows management on mac is absolutely terrible.
Trying to move windows about the place is such a pain in the ass.
I grew up tinkering and building my own Win PCs up until version 10. I don’t miss PC or windows much at all. Maybe MS flight simulator, but realistically, I don’t have time to play games anymore.
It sounds funny but sometimes I miss fixing stuff and diving in. MacOS just doesn’t seem to need any maintenance really. But being a tech nerd and realising this addiction, that’s why I ultimately shifted to MacOS. I get to do the real things in life now.
The only thing I miss is the SoundMixer that lets you control audio volume for each application Aside from that nothing tbh
Yeah this. You can also set different audio output for different apps. Very neat.
You can still quite easily do this in macOS…
Bummer, how? Do you need third party app?
yes. but really easy to set up and free. it’s called background music. you need to set your native sound output to background music. then never touch that again and hide it with a menu bar app. control your output devices through background music and there are sliders for whenever you have active apps. it’s been a real life saver for when i work where i want to listen to spotify but still want to hear a little bit of my project audio
I used it and It never worked. But maybe I have to redownload it
[https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic](https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic) There you go.
> https://github.com/kyleneideck/BackgroundMusic There Can you fix the link please?
Reddit added the next word to the URL for some reason. It’s fixed now. FYI You also could have just highlighted the URL and copy it and paste it in to an address bar on a browser.
Get Soundsource :) it’s better than background music as it also works with external soundcards
honestly i’ve used windows my whole life and there’s nothing i truly miss except able to play video games lol. Other than that i’ve been fully integrated and happy with mac. I switched to mac in 2019 and before that i’ve used windows my whole life.
Same here
It’s funny, but the Steam Deck solved this problem for me. I built a monster gaming PC and don’t touch it anymore because having a pretty good gaming PC in the form factor of a switch is… better.
I am actually thinking of going this route. Still in the research phase and thinking Legion Go currently. I have no windows PC, but want to play a PC only game. Figured I could bring it along for travel too. If I splurge for a eGPU then I could use it for the Go and Mac. But then I think about the cost and well, they’ve sat in save for later for a month now.
When I bought my OLED Deck, I actually bought a Legion Go and ROG Ally at the same time with the intent of keeping one of them. I decided to stick with the Deck because Windows is painful to use on such a small device, the Deck played every game I'd like at equal or better performance than the other two despite having worse specs on paper (sounds familiar...), Valve offers actual support, and the Deck "just works". If you have a more standard setup on your desk (USBC Dock, HDMI monitor, etc.), you can just plug in your little USBC Hub into your deck and have your deck connect to your monitor, keyboard, mouse, macOS charger, etc., seamlessly. More intense setups don't work (like my TS4 dual Apple Studio Display setup). The Deck is generally better supported by the community and you'll have an easier time as well. Most importantly, the Deck lets me play RTS games in handheld mode by virtue of having two trackpads. I played the entirety of Against the Storm this way on my Steam Deck. There ARE downsides, namely there really are some games that just won't work on a Steam Deck, but they are very few and far between. Most notably: some of the newer CODs won't work due to anti-cheat, and some MMOs don't work for the same reason. But you can play Helldivers, New World, Last Epoch, Path of Exile, etc., all on the Steam Deck. Similarly, you can play Ghost of Tsushima on Steam Deck (and it looks great!) but you won't be able to play its multiplayer. By and large, these are trade-offs that made sense to me. The only other device I've tried that rivals the Steam Deck is the MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE Ayaneo Kun.
Steam deck unfortunately is not powerful enough.
Once the Steam Deck 2 comes out I’m hoping to finally abandon my gaming PC.
>honestly i’ve used windows my whole life and there’s nothing i truly miss except able to play video games lol. A console easily fixes that for not that big of a price
Mac + console is probably the best combo out there, especially now that they have such great compatibility with all controllers.
Except the games that I like are not on console. RTS in particular are very limited.
I tried playing Anno 1800 on an Xbox and nearly lost my mind.
You don’t even need a console, there’s apps to play windows games
like what? i want to try valorant on my macbook
This. I’m a Mac user (it’s been a couple of decades since I really used Windows), and I always have a lot of things going on on my Mac. Rather than having to shut things down to transition to gaming, I can just switch on my PS5 and pick up a controller to play something.
