Essential Mac Apps

[breathemetal]

Why not start a thread for us mac lovers out there to share our most beloved apps?

Im new, so I dont really know that many apps yet.

[|MaguS|]

There are apps for Macs?

[shilk]

Windows. :D

[Sazar]

Apps for the iPhone?

I think that is a good idea. Not sure about Macs itself ;)

[saturnotaku]

NeoOffice (http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php) - basically it's Open Office re-written specifically for OS X. I use the word processor and spreadsheet program fairly regularly, and it works pretty well all things considered. If you're going to be doing heavy-duty stuff with spreadsheets and slide shows, you should probably invest the money in MS Office.

VMware Fusion (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/) - I personally like it better than Parallels for running virtual machines. It's a solid, stable emulator with support for many more operating systems than Parallels, including 64-bit versions of Windows and Linux. Parallels might have better game support, but you really don't want to play any games through the virtual machine. It's best if you set up a dual boot and boot straight into Windows.

Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/default.aspx) - I know shilk was trying to be a smart a**, but I really do consider a Windows XP partition to be essential to the Mac experience for folks who are getting into Macs for the first time. Make sure you have a copy of XP Home or Professional with at least SP2 integrated on to it, and follow the instructions (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/11889.html) for setting up a Boot Camp partition.

[nekrosoft13]

i'm with saturn and shilk on this best "app" for any mac is windows.

now that you can install windows on mac, you can have a "pretty" computer and useful at the same time.

Mac started selling well from the time that you could install windows on them.

[Zelda_fan]

iWork 2008 is like Office for the mac. It's a lot cheaper too.

[Zelda_fan]

i'm with saturn and shilk on this best "app" for any mac is windows.

now that you can install windows on mac, you can have a "pretty" computer and useful at the same time.

Mac started selling well from the time that you could install windows on them.

Productivity wise Macs are far superior to Windows machines. Unless you play games there is really no reason to not use a mac.

[breathemetal]

It will be hard for me to go back to pc after mac
i like it a lot better

[Bman212121]

Are there any really big reasons why? Two of our IT staff got MBP's earlier this year and they love them, and one of the deans got one as well and he loves his mac. No one can really give me a simple answer, it just works well is all I really get.

I'll find out in a couple of months as my co worker and I are both getting MBPs. I'll definitely be dual booting it for a while because I use a lot of windows only apps, but I'm curious what's going to be so special on the mac side I'll like it over windows.

[hemmy]

They are just easily brainwashed I guess.

Plus owning a MAC gives the feeling you are better than everyone else.

[saturnotaku]

They are just easily brainwashed I guess.

Plus owning a MAC gives the feeling you are better than everyone else.

As if Windows users don't do the same thing, especially when it comes to PCs vs. consoles. :rolleyes:

Are there any really big reasons why? Two of our IT staff got MBP's earlier this year and they love them, and one of the deans got one as well and he loves his mac. No one can really give me a simple answer, it just works well is all I really get.

I like the tight integration of the hardware, OS X as an operating system, and how it works with all the bundled applications. iTunes, iCal, iChat, et al work harmoniously and simply. At the same time, if you want to boot up Windows, you're more than welcome to do so. As far as notebooks go, MacBook Pros are outstanding travel companions with great battery life. When I'm on the road for business, I can do my work projects in Mac OS then relax with some games through XP. Apple also generally gets rave reviews for their customer service and warranty support, at least when compared to major OEMs such as Dell or HP.

[Bman212121]

They are just easily brainwashed I guess.

Plus owning a MAC gives the feeling you are better than everyone else.

Heh, as much as I've used joked about becoming an elitist once you get a mac, there is obviously something there that works well if everyone seems to like them a lot. Remember none of these people paid for their macs, so it's not like their getting their jollies from all of the money they spent on it. ;)

[Bman212121]

I like the tight integration of the hardware, OS X as an operating system, and how it works with all the bundled applications. iTunes, iCal, iChat, et al work harmoniously and simply. At the same time, if you want to boot up Windows, you're more than welcome to do so. As far as notebooks go, MacBook Pros are outstanding travel companions with great battery life. When I'm on the road for business, I can do my work projects in Mac OS then relax with some games through XP. Apple also generally gets rave reviews for their customer service and warranty support, at least when compared to major OEMs such as Dell or HP.

