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What are your MUST HAVE applications for your MBP??

B

bds120

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 26, 2013
77
0
So I am getting prepared for my new 2015 MBP to arrive.

Key apps I have used since getting my 2008 MBP are

  1. Trim Enabler
  2. Caffeine
  3. NoSleep
  4. Office 2011
  5. VLC Player
  6. Adobe CS6
  7. LibreOffice
  8. TrueCrypt
  9. VirtualBox

What are you apps that you use? I am going to be looking for a good video editor. I am also going to be looking for Password Application something like Passwd Safe
 
bds120 said:
So I am getting prepared for my new 2015 MBP to arrive.

Key apps I have used since getting my 2008 MBP are

  1. Trim Enabler
  2. Caffeine
  3. NoSleep
  4. Office 2011
  5. VLC Player
  6. Adobe CS6
  7. LibreOffice
  8. TrueCrypt
  9. VirtualBox

What are you apps that you use? I am going to be looking for a good video editor. I am also going to be looking for Password Application something like Passwd Safe
Click to expand...

TRIM Enabler isn't needed, as TRIM is enabled by default on Apple OEM SSDs that ship with rMBPs.

VLC Player is a resource hog - I use MPlayerX instead (free App Store app).

Office 2011 is outdated. Use the Office Preview instead (it's stable).

I don't use VirtualBox because of its inefficiency and also, its USB 3 drivers are buggy. I use VMware Fusion instead.

CS6 and CC are pretty good.

Instead of using Caffeine or NoSleep, I use InsomniaX. It's more stable and works all the time. It gives you the option to either disable lid sleep, idle sleep or both. Useful for enabling clamshell mode without having to plug in. Disabling idle sleep also works well for me as it means that when I hit Ctrl+Shift+Pwr, the display goes to sleep but InsomniaX will prevent the computer from entering sleep when the display is asleep (on battery power).

TrueCrypt is useless as it's discontinued and no longer receives security patches. I just enable FileVault and create AES-256 encrypted DMGs using Disk Utility.
 
Currently transitioning from my Late-2011 17" to a Mid-2015 15"

My key apps are:
- Office 2011 (or 2015 beta)
- Lotus Notes & SameTime
- Wunderlist
- iTunes
- Chrome
- Sparrow (to be replaced by Airmail)
- iMessage
- Skitch
- smcFanControl
- Fantastical
- Dropbox
- TextExpander
- menuBarRearranger 2
- 1Password

just to name a few
 
yjchua95 said:
TRIM Enabler isn't needed, as TRIM is enabled by default on Apple OEM SSDs that ship with rMBPs.

VLC Player is a resource hog - I use MPlayerX instead (free App Store app).

Office 2011 is outdated. Use the Office Preview instead (it's stable).

I don't use VirtualBox because of its inefficiency and also, its USB 3 drivers are buggy. I use VMware Fusion instead.

CS6 and CC are pretty good.

Instead of using Caffeine or NoSleep, I use InsomniaX. It's more stable and works all the time. It gives you the option to either disable lid sleep, idle sleep or both. Useful for enabling clamshell mode without having to plug in. Disabling idle sleep also works well for me as it means that when I hit Ctrl+Shift+Pwr, the display goes to sleep but InsomniaX will prevent the computer from entering sleep when the display is asleep (on battery power).

TrueCrypt is useless as it's discontinued and no longer receives security patches. I just enable FileVault and create AES-256 encrypted DMGs using Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

Excellent info. Will definitely look into these items mentioned. Thanks a ton
 
Alfred 2
BetterSnapTool
Dropbox
Macs Fan Control
MplayerX
Spotify (premium account)
Office 2011
 
Fluttershy said:
Currently transitioning from my Late-2011 17" to a Mid-2015 15"

My key apps are:
- Office 2011 (or 2015 beta)
- Lotus Notes & SameTime
- Wunderlist
- iTunes
- Chrome
- Sparrow (to be replaced by Airmail)
- iMessage
- Skitch
- smcFanControl
- Fantastical
- Dropbox
- TextExpander
- menuBarRearranger 2
- 1Password

just to name a few
Click to expand...

RichardC300 said:
Alfred 2
BetterSnapTool
Dropbox
Macs Fan Control
MplayerX
Spotify (premium account)
Office 2011
Click to expand...

I see you both are using a fan control. I did also on my 2008. I figured it would not be needed on the new model. Guess I will take a look.
 
Bettertouchtool
Macsfancontrol
Virtualbox + windows + office 2010
Google chrome
adium
 
bds120 said:
I see you both are using a fan control. I did also on my 2008. I figured it would not be needed on the new model. Guess I will take a look.
Click to expand...

You don't really need it anymore, but I prefer my laptop to be cooler in exchange for a little more fan noise.
 
BetterTouchTool
is the best thing about OSX. The one thing you just cannot have on Windows. Definitely a must have IMO.
 
Waiting for my 15" Rmbp to be delivered Wednesday. Am going to start from scratch with my install, and re-download all apps instead of transferring from my old 2012 Rmbp

Evernote
Snapndrag
Titanium x
No sleep
Vlc
Office 2011
Photoshop CS6
Dropbox (must have! My backup drive)
Chrome
Disc Cover 3
Skype
Handbrake
Backblaze
 
  • iTerm
  • MAMP
  • Atom
  • GitHub
  • VMware Fusion
  • Firefox Developer Edition
These are the absolute minimum requirement for me.
 
Aviator
Spotify Premium
Hotspot Shield
Parallels
Better Touch Tool
Mac ID
Alfred
Bartender
Caffeine
Lastpass
 
What are your MUST HAVE applications for your MBP??

1Password - password manager
Bartender - menu bar manager
Dropbox
Fantastical - calendar
Filezilla
Firefox
Moom - window manager
MS Office 2011
Pathfinder - finder on steroids
Photoshop Elements
Reeder
TextExpander
Tweetbot
 
Last edited:
ayzee said:
Waiting for my 15" Rmbp to be delivered Wednesday. Am going to start from scratch with my install, and re-download all apps instead of transferring from my old 2012 Rmbp

Evernote
Snapndrag
Titanium x
No sleep
Vlc
Office 2011
Photoshop CS6
Dropbox (must have! My backup drive)
Chrome
Disc Cover 3
Skype
Handbrake
Backblaze
Click to expand...

do you pay monthly for the Photoshop or did you purchase?
 
Final Cut Pro X & Motion are REQUIREMENTS for Video Editors.

Alfred for productivity. Seriously, since installing Alfred my productivity has increased by a factor of ten. It's amazing how much I get done with it.

For photography management, Lightroom is perfect. Aperture works well also.

For photo manipulation or work, if you can afford it, Photoshop, otherwise Pixelmator.

Coding and Scripting requires BBEdit or TextWrangler.

The Unarchiver is great for unpacking archives.

If you work with graphics, there's literally no reason to NOT have Sip installed.
 
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