to me the most underrated thing i miss on Linux compared to mac is the file manager. I'm trying to get nnn setup efficiently but the out of the box options feel incredibly half baked in comparison to finder
Can you please elaborate what you mean by "half baked"? nnn has macOS users and I believe the number is picking up given we are getting more bug reports from macOS users recently. Knowing macOS users, we can consider polishing some crude corners if the problem statement seems reasonable.
to elaborate on my experience with the others, generally they are slow or have poor ux for common tasks like search or rename, lack a decent content view (thumbnails), etc
Yes, as a user I feel nnn was extremely disruptive as a FM. As the author I see at least 7 to 8 FMs drawing inspiration from it, which is a very positive testimony.