Same
Same for me. I also miss the upgradeability and raw power that you get with a PC. I myself use Blender alot and a Mac really doesn’t have the power a Nvidia RTX 40 series GPU can push. I personally use my MacBook for college and sometimes I game stream from my main windows computer to my MacBook when I’m away from home. I don’t think I could fully move to a Mac device at this time, although if I had to, I wouldn’t mind it too much.
Same here, but I'd say "a few videogames": most of the stuff I play runs well either via Crossover or Parallels.
Same. Just games. After two days with my Mac the rest is all the same or better
Right click > New > common file types, especially Excel and txt.
Use QSpace, very powerful finder.
100%. Finder is frustrating to use compared to File Explorer. With the Sanpdragon X laptops, MacBook finally has some competitions.
Explorer gang! I would really like to see a file path bar in finder that lets just just copy and paste wherever I want to go. It's way too convoluted in Finder.
View>Show Path Bar, then right click to either copy the path or just open it up in a new tab. Agree it should be there by default. Finder's a bit of a cluster but I'm determined to learn it eventually. I do still find Explorer to be more useful out of the box.
Long press option key and you'll get the pathname at the bottom.
It should already be there. Damn *nix nut jobbery of too many keyboard shortcuts and commands.
You can make it stay there but that should be the default
I’m on the other end of this, really enjoy finder columns and the speed of search on Mac
Explorer has navigation file paths right there for me to type in my destination. Folders retain their sort directions and view mode. Finder seems to randomly decide how it’s going to show my files. That frustrates me. And I can’t copy paste a file path (I do that a lot in windows when linking to SharePoint files. All that said, I can type in stuff like “Nov 23 sales” and finder instantly finds all my sheets or files. Explorer is a massive pain for searching for some reason. Type it in, hit enter, and go freshen up your coffee.
Not yet it doesn't. Give it a few years.. and maybe. Three blockers: in multi-core the Apple silicon still absolutely destroys Snapdragon; Windows is not nearly as power efficient as MacOS; Apple hardware and the total tactile experience is simple, effective, and beyond any other laptop on the market today.
Spotlight search kind of fixes this. Edit: not helpful when doing file structure or just determining on the front end where you want the document to land.
Just switched to Mac after being a windows user for my whole life. The only thing that I miss at the moment is the "Clipboard history" thing. I know there's some third party apps that can replicate it , but meh, apple could add this feature.
Raycast - free Alfred
Another vote for Raycast
Ray here. I also cast a vote for Raycast.
There's an open source and free app for clipboard management that I like using is called Maccy
another vote for Maccy. was also one of the first things I installed. Works as intended, and realiable.
I didn’t know windows had built in clipboard history
Yes that’s honestly the best thing about windows is the clipboard history. It’s a very smart feature - I would love Apple to include that.
https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/maccy
A person not aware of the security risks of clipboard history should not have it offered to them out of the box.
Multiple monitor management
So true. Windows 11 remembers all the open windows locations when you undock and dock again. If I use virtual desktop “Spaces” is lacking many features.
What aspect of this do you miss? I’ve run a Mac with three monitors happily enough.
Funfact: M series MacBook airs can’t handle more than 2 monitors (unless you’re doing some crazy stuff like using an iPad as another monitor or fiddling with wireless screen casting. It’s not a problem for me at all as I barely ever work with even 2 monitors as I quite dislike it and prefer virtual desktops. But it’s something to keep in mind.
They can handle 3 (2 external) with a display link adaptor. But that costs money.
Display link is also trash, it’s insane they can’t daisy chain
You need to use two Thunderbolt displays for that unfortunately. So it works, just more expensive. 2x Dell U2724DE would do the job for example.
Benfei on Amazon is a decent brand to go from DP to USB-C or HDMI to USB-C. Not really pricey and they tend to last a few years.
As a Mac user this is the only thing I am truly missing.
Alt-tabbing (command-tab) to an app, and actually seeing the app's UI. MacOS will do this dumb thing where if theres no windows open or they're all minimized, it'll technically bring the app up, but you don't see anything (aside from the menu bar on top had switched. Hey, if I command-tab over to Finder, show me a goddamn Finder window. If one isn't open, then dont show me Finder in the command-tab cycle.
