New Mac

New mac, who dis

Bunch of checklists to do when setting up a new Mac

Last update: 3 September 2024

Wallpaper from Birmingham Museums Trust via Unsplash

S E C T I O N S

• Tl;dr
• Applications
  • First things first
  • Design
  • Productivity/Communication
  • Dev
  • Mac specific apps
  • Menubar apps
  • Accessibility tools
  • Misc
• OS Configuration
  • Change computer name
  • Change user avatar
  • Keyboard app shortcuts
  • Trackpad configuration
  • Logi Options+
  • Misc
• Terminal Configuration

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Tl;dr

This will install apps available in Homebrew. See files to be installed

bash -c "`curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arisacoba/new-mac/main/setup.sh`"

Applications

First things first

• Google Chrome: web browser. Alternative: Firefox, Arc
  • Vimium: enables Vim key strokes in browser
  • ColorZilla: color picker
  • WhatFont: font inspector Highly recommended
  • ImageSize Info: checks image's size, width, and height on browser
  • Fireshot: takes screenshots of your browser
  • Images under cursor: get the images and background under the cursor, in URL or file
• Download iTerm2
  • Change theme to Minimal
  • Import iTerm profile
• Download Node.js
• Install Homebrew
• New wallpaper from Unsplash
• Change user avatar

Design

• Figma: browser-based design and prototype app, with collaboration
  • Nudge amount: 8
  • Enable Use number keys for opacity
• Responsively App: mirrored user-interactions on various devices
• Confectionery browser: Take delicious screenshots of your websites. Cleaner version of Safari and Arc

Productivity/Communication

• Slack
• Notion: powerful note-taking app
• Zoom: video conferencing tool
• Cron (Now, Notion Calendar): next-generation calendar for professionals and teams
• CleanShot: Capture your Mac’s screen like a pro Highly recommended
• Telegram: instant-messaging app
• Discord: Less corporate Slack lol
• Rewatch: For async communications, screen-recording tool, alternative to Loom
• Clop: Image, video, PDF and clipboard optimiser Recommended
• (Optional) Viber: instant-messaging app

Dev

• iTerm2: terminal emulator for Mac
• Firefox Developer Edition: web browser with powerful dev tools
  • Vimium
  • Pocket
  • ColorZilla
  • WhatFont
  • Fireshot See extensions' descriptions in #first-things-first
• Responsively App: mirrored user-interactions on various devices
• Amazon Q: Previously Fig, and Amazon Whisperer. Autocomplete in CLI and more

Mac specific apps

• Raycast: High productivity launcher (Spotlight/Alfred alternative) Highly recommended
• Spectacle: easily resize windows in Mac
• Kap: screen recorder for Mac
• Screen Studio: Beautiful screen recordings. Can't recommend this enough
• MuteKey: Mute your microphone with hotkey
• Arc: Chrome alternative
• Klack: Satisfying sound with every keystroke Recommended
• Presentify: Annotate your screens

Menubar apps

• Dozer: hides icons in menubar (free)
• Vanilla: hides icons in menubar (with paid version)
• Rocket: emoji picker and shortcut
• Amphetamine: keeps your Mac awake
• Mounty: re-mount write-protected NTFS volumes
• HandMirror: Hand mirror, for Mac Recommended
• MonitorControl: Control your display's brightness & volume on your Mac as if it was a native Apple Display
• Clocker: Menubar world clock

Accessibility tools

• Sim Daltonism: Lets you visualize colors as they are perceived with various types of color blindness
• Color contrast analyser (CCA): WCAG 2.0 compliant contrast ratio checker with more information than Contrast
• Stark: Figma plugin for your accessibility audits
• HeadingsMap: List the headings structure of any website

Misc

• Logitech Options: application to configure your logitech devices
• Spotify: only the music and podcast streaming you need
• Obsidian: powerful markdown editor
• Keycastr: keystroke visualiser; useful with Kap

OS Configuration

Change computer name

System Settings → General → About

Change user avatar

System Settings → User & Groups

Keyboard app shortcuts

System Settings → Keyboard

• Enable "Keyboard navigation"
• Add 1Password, Arc, Google Chrome

• Use F3 for Mission Control
• Use F4 for Application windows

Trackpad configuration

System Settings → Trackpad

Three-finger-drag System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control

• Enable "Use trackpad for dragging"

Logi Options+

General

Figma

Misc

Show battery percentage System Settings → Control Center

Open Spotify only on the second desktop

On dock → Right-click Spotify → Options → This Desktop

Presentify

Update colors for annotation and cursor

Terminal Configuration

• Install Homebrew
• Install zsh

brew install zsh

• Install oh-my-zsh
• Configure ~/.zshrc
• Install nvm
• Install yarn
• Download Amazon Q: Previously Fig. Downloading for terminal autocompletion

brew install yarn

• Configure ~/.vimrc

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Made by @aris_acoba

2024 • aris.acoba@gmail.com