Moving to a Macbook from Windows...Practical Implications

gino76ph wrote:

I currently have the Asus Zenbook 14-inch UM3402YA Windows 11 laptop 2023 model.

I use Google Chrome as my main browser. How easy is it to do a screenshot?

Just tapping 3 keys. Command+shift+3 for full screen. Command+shift+4 for area. Command+shift+5 for more specific options.

If i'm at the bottom of a page can i tap the top border to swiftly go back to the top of that page?

Up to Chrome. I'm not sure the Mac version of Chrome does that.

I also use Google apps online such as Keep and Photos. Do they function well similar to Windows?

Yes. They are the same thing. Same exact website.

Is there a feature within Chrome (or Edge or Safari) that reads an article or words on a web page)

Yes. You can use the Speak option from the right click menu.

I use Microsoft apps such as Word, One Drive and 365. Can i log-in using my MS account via the Mac app (which doesn't have the most positive reviews out there) or best on the web version?

You can log in with your Microsoft Account on the Mac versions. They work fine.

I am used to using Ctrl + A/X/C/Y to cut, copy or paste words and sentences. Is there a similar or easier process on a Mac?

Yes. Command+c to copy, Command+x to cut, Command+v to paste. etc...

I organise my files using the File Manager. Can i save .doc or .pdf files on the Finder easily?

Yes. Works pretty like Windows Explorer.

Can i organise my files and folder in any way i can such as alphabetically? Can i easily rename files & folders?

Yes. You select a file or folder in Finder and hit enter to rename it. Command+O opens it.

I use a third-party mouse on my laptop but i'm kind annoyed that the USB dongle sticks out to the side. Does a Macbook allow "direct" bluetooth connection without the dongle?

Yes. If the mouse is actually a bluetooth mouse then it can be connected over bluetooth to the Mac. It's odd your windows PC does not allow bluetooth connections to the mouse. Unless the mouse is actually RF instead of Bluetooth and uses its own dongle for that. Then you'll still need the dongle on Mac.

I don't do multitasking too much on my laptop but it would be useful to me. Can a Mac do multi window, stacked or side-by-side multitasking now?

It has always done that since back in the original System 7, 8 and 9 days in the 1990s. That has never been exclusive to Windows.

My Asus laptop is fully touchscreen. Now, I will admit the only time the touchscreen helps is via the browser scrubber (moving up & down the web page), clicking OK or Next easily and signing a document. They are helpful in a small way but will the Mac's touchpad easily replace some of those functions?

Yes. The Touchpad is a god send on Macs. Was never a fan of touchpads on Windows PCs and always used external Trackball mic, but when I moved to Mac, this was an entirely different ball game. Dropped the trackball, and now don't know how I lived without the TrackPad. The gestures, the smoothness, the responsiveness unmatched, its honestly that good.

You'll find that doing things with the touchpad is much more intuitive and streamlined than requiring a touch screen, also less tiring on the arm as you don't have to reach over the keyboard to do things.

I had a Windows PC, a Dell Inspiron with a touch screen before I moved to Mac full time 5 years ago, and never want to go back.

Granted, I had some experience with Mac prior to that (old 2007 iMac and a 2011 Mac mini server I still use a file server), but it had never been my daily driver, always a secondary device to play around with, that was old and had no support life left.

It was only in 2020 when I got my first full fledged, brand new Mac, a 2020 M1 MacBook Air and the difference was staggering.

Takes a little time to get used to it, but overall I think it's a much better experience than Windows and have no plans of going back to Windows. Though I still keep my Dell Windows laptop in its last legs for certain Windows only things, but these days its just basically iTunes and Corel PaintShop Pro which have slowly been replaced by the Music app on the Gimp for image editing on the Mac.

Suggest you start here: Mac User Guide - Apple Support

I cannot answer all this but will hit some of your points where I have expericence with both Mac and Windows. This is a lot of subject matter to cover in thuis forum setting. And remember, only other end user, not Apple, respond here.

First, understand that the last true "MacBook" was discontinued in 2019. The current models are the entry-level MacBook Air and the more powerful MacBook Pro.