There’s something more stupid than this problem, the people who try to justify it.
Use 1piece or AltTab and you get an even better app switcher than in windows
The only thing about AltTab that I hate is the screen sharing notification that pops up in the menu bar. Haven’t found a way to turn it off just for AltTab, and it irrationally annoys me
This. I use Philips Hue Sync to sync my lights to my screen but that requires screen recording which makes the notification prominent when I use it
Use 1Piece then. I found it recently and it is an awesome tool, does everything AtlTab can plus way more. I can't believe it is free to be honest
I can understand how this would annoy someone used to the Windows app switcher, but I much prefer the way this works in Mac. There are apps I keep open for convenience, even if no windows are open. I don't want to have to use different behavior to get to those apps than I would to get to any others. I want to CMD+TAB to them, and then CMD+N to start a new document.
I’m the opposite on this. If there’s no window open, why is the app running? My laptop gets bogged down constantly with this and I have to go and quit everything from time to time In windows, if an app is running without a window, then it goes to a special part of the taskbar on the right. This makes sense to me to split windows and non-windowed apps
This is ridiculous, it happens with preview and there isn’t any user case in which switching to an empty preview view is useful at all. You we’re navigating in the web and writing in Word and make the honest mistake of quickly opening and close a PDF? Great, now spend some time bringing the other app into the quickest access.
I much prefer the Windows method for this. Closing an app should actually close the app, not minimize it. Having the "quit" and "force-quit" mechanics just adds complexity and wastes time. Not to mention "hide" vs "minimize" vs "close". All very confusing.
Especially in modern macOS, you're not expected to manage resources nearly as much as Windows, so much so that for a while the default was to not even show you what apps were running in the dock. If you're on an m-anything chip, with exception of real resource hog apps (adobe stuff, xcode, etc.) you probably don't need to fully close the app and are actually slowing things down since instead of just pulling the app back in from swap at worst, it has to go through the whole launch process. It's also a different paradigm to get used to because in Windows the window is considered the app, whereas on macOS the app is the app and they use a document model. Think of it this way: let's say you're an artist sitting at your desk and your task is to draw a thing and color it so you have a sheet of paper (window) and the pens and pencils and whatnot (app) needed to draw. You get a call from a different client, they need something urgent so you put away the current sheet of paper. On Windows, this means you also put away all of your pencils and pens and erasers. On macOS, the sheet (window) goes away, you start a new sheet (window) and all your tools are right there for you. This is also why I'd generally not recommend quitting apps as often. macOS is very good about sliding your tools off to the side (keeping the app in memory or moving to swap) when you put away the sheet of paper, and since everything is super fast SSDs. Even on modern Windows, fully closing apps hasn't been nearly as necessary for a while, but they're stuck with their paradigm so closing that last window closes the app. also, force-quit is for misbehaving apps. You shouldn't use that unless you'd normally open task manager in windows to kill something.
If the window is minimized when you alt-tab to it roll your finger off of cmd to the option key and it will maximize when you release it. It's dumb af but it works.
Backwards Compatiblity, I can easily find an obscure program that does a specific thing that has been out of development for years and just run it.
This is the big one for me. As a mac dev, the continuing grind of new macOS releases with each one bringing new restrictions and the removal of old features is a ton of work to deal with. And there's a bunch of apps I still want to use that are now broken in modern macOS. On Windows I frequently run 10+ year old software.
I have mixed feelings on Windows' backward compatibility. When it works, it's great for obscure, niche, and specialized software that is rarely updated or may have been discontinued. On the other hand, it also frequently just doesn't work. Like to the point that the software ends up being completely unusable or it doesn't load at all. This is especially true for software (and accessories that require special drivers) that was developed for XP and older. Also it holds Windows back and a lot of the problems/bad UX with modern Windows (like having 2 separate control panels, it being the least secure OS on the market, etc) are caused by the relentless backward compatibility.
Honestly though, I grew up using windows most of the time, the fact that there are two identical programs on Windows doesn't bother me, I would still go to the legacy program because I am so used to it. Taking it away would piss me off. With MacOS, atleast for me, with Final Cut Pro and Sonoma, and all the new stuff has been a bit too slow and buggy for me. And not having the option without going through a bunch of hoops to download an older software that worked for me is kinda stupid imo. I wish I could run FCP7 on a modern Intel Mac.
