11 Things to Do When You Get Your New MacBook Pro

When you get your new MacBook Pro, there are a few things we recommend doing as soon as you get everything set up and running. The setup process will take some time and you’ll be ready to start using your MacBook Pro, but you’ll get more than that by following these steps.

The setup process walks you through the basics, and although we personally like to start from scratch, you can easily restore a Time Machine backup. You can adjust a few of these options as you go through the setup process, but if you need to skip them or make a change, here are the settings we recommend changing and what you should do when you get a new MacBook: professional

Here are the first things I did when I got my new MacBook Pro 16. Another thing I do is order a new MacBook Pro 16 skin to keep my new laptop looking great in the long run.

1. Show Battery Percentage
2. Sign in to iCloud
3. Change Siri Settings
4. Customize Your Touch Bar
5. Set Your Default Browser
6. Change Trackpad Settings
7. Open Safari Website Icons
8. Set Night Shift
9. Set Dark Mode Auto Switch
10. Set Do Not Disturb
11. Set Up Unlock with Apple Watch

You can skip some of these if you don’t want to make the change. If you restore from a Time Machine backup, most of your settings will be transferred from your old Mac.

Show Battery Percentage

I like to see how much battery percent is left when I look at the taskbar. This allows me to easily estimate how much time I have left and I can change what I’m working on or seek power.

in the upper right corner. Click . Now you will see the Battery Percentage at a glance.

Sign in to iCloud

Sign in to iCloud on your Mac.

If you weren’t signed into iCloud during the setup process, it’s a good idea to do so now. With iCloud, you can sync folders with iCloud Drive, sync reminders, contacts, photos, Safari info, and much more.

Open .

You may need to verify your account using another Apple device.

Change Siri Settings

Change the Siri features on your MacBook Pro.

All new MacBookPro models come with Siri installed, and you can customize Siri settings based on how you use Siri. Depending on your MacBook Pro, you can turn off the Siri shortcut or set up Hey Siri.

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From here you can change a Keyboard shortcut, turn on Hey Siri and select the Siri Voice.

Customize Your Touch Bar

Customize the Touch Bar on MacBook Pro.

The Touch Bar is an integral part of the MacBook Pro and is not going anywhere. With that in mind, you can customize it to get the buttons and options you want there.

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You can then drag the items you want to the far right of the Touch Bar and tap the arrow to expand it so you can configure the rest of the Touch Bar.

Set Your Default Browser

Change your default browser on MacBook Pro.

I spend most of my time in Chrome, although it uses more battery than Safari. If you like to use Chrome, Brave or any other browser, you can set it as your default browser on Mac.

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Select Chrome or the browser you want to use in the arrow section of this menu. This is also where you can change accent and accent colors and change other general settings.

Change Trackpad Settings

Change your trackpad settings.

The Trackpad is very powerful and has loads of options and settings. You may already have your favorites based on using a Mac before. Personally, I like one finger tap to look at something and turn off tap to click.

From there, click Point & Click to set touch options, Pan & Zoom to adjust scroll behavior, and More Gestures to change these options.

Many people want to adjust by turning Natural scrolling off in the Pan & Zoom tab, which will change your scrolling direction.

Open Safari Website Icons

Show website icons in Safari tabs.

By default, Safari doesn’t show small icons for each of the websites you visit and tabs you open. You can change this so you can easily see what each tab is for.

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This will add them to each of the tabs in Safari. You only need to make this change once.

Set Night Shift

Configure a Night Shift schedule for your MacBook Pro.

Your new MacBook Pro can automatically adjust screen colors to be warmer at night. This makes the screen show less blue light at night, meaning you can use your laptop more easily at night and then sleep. This makes a big difference, but you have to turn it on.

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From there you can choose sunset to sunrise or set a custom schedule and even set the temperature it changes.

Set Dark Mode Auto Switch

Change the look by letting the Dark Mode and Light Mode change automatically.

Another great feature is Dark Mode, which turns on a darker theme on the MacBook Pro. You can configure this to automatically switch to light mode in the morning and then to Dark Mode at night.

Unfortunately, there is no easy toggle and no dedicated program for Dark Mode and Light Mode.

Set Do Not Disturb

Set up Do Not Disturb on your MacBook Pro.

You don’t want interruptions when you need to get the job done. You can set Do Not Disturb on your Mac to stop notifications from bothering you.

Once inside, you can set Do Not Disturb to turn on automatically at certain times or when the screen is asleep, the screen is locked, or projecting to a TV or projector. The last one is particularly helpful because

Set Up Unlock with Apple Watch

Unlock your MacBook Pro with your Apple Watch.

One of the other things I love to use is the Apple Watch Unlock feature. Once installed, simply wake your Mac and if your Apple Watch is unlocked and on your wrist, it will unlock your Mac. You can also use it to confirm passwords and authenticate Apple Pay.

This will connect to your Apple Watch to verify and you will need to enter your Mac passcode. Once installed this will quickly take you to your MacBook Pro.