Best (Apple) Mac Forum?

[Midpack]

I know there are some long time Mac users here, and I am looking to come up to speed as quickly and efficiently as possible after more than 3 decades exclusively with Win PC’s. I want to learn Mac as Apple intends, and avoid just trying to find Win PC equivalent thinking to a Mac. I do have about 10 years experience with iPads/iPhones which may help some. Just as this forum has been a brilliant retirement resource for me, what are the best comparable forums for (new) Mac users? TIA

 

[braumeister]

Only peripherally about learning Macs, but I've found this to be a valuable resource for many years.
MacRumors

Honestly, I think you can find out just about anything you want to know on the Apple support site, including the user forums there.

 

[Dash man]

I know there are some long time Mac users here, and I am looking to come up to speed as quickly and efficiently as possible after more than 3 decades exclusively with Win PC’s. I want to learn Mac as Apple intends, and avoid just trying to find Win PC equivalent thinking to a Mac. I do have about 10 years experience with iPads/iPhones which may help some. Just as this forum has been a brilliant retirement resource for me, what are the best comparable forums for (new) Mac users? TIA

I second MacRumors. If there is an Apple Store near you, they have classes you can sign up for to learn their products. You might want to check them out.

YouTube is always a valuable resource.

 

[frayne]

I switched form Windows based PCs to everything Apple/Mac about six or seven years ago and the experience was pretty much seamless. Macs are just so much more user friendly and intuitive in my opinion and experience. Plus there is a wide variety and wealth of youtube videos for anything you may need or want to do with your Mac.

 

[steelyman]

I want to learn Mac as Apple intends, and avoid just trying to find Win PC equivalent thinking to a Mac.

Try browsing through the titles that Apple produces and makes available in their Book Store (e.g., iMac Essentials).

macrumors is excellent but geared more to keeping up with Apple product developments (hardware and software).

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I switched form Windows based PCs to everything Apple/Mac about six or seven years ago and the experience was pretty much seamless. Macs are just so much more user friendly and intuitive in my opinion and experience. Plus there is a wide variety and wealth of youtube videos for anything you may need or want to do with your Mac.

I second this! I switched in 2017 and except for maybe one or two things I never really needed much more than poking around and the occasional Google search.

Switching from Word to Pages and Excel to Numbers was a more drastic change, but I guess I find it fun to learn new ways of doing something. I’m too cheap to pay for Microsoft 365.

Did your new Mac come yet?

 

[Midpack]

I second this! I switched in 2017 and except for maybe one or two things I never really needed much more than poking around and the occasional Google search.

Switching from Word to Pages and Excel to Numbers was a more drastic change, but I guess I find it fun to learn new ways of doing something. I’m too cheap to pay for Microsoft 365.

Did your new Mac come yet?

Arrived Monday. Migration Assistant was a disaster so it was a discouraging 1st day, Apple phone support couldn't even help me salvage that. But I transferred everything (docs, music, pics, movies) that wasn't already on iCloud (contacts, calendar, reminders, passwords, etc.) using an external HDD - that was pretty easy though I would have messed up the Mac file structure that connects my docs with corresponding apps without the excellent phone support. So from the 2nd day on I have been very pleased. And having my desktop seamlessly syncs with my iPad and iPhone is brilliant as well. Enjoying the journey already.

The iMac is FAST and the display is OUTSTANDING!!!

 

[harllee]

There is an Apple store near me and when I got my first Apple Macbook years ago I made an appointment and went in the store and took several in person lessons that I found very helpful.

 

[eytonxav]

The iMac is FAST and the display is OUTSTANDING!!!

I am by no means proficient in using and understanding everything about the iMac, but I did not rely on anything other than self learning since its pretty intuitive.

Glad to hear you are a happy camper with the new machine.

 

[MBAustin]

I have subscribed to TidBITS for more than 20 years (I'm a long-time Apple user) and find its coverage very helpful. While not a forum in the strict sense, there is useful dialog on many of the articles.

 

[audreyh1]

If I wanted general training I would probably go to an Apple store and take advantage of any OS training they offered.

They used to have the “Genius Bar” which was a great place to get one on one coaching.

If I’m trying to figure out some new feature I usually find the answer online at Apple Support. They have lots of articles. You do have to make sure you have a recent one as UI changes are common between major OS upgrades.