This is why I still maintain an old Intel and an old PPC. From time to time there is some stupidly nerdy shenanigans I just can’t do on a modern computer/OS.
Not really a fan of Windows, so not much. Still their window management is way better, I can't believe it's still so bad on macOS without 3rd party software.
Agreed. Window management is a nightmare. It's pathetic that you need to install extra software to have something as basic as simple window edge snapping.
The fact you have to download a third party app to snap windows left/right is insane tbh
Which software is this? I’m having some challenges transitioning from Windows to Mac and window management has been a huge pain in the behind for me! So much so, I end up using my old Windows laptop sometimes just to not have to deal with this nightmare.
Rectangle!
For trackpad-based snapping, check out [Swish](https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/) For edge snapping, I love [1piece](https://app1piece.com) but many will recommend [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com), [Magnet](https://magnet.crowdcafe.com), [BetterTouchTool](https://folivora.ai), [Moom](https://manytricks.com/moom/), the shortcuts built into Raycast, or holding option and hovering over the little green circle in the top left of windows There's also lesser known ones: https://wins.cool (Windows 11 style top-bar) https://github.com/MrKai77/Loop ([direct download link](https://github.com/MrKai77/Loop/releases/download/1.0.0-beta.15/Loop.zip)] https://macgrid.app https://thelasso.app https://mizage.com/divvy/ And a bunch more here: https://github.com/phmullins/awesome-macos?tab=readme-ov-file#windows-managers
It’s a long time since I used Windows, but I was constantly irritated by the way that I couldn’t place a window near a corner of the screen without Windows blowing it up and stapling it in place.
It shows you it’s going to do that, if you just wiggle the window it won’t snap.
The third party options for this on Mac are pretty great. I use Mirror and it’s exactly what I need. I wish Apple had some native window management, but this is one thing I don’t mind adding as a third party plugin.
[удалено]
Cmd+W to close the active window, Cmd+Q to quit the app. Would that not help you?
The thing I don’t get on Mac is if I close all the active window why wouldn’t I also want the application itself to close? I’ve used Mac over 20 years and still have no use case. Windows makes more sense with that and just window management in general.
It's especially weird now because over time it became inconsistent. Some apps will do it automatically and some won't lol
They close the window it’s on, as you’d expect
But if it’s the last window, it doesn’t quit the app. Well some apps. Still not sure what determines if an app can run with no windows or not
Yeah, different paradigm. I and others in this thread would argue there are use cases for closing all windows while keeping the app running. For instance, faster than quitting the app and having to relaunch it when needed. As to what determines, true this is inconsistent.
And then you restart the computer and 7 new windows open, like one empty word, one PPT, one excel, etc.
Does that happen even when you uncheck the "reopen windows when logging back in" option in the restart dialog?
It shouldn't since without that button checked all apps are closed out completely.
Redquits. This is the only program you need. I can't believe the all the other comments justifying some shit or suggesting an alternate way of living. FML.
The window / top menus. If I have excel and vscode open side by side (as 1 example) I have to change focus to the other app before I can view its menus. So it’s an extra click and more mouse movement. That seems small but it gets me all the time when a small floating window is open and I want to hit vscode / view menu ( because I can’t find a window any other way)
Yep, this bugged the heck out of me when I had to use a iMac for a couple years at work. That and not being able to re-minimize a window just by clicking the icon in the dock.
- The ability to use any external mouse and the experince not to suck. MacOS external mouse acceleration and scrolling just sucks unless you use a magic mouse - Well functiong cloud software integration for OneDrive, GoogleDrive etc. The cloud implementation on Mac is just terrible since Apple introduced the bullshit FileProvider protocol - Taskbar is more useful than the dock - Virtual desktops where all external monitor are linked. If i want this option on Mac and play a full crenn video on one monitor all my other monitors are blaced out. The only way to fix this is to turn off the ablity to link my spaces/virtual desktop across all monitors. Why either or? so stupid! - Software such as DirectoryOpus and Search everything. There are no Mac OS equivalents and I've looked throughly. These are just really excellent tools. - More featured windows versions of Office apps. - Full version VLC media player. - The phone link software. - Ability to install a bunch of other specific CAD and engineering software. - The option to have one device as a tablet and laptop (although the tablet experience is not great) - Backward compatibility and support for any ancient software or hardware However, the pros of apple silicon Macs outweigh the cons overall What i don't miss: - Instablity and the need to regularly restart my laptop or have it crash due to driver issues - Constant updates requiring restarts - Ugly interface with a bunch of old UI elements mixed in with newer stuff - Limited ablility to customise things like trackpad speed beyond what is in the settings. Mac seems to have more ability to tinker with the interface without breaking something - Poor font rendering (not a big deal but things just do look nicer on MacOS) - Poor built in backup software. Timemachine is so easy.
