- iLife08
- Skype
- Adium
- Little Snitch
- ClamXav
- Cyberduck
- Azureus
- DivX
- VLC
- RCdefaultApp
- UnrarX
- CoRD
- MenuMeters
- Bootcamp/VMWare/Parallels
- Adobe CS3
That's my list so far... :)
Printable View
- iLife08
- Skype
- Adium
- Little Snitch
- ClamXav
- Cyberduck
- Azureus
- DivX
- VLC
- RCdefaultApp
- UnrarX
- CoRD
- MenuMeters
- Bootcamp/VMWare/Parallels
- Adobe CS3
That's my list so far... :)
iLife08? :)
More to add - iAlertU
Windows Media Components for QuickTime
MacFUSE + sshfs
iTuneMyWalkman
AppleJack
MacPorts
Text Wrangler
Desktop Manager
Firefox (Safari's OK, but Firefox is better.)
Red Pill
Bombich Software (If you manage/deploy Macs)
StartupSound.prefPane
Keyboard Map for a UK PC style keyboard
I wouldn't say any of them are essential. What you may consider essential someone else may consider a waste of disk space.
TheUnarchiver
Quicksilver
David,
from reading this/your other posts. Would I be correct in saying you are now a majority mac OS X user for your main desktop function ?
I am 100% using it as my main work machine.
I've not got a Windows machine on my desk at all now :)
ok, I only ask as its nice to guage someones feedback / comments from a known base line.
eg: - my mac use is very limited to specific reasons, so me ranting and raving over it is different to you ranting and raving over it.
Plus its nice to hear from a perspective of someone who's swapped core OS's.
I've just done a post about things I do and don't like :)
I'm sure I will have a Windows PC again one day but so far this thing really does scream.
A friend of mine from Intel got one at the same time as me, and he swore it wouldn't replace his main rig (for Email/MSN/'net etc....) and... well that changed this weekend.
What are you using bootcamp for ?
Not set it up yet - for one reason - I want to make OSX work.
I am thinking if I end up with a Windows rig one day - it will be a seperate PC.
Check out disco , iStumbler, LiteIcon, iSync, coconutWifi, Appfresh as well.
heh :)
More applications to add:
- Handbrake
- AppFresh
- TinkerTool
- TextExpander
- NuFile
- FuGu
:)
No love for SuperDuper?
check out perian from google cuz its a great codec
Well they may be kind of nerdy (read really nerdy), but some utilities and basic apps are really useful:
BBEdit lite (basic text editor)
Terminal (sometimes you just need to get around some silly for your own good protection)
X11 (The ability to run linux software allows many open source projects to provide Mac versions)
XCode (best IDE, EVER)
Skitch - A great app for quick screen grab, post to web, and then copies the hosted url to the clipboard for pasting straight into forum posts :)
Ideal.
I've got 2 beta invites if anyone is interested?
I would second the recommendation of Quicksilver, I'm lost on a computer without it.
Also Growl is pretty handy, as is SpiritedAway (hides inactive apps), VirtueDesktops (multiple desktops), MarcoPolo (automatic location detection and changing of network settings etc)
Showing my darkside here, but Tomato is not a bad freeware torrent client, and Speed Downloader 4 is a nice download manager. SD4 is shareware though...
X-Chat Aqua is also good for IRC :)
Quick three from me. All premium stuff though, no freeware.
CSSEdit - A bit niche, but I love this app so much, probably my favourite on OS X. Saves me a lot of time.
Transmit - FTP software.
XTorrent - Only Torrent app on OS X I've been able to tolerate. I've not liked Azureus since I replaced it with uTorrent on my PC, horrible clunky thing. Others haven't worked particularly well or have been too basic. Search thing is rather nifty.
Oh and second the Adium choice. Went through all the IM apps a couple of weekends ago and I found it to be the best one by far.
most of the programs I use are on the list :)
There's also a free program called 'Burn' which I use for backups - burn-osx.sourceforge.net
Also I can't believe this one has not been mentioned - VirtueDesktops - virtuedesktops.info
Another app I don't see on the list which I use almost everyday is CoverSutra :)
Brilliant for playing music on iTunes without going into the iTunes GUI. Also some cool hotkey combo's for changing to the next track. It also supports last.fm which is cool and saves running a lastfm app in the background.
