I will at all times love my desktop Mac, however I’ve determined to modify–this is why

Again within the day, I had one laptop. It was a laptop computer purchased for me by my employer, and at work, I’d connect it to an exterior show and use it at my desk. On the finish of the day, I’d shut it up, put it in my backpack, and take it residence.

For the final 10 years, I’ve labored at a desk at residence, with a desktop Mac as my main laptop. However over the past yr or so, I’ve been utilizing my MacBook Air much more, whether or not I’m touring or spending the winter in a heated room quite than my unheated storage.

So what’s higher, the single-Mac life or being a Mac vagabond? As somebody who’s been there, and again, and there once more, I can inform you that it’s by no means been simpler to stay the two-Mac life-style–nevertheless it’s additionally by no means been a greater time to simply give the desktop up and study to like a Mac laptop computer.

The dangerous outdated days

Within the days of PowerPC and Intel laptops, residing this life was tough. Simply working a Mac laptop computer in lid-closed mode, hooked up to an exterior show, was fraught with bugs. At the moment, most Macs are laptops, however for an excellent a few years, the laptop computer was an oddball and the desktop was the “actual” Mac. Because of this, laptop computer bugs abounded, particularly when you needed to do one thing as outlandish as plug your laptop computer into an exterior show and shut the lid.

Willis Lai/IDG

What I’m saying is, there was lots of unplugging and replugging, opening the lid and shutting the lid, and the like, with a purpose to cajole the pc into correctly displaying on that exterior display. Issues bought higher over time, nevertheless it was by no means good.

Worse, although, had been the sleep points. When the Mac went to sleep whereas hooked up to an exterior show, generally it wouldn’t come again with out assist–or with a pressured reboot. On many, many days, I’d unplug my laptop computer, pop it into my backpack, take an hourlong experience on a bus again residence, and take away the laptop computer–solely to search out the within of my backpack blazing scorching as a result of my MacBook hadn’t gone to sleep in any case.

Protecting in sync

Nonetheless, the plan after I began working for myself, in my storage, was to make use of my beloved MacBook Air and plug it into a giant show. That plan didn’t survive the discharge of the 5K iMac, and so started my years-long sojourn as an individual who used a desktop at my desk, however a laptop computer in all places else.

I hadn’t lived like this for years, and issues actually had gotten a lot better for a number of Mac customers in the interim. The existence of cloud companies equivalent to iCloud and Dropbox has actually made issues a lot simpler. Lately I hold most of my working information in Dropbox, however I additionally sync my Desktop and Paperwork folders through iCloud. The iCloud half is typically a bit wonky, nevertheless it’s so good to have the ability to put a folder on my Desktop in my workplace after which open my laptop computer and see that the identical file is on the Desktop there, too. (And, in fact, all these information are additionally accessible on my iPhone and iPad. Good!)

After I lately needed to wipe my Mac Studio’s exhausting drive, I did so with no concern of dropping information. Not solely do I again up each day through Time Machine and make a clone utilizing Carbon Copy Cloner, however all my very important information are in Dropbox or iCloud. It simply wasn’t a fear.

Whereas the cloud makes life as a person of many Macs simpler, it sadly additionally highlights all of the methods wherein it’s nonetheless exhausting. Whereas some Mac apps have embraced the cloud as a approach to sync settings–BBEdit has allow you to do it through Dropbox or iCloud for fairly some time now–others solely do it in a restricted style. For instance, I can sync my Keyboard Maestro macros and my Hazel automations through the cloud, however solely after delving into their settings and enabling some particular cloud-sync options.

And that’s the apps that acknowledge the existence of the cloud. Different apps… simply don’t. As soon as I set Keyboard Maestro to sync utilizing iCloud, I found that every one my podcast-related automations crashed exhausting towards Audio Hijack’s lack of ability to sync both its periods or its scripts throughout units. (It’s even worse: whilst you can import and export Audio Hijack periods, I may solely transfer scripts by diving into my native Software Assist folder and copying a property listing file to the opposite laptop.) My Stream Deck settings additionally don’t sync, although not less than they are often imported and exported. At the very least Shortcuts sync through iCloud–kind of. (There are occasional reliability points, however I’ve discovered that it largely works.)

