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Newbie to Mac Need Good APP Suggestions ?

augustya

augustya

Suspended
Original poster
Feb 17, 2012
3,331
464
Hey Guys,

New to Macbook Pro, have a rMBP 13" What are some of the good infact the best APP's one should have to have a real experience of the Magic of Macbook. I have gone through some earlier threads and lot of people have suggested various APP's just the names but without actually mentioning what it does ? is easy to understand if there is an explanation to what it does…If I can have some suggestions with a one liner description of the utility would be fantastic. Tell me all in Productivity, Utility…:D
 
Yeah But does it not make sense if people who use it just write a one liner description rather then me who has never heard about that APP go and check for each and every APP with its name in Google and APP store. I mean it is just efficiently helping each other not just taking someone on a ride :p
 
op - i bought my first rmbp 2 weeks back. i am also interested to find useful apps to make my transition to mac easy. I am browsing these forums and found couple of useful apps and I liked them alot.

1. PathFinder - Much better than Finder. It gives you total control on folder and file management. It is costly 40$ but I am very happy with its purchase. You can find plenty of reviews online.

2. Paragon NTFS for MAC - if you want to use same hard drive on both mac and windows machines, this software helps..it is 20$ but to me it is very useful.
https://www.cleverbridge.com/80/uurl-6jow0q19g2

if you come across any other useful apps, please post them in this thread.
 
ysvsr1 said:
op - i bought my first rmbp 2 weeks back. i am also interested to find useful apps to make my transition to mac easy. I am browsing these forums and found couple of useful apps and I liked them alot.

1. PathFinder - Much better than Finder. It gives you total control on folder and file management. It is costly 40$ but I am very happy with its purchase. You can find plenty of reviews online.

2. Paragon NTFS for MAC - if you want to use same hard drive on both mac and windows machines, this software helps..it is 20$ but to me it is very useful.
https://www.cleverbridge.com/80/uurl-6jow0q19g2

if you come across any other useful apps, please post them in this thread.
Click to expand...


Have you checked out this APP they are giving a free trial version but then it stops working and you have to buy one I am thinking to buy it. It is called JITOUCH gives some amazing shortcut keys, gestures to your browsing and navigation also had alphabet gestures enabled features to your mac like by drawing a B in your trackpad you can open a new browser in safari etc..etc check it out liked it very much !!
 
augustya said:
Have you checked out this APP they are giving a free trial version but then it stops working and you have to buy one I am thinking to buy it. It is called JITOUCH gives some amazing shortcut keys, gestures to your browsing and navigation also had alphabet gestures enabled features to your mac like by drawing a B in your trackpad you can open a new browser in safari etc..etc check it out liked it very much !!
Click to expand...

no, I have not heard about it. I will check it today evening. Thanks for the tip.
 
Please check the sticky at the top of this forum; that should get you started.

You question is rather hard to answer. A computer and its software are tools; the question is sort of like "what are good tools?" and can't be answered unless we know what you plan to do with the MBP.
 
robgendreau said:
Please check the sticky at the top of this forum; that should get you started.

You question is rather hard to answer. A computer and its software are tools; the question is sort of like "what are good tools?" and can't be answered unless we know what you plan to do with the MBP.
Click to expand...

That is the reason I said Productivity and Utilities...
 
augustya said:
That is the reason I said Productivity and Utilities...
Click to expand...

Don't overlook iPhoto, iMovie, Numbers, Pages, & Keynote. They are all free with your Mac. I use iPhoto and Numbers quite a bit.

Come to think of it, I don't think I have any apps on my Mac that I had to pay for (but my uses are very domestic). I will probably buy Aperture soon, and maybe Pixelmator eventually.

I don't use any utilities, so I can't help you there.
 
IMO

If you write stuff Scrivener is fantastic.

If you need to organise non-linear thoughts Scapple is great.

Transmit is a lovely FTP client

Coda 2 is a great HTML editor

Cathode is a brilliant replacement for terminal. If you're above a certain age.

Pages and Numbers can't be beat for modest projects.

1password is good for storing all your secrets although other (cheaper) products have their fans too.

And DaisyDisk is cute for managing disk space
 
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1. Carbon Copy Cloner - best backup solution and it is nice to have an external HD (USB, TB, or Firewire) set up for those "Oh No" situations. About $40 with a 1 month trial period, IMO well worth the cost.
2. Disk Warrior - about $100 and the best disk utility ever - install it on your external bootable HD. Has saved many an ar$e and prevents disk rot too!
3. SyncTwoFolders and MyPopBarrier - Selective backup and Mail apps. Very useful.
4. VLC - video player handles all types of movies, free soft
5. Onyx - maintenance for the "like to do it myself" type (the Mac actually does it's own, so it can be said that this is not necessary)
 
davidlv said:
1. Carbon Copy Cloner - best backup solution and it is nice to have an external HD (USB, TB, or Firewire) set up for those "Oh No" situations. About $40 with a 1 month trial period, IMO well worth the cost.
2. Disk Warrior - about $100 and the best disk utility ever - install it on your external bootable HD. Has saved many an ar$e and prevents disk rot too!
3. SyncTwoFolders and MyPopBarrier - Selective backup and Mail apps. Very useful.
4. VLC - video player handles all types of movies, free soft
5. Onyx - maintenance for the "like to do it myself" type (the Mac actually does it's own, so it can be said that this is not necessary)
Click to expand...