— Chrome is a known resource hog in both macSO and Windows. Computers using it run hot. The Macbook Pro has cooling fans to deal with the heat Chrome and other activities like video-conferencing generate. The Macbook Air has no fans. If you insist on, or are required to use Chrome, you need to get a more powerful laptop than the Macbook Air,

I also recommend that you look at the Brave browser. It has the same underlying engine as Chrome but without Google's intrusiveness and complexity.

— I also use Google apps online such as Keep and Photos. Do they function well similar to Windows?

I don't use Google's apps—Google is too nosey for my tastes, so I cannot comment on other Google products.

— I use Microsoft apps such as Word, One Drive and 365

I have used Office for Mac since before they called it "Office" (Word v4). Today I am running Office 365 with no issues. Fast and stable on my M4 Pro Macbook Pro and Mrs AJ's M4 iMac.

— Can i log-in using my MS account via the Mac app (which doesn't have the most positive reviews out there

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. There are a lot of Mac haters out there. No MS Account issues here unless I try from an outdated browser on an older Mac thte MS no longer supports. Works fine from Safari on our newer Macs. I find the mac versions of Word and Excel easier to use than the Win versions, and I've used both professionally and at home.

— Screen shots can be done with quick keyboard shortcuts in any app. No need ot launch anything like Window's Snipping Tool: Take screenshots or screen recordings on Mac - Apple Support

— Is there a feature within Chrome (or Edge or Safari) that reads an article or words on a web page)

Better than that. Mac Text-to speech is system-level supported so it works across most apps, not just Chrome:

Change Spoken Content settings for accessibility on Mac - Apple Support

— Can a Mac do multi window, stacked or side-by-side multitasking now?

My recollection is that macOS was allowing preemptive multi-taksing and fast app switching before Windows. Switching between apps is a simple 2-key combo. I

Split scren view stared in 2018, See: Use apps in Split View on Mac - Apple Support

— Does a Macbook allow "direct" bluetooth connection without the dongle?

Absolutely, There are plenty of aftermarket wireless mice that work on Mac without dongles. I like Logitech mice; their web site lets you sort by Mac-compatible devices.

— I am used to using Ctrl + A/X/C/Y to ***, copy or paste words and sentences. Is there a similar or easier process on a Mac?

I believe Apple were using those commands first, We got our first Mac in about 1990 and those were the commands.. You can also using do/apply those with a right-click as in Windows but I find the key combos easier.

— I organise my files using the File Manager.

The Finder in macOS handles that

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What to order? Again, the Macbook Pro is best for demanding apps. The base Macbook Pro comes with 16GB RAM which I find is plenty for MS Office and browsing. It has two cooling fans and the base storate is an acceptable 512GB. If you up-order anything, I would opt for more storage—1TB.

Anyone switching OS from Windows to Mac or vice-versa will face a learning curve. The museum where I volunteer just changed to a Windows 11 model and I struggle with it even though I was pretty comfortable with Win 7 on their old computer. If you have so many concerns and need to be abt to have a fast transition, it is 100% OK to stay with Windows. You can buy a nicely-appointed Win 11 laptop for half the cost of a MacBook Pro.

gino76ph wrote:

I've had a Mac Air years ago and I wanted to go back because I heard Mac are lightweight and have great battery life.

Mac - Compare Models - Apple

The lightest Mac notebooks in the current lineup are the

• 13" M4 MacBook Air – 2.7 pounds
• 15" M4 MacBook Air – 3.3 pounds
• 14" M4 MacBook Pro – 3.4 pounds (plain M4) / 3.5 pounds (M4 Pro chip) / 3.6 pounds (M4 Max chip). The Pro and Max chips have more CPU cores, GPU cores, etc. than the plain M4 chip, and if you go up from a plain M4 chip to a Pro or Max chip, you will likely sacrifice some battery runtime.

Do downloaded Microsoft apps (such as 365 or One Drive) function well as an app or does the web version function as well as the app?

