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Must-have apps and tweaks for MacBook Air newbies?

dennya

dennya

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2009
105
1
Seattle-ish
Okay, lots of folks will apparently be getting MacBook Airs on Monday and Tuesday, and for a percentage of them it's their first Air, or even their first Mac.

Curious as to what applications and utilities veteran Air owners find to be a must, really useful, or just fun.

I have the big stuff lined up already: Office 2011, Parallels 7, Photoshop, and Lightroom. But I'd love to hear recommendations of favorite apps and utilities from other Air owners, and I'm sure there will be lots of other new Air owners who'd appreciate it too.

(System tweaks appreciated too!)
 
o_O anything happening this monday and tuesday?

Also I completely agree with ZBoater.
Although the only app I haven´t downloaded yet is chrome.
 
i use adium to replace msn yahoo messenger gtalk aim etc.

deeper - to unlock hidden customizations, i use it to show / hide hidden files.

i like showing the item info, especially usefull in the desktop, you can see how many files / how much gb used in your drive. go to finder > view > show view options > show item info



dennya said:
Okay, lots of folks will apparently be getting MacBook Airs on Monday and Tuesday, and for a percentage of them it's their first Air, or even their first Mac.

Curious as to what applications and utilities veteran Air owners find to be a must, really useful, or just fun.

I have the big stuff lined up already: Office 2011, Parallels 7, Photoshop, and Lightroom. But I'd love to hear recommendations of favorite apps and utilities from other Air owners, and I'm sure there will be lots of other new Air owners who'd appreciate it too.

(System tweaks appreciated too!)
Click to expand...
 
I would say Chrome and VLC are probably the most general "must have" apps you can get for your mac, that it didn't already come with.

Aside from those, I probably use Transmission, Office, and Adium the most.
 
I don't understand why Chrome is a "must have" app. I think Safari for Mac is the best we have. If I were on windows I would use chrome hands down, but on a Mac? Doubtful.

I personally use Dropbox and Sparrow daily, and am really getting into GeekTool.

CleanMyMac is great for any Mac, not just the Air.

I recently got GamePad Companion so it is easy to set up switch to different button configurations on my PS3 controller for some light gaming. (currently GTA: Vice City)

Other than that I have your standard apps like VLC, Grip, The Unarchiver, etc.

Always on the lookout for the new neat tweaks and apps!
 
I recently got a MBA and here are the apps I found quite useful(free)
VLC
Perian
Unarchiver
MplayerX
Twitter
SMC Fan control
Utorrent
Skype
Better touch tool
 
TheBaconKing said:
I don't understand why Chrome is a "must have" app. I think Safari for Mac is the best we have. If I were on windows I would use chrome hands down, but on a Mac? Doubtful.

I recently got GamePad Companion so it is easy to set up switch to different button configurations on my PS3 controller for some light gaming. (currently GTA: Vice City)
Click to expand...

I have been using Chrome on a PC ever since the day it came out, but I probably wouldn't even think to use it on a Mac when I get my Air soon. I imagine Safari offers better integration.

How is it using the PS3 controller? I'm going to get the GTA trilogy and maybe another light game or two, and I was just going to use the keyboard. I wasn't sure what external game pads were available for the Mac, is the PS3 controller the best option?

Anyway, for apps I just search through the store and see what I would use. I need my screenwriting software, and there are some good productivity apps out there.
 
PDFierro said:
I have been using Chrome on a PC ever since the day it came out, but I probably wouldn't even think to use it on a Mac when I get my Air soon. I imagine Safari offers better integration.

How is it using the PS3 controller? I'm going to get the GTA trilogy and maybe another light game or two, and I was just going to use the keyboard. I wasn't sure what external game pads were available for the Mac, is the PS3 controller the best option?

Anyway, for apps I just search through the store and see what I would use. I need my screenwriting software, and there are some good productivity apps out there.
Click to expand...

I have no issues getting the controller to connect via USB, but bluetooth is pretty hit or miss for me. Every now and then it refuses to connect and asks for a passcode, which never works. I don't know how to fix it other than eventually it begins to work on its own.

Getting started and setting it up to work with Vice City wasn't hard either. You could do without the $8 Gamepad companion app, but since I bought it I will use it. You can configure the buttons in the settings of the game.

Overall I like it, it takes me back to my PS2 days playing GTA all the time. I'm not much of a computer gaming person though, so I doubt I will be trying the controller out with any other games.
 
TheBaconKing said:
I have no issues getting the controller to connect via USB, but bluetooth is pretty hit or miss for me. Every now and then it refuses to connect and asks for a passcode, which never works. I don't know how to fix it other than eventually it begins to work on its own.

Getting started and setting it up to work with Vice City wasn't hard either. You could do without the $8 Gamepad companion app, but since I bought it I will use it. You can configure the buttons in the settings of the game.

Overall I like it, it takes me back to my PS2 days playing GTA all the time. I'm not much of a computer gaming person though, so I doubt I will be trying the controller out with any other games.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did some quick Googling, and seems like the Sony controller is a great option. GamePad Companion looks interesting, might have to try that out if I don't like the controls. But cool that it can act as a mouse for the Mac.

I'm not a big gamer either but I used to be, in fact I stopped playing games a few years ago. I beat GTA IV and then lost interest in them. But seeing the GTA games on the app store has me wanting to play them, like you.

The only game I played on a computer was Stranglehold, and I was actually pretty damn good with the keyboard.
 
Pages, Keynote, SafariOmnibar, iStat Pro, CoconutBattery, NO Flash ;)

Just my two cents.
 
dennya said:
Okay, lots of folks will apparently be getting MacBook Airs on Monday and Tuesday, and for a percentage of them it's their first Air, or even their first Mac.

Curious as to what applications and utilities veteran Air owners find to be a must, really useful, or just fun.

I have the big stuff lined up already: Office 2011, Parallels 7, Photoshop, and Lightroom. But I'd love to hear recommendations of favorite apps and utilities from other Air owners, and I'm sure there will be lots of other new Air owners who'd appreciate it too.

(System tweaks appreciated too!)
Click to expand...

Calibre, ebook reader and manager. I'd need Aperture (Apple's license allows you to run Apertur on two computers. One desktop and one notebook) and I might be able to use Garage band and not have to get Logic.

What you need depends on what you DO with your computer and if this is your only computer.
 
Chrome

TheBaconKing said:
I don't understand why Chrome is a "must have" app. I think Safari for Mac is the best we have. If I were on windows I would use chrome hands down, but on a Mac? Doubtful.
Click to expand...

I use Chrome on my MBA instead of safari because my computer at work is a PC and i like that i only have to maintain one set of bookmarks. Otherwise i would totally use safari or maybe firefox.
 
hkim1983 said:
I would say Chrome and VLC are probably the most general "must have" apps you can get for your mac, that it didn't already come with.

Aside from those, I probably use Transmission, Office, and Adium the most.
Click to expand...

Chrome eats system resources like a beast.
 
FireFox
iWork
Adium
Evernote
FileZilla
Caffeine
Calendar
iStat Menus
Skitch
UltraEdit

These are what I use the most.
 
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