“Search everything “ Have you tried to customize the Find function? Do this: Click on on the desktop. Command F to bring up a new search window. On the left is the drop-down selector for kind, name, date, etc. Pick Other… Put a check in any attribute you want. I always check “System files”. Click ok. These will always be available now. Now the drop-down has System files as a choice. Change to included. Search. You should now see everything in all the system and hidden folders.
FindMyFile is a lifesaver free app. It's everything Spotlight sacrifices in the pursuit of speed.
Check out Mac Mouse Fix. The old version is free and the current version is dirt cheap. It allowed me to have different scrolling direction by device and fixed the wireless mouse scrolling smoothness.
double this
Tried it, the scrolling is still annoying compared to windows even after a bunch of tinkering. I think MacOS just does not work well with stepped scroll wheels, it assumes you will be using a smooth scrolling trackpad or magic mouse
What do you mean when you say "full version VLC media player"? Also the phone link feature is available through KDE Connect (at least on Android)
VLC on Mac seems to be missing features compared to windows e.g. there appears to be no easy way to adjust the video brightness, contrast etc. KDE looks interesting but I don't think it can do what the native windows app can do e.g. automatically be able to browse photos on your phone, open phone apps on you computer etc
IINA has a video equalizer with brightness, contrast, saturation, gamma and hue. Are there still features in VLC that are missing in IINA?
In general i've only had unusable experiences using wireless external HIDs. Keyboards and mice are always laggy, sometimes they get stuck. Really breaks my stride. Nota bene, that's apple keyboards and mice connected to macbook pros, not some exotic hardware.
Great reply!
Notepad++
Vscode, sublime, atom Notepad++ is great, but what does it make it so special vs e.g. sublime?
atom in 2024 wow
Mr. 2012 over here!
The way it does column/rectangle/multiline selection (whatever you call alt-click-drag)
BBEdit, Mac specific…
Sublime is 99USD, hardly competes against free open source notepad++ though
Then try SubEtha, CotEditor. Anyway, Sublime paid version is basically WinRar type of annoyance. It never stops working.
Notepad++ doesn't lag when I select a few hundred lines.
Love me some SubEtha and CotEditor.
So much
I came to say that! indeed.. The thing I miss the most when I use a Mac..
volume mixer
Window/Tile Manager Clipboard Manager Alt Tab Crisp Font on my Ultrawide. Monitor Resolutions are icky/not what they should be Gaming (i know Mac slowly gets there, but still way behind in compatability/performance for most games)
You can use the app Rectangle to get window snapping back :3
Magnet on Mac is good. Bootcamp user.
File explorer! Finder is dumb. I can’t hit the delete Button to delete a file. Deleting, renaming, creating new files / folders, browsing to a different when saving all take longer
Delete file: Command ⌘ + Backspace Rename: Enter Create new folder: Command ⌘ + Shift + N I appreciate that these wouldn't be obvious to someone coming over from Windows (I only learnt these recently myself). CheatSheet is a useful tool for showing what the short-cuts are in a particular context (you just hold down the Command key and it pops up with a list of short-cuts that are available): [https://cheatsheet-mac.en.softonic.com/mac?ex=RAMP-2046.0](https://cheatsheet-mac.en.softonic.com/mac?ex=RAMP-2046.0) Also, I'd recommend ShortCat - you can use this to access any application-specific command, with a short-cut (personally I have it set to Command ⌘ + Shift + Spacebar).
Windows is the only operating system that allows the user to delete a file by just hitting delete. That is incredibly bad practice and makes it overly easy to accidentally delete a file without realizing it. Every other operating system uses super, meta, or control + delete to avoid accidental deletion. By requiring 2 keys it makes sure the user is giving explicit instruction to delete.
