Quick MacBook Air Check-In (Premium)

After using my MacBook Air exclusively during my trip to Seattle for Build, I'm looking forward to returning to Windows.

This is not entirely unexpected: As I've noted in the past, familiarity is largely underrated. But I also have decades of Mac experience, and I figured I'd be able to transition to this system pretty seamlessly.

And ... I guess I did, for the most part. As I described in What I Use, Build 2018: MacBook Air (Premium), I was able to duplicate most of my apps and workflows pretty effectively on the Mac.

So what were the issues?

Some were hinted at in that previous post. I have a handful of apps that don't have exact analogs on the Mac. And the Mac has unfamiliar multitasking controls, especially via the keyboard. And, in many cases, it simply lacks full keyboard controls. You can't navigate easily or at all via the keyboard using certain on-screen controls. If I had a dollar for every time I typed ALT + F to open a menu in an app, I'd already be rich.

None of that is a blocker by itself.

Yes, I have had to use the mouse/touchpad more than I do on Windows, and that slows me down. And, yes, not being able to efficiently crop images as I can in Windows likewise slows me down. But I'm used to these kinds of differences when I move between platforms. I've been doing that kind of thing for decades.

And yet I think these things add up when I can't turn to the familiarity of Windows. That familiarity makes me more efficient, and I rely not just on the functionality that's there, but also on the muscle memory that makes it happen quickly.

There have been goofy issues I could have circumvented with better planning. For example, I have a gadget bag that I bring on each trip, and its contents are dictated by the needs of that trip. One of the things I swap out, depending on the PC I'm bringing, is a USB hub with an Ethernet adapter. For this trip, I brought the USB 3 version, of course. But as it turns out, it's not compatible with the Mac.

This caused an issue with Windows Weekly, which ended up being delayed by an hour yesterday because of this and other technical issues (which were fortunately not my fault). And that's on me. That's a dumb mistake.

I also screwed up with the MacBook Air's power adapter. It can be used in shorter or longer lengths, based on whether you attach the extension cable. I detached that to make for a shorter cable with less weight. But that meant the power brick was at the end of the cable, and its size made it awkward or even impossible to plug in sometimes. Doy.

When you think about it, these issues are also familiarity-based. I've been using the Mac for years, sure, mostly around the house. But I don't really use it like I use the Windows PCs I own and test. That a USB hub wouldn't work ... Just never occurred to me. It's worked fine for years on all the PCs I've used.

And, again, it all kind of adds up.

Compared to other alternate platforms like Chromebook and Linux...

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