My Experience Programming on the MacBook Pro 13"
I recently decided to purchase the MacBook Pro 13". I must admit, I did decide to buy it refurbished from loop-mobile through Walmart (this is not an ad). Aside from it being refurbished, I found no difference between a new, out-of-box MacBook Pro. Anyway, I should get into details about the devices lol.
The Initial Setup. 9.5/10
In true Apple fashion, the initial setup was amazingly simple and rewarding. While I didn’t get the suspense of the unboxing — because I had no box due to it being refurbished — the setup would’ve been a great continuation of the Apple unboxing experience. This is a place where Apple gets it right 99% of the time. Another notable part of the setup was using the trackpad for the first time. Coming from someone who has never touched a Macbook or Apple trackpad, the fully digital experience was very surprising. While I knew about the trackpad using a haptic motor, it was very enjoyable. I also appreciated the addition of an upfront accessibility page; while I am fortunate not to require any of those options, I do see that as a welcome change in macOS Monterey.
Downloading Apps. 7/10
I bought this computer to code on, so I needed the programmer's toolkit! All of the classics: GitHub Desktop Client, VSCode, NodeJS, and WinSCP. Wait… WinSCP? Well not really. As someone who requires access to an SFTP and SSH connection to a remote server to do my job, it was surprisingly difficult to get access to that tool in the GUI format I’m comfortable with from my Windows desktop. I did find Termius, an SSH terminal connection app from the Apple Mac App Store. However, my rating of Termius is very poor; I do not like it. The SFTP feature is premium; being $10 a month, I’m not going to pay for it. So I still needed an SFTP client. Eventually, I did find FileStash, an online browser-based solution that worked well enough. However, the lack of a free all-in-one solution is still an issue for me, but I’m willing to work around it.
Navigating macOS. 6/10
For some reason, getting used to navigating macOS was difficult and is still something I’m trying to figure out. The macOS and Windows navigations philosophies are fundamentally opposed.
As the Redditor ‘iynque’ commented on this post…
“I assume you want the Mac OS dock to work like the Windows taskbar. I’ll say first, you’ll be a lot better off learning to manage windows the “Apple way” than trying to shoehorn the Windows UI (or other UI) into MacOS.”
As he mentioned, Apple has its own idea of how navigation works; however, I really like it. It feels modern and comfortable. Microsoft has been notorious for keeping its OS the same through almost every revision since the Desktop was added, however, Apple has adapted to the changes in the ecosystem. macOS puts full-screen windows into another ‘Desktop’ allowing for easy switching, the windows can be revealed by swiping up, you can separate projects into separate ‘Desktop’ areas; these features really make the experience feel efficient. The one thing that took getting used to was not minimizing all windows… ever. With Windows, I would minimize all of my windows before leaving my desk, however with Apple minimizing windows are more difficult. I do like keeping everything open now so I can just open up my laptop and go, however, I would’ve liked the choice. Anyway, next.
The Typing Experience. 8/10
The feel of typing on a laptop or regular desktop keyboard is very important for my enjoyment of said device, the same applies to this laptop as well. I’m glad to report that the typing experience is excellent. Apple has switched from the very-prone-to-failing butterfly switches to more traditional scissor ones; this switch not only improves the longevity of the switches but also the feel of them, while it is always dependent on the person, they have an amazing tactile response and sound. The only thing keeping this from being a 10/10 is the keycaps become somewhat greasy after long coding sessions — a frequent occurrence for me — basic cleaning does seem to remedy this until my fingers coat them in oil again.
Overall. 8/10
To end this off, programming on the M1 MacBook Pro 13" is awesome. While it isn’t for everything, it works for what I need and is definitely worth the price I paid. At $1000 for the refurbished one I got, I definitely see it being a worthwhile purchase. If you can find one around that price, definitely pick it up!
Thanks for reading! This is my first article, but I would love to write more in the future about specific programming tasks and stories!
