I Forced Myself to Use macOS For 30 Days (macOS Challenge)

I was looking for a PC upgrade for better editing performance, but ended up getting a MacBook Pro M1 Max instead, it ended up being a rollercoaster.

MUSIC:
Atomic Heart OST - Buy Menu MUSIC
Gymnopedie no1 - Satie

Monodrone - オンラインショッピング
Monodrone - 楽しみを探している
Monodrone - ヘッドラッシュ
Monodrone - 彼女のために泣いている
Monodrone - 車内での喫煙
Monodrone - 盲目の悲しみ
Monodrone - 午前5時に寝る
Follow Monodrone:

Unreal Tournament OST - Foregone Destruction
Evangelion OST - 004 hajimari e no tohi
The Sims OST - Neighborhood 4

Videos by others displayed in this video:

My final config files:

My final setup:

CHAPTERS:
00:00 This is going to be a long video
00:30 Why I'm looking for a PC upgrade
1:00 Why I still haven't upgraded
1:30 First time seeing the M1 based Macs
2:00 A single cable portable desktop replacement?
2:30 Doing more research about the M1 MacBooks
3:30 Desktop vs Laptop/MacBook
4:05 What about macOS?
4:35 I was still patiently waiting
5:05 The 4090 released, where are the M2 Macs?
5:45 I found a good second hand deal
6:15 I bought an M1 Max!
6:45 The bad timing of the M2 Macs luckily didn't make a big difference
7:15 Getting my new second hand MacBook
8:45 First hands-on look
9:20 Resetting the MacBook
9:55 My first experience with macOS
10:30 Having trouble with the Dock
11:25 No window snapping
12:15 More trouble with macOS workflow
13:15 Awful window focus issue
14:35 macOS fullscreen UX
15:20 Absolutely awful key repeat issue
16:00 Alt symbol issue
16:25 Mouse acceleration issue
17:55 Browser zoom/autoscroll issue
17:25 Other UX issues
17:55 Blurry fonts on 2k monitors
18:55 A 4k monitor might not be a fix
19:30 Maybe macOS is not for me
20:20 Giving it one more chance, 3rd party programs
21:10 Other issues I had
22:05 My macOS experience had improved, but it still feels like a downgrade
23:05 Trying out gaming
23:35 Apparently 32-bit is not supported anymore
24:05 Trying out Parallels & CrossOver
24:55 Native Minecraft
25:25 Native League of Legends
26:15 I'll need two computers if I want to keep the Mac
26:45 This bothers me, but not just because of gaming
27:15 What about video editing?
28:00 Deep down, I'm pretty disappointed
28:30 The true cost of this setup
29:00 I'm truly conflicted
29:30 Selling the Mac for a 4090 build?
30:00 What about Windows laptops?
30:50 I think its better to just get a desktop
31:20 I saw a vod by peppy/the creator of osu!
32:20 My new macOS Tiling Window Manager workflow with Yabai
36:00 Change audio/input source with skhd/kawa
36:30 The most important part of this workflow
38:20 Dealing with the dock
38:50 Less need for extra monitors
39:20 I never shut down/restart the MacBook
40:00 Buying a 4k monitor due to the blurry fonts
40:40 Fullscreen issue revisited
41:55 DaVinci Resolve fullscreen focus issue
42:40 Eyedropper/color picker picking wrong colors
43:30 Bunch of other issues on macOS
44:00 Sentence mining would be tedious without Migaku
44:30 It doesn't matter who's at fault, but how to solve it
45:00 Benefits of macOS
45:35 AirDrop and iPhone compatibility
46:10 FINAL THOUGHTS ON macOS
47:10 Ironically, I now appreciate Windows/Linux more than I did
47:50 I would not buy a desktop based Mac (for home usage)
48:20 Why I'm keeping the MacBook
49:20 Final shot at improving my macOS experience
50:00 Outro

________________________________

[Livakivi]

Can't believe this video is finally finished! Took absolutely forever, so I hope it was enjoyable to watch!

Also, BEFORE MAKING SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENTS, please watch the entire video first, as there is a high chance that I've already found a solution/workaround for whatever you might want to leave a suggestion on! I'm writing this just because I had lots of people making paragraph long comments on the Linux video before watching to the end, so, many of those comments ended up being about thing things I actually already covered later in the video!

Speaking of the Linux challenge - I definitely want to give it another go and make a part 2 in the (near) future, but I'm not entirely sure when that's going to happen due to the things I explained at the end of this video.

[deliciousdishes]

I love how you getting along with macOS was basically just turning it into some linux light by ricing the shit out of it hahahahaha

[lwouisYT]

Great UX analysis video. I shared 100% of your criticism.

I'm the author of AltTab so I was happy to see it mentioned. What a small world we live in~

[senzation]

This is the best video on using Mac on the entire internet. Very well summarized all necessary issues.

[BolusTube]

Man your video summed up my MacOS experience perfectly.
I'm quite impressed how you noticed all those details in 30 days, as some took me months to a year to notice.

[BocchiZilla]

Maybe I'm the only one but I would totally watch a one hour long video on how you use and organize your Windows PC. Keep up the good work.

[benjaminrogers]

Honestly, this was way harder than learning Japanese.

[nasko]

I had the same experience when I was using macOS in the sense that it was death by 1000 cuts for me. So many little issues and annoyances that just made me incredibly annoyed to the point where I was done with it in less than a year.

