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Just got MBA 2020 - few Questions

Daino92

Daino92

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 15, 2019
113
216
Montana
Hello all,

I just got my 2020 MBA. I am very happy with this purchase as my use case is about 90% office work. I am new to Mac OS and just switched from a windows machine. I am wondering if I could get a few recommendations from you all. I am wondering the following:

1) A few must have apps?
2) I am looking for a better RAM management app and maybe a decent* free cleaner?

Thanks all!
 
Microsoft Office. Lets face facts, it's still a Windows world out there. Apple has Keynote/Numbers/Pages, but Windows doesn't always (often?) read the Apple formats without converting. That's a pain in the pattute.
 
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I am thinking of a "cleaner" that deletes duplicate files, unneeded cached files, junk etc. So yes, I guess like CCleaner. 😀
 
rambo47 said:
Microsoft Office. Lets face facts, it's still a Windows world out there. Apple has Keynote/Numbers/Pages, but Windows doesn't always (often?) read the Apple formats without converting. That's a pain in the pattute.
Click to expand...
I'd say just log into Google Docs for free rather than pay for Microsoft Office. It may be a Windows world, but the world has also moved on to Google Docs.
 
Daino92 said:
I am thinking of a "cleaner" that deletes duplicate files, unneeded cached files, junk etc. So yes, I guess like CCleaner. 😀
Click to expand...


I have Duplicate File Finder and its very good. I think I had to pay a few dollar though. It can be used on multiple devices though and family share.
 
rambo47 said:
Microsoft Office. Lets face facts, it's still a Windows world out there. Apple has Keynote/Numbers/Pages, but Windows doesn't always (often?) read the Apple formats without converting. That's a pain in the pattute.
Click to expand...

Entirely depends on one's needs.

I have a work-issue Windows computer with O365. I haven't had Office on my (personal) macs in several years.
 
The issue for me with moving away from MS Office is that so many work computers have older versions of Office, and the only thing that opens some of these ancient file types is Office. At least consistently. Hell, some of our office computers only get internet through the GRiD desktop environment. This is FedEx's idea of security. I suppose if you keep a data thief scratching his head long enough he'll either lose interest after a while or get a rash from all the scratching.
 
rambo47 said:
Microsoft Office. Lets face facts, it's still a Windows world out there. Apple has Keynote/Numbers/Pages, but Windows doesn't always (often?) read the Apple formats without converting. That's a pain in the pattute.
Click to expand...
All of Apple’s iWork apps export to their office equivalents pretty well actually. That being said, if you can stomach paying Microsoft $60 a year for Office it is more than worth it.
 
I get Office for free, so for now I'm good with it. I don't mind paying for software if it's a necessary program for my needs. I ponied up $400 for Abobe Acrobat Pro because of how many PDFs I have to create/sign.

The issue I have is with folks still using ancient versions of Excel or Word not being able to open files I send them with iWorks.
 
rambo47 said:
I get Office for free, so for now I'm good with it. I don't mind paying for software if it's a necessary program for my needs. I ponied up $400 for Abobe Acrobat Pro because of how many PDFs I have to create/sign.

The issue I have is with folks still using ancient versions of Excel or Word not being able to open files I send them with iWorks.
Click to expand...
Try exporting your Pages or Numbers files into their Microsoft equivalents and see if that helps.
 
Daino92 said:
Hello all,

I just got my 2020 MBA. I am very happy with this purchase as my use case is about 90% office work. I am new to Mac OS and just switched from a windows machine. I am wondering if I could get a few recommendations from you all. I am wondering the following:

1) A few must have apps?
2) I am looking for a better RAM management app and maybe a decent* free cleaner?

Thanks all!
Click to expand...
No need for RAM management as macOS is very efficient with RAM. Out of curiosity, did you get the 8GB or 16GB model?

I’d recommend Carbon Copy Cloner for backups to an external drive. It works better than Apple’s built-in Time Machine, IMO (it is certainly a lot faster).

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a good choice since a subscription also gives you access to 1TB of OneDrive access, and the ability to install Office apps on both your Mac and iPad.

I generally don’t use cleaner apps, but did get Omni Remover as part of an app bundle.

PDF Expert is a good and much cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro. OCRKit is good for converting scanned images into readable files. Both are available from the Mac App Store.

Above all, get to know the apps that macOS comes with. Photos, Pages, Numbers, Keynote are all good, though you may need to adapt to the Mac user interface conventions.
 
KPOM said:
No need for RAM management as macOS is very efficient with RAM. Out of curiosity, did you get the 8GB or 16GB model?

I’d recommend Carbon Copy Cloner for backups to an external drive. It works better than Apple’s built-in Time Machine, IMO (it is certainly a lot faster).

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a good choice since a subscription also gives you access to 1TB of OneDrive access, and the ability to install Office apps on both your Mac and iPad.

I generally don’t use cleaner apps, but did get Omni Remover as part of an app bundle.

PDF Expert is a good and much cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro. OCRKit is good for converting scanned images into readable files. Both are available from the Mac App Store.

Above all, get to know the apps that macOS comes with. Photos, Pages, Numbers, Keynote are all good, though you may need to adapt to the Mac user interface conventions.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the answer!

1) I have the this configuration: i5, 512 SSD and 8GB model. I was not willing to pay for more than that since I will be (more than likely) working from home and preforming office work.

The company that I work for will provide me with an Office 365 account since we work out of the office 365 suit. I would love to get to know the built in macOS apps, but I don't know if I have a real need to honestly at this point. I will definitely look into the Carbon Copy Cloner for back ups.
 
KPOM said:
PDF Expert is a good and much cheaper alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro. OCRKit is good for converting scanned images into readable files. Both are available from the Mac App Store.
Click to expand...

I've used PDF Expert for quite a while on phone & ipad. Great tool.

I'd also suggest exploring the inbuilt functionality provided by Preview in macOS - it can do a bunch more than I'd expected. See https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/welcome/mac
 
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