Hey everyone,
I'm buying my first MacBook this week and wanted to pick the community's brain before I commit.
Some context on me. I've used Windows and NVDA my whole life. I've got a solid Windows desktop at home that's my main workstation, so what I actually need now is a reliable laptop I can take with me to university.
The main stuff I'll be doing on it is regular school and university work, agentic coding mostly through CLI tools like Claude Code, Codex and various API workflows rather than running heavy local models, and some music production, tinkering around in Logic Pro every now and then.
I was originally leaning towards a MacBook Pro, but honestly it feels like overkill for what I need and too bulky to lug around every day. Right now I'm leaning towards the MacBook Air with the M5 chip, just can't decide on the config. It's between 16 GB RAM with 512 GB SSD or 24 GB RAM with 1 TB SSD.
This RAM decision is honestly what's stressing me out the most. Part of me is worried that I'll go with 16 GB, get a few months in, and realize it's just not enough for whatever combination of Xcode, Logic Pro, and a dozen Chrome tabs I end up running at once, and then I'll be stuck regretting it. But at the same time, paying extra just for those extra 8 GB feels like a waste if I end up never actually needing them. I don't want to overspend on headroom I'll never touch, but I also really don't want to underbuy and hit a wall right when I'm mid semester and can't exactly just swap out RAM on a MacBook.
If anyone's doing similar stuff, lighter development work, music production, everyday tasks with VoiceOver, I'd love to know what setup you're running, whether 16 GB has held up fine for you or whether you've hit ceilings that made you wish you'd gone bigger.
Since this'll be my first time actually living on macOS as a main laptop OS, I've got two more things I really want to know.
First, coming from NVDA, how rough is the learning curve with VoiceOver? Anything I should unlearn right away or habits from Windows that just don't translate?
Second, and this one really matters to me, I use a Freedom Scientific Focus 5th Generation Braille display. How well does that specific one play with VoiceOver on macOS these days? Any annoying bugs or connection issues over Bluetooth or USB I should know about before I buy?
By Urh Å trakl, 26 July, 2026
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
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Habibi, I'm on an m1 16gb... Your good.
Straight up, if your not running ai or huge projects there's very little reason to opt for 24.... I'd still go with a terabyte though.
that's what I thought
Like I mentioned I am not planning to run local models any time soon, I do have some projects I'm working on and I will hopefully be able to make a Mac port for but that's all. I'm still not entirely sure about 512 gigabytes or 1 terabyte mostly because I already have a 5 TB HDD lying around, currently it's hooked up to my windows machine but I could definitely still get some use out of that. That said, the 1 TB config I have on my Windows leaves a lot to be desired, I'm running out of space like crazy. Any accessories you recommend for it? I'm asking because the lawmakers here in the EU have decided to force Apple to remove the charging bricks so I'll have to get one myself, I still can't fathom how a laptop does not come with a charging brick, it just sounds insane.
The learning tip that will help you more than anything else.
Forget Windows. If you find parallels, there are some, great, congratulate yourself and enjoy. Actually, you know what? I wrote up a whole thing on this, let me find it. It was too the Logic Accessibility group, so it even covers music a bit.
Here are my two big Mac tips.
1. Ignore Windows. Just assume Mac is an alien world. Imagine it has an interface where you have to do dance steps or something, if it helps. The big thing people run into isn't just the habits part, where you've been doing stuff for twenty years, so it feels very familiar. It's also that you want it to work that way, that it's what you expect to happen.
2. Voiceover and the arrow keys. The other big thing I hear from people switching to Mac is, oh tab needs to work here but it doesn't, oh I can't remember when I use tab or the arrows or whatever. Voiceover and the arrow keys work, all the time.
3. I know I said two, but consider this a sub-tip of 2. You'll thank me. Caps lock as Voiceover modifier. It wonders me how many people complain about how you have to press twelve million keys at once, but then you find out they're still using, is it ctrl-option? I don't even remember what the two key version is anymore. Use caps lock. Even if you don't use it exclusively, per The Oreo Monster's recommendation in the getting started course, you will simplify your life immensely.
These tips are coming from somebody who tried the Mac twice, and went back to Windows. About two years ago now I bought a base Mac Mini, because I wanted to try Garage Band, Logic Pro really, but I started with GB. I made myself use nothing but the Mac for the return period, a few weeks I think, maybe a month maximum. Other than briefly using Windows to copy stuff over to the Mac and reset that laptop for sale, and a virtual machine on the Mac for gaming, I've been using the Mac ever since.
While I'm writing a novel, apparently, two more things.
1. You can use Reaper and Ableton on the Mac. That's why I wanted to try it, because I knew if I liked Logic, I'd still have access to everything else.
2. If you have iOS and a Bluetooth keyboard, a lot of the commands and the way you navigate and such is pretty similar. So if it's harder for you to tackle the Mac because it's a computer, try using your phone with a Bluetooth keyboard and Voiceover. You can't really expect the phone to work like Windows, because it really is pretty different.
The big thing that helped me with the Mac is almost thinking of it like a phone. What I mean is, I really tried to let go of expecting things to be a certain way, and just went, "OK, how do I do X on the Mac"? Then you learn that, and try it a bunch of times. See if you get used to it. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. There are things I know you can do on the phone that I don't, because they're just easier somewhere else. I'm not saying this is some sort of magic cure that will make you love a Mac.
I'm saying this is what got me past "this is so weird and frustrating", which happened twice over a period of years, to actually using the Mac exclusively. If you just assume there's a Mac way of doing things, and that's probably going to be different, that is, IMO, half the battle. Then it's less frustrating, and you're just learning something entirely new, and seeing if it's a way of working you can deal with or not.
There are still a few things I miss from Windows here and there, I'm not gonna lie. But I can get all my daily stuff done on the Mac just fine, and I get awesome stuff like Logic, a fully-featured accessible DAW. By fully-featured I'm not necessarily saying Reaper or something else isn't, but with Logic you get instruments and effects and such built right in, you don't have to go chasing them down, like you might with Reaper. Plus, like I said, you still have access to Reaper and Ableton. I don't feel slowed down by the Mac or anything like that. And I used Windows almost exclusively from 95 to 11, and MS DOS before that. So I had *a lot* of accumulated habits built up!
There are my thoughts on getting to grips with the Mac, for whatever they're worth. Hope they help somebody, at least a little bit.
Really appreciated your novel!!!
Especially thank you for reminding me about the capslock modifier. I have now went with 16 GB of ram and a 512 GB SSD, I could have gone with a terabyte, but here in the EU the prices have gone up even more than in the states, so I ended up not choosing the more expensive option. I am very much familiar with using an iPhone with a bluetooth keyboard and I have tried a Mac briefly for about an hour, I kind of liked it from the start to be honest, it did feel like a phone in some respects, but pressing control option every time annoyed me. Thankfully I have enough external storage to offset my decision, so hopefully all works well in the end. Any resources you suggest me looking into? I have read some of the getting started guides here on AppleVis, and I will continue to do so once it is delivered.