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A new Best Mac apps thread
- Thread starter iAlexG
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A few of my apps have changed since i started this thread 5 months ago.
Safari + Opera as backup (Opera doesnt have smooth scrolling?)
Vuze
Mail.app
Adium
iTunes
Photoshop CS4 (I used to use PS but more recently Acorn has been more than adequate)
iWork + Mariner Write
Squirrel (Personal Finance) or iCompta (Great free option)
Shovebox (A much less obtrusive than something like Yojimbo or Together but just as efficient, lets me keep my work space clean and uncluttered)
Handbrake (all video conversions and DVD rips)
Safari + Opera as backup (Opera doesnt have smooth scrolling?)
Vuze
Mail.app
Adium
iTunes
Photoshop CS4 (I used to use PS but more recently Acorn has been more than adequate)
iWork + Mariner Write
Squirrel (Personal Finance) or iCompta (Great free option)
Shovebox (A much less obtrusive than something like Yojimbo or Together but just as efficient, lets me keep my work space clean and uncluttered)
Handbrake (all video conversions and DVD rips)
I read thru a few of your posts, but didn't see whether you had tried Transmission vs. using Vuze. Have you?
Yes i have used Transmission in the past and it is faster on start up etc. but the search feature of Vuze made me switch about 3 months back.
I absolutely need a great RSS reader, and Vienna is the best I've found (yes, that includes NNW)
MP3 Scan and Repair is essential to make sure all of my downloaded music is in tip-top shape.
And I just recently discovered Skitch. Man, am I in love with Skitch!
These are in addition to the essentials like Cocktail, DiskWarrior, XSlimmer, The Unarchiver, etc.
MP3 Scan and Repair is essential to make sure all of my downloaded music is in tip-top shape.
And I just recently discovered Skitch. Man, am I in love with Skitch!
These are in addition to the essentials like Cocktail, DiskWarrior, XSlimmer, The Unarchiver, etc.
My must-haves, and some less important but still very neat apps:
Essential utilities
DragThing - until recently I didn't understand why people needed an app-launcher with functionality beyond what Spotlight offers. But this is a really amazing tool, totally changed how I interact with files and apps.
smcFanControl - for monitoring and changing fan RPM / CPU temperature
MainMenu - like Onyx, but lighter weight and always running
Onyx - to do everything MainMenu can't, as well as some essential UI tweaks (e.g, getting rid of the 3d dock!).
Isolator - great ultra-lightweight little menu bar app to fade out background windows
Airfoil - for wirelessly streaming my computer's audio over my AppleTV's surround sound (so useful), or to my iPhone (awesome, but a little gimmicky)
TrueCrypt - excellent option for file and drive encryption; would own it even if it cost $250, but it's free!
Internet
Chromium (nightly dev release, update every couple days) - my internet browsing workhorse; seems to be faster than everything except maybe Safari, but interface is much more appealing to me than Safari
Safari - my failsafe browsing option, for when Chromium doesn't work (some internet video sites don't seem to like Chromium)
Firefox - I use this with Vidalia and Torbutton and some other extensions for any sensitive browsing for which greater security and anonymity is desirable.
Cyberduck - my FTP client of choice
Transmission - lightweight and simple, and does everything torrent-related I need.
Dropbox - 2GB of free online storage that integrates perfectly with Finder = win.
Little Snitch - great lightweight firewall and network monitor
Vidalia - My TOR client of choice
Academic
Microsoft Word - I tried to like Pages, but it really is inferior to Word.
Papers - not really a "must have", but this is a nice way to keep an organized library of journal articles and other PDF documents.
Media Editing
Adobe Lightroom 3 (beta) - Having previously used Aperture, I find this a better overall app in pretty much all ways.
Pixelmator - very intuitive and aesthetically appealing image editing, not as powerful as PS, but more than enough for most of what I do.
Final Cut Studio - this covers everything I need in software for video production, except
Magic Bullet Looks - how I do color grading for video.
Other
Candybar - for easily changing ugly dock icons, or freshening up the overall look of my system.