If you take out a Microsoft 365 subscription, or purchase a copy of Office Home 2024, you get access to native macOS apps. Note that these might not have identical user interfaces and features to the Windows ones.

Microsoft 365 – Compare all Microsoft 365 products

As for the free Web-based apps, my guess is that they will have limitations compared to the paid native desktop ones. Presumably Microsoft wants to keep a toe in the water of offering "Office as a Web service", so that if this ever becomes attractive enough compared to running native apps, they will already have a product that they can charge for.

Microsoft 365 – Use Microsoft 365 apps for free on the web

Sorry to be late!! It was a busy weekend.

--If i'm making a note and the spelling appears to be wrong, is there a right click function like Windows that let's you choose the correct spelling?

Although Office:Mac seems to have its own spell/grammar check routines, right-click checking is system wide in macOS. This is from Safari:

— My Asus laptop is fully touchscreen.

I hear Steve Jobs was not a fan. Neither am I for computers. My son the computer engineer helped a friend configure a new iMac but, at the last minute, his friend changed to an all-in-one HP only because it had touch-screen.

The young purchaser (early 20s) was in superb physical shape and excelled in several sports. However, after only a short time using the HP touchscreen, he said he was getting shoulder and upper arm pain. He went back to a mouse or, in some cases, used the big HP flat in his lap like it was a giant iPad. Big-time buyers regret for that young man.

Your call. That's why there are Fords and Chevys as my sainted dad used to say. For me, if I want touch-screen control, I use my iPhone or iPad.

— The most intensive tasks i will be doing will be signing PDF files (esp when i'm applying for a new job), Steam games (which i play rarely as I use my PS5 often), transferring photos from a digital camera to my laptop and doing basic photo and video editing (similar to the editing tools on Google Photos or Adobe Lightroom), watching a 4K video or documentary on Youtube

Gaming and watching videos are high demand tasks that generate heat. IMHO, the fan-cooled Macbook Pro is the only answer there. Look in the Macbook Air forum section at the number of overheating complaints re M-series Macbook Airs.

— using AI assistants such as Co-Pilot or Gemini to help me write essays or tidy up letters and notes.

Co-pilot is part of Office 365 Mac as well. Apple also has Apple intelligence for the same task categories. Apple's writing tools are available with a right click:

Both AI functions suggest to me to avoid the fanless Macbook Air.

— Does the Brave browser or any third-party browser have that Safari-like feature where you tap the upper portion of the browser and it quickly goes back to the top if you are on the bottom of the page?

Don't know. I've not yet installed Brave on my new M4 Pro Macbook Pro. If it exists in Safari I've not used it, and my Macs are not touchscreen.

Need to run off to yet another meeting. Too busy for an Old Retird Guy! Will chack back latter today.

gino76ph wrote:

I have a Microsoft 365 subscription. I suppose i would have no issues of "who is more optimized" in terms of desktop apps vs the web version?

In your experience is it best to use the desktop apps?

I would assume that the desktop apps are more full-featured than the Web-based ones. There's also the small matter that the desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will work even when you are offline.

I have a copy of Microsoft Office that I bought for one of my old Macs, but I'm not using it any more because it's not compatible with current versions of macOS. What I have been using for now is LibreOffice – specifically the word processor (Writer). So I can't give you a detailed comparison of the Web and subscription versions of 365 beyond what you can find out on Microsoft's site.

gino76ph wrote:

Does the two finger tap on the Mac acts as the right click...is this correct?

It looks like that might be one of the options – but not the only one.

Change Trackpad settings on Mac - Apple Support

Right-click on Mac - Apple Support

"You can choose to Control-click by clicking with one or two fingers."

With a Magic Mouse – like the one I'm using with my desktop Mac – the options are "None", "Click Right Side", and "Click Left Side."

If I wanted to attach a document to an email can i easily attach a file from the Finder?

Yes. You can either

• Drag and drop a file from the Finder into the window where you are composing the Mail message, or
• Click on the paperclip icon in the Mail composition window, and then use a file selection dialog to navigate to the file(s) you want to attach.