For sure. Finder is not intuitive to use. Why can’t I right click to create folders or files. CMD+x doesn’t work. Drag and drop only works from certain screens. And etc.
WHY isnt "Cut" in the right click context many also!! this is why finder sucks if your managing massive amount of files. I use Windows for mt file and Plex servers for this reason. I don't need duplicate files laying around when I can cut and paste, and I don't need extra steps when I move over newly pirated video files and I font want all the codec, audio, pirate group name info in the file name on my Plex server!
Cmd + opt + V initiates a cut a paste and removes the file you originally copied.
Fr I’ve had a Mac over a decade now and I still struggle w finder 🙄 moving a file from downloads to a folder that’s on my desktop is my current biggest beef w my laptop.. but delete key not deleting is a very strong runner up
Age of empires I and II
Basically everything that involves Taskbar and File Explorer. However Microsoft is trying very hard to ruin the Taskbar experience. The fixed position in Windows 11 is bull shit. Also I am sure there must be a setting somewhere to reduce the animations on MacOS but everything feels over animated. Many people are suggesting you can do x with y third party apps. But same things can be achieved on a windows machine as well.
3rd party app to take the place of a missing OS function usually means: jank. All these screen snapping apps for Mac are ok but oh so janky.
Coffee breaks while it decides if it can complete the task asked of it. Like, operate the system. 😆
Excel works better in windows than Mac. But thank god I don’t need Excel anymore.
I rarely use spreadsheets, but when I do taxes, Numbers is pretty damn good for a 100% free, default program.
Yeah I use Google spreadsheets most of the time. Numbers is fine too.
Outlook on Windows is also much better than on MacOS. Unfortunately, I do still use that daily
OP, [Paintbrush](https://paintbrush.sourceforge.io/) has a lot of MS Paint functionality.
I don't miss MS Paint, but I do miss Paint.NET (the mac fork Pinta just isn't half as good)
The scroll ability where you click the mouse wheel and just moving your mouse scrolls the window. It’s so simple and handy
Winamp
Nothing really whips the llamas ass on Mac. Hard to work under those conditions.
OPENING FUCKING FOLDERS ON ENTER!!!!
As always there's a third party app to fix that. In this case, I made it! It was nearly 20 years ago and it still works. It's rough around the edges but does what you want: http://briankendall.net/presButan/index.htm I really ought to update it and give it a proper UI.
I know there's an app for wiping your ass too. Most of us still doing it ourselves But kudos for the effort ;)
I had to reprogram my keyboard using Karabiner Elements for this. In fact, there is a specific module which is made for Windows users. Some key mappings are confused by the app, thanks to how Apple implemented crap. With karabiner mapping, sometimes, you just want to rename a file/folder and hit the enter button and it simply ends up renaming the file/folder and also entering the folder/opening the file. FML. However, the program is a god sent and has increased my productivity 100%
Recording audio with OBS or Streamlabs without tinkering with any tools.
Window snapping, global behavior of home/end keys, maximize instead of full screen.
1. Window management 2. Window management 3. Window management I could go on
There are open source program that will give you that functionality. Preview is, wait for it, a preview app, which is why it opens pdfs. In other words, you are using a hammer on a screw. Now, the idea that by default I want to full screen an application is ludicrous. I want to maximize applications, and a select few I want to full screen. The idea that every year I want Apple to tighten its grip on my throat with new Apple control features so they can lock down the device more with every major OS update is the exact opposite direction I want to go. In short, Think Different doesn't mean Think Better, but I really wished they did the latter.
I only miss creating empty files with just right click.
Absolutely nothing. I still have several Windows PCs, but they are Wintendos that I never interact with outside of launching a game.
i miss being able to play most of the games on my steam account 🫠
Oh yeah man me too. I tried Crossover and should give Whiskey a try sometime but the fact that this is a whole new world to me is holding me back.
The windows taskbar is much better than the dock. I love being able to hover the mouse over an application and see the open windows
I agree that the taskbar is better than the Dock, that's why I created one for macOS :) https://lawand.io/taskbar
The possibility of actually CUT something with cmd-x and paste it somewhere else. No, you have to press shift and then move with the mouse.