FontExplorer - hands down the best font manager, absolutely essential for anyone doing design, or anything really that involves non-standard fonts.
coconutBattery - to keep track of battery health in my MacBook
DaisyDisk - ultra-cool-looking app to quickly visualize which files and folders are taking up the most room on my hard drives
VLC - I transcode all of the videos I acquire to h.264 AppleTV-friendly m4v format, but VLC is how I first make sure it's what I wanted, that the subtitles work, etc etc
Handbrake - best video transcoding option for Mac, hands down.
Fairmount - needed to rip DVDs with 64-bit Handbrake
7zx - for handling archive files that Finder can't
Essential utilities
DragThing - until recently I didn't understand why people needed an app-launcher with functionality beyond what Spotlight offers. But this is a really amazing tool, totally changed how I interact with files and apps.
smcFanControl - for monitoring and changing fan RPM / CPU temperature
MainMenu - like Onyx, but lighter weight and always running
Onyx - to do everything MainMenu can't, as well as some essential UI tweaks (e.g, getting rid of the 3d dock!).
Isolator - great ultra-lightweight little menu bar app to fade out background windows
Airfoil - for wirelessly streaming my computer's audio over my AppleTV's surround sound (so useful), or to my iPhone (awesome, but a little gimmicky)
TrueCrypt - excellent option for file and drive encryption; would own it even if it cost $250, but it's free!
Internet
Chromium (nightly dev release, update every couple days) - my internet browsing workhorse; seems to be faster than everything except maybe Safari, but interface is much more appealing to me than Safari
Safari - my failsafe browsing option, for when Chromium doesn't work (some internet video sites don't seem to like Chromium)
Firefox - I use this with Vidalia and Torbutton and some other extensions for any sensitive browsing for which greater security and anonymity is desirable.
Cyberduck - my FTP client of choice
Transmission - lightweight and simple, and does everything torrent-related I need.
Dropbox - 2GB of free online storage that integrates perfectly with Finder = win.
Little Snitch - great lightweight firewall and network monitor
Vidalia - My TOR client of choice
Academic
Microsoft Word - I tried to like Pages, but it really is inferior to Word.
Papers - not really a "must have", but this is a nice way to keep an organized library of journal articles and other PDF documents.
Media Editing
Adobe Lightroom 3 (beta) - Having previously used Aperture, I find this a better overall app in pretty much all ways.
Pixelmator - very intuitive and aesthetically appealing image editing, not as powerful as PS, but more than enough for most of what I do.
Final Cut Studio - this covers everything I need in software for video production, except
Magic Bullet Looks - how I do color grading for video.
Other
Candybar - for easily changing ugly dock icons, or freshening up the overall look of my system.
FontExplorer - hands down the best font manager, absolutely essential for anyone doing design, or anything really that involves non-standard fonts.
coconutBattery - to keep track of battery health in my MacBook
DaisyDisk - ultra-cool-looking app to quickly visualize which files and folders are taking up the most room on my hard drives
VLC - I transcode all of the videos I acquire to h.264 AppleTV-friendly m4v format, but VLC is how I first make sure it's what I wanted, that the subtitles work, etc etc
Handbrake - best video transcoding option for Mac, hands down.
Fairmount - needed to rip DVDs with 64-bit Handbrake
7zx - for handling archive files that Finder can't
I am new to the Mac world but my go to programs are
Skype
Office (mostly Word)
RipIt
Handbreak
Firefox
Picasa
AppCleaner
VLC
CCC
Skype
Office (mostly Word)
RipIt
Handbreak
Firefox
Picasa
AppCleaner
VLC
CCC
Yeah, I'm in love with Skitch also. It's just so easy, and I'm surprised by how much I use it.
Other apps:
Things
Evernote
NetNewsWire
1Password (I'm still trying to figure out a quick way to add app licenses without manually adding line by line. I tried to drag apps to it, but that didn't work. Does anyone know?)
Click to Flash
Concentrate
Tweetie
Fluid (I made apps for Mint.com,Youtube, and Instapaper.
