Why the Mac stands out: Once you make the switch, you’ll never look back.

 

Mac computers are sleek, stylish powerhouses built with precision and designed to keep you productive all day. They offer many reasons to switch from Windows, starting with an impressive all-day battery life and top-level performance in a fanless design. The 20 Best Mac Apps with years of guaranteed OS updates and feature enhancements, you can trust your Mac to stay current. In recent years, Apple has made these machines more accessible, with the base model Mac Mini including the M2 starting at an affordable $599. Also, with Apple’s new game porting toolkit, the Mac may soon become a viable platform for PC gaming. Whatever the future holds, one thing is certain: Macs continue to dominate on the software front.

Maccy – Your must have clipboard manager

 

Despite its many strengths, one area where Apple still lags is clipboard management—a feature Windows 11 is missing. Copy-pasting on the Mac is dramatically improved with third-party clipboard managers, and Massey is the best. Maccy is a minimalist, lightweight, offline, open-source clipboard manager that you can quickly access with Shift + Cmd + C. As a keyboard-first app, it allows you to search your clipboard history, select an item and paste it. Touch your mouse

 

Macy’s basic functionality is already a game-changer, but dive into the settings and you’ll find a wealth of options for customization. You can also exclude formatting from pasted items, set how many copied items to retain, including images and files, and control where the window appears. Maccy is available in the Mac App Store for $9.99, but developer Alex Rodionov offers a pay-what-you-want option through Gumroad. Try it out with no strings attached, and if you like it, consider supporting the developer to make Macy rich.

Swish – The trackpad window manager you didn’t know you needed

 

Mac’s window management is another area where it falls short compared to Windows 11’s Snap feature, which can transform your workflow. While apps like Magnet and Rectangle are great for managing mouse and keyboard windows, if you’re using a trackpad, Swish is the way to go. Swish works on a brilliantly simple principle: instead of managing windows with dragging or keyboard shortcuts, you use intuitive trackpad gestures.

 

For example, swiping with two fingers on a window’s title bar maximizes the app; Swiping left or right splits the screen and swiping down minimizes the app in the dock. A two-finger pinch on the title bar closes the app, and a two-finger swipe lets you switch between apps—just to name a few features. Swish feels so natural that you’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without it. Swish offers a 14-day trial, after which it costs $16 for a two-machine license. It may seem pricey, but it’s worth it and if you’re a Setup subscriber, it’s included in your membership.

 

SoundSource – Simplified audio device management

 

One area where Windows still has the upper hand (although the Mac is a great platform, trust me) is in audio device management. In Windows 11, you can easily control audio sources and Bluetooth devices from the taskbar, whereas on Mac, managing these requires navigating through the Control Center and Sound Settings. SoundSource solves this problem with a simple source selector in your menu bar.

 

Clicking the SoundSource headphone icon lets you switch between audio output, input, and Bluetooth devices—from a menu that’s all most people need. It even notifies you when your Bluetooth devices drop below a certain battery level. The app is completely free, making it an excellent choice for anyone looking for a Windows-like audio management experience on Mac.

 

Bartender – Clear your menu bar

 

There are many macOS tips that new Mac users should know, and Bartender is one of those community apps. The Mac menu bar can quickly become cluttered as every app—especially the background ones—wants an icon there for easy access. This clutter can obscure important apps, especially when menu bar items are hidden by the notch. Bartender offers a simple, powerful solution: hide unwanted icons in a separate Bartender bar. If you rarely need a particular icon, you can put it in the Always Hidden section in Settings, where it stays until you need it.

 

Bartenders do a lot more than that. It lets you style the menu bar, create icon groups, and set triggers (such as showing when the battery icon drops below a certain percentage), among other features.A single-user license for multiple devices costs $16, an upgrade from the older version costs $8. available Try it out with a free four-week trial before committing, or opt for a free alternative like Hidden Bar.

 

Raycast -The ultimate spotlight replacement

 

Spotlight, the Mac’s built-in search function, is a handy tool that makes life easier. Out of the box, it’s much more enjoyable to use than Windows’ Start Search. Beyond finding files and emails and launching apps, it lets you search the web, jump into settings, convert currencies, define words, and check the weather. Spotlight is even better when you switch to Raycast Raycast competes with the beloved Alfred and is much sleeker, aesthetically speaking.

 

The Raycast is designed for users who are comfortable with a keyboard and prefer to perform most tasks without taking their hands off. For example, it works as a clipboard manager, window resizer and dark mode toggler. With the right extensions, it can do practically anything you put your mind to. For example, add the Spotify extension and control your favorite playlists with just a few keystrokes. Developers and tech enthusiasts love Raycast for its coding features, such as writing scripts directly into text boxes.

 

SlashGear could devote an entire article to Raycast, but suffice it to say, that it’s easy to learn, hard to master, and essential once you get used to it. Raycast has a fully functional free version, with monthly subscriptions for Pro and Team versions that unlock more power.

 

Mac Mouse Fix – Fixing scroll direction for good

 

Sometimes, Macs have a little quirk that can drive you crazy. Long story short, on the Mac, you can’t set different scroll directions for your mouse and trackpad. If you enable “natural scrolling”, this applies to both your mouse and trackpad. Switching from one to the other will cause you to subconsciously scroll in the wrong direction, resulting in an annoying rearrangement—and vice versa. Mac Mouse Fix does exactly what it says: it fixes the scroll direction of your mouse so that it’s different from your trackpad, where natural scrolling is the preferred default.

 

PopClip – Streamlining your workflow

 

PopClip is another one of those apps, like Swish or Bartender, that makes you realize your Mac experience is lacking without it. All PopClip displays a popup menu whenever you select text, with options to copy and paste it. Simple, but the time you save clicking “copy” (which appears right next to your cursor) instead of looking down at the keyboard and pressing “cmd + c” can save literal hours for people who do a lot of copying and pasting. That alone makes Popclip worth the price of admission, but we’re just getting started.

 

PopClip transforms from a simple utility to a jack-of-all-trades once you start adding extensions. These extensions do virtually anything you can imagine with text: convert selected text into a title field, translate it, turn it into a reminder, shorten a link, ping an IP address, and more. There’s hardly anything you can think of that PopClip can’t do. Adding just a few extensions can replace multiple apps and browser tabs that you keep open to do one thing, saving computer resources. PopClip costs $19 in the App Store, but you can try it for free before you decide to buy.

 

Security

 

MacBooks are built with a multi-layered security system that integrates the latest hardware and software to ensure your data and privacy are fully protected. The Apple T2 Security Chip plays an important role by enabling secure boot, managing encryption keys in its Secure Enclave, and providing on-the-fly data encryption, ensuring your files stay safe even if the device is physically compromised. Touch ID, powered by Secure Enclave, offers a secure and convenient way to unlock your MacBook and authenticate transactions without revealing sensitive biometric data. FileVault extends this protection by encrypting your entire drive, making your data accessible to unauthorized users.

 

On the software side, macOS employs Gatekeeper to block untrusted apps, reducing the risk of malware, while XProtect and Malware Removal Tool (MRT) provide built-in antivirus defense that continuously monitors and removes potential threats. Privacy is strictly maintained through macOS’s granular app permissions, which give you control over what information apps can access, and Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which limits online tracking by advertisers. Ensuring your data is protected Find My Mac adds an extra layer of security by allowing you to remotely locate, lock or wipe your device if it’s lost or stolen. Regular macOS updates reinforce this security by patching vulnerabilities, making MacBooks one of the most secure and trusted choices for both personal and professional use.

 

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