Sounds good to me. Thanks for a well thought out reply. :thumbsup:

[saturnotaku]

Sounds good to me. Thanks for a well thought out reply. :thumbsup:

NP. Good luck when you get it. It'll be even sweeter for you because you won't need to pay for it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with everything it offers. :)

[Monolyth]

Productivity wise Macs are far superior to Windows machines. Unless you play games there is really no reason to not use a mac.

Everyone knows typing a document is faster on a Mac then typing one on a PC.

[Zelda_fan]

Everyone knows typing a document is faster on a Mac then typing one on a PC.

actually it is.

I don't really know how to explain it, but somehow just the way the Mac interface works, I can work faster.

[crainger]

Those are amphetamines Zelda and they work for both PC and Mac.

[Monolyth]

Those are amphetamines Zelda and they work for both PC and Mac.

exactly.

[breathemetal]

For the ipod touch there are a few apps i couldnt live without.

One, is it being jailbroken. That helps lol.

Cydia is great and so is BossPrefs (it allows u to hide icons and whatnot)

Respring is really handy to when u want to quickly reset the springboard.

Winterboard is awesome too, better than customize imo.

For games, i love BrainChat, AquaForest, Ultranium, and Vector Pong. I have about 200 games on here but i play these the most.

The Pianist app is really good too. A great boredem smasher.

I also just put a new app called SunCompass on here too which is a really good compass plus tells you where the sun is. Seems kinda useless, but i find myself using it a lot when i get bored.

[LovingSticky]

once you get a mac, there is obviously something there that works well if everyone seems to like them a lot.

I owned 2 Macs (PowerBook G4 and iBook G3). I wanted to be different. Well, nothing worked on them, SW selection was extremely limited, Safari sucked big time, and they were slow.

Was extremely happy to sell them and get XP SP2 machines, and later Vista x64 machines.

Also owned an iPod (5G, 60GB), and it sucked as well. Had to use horrible iTunes to sync my music collection, which was painfully slow and consumed about quadrillion MB of RAM.

So I got Zune 80GB and am happy now :-) Vista + Zune + XBox 360 + Office 2007 + Visual Studio + Live.com + Exchange + Windows Mobile work so well together :) I can clearly see why about 95% of people (worldwide) prefer it over Mac.

[breathemetal]

Well that sucks that it didnt work well for you.

Im enjoying my Macbook Pro so much more than my Windows gaming rig and the only game im playing is the Spore Creature Creator.

Screw windows, im done with it. OSX runs so much smoother imo. Dont argue with me. Theres no point. Its my opinion, not yours :)

Anyways. To those that hate apple just because, you are retards. Trust me on this. I used to hate it for no reason.

[LovingSticky]

Dont argue with me.

I would not.

Personally, I like freedom. In case of computers it means choice of computer hardware (from multiple vendors), choice of peripherals (anything comes with Windows drivers), and choice of applications (most apps are written for Windows). Multiple choices give me freedom.

Well, with two Macs I owned, my freedom was severely limited. I felt like being in prison.

So I got Vista. I am happy now (nana2)

And "just works" is not Apple trademark. For me it means using above mentioned combination (Vista + Zune + XBox + Office + Exchange + Windows Mobile phone)

If you are happy with what Apple gives you, that is great. But most people are not (that is why they do not use Macs), as Apple restricts what you can do and purchase (HW combinations) severely.

[breathemetal]

I agree with you on one thing. It would be really nice if apple opened up to more hw cfgs. id love to be able to more easily swap out hw, even in my macbook pro.

that would make me a 100% apple junkie lol

[Zelda_fan]

If you are happy with what Apple gives you, that is great. But most people are not (that is why they do not use Macs), as Apple restricts what you can do and purchase (HW combinations) severely.

Apple's market share has increased dramatically over the last five years.