I am new to MAC world..so please help me to understand why do we need to spend 100$ on "Disk Warrior" when we can take our mac to applecare to fix the issue. Am I missing anything here? Please tell me.
 
ysvsr1 said:
I am new to MAC world..so please help me to understand why do we need to spend 100$ on "Disk Warrior" when we can take our mac to applecare to fix the issue. Am I missing anything here? Please tell me.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need additional protection if you have AppleCare. As for backup, I recommend the time machine from apple.

Edit: actually, I have not needed a backup for years, as the Mac has built in software to save shadows of what you are doing automatically, so if you run out of batteries or the computer crashes while writing an essay, it will launch all your apps to where you were and bring your document to your last completed sentence - even if you didn't save.
 
ImperialForces said:
You shouldn't need additional protection if you have AppleCare. As for backup, I recommend the time machine from apple.

Edit: actually, I have not needed a backup for years, as the Mac has built in software to save shadows of what you are doing automatically, so if you run out of batteries or the computer crashes while writing an essay, it will launch all your apps to where you were and bring your document to your last completed sentence - even if you didn't save.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. But what I read online is this software will recover data when hard drive is corrupted. I think if anyone has any important data on their machine all the time, this software might be helpful to them.
 
ysvsr1 said:
Thanks for the explanation. But what I read online is this software will recover data when hard drive is corrupted. I think if anyone has any important data on their machine all the time, this software might be helpful to them.
Click to expand...

It will...sometimes. As will Tech Tool Pro. I've used both to rescue stuff, but they don't always succeed.

Disk Utility can also repair disks but in my experience DW can rebuild a directory on drive DU couldn't help.

And sure, AppleCare might help. But they aren't gonna spend time meticulously trying to recover data. They'll probably just swap drives. Just make sure you get the old drive back in case you need to either run data recovery software yourself, or use a service.

These days you can buy a huge amount of storage for the price of this software, and you have rigorous backup strategies in place you probably don't need it. You might lose some short term stuff, in between versions. But that can be minimized. The tough situation is when using a laptop on the go where you might have accumulated a lot of data that you couldn't back up to the cloud or whatever.
 
robgendreau said:
It will...sometimes. As will Tech Tool Pro. I've used both to rescue stuff, but they don't always succeed.

Disk Utility can also repair disks but in my experience DW can rebuild a directory on drive DU couldn't help.

And sure, AppleCare might help. But they aren't gonna spend time meticulously trying to recover data. They'll probably just swap drives. Just make sure you get the old drive back in case you need to either run data recovery software yourself, or use a service.

These days you can buy a huge amount of storage for the price of this software, and you have rigorous backup strategies in place you probably don't need it. You might lose some short term stuff, in between versions. But that can be minimized. The tough situation is when using a laptop on the go where you might have accumulated a lot of data that you couldn't back up to the cloud or whatever.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advice. I am inclined to take regular backups to portable hard drive. I dont use macbook for work related and my personal stuff, I always put them in cloud for convenience.
 
Here's a few :-

  • Better Touch Tool - use that wonderful touchpad to its full potential. Obviously, you've already turned on the tap to click, scroll and right click optons, anyway...there's a recent thread here on it also.
  • TotalFinder - improves the built in finder. Had cut and paste of file/folders available years ago, can enable folders on top, and best is visor so a double tap of the Option key wil bring the finder window up or hide it etc
  • Dragthing - hide the pretty but inefficient dock and take control of things. Mine's setup in top right corner hidden until i mouse up to that area
    http://www.asktog.com/columns/044top10docksucks.html
  • XLD - great free audio ripper/transcoder
  • VLC - plays any media


Here's how my dragthing is setup when it is open - if i go up with the cursor ot the date day area it pops up and the icons are placed so my most common stuff is directly under there - ie Opera.
Cursor up to the left where the Butler looking icon is shows up the Folders tab on dragthing, although Totalfinder has made that less used nowadays.

ScreenShot2013-07-27at064526_zps61ff7c82.jpg


that reminds me of
Bartender - to tidy up your menubar of all the icons that get thrown on their
http://lifehacker.com/5906565/bartender-cleans-up-your-macs-menubar
 
Last edited:
coops said:
Here's a few :-

  • Better Touch Tool - use that wonderful touchpad to its full potential. Obviously, you've already turned on the tap to click, scroll and right click optons, anyway...there's a recent thread here on it also.
  • TotalFinder - improves the built in finder. Had cut and paste of file/folders available years ago, can enable folders on top, and best is visor so a double tap of the Option key wil bring the finder window up or hide it etc
  • Dragthing - hide the pretty but inefficient dock and take control of things. Mine's setup in top right corner hidden until i mouse up to that area
    http://www.asktog.com/columns/044top10docksucks.html
  • XLD - great free audio ripper/transcoder
  • VLC - plays any media


Here's how my dragthing is setup when it is open - if i go up with the cursor ot the date day area it pops up and the icons are placed so my most common stuff is directly under there - ie Opera.
Cursor up to the left where the Butler looking icon is shows up the Folders tab on dragthing, although Totalfinder has made that less used nowadays.
Click to expand...

This Dragthing looks promising and interesting but looks very confusing to set up…I gave it a few minutes to understand started getting in my nerves chucked it :p
 
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