)Transmission
MarsEdit
Hulu
Caffiene
Last.fm scrobbler
Facebook Notifications
My can't live withouts that I think would be useful for everyone:
TextExpander
Dropbox
Hazel
LaunchBar
Things
Evernote (premium)
1Password
SuperDuper
Other things I can't live without but not everyone would need:
Scrivener
Papers
Cram
Brush Pilot
Concentrate
TextExpander
Dropbox
Hazel
LaunchBar
Things
Evernote (premium)
1Password
SuperDuper
Other things I can't live without but not everyone would need:
Scrivener
Papers
Cram
Brush Pilot
Concentrate
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Flow
iRip
iTunes (even though it comes standard, I think it is worth special mention)
iWork suite
MacJournal
Microsoft Office (it's nice to have in those specialized cases)
Mozilla Firefox
RapidWeaver
RipIt
Tracks
Tweetie
I included all of my favorites. They are of varying usage frequency and purpose. Steam will be on that list shortly.
Adobe Photoshop
Flow
iRip
iTunes (even though it comes standard, I think it is worth special mention)
iWork suite
MacJournal
Microsoft Office (it's nice to have in those specialized cases)
Mozilla Firefox
RapidWeaver
RipIt
Tracks
Tweetie
I included all of my favorites. They are of varying usage frequency and purpose. Steam will be on that list shortly.
- Anything by Adobe: I know, their **** is overpriced, but there are workarounds...
- TextEdit: This is the unsung hero of OS X.
- Blender: A free, open source 3D suite that kicks Maya's ass!
- Grand Perspective: Helps you free up hard drive space by revealing large files.
- µTorrent: The best torrent software for the Mac.
- Djay: fun as hell app for turning your iTunes library into an arsenal of mixing mayhem.
- iWork: Because it's everything MS Office failed to be, at a cheaper price.
- Dropbox: A free alternative to MobileMe's iDisk. Extremely effective. Tell your friends!
- Fetch: A simple but effective drag-and-drop FTP app. Longtime favorite.
- Firefox: If there is is a global standard for web browsing, this is it. Plenty of great extensions.
- Google Earth: Our planet is amazing... see for yourself.
- Handbrake: Goodbye DVD region codes, goodbye physical discs, goodbye DRM!
- iTunes, iCal, Address Book, and the iLife apps: Thanks, Apple!
- iShowU: Flexible screen capture software. Comes in handy at times.
- Little Snitch: Informs you when your software (legitimate or otherwise) attempts to connect to the internet, and asks your permission to allow or deny.
- MindNode Pro: Simple yet effective mind mapping software.
- Nestopia: NES emulator for Mac. Time to dust off your ROMs!
- PeerGuardian: Protects your privacy by blocking your IP during P2P filesharing.
- Reason: Still one of my favorite DAWs after all these years. Buy it!
- Senuti: Got music on your iPod you need to move onto your Mac? This will do it. It will also preserve your playlists.
- Skype: Video chat with users all over the world for free! Call any cell or land line phone for cheap.
- Time Machine: What good are any of these other apps I'm listing if you don't have them backed up? It's free with OS X. Use it!
- Tinker Tool: Because there are system preferences you wish OS X gave you, but didn't.
- Toast: the best way to burn or copy CDs and DVDs on the Mac.
- VLC Media Player: Got a video file that won't open in QuickTime? Chances are, VLC will open it.
- VMware Fusion: Does a fine job of running Windows or Linux virtual machines on the Mac.
- Parallels: Does a fine job of running Windows or Linux virtual machines on the Mac.
- XaoS: Open source fractal viewer... for the nerdiest of us.
- Mac The Ripper: Extract the VIDEO_TS folder of any DVD. Use at your own discretion.
- Audio Hijack: Capture audio from any application running on your Mac.
- Doom [1, 2, & 3]: You know you want to bring back the addiction. Why bother to resist?
- TextEdit: This is the unsung hero of OS X.
- Blender: A free, open source 3D suite that kicks Maya's ass!
- Grand Perspective: Helps you free up hard drive space by revealing large files.
- µTorrent: The best torrent software for the Mac.
- Djay: fun as hell app for turning your iTunes library into an arsenal of mixing mayhem.
- iWork: Because it's everything MS Office failed to be, at a cheaper price.
- Dropbox: A free alternative to MobileMe's iDisk. Extremely effective. Tell your friends!
