New to Mac? 16 24 Apps You Can’t Live Without

by Joe on July 26th, 2006

So, all those hours of babysitting or working behind some counter or bagging groceries has finally paid off: it’s now time to spend your well-earned money on a laptop for college. Over the past weeks, I’ve noticed that a large amount of people are choosing one of the Apple laptops over the many PC laptops out there in the market. As you can imagine, I couldn’t be happier about this. There are several programs that you may need to install onto your brand new Mac to make it work the way you want it to - but I daresay, right out of the box, your Mac laptop of choice will certainly serve you mightily well. I have a list of 16 24 applications that I feel will enhance your Apple OS X experience well beyond your expectations.

1.Adium X (http://adiumx.com/) - The best instant-messaging client for Mac OS X, hands down. I used iChat for a little bit, and then found this program and have used it ever since. It will remind you of AIM, or Gaim, if you ever used Gaim for PC or Linux. There are tons of plugins and add-ons that you can get off the Adium website to suite the program to your liking. It’s the best IMing program I’ve ever used on the Mac or PC. There is currently a beta version out, which is actually quite stable and has a lot of new features, so I can recommend getting the beta version.

2.Growl (http://growl.info) - This program is a message notifier which pops up with any messages programs have for you, such as IM’s, even when the IM window isn’t in focus. It’s like the little box at the bottom right with AIM that pops up and says who has signed on or logged off, or who has messaged you — only better.

3.Desktop Manager (http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/) - Want more desktop space, but only have the 13″ screen on your new Macbook? Create more desktops with Desktop Manager. This is one of those really cool flashy programs that can ONLY be found on Macs. With the press of a button you can easily switch to different desktops on the same screen, with cool transitions like a fade in/out effect, etc. Definitely try this one out, I use it all the time, it helps keep me organized with what I’m doing on my computer.

4. QuickSilver (http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/) - This one’s great, very flashy. QuickSilver is an application launcher, basically, a heavily modified version of Spotlight (OS X’s real-time search program, which you can use to search for ANYTHING on your computer in seconds). QuickSilver is quite possibly the best-looking program made for Mac.

5. Flip4Mac WMV (http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_download.htm) - This is a plugin for QuickTime that will enable you to view Windows Media Video (WMV) encoded files. You don’t have to buy it, just download the trial version. You may want to look into ways of getting QuickTime to play videos full-screen (the only “legit” way to do this is to buy the Pro version for $30, but there are ways around this, of course).

6. Microsoft Office:mac
(http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/office/) - Yup, you can still use Microsoft Word on your Mac. It’s expensive. I recommend either using Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org) or getting a copy of MS Office:mac by some other means.

7. Azureus (http://azureus.sourceforge.net/) - Ah, well, speaking of obtaining MS Office:mac by some other means, the best bit-torrent downloading program you can get for Mac is Azureus. Azureus is a cross-platform application which you may have used on Windows before. It’s pretty much the same on the Mac as it is on Windows, and downloads any torrent you so wish to download. I hope you all can see what I’m getting at here. If not, it’s ok. Let me know. You will need Office next year!

8. Menu Meters
(http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/) - This little application runs in the background and can display, in numerous ways, information about your computer - as in, how much memory it is using currently, the temperature of the computer, how much CPU is being used, and more. Very useful to keep track of your computer’s performance.

9. Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/) - The best and easiest-to-use DVD video converter. With this program, you can convert all of your DVD movies into iPod video format..

10. MacTheRipper
(http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715) - A DVD ripper, which will allow you to make exact copies of any DVDs you own, for back-up purposes (of course!).

11. MacSaber (http://isnoop.net/blog) - This program basically turns your Apple laptop into a light saber from Star Wars. No, really. With this program running, you can lift your laptop, and swing it around like a light saber, and your computer will make light saber sounds judging from the movement of your computer! It’s really cool, try it out. Just don’t swing your computer out the window, or drop it. Handle with care.

12. soulseeX (http://chris.schleifer.net/ssX/) - A Mac client for the popular Soulseek downloading network. Sort of like KaZaA (but spyware-free) or Direct Connect for your Mac. Works very very well.

13. Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/) - A free and extremely easy-to-use FTP client for OS X. I use it for this website and it works very well, especially considering that it is free.

14. CoverFlow (http://www.steelskies.com/coverflow/) - One of the best looking programs for Mac. It’s like a better, more visually-oriented version of FrontRow. Allows you to browse your music collection in a visual way, with all the album art. It’s as if you’re shuffling through a shelf with all your CDs neatly organized on it. Very cool.

15. Toast 7 (http://www.roxio.com/) - The all-in-one burning program for Mac. Burns data DVDs and CDs and much much more. It’s not free, but, there are ways to obtain it (see #7).

16. Voice Candy (http://www.potionfactory.com/voicecandy/) - Just a neat little program with which you can record yourself or anything and manipulate your voice with pre-set modifiers like the Darth Vadar effect, or Chipmunk effect. Just a neat little program to play around with.

17. TextExpander (http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/) - This one was brought to my attention by Zubair. This is a neat program that can make typing out, for example, long titles of books much easier (see Zubair’s comment for an example). You can download a 30-day trial for it or buy it for around $30.

18. Remote Buddy (http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/21872) - Another app brought to my attention by Zubair. You all may notice that a little remote control, that looks awfully like an iPod Shuffle, comes with your new Mac laptop. You can use this remote to open and navigate within FrontRow. With Remote Buddy, you can use the remote to do a lot more. Check it out.

19. OurTunes (http://ourtunes.sourceforge.net/) - Cross platform app that allows you to transfer your music from your PC to your Mac.

20. GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/) - Unless you want to use Photoshop (whereby you would have to spend a lot of money, or use a lot of bandwidth over night) the GIMP is a free image editor that virtually mirrors Adobe Photoshop. The installation can be a little tricky, so read that part carefully.

21. iSquint (http://www.isquint.org/) - This is a really easy-to-use program that will let you convert any video files you have (downloaded TV shows for example) right into iPod video format.

22. iAlertU
(http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29578) - From Paul: iAlertU is a remote controlled, motion-sensitive alarm system for your Macbook. You set it with the remote when you are away, and if the computer is moved, iAlertU will sense the movement and begin alarming with audio and/or video. It’s only available for the Macbook Pros and Macbooks so I don’t have any experience with it first-hand.

23. Acqlite (http://acqlite.sourceforge.net/) - This one’s for you, Larry: A p2p client much like Shareaza or KaZaA. Runs off the Gnutella network. Extremely simple to use. Another alternative to soulseeX if you can’t find anything with that program.

24.
Parallels for Mac
(http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/) - From Tom: Run any OS right next to OS X. Runs like Virtual PC, creates a virtual machine for Mac. The difference between this and Boot Camp is that you can run Windows, or any other OS, along side (”parallel” to) OS X.

In addition to these, you can find many many more fun applications at http://www.freemacware.com/. There are a TON of apps out there, so go download a few and have fun.