Awesome and Essential Mac Software

[Herro001]

Like many of you out there, I too waited numerous months for the new arrandale mbp update. Once it was released I immediately purchased the new machine and am waiting for it to be delivered. This will be my first apple machine and I am unsure of what some neat and awesome apple programs to install on it and use. My question is that in your many opinions, what are some apple software that I should install?

Thanks in advance for comments!

 

[reubs]

Welcome to the forums. There are lots of threads here detailing such things, but I'm sure it's just your excitement that kept you from searching. I don't feel like searching for those threads right now, so I'll share w/ you some of the can't-live-without tools I've got on...

1Password - password manager
Speed Download - download manager
Bean - lightweight word processor/text editor
Things - Task Management
Tweetie - Twitter client
Xmarks - Keeps bookmarks synced
Quicksilver - general tool for the simplest to most complex tasks

Really, though, the best apps are the ones that fill a need that you have in your computing needs. Those I've listed are the ones that I've come to rely very heavily every day, and they're all third-party.

Enjoy your new machine!

 

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says...why don't you read through the sticky thread right at the top of this forum as it's got (as its title suggests) links to all kinds of software recommendations.

What programs you will want to use would naturally depend on what you use your computer for.....oh yeah!

 

[randomosity]

Essential Software for a new Mac

I just made the jump to OSX from Windows (yay)

Just lookin for some essential software to chuck on this baby.
I like to browse web, watch online videos on youtube, i do a lot of music production, graphic design and read articles.

Cheers

 

[irishgrizzly]

VLC video player – plays most formats
Neo-Office – Free office software
linotype font explorer (there's an older free version about)
Chrome – Googles browser for Mac
Cyberduck – free FTP client

 

[forcefieldkid]

Switch Audio Converter - Converts anything to MP3, may come in useful if you're working with music, know it has for me.
PerianVideo Plug-In for Quicktime - Lets you play most video formats within quicktime without the need for a different player. (Including .FLV format if you're downloading from YouTube)
Flip4Mac WMV Plug-In for Quicktime - lets you play Windows media video in quicktime.
iStat Pro - Monitors everything to do with your Mac, temps, fans etc.
SMART Reporter - Checks that your hard disk is verified, icon in the menu bar, alerts you if its status changes. maybe not essential but I like having it anyway.
UnRarX - Opens .rar compressed files.
Quicksilver - "Application launcher and much much more" - Couldnt go without this, its genius.

Also, Gimp is a free Photoshop clone. I've never used it as I have PS but I hear good things about it

 

[htg]

gimp is a really good app. i couldn't go without it.

 

[-aggie-]

You definitely need Onyx or CleanMyMac.

 

[Kingcodez]

Hulu Desktop, to watch TV.
Transmission, to do BitTorrent, you could also use uTorrent, but Transmission has better file grouping ability.