MacBook Setup Guide

An opinionated guide to setting up a new MacBook for developers.

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• Introduction
• System Setup
• Productivity Tools
• Developer Tools

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Introduction

I am a full-stack developer who mainly uses React and .NET.

System Setup

Trackpad

Throw away your mouse and use the trackpad. It is much more efficient.

• Increase Tracking Speed to maximum
• Switch Lookup & data detectors to Tap with three fingers
• Enable Tap to click
• Switch Dragging style to Three-Finger Drag

Spaces

• Add multiple spaces and assign apps to the desired space
• Disable Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use

Dock

You don’t need the dock. Hide it to get more screen space:

• Enable Automatically hide and show the Dock
• Switch Position on screen to Left

Use Raycast to launch apps and command + tab/~ to switch apps.

Others

• Enable Reduce motion
• Unlock with Apple Watch (Optional)

Productivity Tools

• 1Password 💰 - Password manager
• Arc - Browser
• Bear - Notes
• Grammarly - Writing assistant
• Raycast - Launcher
  • ChatGPT
  • Coffee - Keep Mac awake
• Reeder - RSS reader
• Setapp 💰 - App bundle
  • AlDente Pro - Battery manager (Free version: AlDente)
  • Bartender - Menu bar manager
  • CleanMyMac - System cleaner
  • iStat Menus - System monitor (Free alternative: Stats)
  • Mosaic - Window manager
  • Paste - Pasteboard manager
  • Timing - Time tracking
• Snipaste - Screenshot tool
• Xmind 💰 - Mind mapping

Developer Tools

• Cursor - AI code editor
• Rider 💰 - .NET IDE
• Warp - Terminal
• Oh My Zsh - Zsh manager
• Powerlevel10k - Zsh theme
• Fira Code - Coding font

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