- Fetch: A simple but effective drag-and-drop FTP app. Longtime favorite.
- Firefox: If there is is a global standard for web browsing, this is it. Plenty of great extensions.
- Google Earth: Our planet is amazing... see for yourself.
- Handbrake: Goodbye DVD region codes, goodbye physical discs, goodbye DRM!
- iTunes, iCal, Address Book, and the iLife apps: Thanks, Apple!
- iShowU: Flexible screen capture software. Comes in handy at times.
- Little Snitch: Informs you when your software (legitimate or otherwise) attempts to connect to the internet, and asks your permission to allow or deny.
- MindNode Pro: Simple yet effective mind mapping software.
- Nestopia: NES emulator for Mac. Time to dust off your ROMs!
- PeerGuardian: Protects your privacy by blocking your IP during P2P filesharing.
- Reason: Still one of my favorite DAWs after all these years. Buy it!
- Senuti: Got music on your iPod you need to move onto your Mac? This will do it. It will also preserve your playlists.
- Skype: Video chat with users all over the world for free! Call any cell or land line phone for cheap.
- Time Machine: What good are any of these other apps I'm listing if you don't have them backed up? It's free with OS X. Use it!
- Tinker Tool: Because there are system preferences you wish OS X gave you, but didn't.
- Toast: the best way to burn or copy CDs and DVDs on the Mac.
- VLC Media Player: Got a video file that won't open in QuickTime? Chances are, VLC will open it.
- VMware Fusion: Does a fine job of running Windows or Linux virtual machines on the Mac.
- Parallels: Does a fine job of running Windows or Linux virtual machines on the Mac.
- XaoS: Open source fractal viewer... for the nerdiest of us.
- Mac The Ripper: Extract the VIDEO_TS folder of any DVD. Use at your own discretion.
- Audio Hijack: Capture audio from any application running on your Mac.
- Doom [1, 2, & 3]: You know you want to bring back the addiction. Why bother to resist?
Omniweb - Lightweight, webkit based browser(scores 100 on ACID3)
transmission- nice simple torrent client
Paintbrush- great, attractive ms paint alternative
SMCfancontrol- allows user to monitor and control system fans
weathervane- great menubar app that displays current outside weather
mplayer- plays pretty well any video format and imo more attractive than vlc
istat menus- monitor system properties, resource usage and temps in real time
transmission- nice simple torrent client
Paintbrush- great, attractive ms paint alternative
SMCfancontrol- allows user to monitor and control system fans
weathervane- great menubar app that displays current outside weather
mplayer- plays pretty well any video format and imo more attractive than vlc
istat menus- monitor system properties, resource usage and temps in real time
nice list found some good and handy apps/games form this list
this is my list (if the sites are wrong feel free to correct them for me)
adium
Atomicworm
burn
clamxav
evom
dosbox
filezilla
firefox
google chrome
google earth
macfire
minimalwords
mymahj
quinn
skype
songbird
teamspeaker
teamviewer
the unarchiver
transmision
ventrilo
vlc
yahoo messenger
aim
growl
if someone that uses these apps can check the site and see if they are correct and let me know that would be good
this is my list (if the sites are wrong feel free to correct them for me)
adium
Atomicworm
burn
clamxav
evom
dosbox
filezilla
firefox
google chrome
google earth
macfire
minimalwords
mymahj
quinn
skype
songbird
teamspeaker
teamviewer
the unarchiver
transmision
ventrilo
vlc
yahoo messenger
aim
growl
if someone that uses these apps can check the site and see if they are correct and let me know that would be good
I kind of like iTunes since my conversion but I miss foobar with a passion. The lack of a truly great music player on OS X still baffles me.
that said:
iTunes
- Bowtie
- GimmeSomeTunes
- Volume Logic (Since SRS iWOW has seemed to decide to stopped working :\ )
Candybar - Essential program for people who like to customize.
Nerdtool
Adium
Linkinus - Been on IRC since '94. This is the best IRC client I've ever used.
Skype
uTorrent - My favorite torrent client, yet still a year or two behind its windows counterpart unfortunately.
Alfred - A new app launcher currently in beta.
