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    Must Have .... applications for Macbook / Macbook Pro

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Wail, May 18, 2007.

  1. Wail

    Wail Notebook Consultant

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    As I get closer and closer to getting my Macbook / Macbook Pro (still not decided) I wonder what applications do you folks consider as "must have" ...

    I would appreciate it if you could indicate if it is Freeware, how much it costs, and a link to the developer's site.

    Thanks.
     
  2. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

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  3. sp00n

    sp00n Notebook Deity

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    Adium - IM client
    VLC - plays every video format
    Coconut Battery - shows status about your battery
    Flip4Mac - plays windows media file
    NeoOffice - free alternative to Microsoft Office
    QuickSilver - not sure how to describe it because I'm still a noob at it. I use it mostly for launching applictions.
    smcFanControl - allows you to adjust fan speeds.
    Transmit - FTP client
     
  4. zadillo

    zadillo Notebook Virtuoso

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    Just to clarify about the difference between Camino and Firefox, from their FAQ:

     
  5. Sam

    Sam Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thank you for clarifying, zadillo. :)
     
  6. count_schemula

    count_schemula Notebook Deity

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    A few I have...

    Transmit FTP ~$20)
    NeoOffice - Free
    MediaFork
    Cocoa mySQL - Free
    BitRocket - Free
    LastFM - Free
    VLC Media Player - Free
    Firefox - Free
    Camino - Free
     
  7. Wail

    Wail Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks to all the feedback ....

    Another question, if I am not being too much of a pain ...

    What are widgets?
     
  8. count_schemula

    count_schemula Notebook Deity

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    A waste of memory?

    Widgets go in the dashboard.

    They are fun for like a day, but, otherwise, I find them to be not terribly useful and some of them use an amazing amount of ram.
     
  9. Rodster

    Rodster Merica

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    One application I love on my Mac and its free is "Onyx".
     
  10. system_159

    system_159 Notebook Deity

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    I use:
    Quicksilver - Best described as finder on steroids
    Parallels - to run stuff for work since MatLab doesn't have full excel support for mac yet
    Songbird - a low resource music player with good internet radio.
    VLC - An excellent media player. Plays anything you can throw at it.
    Amnesia - A basic system monitor that hangs out in the dock. Tells you CPU and Memory usage at a glance.
    Temperature Monitor - Self explanatory, I like knowing how my computer is doing
    iStat pro - the above two combined into a widget
    Toast - All inclusive burning app
    Transmission - Low resource torrent client.
    Gas Widget - Tells the best gas prices near you, I love it!
     
  11. zadillo

    zadillo Notebook Virtuoso

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    Btw, has anyone tried Coda? It's a new integrated web development app from Panic (the guys who do the Transmit FTP client).

    Essentially it ties together an FTP engine, text editor, web preview, terminal, etc. in one unified environment and it's very slick:

    http://www.panic.com/coda/
     
  12. Sneaky_Chopsticks

    Sneaky_Chopsticks Notebook Deity

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    What I recommend- Parallel Software ( you can do windows vista or xp while running the apple OS.)

    Bootcamp- can choose between Vista or xp...possibly both or Apple OS.

    In otherwords- Bootcamp- on a intel based notebook or desktop- you can choose either the whole operating system of Windows Xp or Vista, or you can choose the Apple OS.

    Parallel- While Running Apple OS, you can run the Windows Xp or Vista OS with Apple OS at the same time. So if you have a file A from Xp or Vista, you can transfer it to the Apple OS.