[saisibi]

Man. This video has so much effort put into this. Your time stamps/chapter is so immaculate. Amazing stuff.

[wetfloo]

I didn't expect this video to be as good as it is, so I went in expecting some surface level stuff, but man. Focusing on usability problems, how tiling window manager solves them and how efficient you can be, absolutely loved it. My vim motion driven brain approves

[stridexr]

This is the most comprehensive review I've ever seen of ACTUALLY using MacOS productively, having gone through a virtually identical experience and reached pretty much the same conclusion with Yabai + SKHD, etc., I couldn't agree more with most of the points made here.

[rGunti]

Through my computer live, I moved through all three of the major OSes (Windows, macOS and Linux*) so I was already familiar with macOS when I got my M2 MBP. I don't belong to the people who swear on tiling window managers, heck most of the things you pointed out never really occured to me. But my reason for getting an MBP was programming. Development on macOS is so nice when compared to Windows as you get a decent shell out of the box and package managers can be added easily as well. Also, it smoked my previous laptop and even crushes my gaming PC. But that's why I got it. My MacBook is for travelling, programming and some media consumption, while my PC is now focused on gaming. And that's actually a good thing for me, as I psychologically differenciate now between "work" and "leasure time".

[lasdernas]

I recently was forced to use a mac for work, and literally every issue you mentioned was the same for me. I come from linux for work, windows for fun. One thing i want to tell you (even though you solved it differently already), is that switching desktops/workspaces is present natively in macos. You just have to precreate the spaces, then you are able to set shortcuts for them (ctrl+*) in the native keyboard shortcut settings. Also, regarding apps on specific spaces - that's also there already. Right click on an app in the dock, "options" -> "assign to .." and you can select what spaces to pin the app to. You have to put the app to a specific space beforehand so it lets you select that space in that menu, but then the app and all it's windows always stay in that space. Other than that, my experience is almost identical to yours, except the tiling wm, which i'm reluctant to use since it's so different (i've tried that on linux, didn't like it). I hate the dock, i hate the window management, but just like you, i have a bunch of same uitlities running to fix some of it. I was also shocked to find out how macos hinders your productivity by default. I was under the same impression that it's wayyyy better than everything else, reading the comments online..

[jasonnugent]

As a 25year Windows guy and now 10+ year Apple guy, .. this video was really well done (even I learned some new things and may rewatch it !). You’re correct about the underlying Windows management being a bit archaic (I believe a lot of that underlying foundation is a long time holdover from when OSX was originally introduced back in 2001 or so?). Much of that underlying architecture is being rebuilt now in Swift, etc to bring more unification across all of Apples OSes (macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, tvOS, etc). Your journey here (especially the extensive customization) is understandable in your specific use case, but Apple really targets the “average iPhone User”. Professionals or Sysadmin or “under the hood” type people are going to have to expect more frustration. I’ve found over my 10+ years using Apple (and countless friends have come to this conclusion also) same as you did, . that while macOS isnt perfect, things like Portability, Battery Life, silent fans, etc (those “quality of life” aspects) is what keeps them using Apple products. You are correct about AirDrop (and other features like iCloud, Handoff, SideCar, etc) all work best if you have multiple Apple devices. Davinci Resolve exists for iPadOS. Imagine working on a project on your M1 Macbook, .. closing the Lid and picking up instantly in same spot on your M2 iPad. Slick !… ;)

[TheMaztercom]

Mac OS really shows they Unix Roots, you spend more time fixing the OS rather than using it

[Erstwhile.Freeman]

As a Windows user with a 10 year old PC with a newer video card, the low priced M2 Mac was my choice. I stopped playing games and just wanted a fast and efficient desktop for basic computer use. I experienced almost the exact same journey you did. All these issues were really frustrating and I went through the same fixes to overcome the change. Apple should use this video to improve the transition for Windows users.

[AJ-yrbz]

This was EXCELLENT! As an ex-apple store employee, long-time Steve Jobs (2nd) era Apple fan, but a PC/Tech guy at heart, I can't explain how cathartic it was to watch you walk the same path I've run (and re-run) too many times! All with stellar editing, pleasant audio, and relatable charm!

This might be a big ask, but as someone who is approaching 30 and told myself I WILL learn Japanese someday (and have vowed to take it seriously from here out), I would love to know HOW you navigate the process of studying it - especially from the standpoint of digital tools; useful programs, organization of materials (this one always gets me!), and so on... When you mentioned sentence mining, I never considered such an approach, often struggling to use my PC at all tbh because language switching and support always felt clunky... Just, wow mindblown!!

You've earned a subscriber, and I will check your other videos too! Any pointers (in any format/length) on the above would be much appreciated!! Fantastic job again!

[tripik]

I swear, you can make anything in this world super interesting. Keep up the masterful work!

[shock]

As a lifelong Mac user, (seriously, my first time even seeing Windows was in high school) it's fascinating hearing the experiences of people switching to MacOS. Really the only major thing I find annoying about vanilla MacOS is the lack of window snapping, which can be easily fixed with the plethora of 3rd party solutions. Aside from that, just about everything that was mentioned as an issue in this video is just how I learned that computers work, so it's fascinating hearing how my expectations can be viewed as genuine downgrades compared to Windows or Linux. Props to you on pushing through the challenges and finding a super cool way to fix all the problems you had! I hope you enjoy using your Mac!

[shakenobu]

wow...these were one of the most useful 50 minutes i've ever had on youtube. LOVE YOUR CONTENTTT