Essential Checklist for Setting up Your New Apple M3 MacBook Pro
I recently received a new 16-inch MacBook Pro with the latest Apple M3 chip for my work computer. I had heard rave reviews about the blazing-fast Apple M1 and M2 chips, so I was incredibly excited to get my hands on a machine powered by the new M3 chip.
In this blog post, I'll walk through the steps I took to configure my new device for a smooth transition into my workflow.
My main goals were to:
- Seamlessly access commonly used links and logins via exporting Chrome bookmarks and 1Password.
- Customizing an aesthetically pleasing terminal environment with
iTerm2,Oh My ZshandPowerLevel10K Theme - Get my work project repositories running properly with
PyCharmandAws Cli.
If you're a data scientist, python developer, or anyone who uses the Terminal and AWS cli for your daily job, you may find this guide helpful when setting up a new MacBook, especially transitioning from intel chip to apple silicon chip-powered machine.
1. Export Chrome Bookmarks
I often keep my browser bookmarks in my personal google account. The new laptop came with Slack and my work google account which doesn't have all the bookmarks I frequently need. Here's how I exported bookmarks from my old laptop and imported them into the new one.
- On the old laptop, open Chrome with my personal google account and go to
chrome://bookmarks/
- Click the vertical three-dot menu » "Export Bookmarks"
- An HTML file downloads containing all bookmarks (e.g.
Wen_bookmarks_Feb-2023.html) - Drag this file to Slack and send it to myself
- On my new M3, download the html from my Slack. Go to
chrome://bookmarks/» "Import Bookmarks" » Select the HTML file just downloaded.
Voila! Now all my crucial bookmarks are available on the new M3 device for easy access. Shout out to my husband for showing me this handy Chrome trick
