Ordered my first Mac...what do you reccomend I purchase now?

[juiceman311]

What software do you all reccomend? Primary use of computer will be for school work and research. I purchased the Blackbook (2ghz). I will definitely want to run XP on it at times. ---

[kurzz]

I would say Parallels, DevonAgent (excellent tool for research), iWorks or MS Office or one of those free open source packages. Everything else depends on what your interest or priorities are.

[thejadedmonkey]

Buy XP asap if you don't want vista, as XP is discontinued everywhere soonish I believe.

[emptyCup]

I say this a lot but, if you've never used a Mac before, David Pogue's Switching to the Mac (http://www.amazon.com/Switching-Mac-Missing-Manual-Tiger/dp/0596006608/ref=sr_1_1/103-3955985-5015025?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179580381&sr=1-1) is worth getting.

[gauchogolfer]

What sort of research will you be doing?

[jc0481]

Get Quicksilver a free program its a work of art you'll see. and get xslimmer I think its a $12.00 program but well worth it. What it does it searches for all your universal binary programs and when it find its you just click on slim. It removes the old code for the powerpc code that you don't need since your running on the new intel chip not only that but it gives you back hard drive space, it frees up more ram and the best thing is the program runs faster. try it out.:)

[TaylorDog]

I would say Parallels, DevonAgent (excellent tool for research), iWorks or MS Office or one of those free open source packages. Everything else depends on what your interest or priorities are.

I just ordered my Mac too so sorry for hijacking the thread! Why Parallels over BootCamp though? I understand that w/ BootCamp you can only run Windows or Mac OS but you have to decide at start up. W/ Parallels you can switch back and forth? Is there any other advantage?

Thanks!

[Dynamyk]

Office for sure, but with Microsoft announcing the new office, I think if i were you I'd get NeoOffice since it's free and it will hold you out till the new Office comes out :).

Definitely buy a case for your Macbook.

[Gymnut]

AppleCare if you haven't already. True you could always purchase it within that year but that date is so easy to forget.

[kuebby]

I'd say a usb hub; the MB only has 2 usb ports which run out very quickly and it's kind of a pain to switch out devices. I have the combination ipod dock and usb hub that I got from woot about 6 weeks ago and it works great.

Secondly, external speakers of some sort the MB speakers are pathetic; or if you don't want speakers then a good pair of headphones.

[flopticalcube]

AppleCare if you haven't already. True you could always purchase it within that year but that date is so easy to forget.

I'd second that but spend some time shopping around and do some research. Don't pay retail for AppleCare.

It's not software but a good external drive that is at least as big as your internal drive and maybe some backup software like SuperDuper! (or you could just us Disk Utility).

[xparaparafreakx]

Buy XP Pro or if you go to a Uni, ask your IT department if your covered by their MS Campus Argeement. If you are covered, you will get XP/Vista and Office for both OSes.

[kurzz]

I just ordered my Mac too so sorry for hijacking the thread! Why Parallels over BootCamp though? I understand that w/ BootCamp you can only run Windows or Mac OS but you have to decide at start up. W/ Parallels you can switch back and forth? Is there any other advantage?

Thanks!

That's the biggest advantage. With Parallels, you can actually drag and drop documents, cut/paste between the two operating systems as if XP was just another Mac application. You can run Windows in fullscreen, windowed or "merged" coherence mode. Another advantage is that all your Windows documents, files and OS are stored in a Mac OS file. If you decide to remove Windows or start over, all you need to do is delete the file. With Bootcamp, you have to mess around with hard drive partitions.

[BlackDan]

That's the biggest advantage. With Parallels, you can actually drag and drop documents, cut/paste between the two operating systems as if XP was just another Mac application. You can run Windows in fullscreen, windowed or "merged" coherence mode. Another advantage is that all your Windows documents, files and OS are stored in a Mac OS file. If you decide to remove Windows or start over, all you need to do is delete the file. With Bootcamp, you have to mess around with hard drive partitions.

Just get Crossover and run Windows apps in OSX! Far cheaper than XP, no need to mess with partitions or bootcamp. I use parallels, but i've tested Crossover for a while and was very happy with it. I think most users will be perfectly happy with crossover. Most of all it's much less overhead compared to Parallels.

[psychofreak]

Right now you can use the VMWare Fusion beta for free (like Parallels), and then you can decide which one to buy (if either) when the final version comes out :)

There are some great lists for software here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=226403), in another thread :)

[user13]

I just ordered my Mac too so sorry for hijacking the thread! Why Parallels over BootCamp though? I understand that w/ BootCamp you can only run Windows or Mac OS but you have to decide at start up. W/ Parallels you can switch back and forth? Is there any other advantage?

Thanks!
Running two OSes simultaneously is itself the biggest advantage.
Well, Parallels is a very good program. Coherence mode is one the advantages that puts the app forth: you work with windows as if it is not running on your Mac - right from Mac OS.
Boot Camp support is another good feature that lets use these two awesome apps in combo. Parallels supports Boot Camp partitions that's why you wont' need 2 windows installs, for example.
M-m-m... What else... Parallels Compressor that lets you compress Parallels partition to free disk space and organize the work of VM.

[user13]

Just get Crossover and run Windows apps in OSX! Far cheaper than XP, no need to mess with partitions or bootcamp. I use parallels, but i've tested Crossover for a while and was very happy with it. I think most users will be perfectly happy with crossover. Most of all it's much less overhead compared to Parallels.
The main advantage of CrossOver is that you don't need to run Windows. But it proves to be unreliable due to the small number of supported programs. Parallels supports everything (except graphics) because the apps run natively in Windows