The Basics

Congrats! Welcome to the community!

I'd be sure to download the following:

Flip4Mac
StuffIt Expander
Firefox(In case you come across sites that Safari some reason doesn't support)

As far as compatibility, there is a Mac version of most all programs. You can't take your Window's copies of software and install them on your Mac unless you install Windows on your new Mac. Now-a-days there are very few softwares that don't come in a Mac version.

All you files like Word Doc's, PDF's, music and photos will be compatible forwards and backwards. You don't have much to worry about.

On the new Macbooks, the trackpad itself is a big button. I've heard that it works quite well, but I haven't used one yet. I'm sure you'll get used to it fast.

I hope you enjoy your new Mac!

 

Congrats on the purchase.

Compatibility will depend on what you need. Most general things will work.

Also, download VLC and Perian for any videos that Quicktime doesn't handle.

Regarding the trackpad. The whole thing is a button, but it's more connected at the top, so it requires less pressure to push at the bottom. It actually feels and works very closely to the previous aluminum trackpads with buttons.

You'll get what I mean when you use it.

If you have any questions, try searching MRoogle first (see my sig) and if you don't find an answer ask away.

 

Its not that Safari doesn't support some websites but that some websites don't support Safari rather.

 

welcome to the world of mac

If you use msn, AIM, yahoo or anything like that, Adium is a must get

and definitely get VLC for mac, its a godsend

all i can say is enjoy your mac.

~wibble

 

Safari (included) is a great browser, I was once stuck to firefox, but Safari eventually won my allegiance. I will still use firefox on Pc, Linux, or even on the mac if Safari fails to work. I just now prefer Safari.

As for things you may want/need, I'll give you names, you can search google for most, and anything I type with ($$) is shareware. Those can be found on versiontracker website (excluding quicktime pro)


Flip4mac - WMV extension for quicktime. You should be able to play internet videos in the wmv format, as well as movie files.

Perian - this gives quicktime a large amount of codecs for playing various types of video.

Quicktime Pro ($$) - quickly trim movies, and save them, as well as other features you may find interesting

Messenger:mac - MSN messenger for mac

NetNewsWire - a great macintosh RSS feed viewer.

Transmission - for torrents

1password ($$) - password manager for Os X. I use an app called Steel, which holds the passwords, but 1password has auto-fill capabilities with your browsers.

Keyboard maestro ($$) - Macro program. Easily create hotkeys to control various functions on your mac.

Handbrake - convert DVDs to movie files for iTunes/apple TV and more.

iSquint - free application to convert movie files to ipod/iTunes.

Visual Hub ($$) - much like iSquint, but much more functionality. Convert to and from different formats, and even burn video DVDs

FunnyPhotographer - probably not needed if you have Leopard, but for Tiger, it contains more iSight effects than photobooth.

Paintbrush - simple paint program. Closest thing to MS Paint.

Renamer4mac - quickly re-name large amounts of files. Works perfectly when sorting large amounts of photos (at least for me)

Justlooking - photo viewer. scroll buttons scrolls through images (great for viewing a folder, not having to click each one like priview.app). It also plays .gif animations -- and does not crash like xee.app does (xee is a similar third party app)

Snap Pro X ($$) - Screen shot, and recording app. Record movies MUCH more efficiently than any other program out there as far as I know.

I used to use one for PC, and it slowed my computer down ridiculously, even caused it to stop responding. While on my mac, I thought I would try it out again. I got some free apps, and I believe I foolishly payed for a shareware app which did the same thing. I thought 2.0GHz intel duo was enough RAM to do screen capture, not to mention I'm on OS X, not windows. The mac slowed right down, dock was unusable, programs (including the recorder) stop responding, resulting in a loss of the recording. This was particularly annoying if it was something I could not re-create easily. I came across snap pro X -- and everything changed. It records the screen, and audio perfectly, efficiently, with no noticeable drop in computer performance. I can easily record, stop, and save the movie. Saving may slow things down a bit, but at least it saves, and doesn't stop responding, and lose the save. I drop the movie file into Visual Hub, and compress it to a small mp4 movie file, and I'm good to go.

that should get you going good. I wish i had that list when I started. It took a lot of searching, asking, and more searching. I don't know what I'd do without google, or macrumors.



the shareware costs between 20-40 each for single licenses, so keep that in mind. With that said, I don't feel cheated out of anything, the apps work well in what they do, especially Snap Pro X.