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The MBP has vents around the display hinge. When open air gets out from the top, when closed it gets out from the back edge so when running in clamshell mode make sure you don't put the back end of the laptop against anything.

Hardware

SSD tweaks: set Energy saver so that it doesn't try to put the hard disk to sleep, turn off Sudden Motion Sensor via Terminal.

OS and GUI

  • Set Dock left and make it smaller
  • Install drivers for mice: Microsoft drivers for my mouse at home, USB Overdrive for my mouse at work. Set both to fix OSX's crappy mouse acceleration.
  • Set keyboard repeat and delay rates to fast/short



Software

  • Path Finder so I don't have use Finder.
  • Firefox so I don't have to use Safari. Install addons, sync bookmarks etc.
  • Textmate for text editing and coding
  • Gmail via Fluid for e-mail
  • Google reader via Fluid for feeds
  • Linkinus for IRC
  • Transmission for BitTorrent
  • Movist and VLC for videos
  • Flip4Mac for WMV
  • Perian for better video format support
  • Growl for notifications
  • RCDefaultApp to set default applications
  • AppTrap to remove uninstalled programs' settings files
  • XGestures for mouse gestures in various apps
 
Thanks kasakka!

I never heard of Movist until now, and it supports 1080p MKV playback perfectly! so far this is the only player besides Plex that does. And it's only 4.5 MB instead of 200 MB.
 
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