Hi guys i just purchased my very first mac and got the new macbook pro. I have no idea what software is out there that is good. Can you guys give me some tips for what i should download??
It'll depend on what your needs are. Let's see:
Safari is a great web browser, but you can also try these ones:
Mozilla Firefox (free) - the second most popular web browser, definitely worth it
Camino (free) - Firefox-based web browser for MacOS, aims to provide better integration with the system
Stainless (free) - sort of a Google Chrome clone
OmniWeb (free) - Mac-only web browser with a unique experience
Opera (free) - the same as in Windows
Internet Explorer 5 is available, but it is seriously outdated. Don't even try it.
Office suites:
Microsoft Office (US$ 149.95, US$ 114.95 at MS website) - the standard office suite, it has Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage (for e-mail); the 2008 version is the counterpart of Office 2007 for Windows, but it lacks one feature or another, and it is slower and not so polished up
Apple iWork (US$ 79.99) - the Apple office suite, very intuitive and easy to use but lacks some important features
OpenOffice.org (free) - an open source office suite, the standard in Linux, and also quite popular on Windows
IBM Lotus Symphony (free) - OpenOffice-org based office suite
Word processors (stand-alone):
Nisus Writer Pro (US$ 79.00) - general-use word processor for MacOS, has great features; there is also Nisus Writer Express (US$ 45.00), with less features
Mellel (US$ 49.00) - word processor with multilingual support and a full set of features for technical and academic writers
Bean (free) - a simple word processor, fast but doesn't even support footnotes
Scrivener (US$ 39.99) - word processor for creative writers
What else would you need?