Perian - Perian is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats. Install that and QuickTime, and hence Front Row, will play back all sorts of stuff that it doesn't out of the box such as divx.
For anything that Perian won't handle, and to play DVD's from any region without mucking around with changing your drive region (which you can only do five times) try VLC
http://www.osxbmc.com/ is getting pretty close to complete.
iSquint 1.52 is a worthwhile download - converts .flv files to .mp4 (iPod or TV optimised) for all those YouTube or similar downloads :naughty:
Transmission - best bittorrent app by far.
Also Burn - fantastic dvd burning app - free and almost as good as Toast.
Don't flame me, but 'VMWare Fusion' - just for a quick and convenient way to get into those couple of legacy Windows apps.
has coda been mentioned yet?
for web development its fantastic
http://www.activata.co.uk/ifreemem/
Sadly it costs but this little app forces all your apps into swap, hence frees up memory.
Very useful if you use lots of applications and your memory is already maxed !
iplayer grabber - download bbc videos and save them as mov.
adium - all in 1 messenger msn/icq/aol etc plus facebook!!
inquisitor - replace safafi search bar with another search engine eg uk google instead of .com
handbrake
transmission
coversultra
:)
i think that macs are really great for every day use, but cant beat a pc for games. there is too limited support for games on the mac, let alone games released are not as many as the pc.
i use a mac for web, photo editing etc, but mainly for that stuff which is not gaming.
i have a pc for that...........
and an xbox 360....
Thom
i hear what you're saying but...doesnt bootcamp sort of fix that problem?
my friend introduced me to the new line of MBP and showed me CoD4 and GTA4 running on XP on a 15" MBP, so whats the problem?
Also, it would be cool if someone could edit the first post with a more up-to-date and relevant list of essential applications, that first post 2 years old. I only just got my Mac and would love to get veteran's advice on what apps to use
Plex - great media centre application.
Will play *anything*
Im gonna try that out, so it'll play RM, MOV, WMV, DivX and MV etc too?
Just installed right Click on my dad's macbook pro. When he maximised, it would not PROPERLY expand the windows (safari, word, etc). Now it does.
I've installed plex and had a play. Prefer Mediabrowser on a PC at the moment, but am going to install the aeon skin and have a proper fiddle with it.
Hard to pin down my most essential apps, but there are a few that don't seem to have been mentioned yet...
Evernote: An application that can take notes or ideas from just about any source and store them in a simple-to-use email style interface. Absolutely essential for keeping notes organized around the office
Cinch: A dead simple app for adding a Windows Snap style function to Windows. Drag to the left to resize a window to that side, the same for the right, or the top to maximize
I need a good tutorial vid on Evernote, i keep hearing its good but whenever i try and use it i dont get far
It's what you make of it really, I find it easy to use but still find myself writing notes on post-its all the time! There are a few guides on Evernote's website that help out, but they're more ideas for things to use it for really
Not Mac exclusive but PMS [Play Station Media Server] is brilliant peace of software. And free!!
Hello............
1. Text Expander
2. Quicksilver
3. Backdrop
4. Shoo Apps
5. Hazel
6. Sticky Windows
7. Pzizz
8. Writeroom
9. Circus Ponies Notebook
10. OmniFocus
hi.
Apple - Essential Applications is
Garageband
iMovie
Real Racing 2 HD
Infinity Blade
Jenga HD
Evernote
Word Lens
Memory Clean
Firefox
VLC
Keka
GPG Suite
Caffeine
KeePassX
Apple Apps (iPhoto, iTunes, etc)
Keka
Tuxera NTFS
Firefox
Chrome
Skype
TextWrangler
VLC
Live Wallpaper on the mac app store although not updated since 2013, is still great for desktop themes displaying the date and weather.
Daisy Disk Love this app to find out where your data is and what is taking up the most space on your Harddrive! really nicely visualized!
Thanks for this, just got a new Mac and was looking for a nice solution
My apps are fairly standard
Adobe CC
Dropbox
Spotify
1Password
VLC
The only slightly unheard of one is Helium, it is a little browser that stays on top always, so great for watching YouTube videos while working, or the like!