Software advice for New MacBook/Apple User! Woooooow what a dif...

[LincolnsiPod]

Got my MacBook a few days ago, and this is the first time I've ever used Mac OS. 15 inch, antiglare (matte), i7 powered, SSD 128GB.

Wow, just, wow.

I've been able to customize a few things here and there, but I'm wondering what else I could use to help enhance my Apple experience, especially since I'm a noob. I consider myself a travel blogger, so I see the MBP as a excellent tool to take with me on the road especially for producing multimedia content on the fly and using geolocation based software to help track my journey and upload them online to various social networks.

Are there any additional tools I could use that could help? So far I have Adium installed for IM, Tweetie for Twitter, the Google Search Box, pro version of Quicktime, and XMarks for syncing my bookmarks. The native apps are so awesome I can't see myself using much beyond that, but I also have the feeling I'm overlooking something too. I'd use iWeb but from what I've seen there's no way to utilize that for my WordPress powered site.

One thing's for sure though, I'm never going back to using a Windows based laptop again.

 

[spinnerlys]

Also have a look at the following links, as the information presented there might be helpful in your future endeavours into Mac OS X and could clear up initial confusion and may even prevent harm to your system or your files.

 

[Airforcekid]

Appfresh keeps everything up to date.
Perian You can play ANY video format in QuickTime.
VortexNzb Great software for usenet.
Transmission Great software for torrents.
VirtualBox run Linux or windows in osx for free.
OpenOffice free office suite.
Bumptop Depends I like the way to organizes files.
Handbrake 64Bit great for ripping DVDs.


Other enable stealth mod under firewall and run disk utlity to check your hard drive every couple of months enjoy OS X!

 

[LincolnsiPod]

Whoa, nice links. That should keep me busy for a while.

Would the disk utility still be needed for a solid state drive? I have a SSD on my desktop too and the traditional utilities like defrag were disabled due to not being needed for such a drive.

Right now I'm looking to see if iWeb can still be utilized for a WordPress blog, or maybe another software that operates similar to it. It's so well constructed I'd hate to not have an opportunity to use it.

 

[DKatri]

iWork is really nice.
VLC is super useful for playing all sorts of files
For a browser, personally I prefer google chrome or mozilla camino over safari
Things is a really nice to do list manager but a bit expensive ($50 i think)

Have fun with your new Mac!

 

[vty]

I'm a huge lover of 1password and Things, check them out.

Also Shovebox!

BetterTouchTools is a must have for cinch and snaps like in Win7.

Also, FlickrWall is awesome; you can set it to pull images from Flickr to use as your wallpaper and have it change at intervals.

 

[ChristWolves]

Don't forget to mention MultiClutch which can keep you busy forever!

 

[LincolnsiPod]

Ok, I think it's obvious now that it's going to take a few months to get up to speed on being a Mac power user.