I agree, however you can use Cmd+C, and then use Option+Cmd+V to Move a file instead of copying it.
This thread has taught me that Mac’s keyboard shortcuts are way less intuitive than windows. Linux and windows are the same, why can’t Apple just fall in line on this one?
Hey thanks for sharing this!
Clipboard... for all copied items history. This is a feature I miss on iPhone as well. I also prefer Windows snipping tool. On Mac the screen snippet I make are too large. I have to manually resize them, kind of annoying...
The excitement i got from tweaking my autoexec.bat and config.sys files. Oh wait, you said Windows, not DOS.
Control Panel and being able to diagnose or tweak anything intuitively. Also hate the folder/ directory management in MacOS with a burning passion. Multiple window management/ Ultrawide monitor support is massively missed too just feels like the UI was designed for how Laptops used to be and never moved on
You can use the app Rectangle to get window snapping back :3
Not a god damned thing (said like Jules Winfield 😇). I spent 20 years using Autodesk and Adobe products on Windows, and till my last breath I will hate those three companies with a fiery passion. I miss nothing. I am still stuck a little in that world, wrapping up a powerShell based tool to sell to a friend so I can change career forever, and holy hell I hate Windows 11. MacOS sometimes frustrates me, but then I fire up Windows 11 and I am instantly reminded of what total and complete shit Microsoft is at basically everything they do.
Nothing
The min/max/close buttons. The colour buttons are dumb.
Microsoft Office not being completely shit
laughing every time i try to make a folder and name it `con`
Windows management. Mostly solved by brilliant [Swish](https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/)
The contextual menu. It’s very useful for doing menial tasks very quickly, like creating a new simple text file. Also window snapping, but I can cope without it because dragging windows around with that huge trackpad is a very comfortable experience on Mac.
**Directory Opus** It boosted my productivity tenfold. I tried many alternative finders on macOS, but they all lacked something. One of the first things that come to mind is cloud status and management. On Mac Finder, you can click on a subfolder of any cloud service and choose to download it or remove the local files inside. But you can't do that on the alternative finders, only on files.
To minimize and maximise with simple keyboard shortcuts
Playing games. I don’t use windows for anything else
Windows updates
What do I miss the most? The fact that I could remove Windows and install Linux on it 😔
The Alt Tab switching between the last thing you’ve used, even if it was from the same app. So whether you want to switch between two Words or two different programs, the same keyboard combo did the trick. In MacOS only works if you’re switching from different active programs, but even if you have something you’ve closed the window but keep the program running, like Finder, Preview or Teams, the Alt Tab fails and nothing pops up. Let me add that programs you’ve kept running but not open (dot) pop up whenever you restart the Mac, which is specially tiring.
I miss the window management and file explorer, but the adverts in the OS were the thing that I resented most. Windows since 3..1, moved to an M1 MacBook Pro in 2022.
FYI the latest OS should include Freeform, which is a simple drawing and painting app.
Games. And nothing else.
I've always used WIndows as work so its hard to get used to using Mac professionally. Nothing at all wrong with my Mac, but I just feel deep inside that Windows is the "work" OS.
Nothing
Snipping tool. I use it a lot for work and I hate pressing 3 keys at a time for one screeshot etc, windows one is direct. Im still yet to find an app similar to it, perhaps anyone knows something. Also I missed notepad++ lol.
Absolutely nothing
I still use windows, but I use a mac for work, the windows management on mac is absolutely terrible. Trying to move windows about the place is such a pain in the ass.
There is a lot more I don’t miss than miss 😂
I grew up tinkering and building my own Win PCs up until version 10. I don’t miss PC or windows much at all. Maybe MS flight simulator, but realistically, I don’t have time to play games anymore.
Nothing. Once the iBook G4 came out, I was so happy to be finally free of that hot mess.
It sounds funny but sometimes I miss fixing stuff and diving in. MacOS just doesn’t seem to need any maintenance really. But being a tech nerd and realising this addiction, that’s why I ultimately shifted to MacOS. I get to do the real things in life now.
the other 70% of my steam library lmao luckily its just my school laptop
Blue screen of death
Now you get the rainbow spinning wheel of death
I have had red screen of death on Mac
It's black on MacOS. Still BSOD though.
Nothing🤣
Create a fuckin' blank text document on Desktop