What software should i get with new purchase?

[skeet]

If i am gonna get a new apple laptop (ib or pb) what software should I fork out the extra cash for? Money is an issue, I am a student.

 

[Blue Velvet]

What do you want to do with your Mac?
What do you need to do?


I almost said 'Where do you want to go today?' but thought that was asking for trouble...

 

[Brize]

That really depends on which tasks you want to accomplish with your new laptop. Care to elaborate?

 

[sjpetry]

Do you like games? iLife has a lot of great App. and it's free.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Money is an issue, I am a student.

Maybe a student/edu version of Office or Word?
Almost indispensable, easily-compatible with the rest of the world... will stand you in good stead throughout college and later...

Adobe does education discounts on certain products as well.

 

[ejb190]

If you are a college student, check and see if your university has an agreement with MS for really low cost software for students. The university I work for also has agreements with Macromedia and a few other companies (statistical software, Autocad, etc.) That can save you a bundle.

My list of must have software:
MS Office
iLife
Adobe Photoshop Elements (espically if you do anything with graphics)
Quicken

For myself, I add FileMaker Pro to that list, but that's just me...

EDIT: And just for future reference you really didn't need to start two threds (this one and one of what notebook to get). You'll probably find it is the same people answering both threads!

 

[sjpetry]

I've been told that you can get Panther for $5 at some universities.

 

[Fredstar]

iwork 05 with Pages and Keynote 2 looks great and perfect for pdf's or posters/advertisements with templates, Keynote 2 is wikid for innovative presentations...
Photoshop elements is also fun to use as others have said

 

[heaven]

I would say get iLife 05 and iWork if you want to work with multimedia and do some presentations and text writing.

If you prefer using Word and Powerpoint, get Microsoft Office for Mac.

Webdesign - Dreamweaver
Images - Photoshop
Vector Art - Illustrator
3D - Cindema 4D
Music - GargeBand

 

[Horrortaxi]

If i am gonna get a new apple laptop (ib or pb) what software should I fork out the extra cash for? Money is an issue, I am a student.

If money is an issue then don't get anything until you need to.

Whether you get a PowerBook or an iBook, you'll be well taken care of. You can do just about anything the common computer user needs to do with what a Mac comes with. TextEdit is capable enough to write your papers on. If you want more bells and whistles, Pages is looking good (the whole 10 minutes I've used it so far).

But like I said before, wait until your "built ins" won't do the job anymore--then buy whatever will do the job...said the guy who had to go through college doing his research from BOOKS in a LIBRARY and writing papers one something called a TYPEWRITER (yes, it was electric).

 

[heaven]

Whether you get a PowerBook or an iBook, you'll be well taken care of. You can do just about anything the common computer user needs to do with what a Mac comes with. TextEdit is capable enough to write your papers on.

Totally agree to this statement. I would just avoid TextEdit, because it really lacks some features, although If you just want to note some stuff, it will be quite useful!

Have fun with your Mac!

 

[Horrortaxi]

I would just avoid TextEdit, because it really lacks some features, although If you just want to note some stuff, it will be quite useful!

What TextEdit is missing is all the bloat that Microsoft has taught us to expect in lieu of stability. TextEdit isn't pretty and doesn't fill the screen with palates. It does, however, edit text wonderfully and simply. I can't think of a paper I ever had to do in school that couldn't have been done in TextEdit. It's word processing, not page layout.

I know of at least 1 book that's been written in TextEdit: Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. He did his final draft in TextEdit. The first draft was in vim--so you definitely don't need many bells and whistles--unless it really makes you feel good...