Setting up macOS to suck a bit less

I'm a Linux power user, I hate most macOS default features and settings.

That said, I find myself using a MacBook because the battery life/performance combo is unrivaled¹, they have perfect displays and macOS is still the leader in font rendering and HiDPI scaling.

To make my experience more bearable, this is what I do on a new machine:

• set up Homebrew

• install InstantSpaceSwitcher and set it up to override Mission Control default keybindings and trackpad gestures: you'll have to unbind Mission Control ones from macOS settings first

• install BetterDisplay to manage brightness for non-Apple external displays²

• install OrbStack to avoid having to deal with APFS idiosyncrasies

• set up Terminal.app to be usable, now that macOS 26 introduced True Color rendering:

  • Settings > Profiles > [your profile] > Shell > When the shell exits: Close if the shell exited cleanly

  • Settings > Profiles > [your profile] > Keyboard > Use Option as Meta key

After trying several so-called tiling window managers, I concluded they're not worth the hassle - introduce lags and glitches everywhere.