Returned my Mac Mini went back to Fedora
Just a quick recap of my time attempting to use a Mac. I picked up a Mac Mini in late November and ended up returning it last week. It was my first Mac in the Apple Silicon era and I thought this thing was going to be some sort of life changing device. It was not.
Problem 1: Why is my screen so fuzzy?
I have a 1440p monitor and the the first thing I noticed when I booted up the Mac Mini was that the text was fuzzy. As I started digging, I found out that Apple made changes to the text rendering, see this post on MacRumors for more info. The solution to this problem is either get a new monitor (no, this one is only a year old) or use a program called BetterDisplay to artificially increase the resolution so it will render a bit clearer. Even then there would be times where I would load a new window and the text would be fuzzy then snap into clarity as the screen re-rendered, this was especially jarring with the terminal.
Problem 2: Why don't keyboard commands work?
I have a Logitech mx keys keyboard, connecting it to a mac mini was rife with limitations. The function key on my keyboard would not work to perform some window movements that I was used to on Fedora. Why? Because it wasn't an Apple keyboard so those keyboard commands don't work unless you remap to other keys. Annoying but I was able to be overcome. The harder part was Logitech Options, the software that must be run in order to make the keyboard function well with Mac. For some reason I had a heck of a time giving it permissions to run at startup and I am not sure why. It took multiple reboots and reauthorizing permissions before it would finally run. Which brought forward the thought, why do I need software to make this keyboard work well with a Mac?
Minor note, why are their so many permission dialog boxes now? You can't even download a file without providing explicit permissions.
Problem 3: Where is the speed?
No doubt the Mac Mini is a powerhouse little computer but it wasn't seen while using the OS. Switching between work spaces would see the frame rate drop almost every time. I never experience while using Gnome on Fedora on my old Beelink. Application launches were also nothing to write home about. Sure in comparison to Windows they were very quick but would be considered normal using Linux.
Problem 4: Liquid Glass
I don't think I need to go heavily into this one. I am in my mid 40's and while my eyes are still good they aren't perfect. The transparencies and grey text on light grey windows were giving me all sorts of problems just figuring out what was happening with the interface.
So after a month of trying and generally overcoming issue (except number 4). I took a step back and asked myself if this was worth it and came to the conclusion it was not. I sent the Mac mini back and am happily using Fedora full time once again.
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