With the winter holiday season slowing down, it’s a great time to break that new MacBook out of the box. Whether you’re a student looking for a lightweight ultraportable laptop or a professional looking for a laptop that delivers killer efficiency, there’s just no ignoring theApple MacBook lineup. It’s a great time to pick up a new M-series CPUMacBook AirorMacBook Pro, but you may feel overwhelmed if you’ve never owned a Mac before.
I test out new MacBook’s every year, and to make the experience of getting your first Mac easier, here are the first things I do whenever I get a new MacBook.
1Check for new OS updates
Apple delivers excellent software updates for their devices, and macOS is routinely patched with optimization updates. Here are the steps for checking for a new macOS update and how to install any updates:
Once the update is finished installing, macOS will ask you to restart your MacBook. Once your MacBook has restarted, the macOS update will be fully installed.
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2Uninstall built-in apps you don’t need
Not everyone needs GarageBand
Your brand-new MacBook will come with a long list of pre-installed apps, and while every app that Apple includes is useful, they’re not all necessary for everyone. I don’t mix music, and if I do mix an audio file, I use a program such as ProTools or Ableton. For this reason, I always uninstall GarageBand to free up some space on my new Mac.
Here’s what you need to do to see which pre-installed apps are on your new Mac and how to delete them:
All of Apple’s pre-included apps are free to re-download from the macOS App Store, so if you ever have a change of heart or want to try out an app that you deleted, you’re able to just re-download it for free.
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3Organize the dock
Set your favorite apps in the dock for easy and quick access
The Mac dock at the bottom of the screen gives you quick, one-click access to all of your favorite programs. You can drag and drop anything on the dock to the Bin to delete it, or you can right-click and choose to unpinfrom the dock.If you want to fully customize your dock, follow these steps:
Once you access the ‘Desktop & Dock’ settings, you can change the magnification, positioning of the dock, along with other tweaks.
I personally like to make my dock a little smaller than the macOS default dock, and I turn the magnification of icons off.
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4Adjust the appearance settings
Get macOS looking exactly how you want
I’m a fan of the dark mode on macOS. From the appearance tab, you’re able to choosedark mode, as well change the accent color settings. The appearance tab is also where you can change or add your own screensaver. I personally like the default ‘landscape’ options that Apple provides, and there’s always new backgrounds and screensavers with almost every update.
Follow these steps to access the appearance menu:
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5Explore the new Mac widgets
Make use of macOS widgets to simplify your workflow
macOS has supported widgets for a while, but it’s refined how widgets function, and also introduced iPhone widgets to the Mac with the release of macOS Sonoma.
Now with macOS Seqouia here, there are even more widgets and ways to use them. Here’s everything you need to do to get widgets set up on your Mac:
I like using widgets to customize my desktop, and I like to pin widgets that make my work life a bit easier.
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6Setup focus profiles
Eliminate distractions
macOS features multiple focus modes to help you cut out any distractions while working on your Mac. I use the ‘Work’ focus mode while I’m working, so that I only see notifications from work apps such as Slack and my work Gmail.
Here’s how to set up widgets on your Mac:
Pocket-lint has an in-depth guide to using Apple’s Focus modes, and you may check it out below.
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7Choose what apps login on startup
Keep your MacBook fast
If you end up with a lot of third-party apps installed on your MacBook, you’ll want to manage your login items. Several apps will start by default when you turn on your Mac, which in turn will eventually cause your Mac to slow down. To keep everything working quickly, you should disable apps that you don’t need at startup. Here’s how to manage your startup apps:
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8Install all of your favorite apps
From productivity tools to a different web browser
Once you have tweaked all of your settings to your liking, it’s time to download your favorite apps.
I always start by installing a new browser, and then making that browser my default browser on macOS. You can do this in theDesktop & Docksettings where it saysDefault web browser. You can download most of the things you need through the Apple App Store on macOS, or download directly from developers that you trust.
Either way, once you tweak your settings and get all of your apps installed, you’ll be ready to use your new Mac.
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