If you just received a new MacBook I have some quick tips on what you should do first to make the most of it. I've been reviewing MacBooks for years here at Tom's Guide so I have a pretty good sense of how to quickly set one up to be an effective laptop that's well-suited to your unique needs.
So whether you inherited an old MacBook Pro from an older sibling or just unwrapped a brand-new MacBook Air M4 for Christmas, I have some advice about how you can make the most of it.
1. Personalize your desktop
One of the first (and in my opinion, most enjoyable) things you should do upon starting your new MacBook is to customize the desktop so it's just the way you like it.
Modern macOS gives you a lot of options to fine-tune your Mac's desktop to your liking, letting you choose between dozens of dynamic or static wallpapers (you can also upload your own photos) and giving you lots of options to color-code file types and organize them the way you like.
It's all pretty simple to access, too. To customize your wallpaper, screen saver and more just click the Apple button in the top-left corner of your screen and open System Settings, then navigate down to the Wallpaper section.
With macOS Tahoe you can also customize the colors of specific folders on your desktop (or anywhere on your Mac) and even apply individual emoji to specific folders so you can personalize them to your needs.
I really love this feature, and it's easy to play around with: simply hold Ctrl + Click on a folder and select "Customize this folder" to access a menu of colors, icons and emoji you can put on the folder to make it easy to recognize at a glance.
2. Secure your Mac (and make it yours) with Touch ID
Every new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air has come with a Touch ID sensor built right into the power button in the top-right corner of your keyboard. This sensor can read your fingerprint to identify you, and you can use it to ensure that anyone other than you will have an awful hard time accessing your Mac.
Enabling Touch ID on your MacBook is simple: just click the Apple button in the top-left corner of your desktop and navigate to System Settings > Touch ID. From there, click Add Fingerprint to add your fingerprint to your Mac's Touch ID database.
Be prepared: Touch ID requires you to register at least one fingerprint with Apple, and while the company claims your fingerprint data is securely stored on your device, never shared online and cannot be used to match against other prints in fingerprint databases, I understand if some folks are leery of giving their fingerprints to Apple.
But for my money Apple is one of the more trustworthy tech companies on the planet (at least when it comes to preserving user privacy to keep them buying Macs) and I haven't had any concerns about using Touch ID for years. And the bright side is that you don't need to fiddle with a password — you can just press your finger against the sensor and watch your MacBook welcome you back.
3. Fine-tune your Dock
If this is your first Mac, you might be a little surprised to see a big ribbon of icons at the bottom of your desktop. This is called the Dock, and it serves a similar function to the taskbar or Start menu in Windows 11 because you can add and remove programs to the Dock for easy access.
For my money it's a bit drab and busy by default. That's why I clear every app I don't regularly use off the Dock, including Apple apps like Keynote, Numbers and Pages. To remove an app from the Dock, simply right-click (or Control + click) an app and select Options > Remove from Dock.
I also like to add all my favorite apps I use regularly, like Google Chrome. Add an app to the Dock by opening the Launchpad (by either clicking its button on the Dock or opening Spotlight Search and typing Launchpad, then hitting Return) and click and drag the app you want down to where you want it on the Dock.
Personally I prefer a nice clean desktop without a lot of clutter, so I like to set the Dock to auto-hide itself whenever I'm not looking for it. To auto-hide the Dock menu, click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen and navigate to System Settings > Desktop & Dock, then toggle on the Automatically hide and show the Dock option. There's a few other useful options for customizing your Dock in that menu, including options to change the size and magnification of icons on the Dock, move the Dock to either side of your screen and the like.
4. Use Desktop Widgets to make your Mac your own
I've always loved the concept of "desktop widgets," little panels on your desktop (like a calendar, a photo album or a clock) that auto-update with useful information. I first encountered them in Windows, but in my opinion the Widgets available on your Mac (starting with macOS Sonoma) are far more useful than anything Microsoft offers.
You also have a lot more options of what Widgets to add to your desktop, where to place them and what size they should be than you ever did on Windows.
Customizing the Widgets on your new MacBook is fairly simple: just Ctrl + Click anywhere on your Mac desktop to bring up the context menu, then click the "Edit Widgets" option. Note that you must be running macOS Sonoma or later.
Another way is to simply click on the Notification Center in the top-right corner of your Mac's screen and click "Edit Widgets" to open the Widgets menu as well.
5. Set up those Hot Corners
Another thing I prize about MacBooks over Windows laptops is the option to use Hot Corners, a macOS feature that allows you to set a custom shortcut that launches every time you move your mouse into a corner of your screen.
This can be a little frustrating if you're not prepared for it to happen and something pops up unexpectedly when you're mousing around in the corners of your screen. But once you get the hang of it, Hot Corners can make you feel a lot faster and more productive when you're working on your new MacBook.
To add, remove or change Hot Corner shortcuts navigate to System Settings > Desktop & Dock, scroll all the way down and click the Hot Corners button.
That will take you to the Hot Corners menu, where you can customize what program (if any) launches when you slide your pointer into each corner of your display. Personally I like to put Mission Control in one corner, the Launchpad in another corner and Google Chrome in a third corner for easy access. But play around with the feature and see what fits you best!
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