New MacBook Air
 

Never used one before, but tomorrow a new 15" MacBook Air is arriving. Please be patient with me because I most likely will have some really dumb questions.

1st Question. Any advice on the initial setup?

It's a no brainer. Follow the instructions explicitly, if you want easy. Take it out of the box & it wills step you through everything.

I'm on about my 30th personal Mac. I stared with the very first Mac 128 and now on a MacBook Pro (didn't buy the "Air" this time & it was a mistake).

if you get lost somewhere, send me a message and I'll walk you through it.

Thank you.

I climbed over the fence headfirst into the Apple garden back in 2009 after I got my first iPhone. Once I figured out how to do the things I wanted to do on the MacBook, Windows and its ilk are happily far in the rearview mirror.

Use the search engines on the browser (Safari) to ask/answer all the inevitable questions you're going to have like "How to X, Y, and Z" that are second nature to you in the Microsoft environment. It will be a bit of a learning curve and will take a little bit of time, but I am certain you will have no regrets after that. Everything just works everything lasts much longer, and you don't have nearly as many issues as one does with Windows.

Good luck!

I switched to Mac around 15 years ago from Windows. I think one of the biggest changes is learning the different file system management systems so that you can easily locate your downloads and documents. Using "Finder" instead of "File Manager" or whatever they called it on Windows these days.

I would suggest watching a quick tutorial on that specific topic on YouTube as soon as possible.

Second, if you're someone that is used to keyboard shortcuts on Windows, you're probably going to want to re-learn the equivalent keyboard shortcuts on Mac. They're not so difficult though.

Once I get familiar with the Mac I'll put a new battery in my windows laptop and sell it.

Since after this year Windows 10 will no longer get security updates, good luck with that.
A good alternative is to convert it to Linux Mint. It is a very close look-a-like to Windows 7 or 95. No one spies on you, no collects your data, you decide if you want updates and when, or not. You can do just about anything you can do on Windows in Linux (just a little different). I gave up on Windows 7 six years ago and will never go back.

I don't need any luck. It's windows 11.

Apple rules in our family, new device just transfer to the next. You will find Mac very easy to add whatever is important

Without the extra navigation keys, moving around on a Mac can be confusing ... UNTIL you get used to the Mac keyboard shortcuts. Here's a link to the list of shortcuts, to speed you on the way:
Mac keyboard shortcuts - Apple Support

Like some others here, I made the switch about 15 years ago and have never looked back. I suspect you will also be pleased. The biggest difference is that Windows lets you modify anything and everything, which makes it more complicated to do anything. Mac OS just works, simple and straightforward.

MS Office
 

You're probably used to using MS Office; there is MS Office for the Mac.

If you're willing to try something new, your new Macbook Air will come with a suite of applications, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, that provide the same functions. They just take a bit of getting used to. Also they will open and "save as" to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. As others advised, Youtube as a lot of "How To on the Mac" videos.

The entire basic design of the original Mac inter-face, was to not use "keyboard commands". It's a graphic interface and the only reason keyboard commands were even made available, was to accommodate previous uses of DOS.

"Point & Click" is the method of choice. I have 40+ years of using MacOS, 5-6 hours a day and I don't know 90% of the keyboard "short cuts" nor have I ever used a "Function Key" ... those things are all left over from the DOS world or early Windows world, back when a mouse or trackpad was a novelty.

If the keyboard command uses any modifier other than the "Command key", it's most likely an added command to accommodate DOS/Windows user and contrary to the graphical interface MacOS derives from ... which is why the Command Key was called the "Apple Key" ... it's the only Function Key Macs had.

Folks who learned computers in the MacOS environment, typically don't use keyboard commands, as they're not necessary. It's like buying an automobile with Cruise Control and not using it on the highway, because it's too "new fangled" for your taste.

Once you go Mac, you'll never go back. Enjoy!!

Find the closest Apple Store an enroll in the free clases they provide I went to four, same level but every time I learned something new.

It bugs me that there's no forward delete on a Mac. It'll take some time to get used to that.