P.S. love the 5K display. And I have the original 5K iMac used just for photo editing and still running mostly legacy software.

 

[braumeister]

I have subscribed to TidBITS for more than 20 years (I'm a long-time Apple user) and find its coverage very helpful. While not a forum in the strict sense, there is useful dialog on many of the articles.

Forgot about that one; I agree. TidBits is often extremely useful in terms of evaluating things.

Also the Take Control series of books can be invaluable for in-depth knowledge of almost anything in the Apple universe.
https://www.takecontrolbooks.com

 

[tb001]

Some great suggestions here. The one other bit of apple advice I have is never upgrade an OS immediately. I always postpone for 3-4 weeks or more and keep an eye out for issues. DH does all of his right away. They’ve caused him more headaches than it’s worth, IMO. This applies to the iPhone/iPad as well.

 

[braumeister]

Some great suggestions here. The one other bit of apple advice I have is never upgrade an OS immediately.

I think that's good advice for any OS.

 

[tb001]

I think that's good advice for any OS.

Probably. With a few exceptions. I’ve been in the Apple ecosystem for so long I don’t know how other products manage upgrades. I just know Apple seems to push them on users pretty aggressively. I’ve gotten into the habit of only upgrading when I can no longer do something I want to do.

 

[Midpack]

Some great suggestions here. The one other bit of apple advice I have is never upgrade an OS immediately. I always postpone for 3-4 weeks or more and keep an eye out for issues. DH does all of his right away. They’ve caused him more headaches than it’s worth, IMO. This applies to the iPhone/iPad as well.

I’ve always upgraded as soon as possible with our PCs, iPads and iPhones - mostly because I want EVERY security update. Never really had a serious issue, and when the OS provider does make a mistake (if happens sometimes) there’s usually a fix VERY quick.

Not suggesting you’re one of them, but I know some people resist updates because they just don’t like change and want to hold on to the OS they know despite improvements (more often than not IME). That’s a different reason to postpone updates, to each his/her own. I know a lot of people raised cane when Win8 came along, and it wasn’t ideal but I never had any insurmountable problems with it.

 

[audreyh1]

I do minor updates fairly quickly, but I’ll hold off on major OS updates initially. Sometimes I want to let a few bug fix rounds in, sometimes it’s because there are software compatibility issues. Apple continues to provide security updates for older OS’s for a while.

 

[harllee]

I do minor updates fairly quickly, but I’ll hold off on major OS updates initially. Sometimes I want to let a few bug fix rounds in, sometimes it’s because there are software compatibility issues. Apple continues to provide security updates for older OS’s for a while.

Same here. I never install a major OS update on my Apple devices the first month or so the update is out. There are always some bugs to be fixed (some are major like crashing your whole system) and I let those things get worked out before I install.

 

[homestead]

I have used the macintouch for years and macsales.com for upgrades.

 

[Cat-tirement]

Some good suggestions above. I’ll also toss out macintouch.com for the more technically inclined, and screencastsonline.com if you like video learning.

 

[Midpack]

Same here. I never install a major OS update on my Apple devices the first month or so the update is out. There are always some bugs to be fixed (some are major like crashing your whole system) and I let those things get worked out before I install.

That’s odd. I bought my first personal computer in 1981 and I’ve always done major and minor PC/Win and iOS updates as soon as they come out and never had one “crash my whole system.” Must be lucky…

I’m new to MacOS but I plan to update there as soon as possible as well.

If you don’t update until a month or more after an update becomes available, how do you know they’ll crash your whole system?

 

[braumeister]

It can be a dilemma, because one of the main reasons for an OS release is to eliminate security vulnerabilities. You definitely want that.

One technique I often use is to wait two or three days after a release instead of upgrading immediately. I have seen as many as three or four new versions come out in the first day or two based on reported bugs. They will all have the exact same version number, but if you look at the build number you can see that updates have been made.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I always make a point to Google a new OS version when it drops and there are always “should you upgrade” articles. I, too, live dangerously and tend to install upgrades fairly quickly although typically not immediately.

 

[eytonxav]

I install minor updates right away, but for major OS changes, I take a wait and see approach.

 

[Ready]

I’ve never had much luck with migration assistant so I stopped using it. I just do a fresh setup each time we upgrade our Mac. Our files are all in ICloud so the only thing I have to do is reinstall any apps we purchased.