Loads of system-level stuff can be simply not constant. I exploit the app SwiftBar to place ambient information in my menu bar, largely from a bunch of Python scripts. SwiftBar is blissful to make use of a bunch of plug-ins from Dropbox or iCloud, which is nice! However conserving the model of Python on each methods in sync, at appropriate paths, with appropriate modules put in, is an ongoing problem. I lately bought a Hazel sync working once more through its settings-sync options, solely to find that my scripts had been failing as a result of the linked Python script was in an unsynced listing, and subsequently my fixes on one laptop by no means moved to the opposite one.

Foundry

The massive image is that my information are within the cloud, and that’s superior. The small print, although, are irritating. Each time I’m going a number of days with out utilizing both laptop, I discover I’m spending time getting issues again as much as present whereas additionally ready for Apple’s push notification server to alert me about the whole lot that’s already been handled on different units.

So I made a decision possibly it was time to cease the insanity.

Issues bought higher

The discharge of the M4 Macs this fall actually made me take into account my choices. Whereas I made a decision that an M4 Professional Mac mini wouldn’t be sufficient of an improve over my M1 Max Mac studio, I began to surprise: What about an M4 Max MacBook Professional?

In any case, Apple’s latest laptops could be a quantum leap in efficiency over my previously superb desktop Mac. (Gone are the times when utilizing a laptop computer requires a severe drop in efficiency.) And if I decide to the laptop computer life-style, I don’t want to fret about syncing all these miscellaneous directories and app settings as a result of in all places I’m going, I’ll be utilizing the identical Mac!

Nonetheless: The concern of the dangerous outdated days. However being a laptop computer person within the period of Apple silicon is so a lot better than it was within the Intel years. Desktop Macs are superior, however they’re additionally outliers. The overwhelming majority of Macs in use are laptops. And on this period, Mac {hardware} and macOS itself are nearly fully targeted on the laptop computer expertise.

My private expertise backs this up. I’d guess that within the final yr, I’ve spent extra time utilizing my MacBook Air working in lid-closed mode hooked up to a Studio Show than I’ve used it as an precise laptop computer. And the expertise has been nice. I’ve seen nearly not one of the weirdnesses that used to plague me. I’m nonetheless blown away by the truth that whenever you plug in an exterior show, it simply… activates. There’s no bizarre blinking and flashing as the whole lot resets and composes itself like there was. It actually does simply work.

Peripherals have come a great distance, too. Thunderbolt and USB-C docks make it a lot simpler to create docking stations for laptops. Within the bed room I exploit as an workplace within the winter, I’ve bought a Studio show with a USB-C dock hooked up to considered one of its ports, permitting me to chain off a microphone, keyboard, trackpad, and Stream Deck. Connecting to this setup requires a single Thunderbolt cable, which offers energy and streams out information. It’s implausible.

Off I’m going

After a lot fretting, I made a decision that I wanted to confess to myself that the best resolution was for me to change into a one-Mac individual once more. And that implies that a laptop computer is the best resolution for me.

Later this month, my M4 Max MacBook Professional will arrive, and I’ll start the migration. Positive, I’ll in all probability have to put money into some extra docks and cables with a purpose to convert my Mac Studio desk right into a MacBook Professional-friendly mannequin. However I’ll even be all the way down to a single laptop that I can use wherever, together with after I journey. (I don’t love the additional weight the MacBook Professional has over the MacBook Air, however I’m keen to shoulder the burden–actually. And my daughter will lastly be capable to change her Intel Air with one thing higher.)

Ten years as a desktop Mac person was lots of enjoyable. I had an iMac, iMac Professional, and Mac Studio, and I loved all of them. However like nearly everybody else, I’ve discovered the pull of the laptop computer too robust to keep away from. Even when sitting at a desk watching a giant monitor, the MacBook Professional looks like the best selection.