Does the Finder functions only as a "local" storage i.e. only saved documents? Can I add third-party services such as MS One Drive, etc.?

You can add OneDrive by downloading Microsoft's OneDrive app from the App Store. The OneDrive app is free to download, but if you want more than 5 GB of OneDrive cloud storage, you will need a Microsoft 365 subscription, which you say you already have.

There's also a OneDrive app for the iPhone and iPad, and if you install that one, OneDrive shows up as a location in the iOS/iPadOS Files app – much like Apple's own iCloud Drive.

My Asus laptop has a fan that works overtime everytime i game or installing a big update. You recommended a Mac Pro as it has fans but if my tasks are not that intensive would you still recommend a Pro as "future proof" and better resale value i suppose?

Note: A Mac Pro is a very expensive Mac desktop. What they're talking about is a MacBook Pro – a notebook. It's common for people to confuse the lines, and post MacBook Pro questions in the Mac Pro forum, but they're rather different types of machines.

If we are comparing a 14" M4-series MacBook Pro to a 13' or 15" M4 MacBook Air, here are some of the things to consider:

• The MacBook Air has a plain M4 chip. You can get the MacBook Pro with your choice of plain M4 chip, M4 Pro chip, or M4 Max chip. The higher-end chips can take gobs of RAM, have more GPU cores (and other hardware computing engines), and might be better for intensive games (like flight simulators and 3D games). (That said, if gaming is your first priority, you might be better off getting a good Windows desktop PC with a good cooling system and graphics card.)
• The MacBook Air has two multi-purpose USB-C / Thunderbolt portts, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe 3 port for charging (you can charge either over it or over USB-C). The MacBook Pro has a third USB-C / Thunderbolt port, a HDMI port, and a SDXC card slot, so there are more places to plug things in the absence of a hub/dock.
• The MacBook Pro has cooling fans.
• The MacBook Pro has a fancier mini-LED-backlit display with support for prerecorded HDR video content.
• Given enough RAM and cooling, the M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips will all perform very similarly on jobs where single-core CPU speed matters. This could make a "plain M4" MacBook Air or MacBook Pro a relative bargain.
• You can get up to 32 GB of RAM on Mac notebooks with plain M4 chips.
• Mac notebooks with plain M4 chips can drive two external monitors at the same time as the built-in screen - a first for any Mac notebook with a plain M-series chip. In practice, if you are going to use two monitors, it might be easier to do this on a MacBook Pro, or on a MacBook Air and a dock, than on a MacBook Air by itself, due to the MacBook Air's relative lack of ports.

gino76ph wrote:

Stupid question but is a Thunderbolt port similar as Type-C port? Can i charge a Macbook Air using a Type-C port? Or does it still uses a proprietary charger?

USB-C is basically just a connector type, and some standards for how other optional things might co-exist on it. You could have a USB-C port that supported only USB 2.0.

All Apple Silicon Macs have some multi-purpose USB-C ports that support

• USB 3.* (up to 10 Gbps)
• USB4 (up to 40 Gbps)
• DisplayPort Alt Mode
• Thunderbolt version 3, 4, or 5. (Starting with version 3, Intel moved Thunderbolt to the USB-C connector.)
• Charging

Thunderbolt and USB4 are high-end features – even if a lot of ordinary uses involve USB 3.* and DisplayPort – and thus Apple likes to refer to the multi-purpose ports as Thunderbolt ports or USB4 / Thunderbolt ports.

There may be other USB-C ports that support only USB 3.* (e.g., front-panel ports on a M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini). All Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5 ports are USB-C ports – but only some USB-C ports have Thunderbolt 3, 4, or 5.

You can charge current Mac notebooks using USB-C or using MagSafe 3.

USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m) - Silver - Apple

Charge your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro - Apple Support

The MagSafe cable plugs into a USB-C power brick – but is designed to detach from your Mac if you put pressure on the cord – to reduce the chances of your notebook coming crashing to the ground.

Microsoft Excel 2 and Microsoft Word 2 side by side multitasking in 1991 on Apple System 7.