3 Useful Tips For Every New Mac User

Those who use MacBooks will not shut up about how great their laptop is. This is due to a combination of MacBooks being powerful, the native operating system is user-friendly, aesthetically perfect, and fast, as well as brand loyalty. There really are reasons to love it, even if you don’t think it’s the best product on the market  (or worth its high price).

However, a MacBook is only as good as its user. Some are content with its basic functionality, happy not to learn any tricks, shortcuts, or features. Others want to know all the tiniest details, whether or not they’ll ever even use them.

If you’re one of the latter, you’ve got to follow these 3 tips.

1. Get a VPN

One of the best things about a MacBook is that you don’t have to worry about viruses and malware. Its internal antivirus protections are very strong, and along with Apple’s very close approach to their software, you’re less vulnerable than with other laptops. As long as you’re responsible, and don’t fall for phishing scams and the like, you’re fine.

Well, mostly. MacBooks are not perfect. While they’re more reliable at keeping out malicious third parties than many other computers, they still have their vulnerabilities. More than that, your online usage is always hackable and trackable, especially if you’re using unsecured public wifi.

For that reason, a VPN is essential on a Macbook. Make sure you find the best VPN for Mac and install it immediately.

2. Get to know the trackpad

When you first open up your Mac, the trackpad might look like any other laptops. A more convenient but less usable mouse. However, Mac’s trackpad is a force of nature. It revolutionized what we knew as the mouse, integrating haptic feedback and usability lessons learned from smartphones, making everything possible from that big rectangle.

Spend some time experimenting with it. Drag things around with 3 fingers, swipe up or to the side with 4 fingers. Pinch, expand, and so on. After a while, getting the most out of your MacBook will be incredibly easy.

Keyboard shortcuts are also pretty nifty, so make sure to find out what you can do with the cmd, alt, ctrl, and fn buttons.

3. Take advantage of Mac’s office package

Your MacBook comes complete with an office package – iWork. And while you might be more familiar with Microsoft’s Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, there’s no reason you should splash out extra money on them. iWork takes some getting used to. It’s not the same as Microsoft Office. There are certain things you’ll miss. But ultimately, the more you use it, the more you’ll learn to take advantage of all it has to offer.

Many will debate whether Office is better than iWork. But for me, the answer is simple. iWork and Office are both good enough. You might enjoy some features on one more than the other. But it’s definitely not worth spending big to bring Microsoft’s product onto your Mac. Mac’s native apps will always work better on a Mac, and even if Microsoft Office has its advantages, they’re not big enough to warrant the change.