I've been using my Air since Sept. 19th, but I seem to have some bugs...

Question

But it SEEMS a little buggy to me—OS X itself; especially in comparison to Windows (please don't start a debate—I'm pro-Mac here, I much prefer it, please believe that. You'll see when you read further ahead). I adore the computer more than any I've ever used, since updating to Mavericks my battery lasts 16 hours long which is just UNBELIEVABLE. Yet then there are the annoyances that don't happen with Windows...
Safari really bugs up a lot. So do a few other of the apps. Yeah, Apple has apps that actually work, whereas most of Windows stuff is bloatware; but I do get bugs with Gmail on Mail, Safari slowing down and having other graphical problems where the bottom or top of the browser won't show completely, all of the wi-fi problems, and now with Mavericks there are more. The biggest one is Spotlight failing. Others, SOME fixed [partially] with workarounds, are the rainbow cursor showing up all the time on Safari causing force restarts [partially fixed; still have to force start sometimes but no more rainbow-freezing, just unable to two-finger scroll], Safari Web Content taking up 30-100% CPU [fixed with workaround and fixed completely since Mavericks], and the computer itself is, while charging (or plugged in via USB; haven't checked the other ways), actually seemingly giving off some type of static vibration.
I LOVE Spotlight and it not opening kills me. I didn't do a fresh install with Mavericks so I'm unsure what would've changed. I did the update it offered me from my computer.
I'm really new to Macs, having only received my very first on the 19th of September, but I just adore it. The trackpad is literally the best thing ever invented... ever. Coming from using an iPad for a couple hundred days without using a computer at all, the change to using the trackpad gestures and the OS X ecosystem was very, very easy for me. I'm truly amazed at how similar OS X is to iOS. How the heck did they manage that?
Anyway, realistically, the best bet is to change to Chrome or a different browser that may mess up and cause less bugs and memory leaks (or whatever it is that Safari was doing), but I actually like Safari and how it links up with my iPhone and iPad.
Mainly what I'm asking here is are you guys having these problems? Also, should I stick with Safari? Is there another way to use iCloud with a different browser? Everything I have is Apple, so it's just nice having that one nice, central, similar ecosystem, without annoying and time-consuming workarounds. I love how Apple is natively configured to work with SO much (it's notification center is absolutely amazing. I think it's so cool)
Should I really go into one of those "get to know your Mac" sessions at the Genius Bar? I'm not a computer moron entirely.
P.S. iTunes doesn't like to play iTunes Radio. It'll stop playing and just "load" a song continually. I'll have to skip the song for it to restart playing and eventually I'll have to use all the skips for my hour and then I'll have to switch to a new station and back to get it to start playing again. I actually use iTunes Radio for a good 14-15+ hours a day (I don't sleep very much) on the Air, so this gets rather annoying. I can't recall whether or not it does this on my iPhone, which I also always use whenever I go out the door.
Needless to say, I'm never going back to Windows; but are any of you having these same—the whole plethora of—problems that I am? It's certainly, hilariously, not enough to send me back to Windows, but... I'd prefer as "close to perfect" an experience as possible. Is this it? Thank you!
<Edited by Host>

Answer 1

Can you get an internet connection if you connect directly to the modem?