AppZapper - If there's a better app for this, let me know please.
Itsy - Small and lightweight twitter client. Nice mods out there to make it pretty as well.
Macam - Got my Microsoft LifeCam working thanks to this
Little Snitch - Essential. Everyone needs this.
Media Rage - I miss Tag & Rename but this helps.. some what.
SlipCover - For adding DVD covers to folder or files
Yahoo Messenger - I actually do like their OS X offering, and think it is much, much better than its Windows counterpart.
TextMate
PList Editor Pro
edit: forgot Perian!
that said:
iTunes
- Bowtie
- GimmeSomeTunes
- Volume Logic (Since SRS iWOW has seemed to decide to stopped working :\ )
Candybar - Essential program for people who like to customize.
Nerdtool
Adium
Linkinus - Been on IRC since '94. This is the best IRC client I've ever used.
Skype
uTorrent - My favorite torrent client, yet still a year or two behind its windows counterpart unfortunately.
Alfred - A new app launcher currently in beta.
AppZapper - If there's a better app for this, let me know please.
Itsy - Small and lightweight twitter client. Nice mods out there to make it pretty as well.
Macam - Got my Microsoft LifeCam working thanks to this
Little Snitch - Essential. Everyone needs this.
Media Rage - I miss Tag & Rename but this helps.. some what.
SlipCover - For adding DVD covers to folder or files
Yahoo Messenger - I actually do like their OS X offering, and think it is much, much better than its Windows counterpart.
TextMate
PList Editor Pro
edit: forgot Perian!
I'm so glad I listened to everyone recommending Alfred. It's such a beautifully minimalistic and lightweight app launcher -- does everything an app launcher should do, and nothing more. Wonderful.
My only complaint, that the hat graphics don't fit my UI well, is easily fixed. I've changed the menubar and search icon graphics, and now you wouldn't think it was more than a feature of 10.6. This is definitely a keeper.
My only complaint, that the hat graphics don't fit my UI well, is easily fixed. I've changed the menubar and search icon graphics, and now you wouldn't think it was more than a feature of 10.6. This is definitely a keeper.
Things looks great and would be useful but £45 is a bit steep!
Does anybody know where to get it cheaper or any good free alternatives?
I used AppZapper a few years ago, and it would always leave behind some .plist files, and even some occasional cache files.
I'm wondering if anyone has used AppTrasher? It's description sounds much more thorough.
Got to agree with you there. Finder is terrible, but so is XP and Vista file manager. Win7 file manager is actually rather good, or at least good enough to get me to use it instead of Directory Opus on Win7. But on OSX Path Finder is the bee's knees.
Platypus is a cool app if you need to for example turn an Applescript into an actual app you can easily launch from your desktop or whereever.
Pixen is a cool image editor specifically made for old school pixel graphics. Sadly it seems that it is no longer being developed but even in its current form it is good for doing pixel graphics, far better than something that isn't really made for that like Pixelmator or Photoshop.
PS. For the sake of this thread, how about people don't post the obvious ones (like Firefox or iTunes) and repeat what others have posted (unless they have something to say about it)
Is Pathfinder the best alternative file manager? I really do not like Finder. What would be some other options?
Also, since I'm still fairly new to OS X I figure I should ask this.. I've been installing everything into the Applications folder and it's getting kind of stuffed up with all of my installs. If I create some sub-folders to move/organize the apps around, will that effect anything if I've been using all of these apps for a while?
Also, since I'm still fairly new to OS X I figure I should ask this.. I've been installing everything into the Applications folder and it's getting kind of stuffed up with all of my installs. If I create some sub-folders to move/organize the apps around, will that effect anything if I've been using all of these apps for a while?
Pathfinder is the best alternative at the moment, although i dont use it
HoudahSpot is a good spotlight replacement if thats your problem.
And moving apps around wont mess them up like windows. All the apps preferences, cache files etc are located in the library folder so will not be affected.
45 pounds? Really? It's like $45 in the U.S. (which should be less than £30)
BTW, macupdate.com has lots of GTD apps, several are free.
mt
Sort of true. But if you ever want to update any application without headaches, you will recognize the wisdom of keeping all apps in the Applications folder.