Just Got My MacBook Pro What Apps to Get?

nice post!

I use final cut express on my MBP 13" runs fine esp for basic DV files, but not good at all for my AVCHD files. all the apps people are recommending are great but being an apple user for the first time I found it best to try them all out and used what worked best for me, vmware is what I chose to run windows with. I use Collquy for irc also besides that try all the other apps yourself dont let our opinions steer you one way vs another ;)
 
jnash said:
nice post!

I use final cut express on my MBP 13" runs fine esp for basic DV files, but not good at all for my AVCHD files. all the apps people are recommending are great but being an apple user for the first time I found it best to try them all out and used what worked best for me, vmware is what I chose to run windows with. I use Collquy for irc also besides that try all the other apps yourself dont let our opinions steer you one way vs another ;)
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That is exactly what I have been doing :p. So far I have stuck with:

- smcFan control
- vmWare
- NTFS-3G
- Adium
- Daisy Disk (That is a SICK program)

Some of the apps here just haven't interested me and others I just haven't found a use for, like iStat was useful, but at the same time I like to keep the top bar as clean as possible, and I just found myself never really caring how much RAM I was using because I was never close to slowing down the computer, but that is just me.
 
Maybe crossover supports notepad? That's all you need for coding right?
 
Or you can just install TextWrangler, which is free and has useful features like syntax hilighting. The pay version is BBEdit which supports things like pushing code out to SVN, but if you just want a 'notepad' for coding that has decent features, get TextWrangler. Been using it for years.
 
Text Wrangler is great, BBEdit is better.

Notepad is crap, unless you like beating your head over non-highlighted code. Yech.

You also need a compiler, thus xcode. Is there another on the mac platform?
 
Well I mentioned Aquamacs already. VIM from the command line. OS X includes gcc g++. But yeah Xcode as was already mentioned a couple of times is great. Eclipse is also available. It really depends on what you are working with. 'coding' is kind of a generic request.
 
Programs that I use all the time (off the top of my head)...

Hyperspaces (great addition to spaces)
SweetFM (last.fm desktop steaming client)
Connect360 (for streaming content to my xbox 360)
Switch (for converting audio codecs)
Spark (for adding in your own keyboard shortcuts)
 
Yeah I got unrarx and that seems to work pretty well. Now when it comes to Final Cut Express vs Final Cut Pro which should I get?
 
Hahah there really wasn't a switch it was more of an addition, I still have my desktop PC, which I love, and no offense to Apple but I would never buy one of their desktops. But for laptops I think that they may be the best in the industry. But that is just me. I really like having both systems though I really enjoy what each has to offer.
 
prodigee said:
Yeah I got unrarx and that seems to work pretty well. Now when it comes to Final Cut Express vs Final Cut Pro which should I get?
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Depends what you need. There's a big price difference...
 
Ok well enough of that debate. What other apps are there that you guys like to use are there that would be generally helpful just to have?
 
Ok... Finally have a free moment to add some more to this.

1Password (Never need another password manager every again. Syncs with iphone/ipod. A MUST HAVE!)
AppCleaner (Similar to AppZapper but free)
CarbonCopyCloner (Hard Drive Cloner - does not backup bootcamp though)
Chicken Of the VNC (VNC Client)
Delicious Library 2 (help manage books, video games, movies)
DropBox (sync files across multiple computers)
DropZone (a customizable action icon/menu on the dock)
Evernote (note taking program that ties in with the cloud)
Fairmount (remove CSS from DVDs)
FileZilla (open source ftp client)
Fluid (similar to Mozilla Prism)
HamachiX (Hamachi front-end)
iBank (great personal banking app)
insomniax (allows you to keep the computer from going into sleep)
MacTheRipper (DVD Ripper)
MediaInfo Mac (mac codec info)
Menu Eclipse (Control the menu bar transparency)
Monolingual (Remove all the other language files that you don't need)
Onyx (mac maintenance utility)
Pathfinder (Great program like Windows Explorer)
Peer Guardian (BitTorrent IP Blocker)
RightZoom (Allows a program to expand full screen similar to windows)
Things (To-Do Manager)
Transmission (Great Bit Torrent Program)
Vine Server (Manage VNC Program)
VLC (Great Media Player)
ZenMap (nmap front-end)

System Preferences
DoubleCommand - Keyboard Mapper
GeekTool
Growl
Hazel
Hazel
iStat Menus
Perian
SynergyKM
Witch
 
disuse_nc said:
Ok... Finally have a free moment to add some more to this.

1Password (Never need another password manager every again. Syncs with iphone/ipod. A MUST HAVE!)
AppCleaner (Similar to AppZapper but free)
CarbonCopyCloner (Hard Drive Cloner - does not backup bootcamp though)
Chicken Of the VNC (VNC Client)
Delicious Library 2 (help manage books, video games, movies)
DropBox (sync files across multiple computers)
DropZone (a customizable action icon/menu on the dock)
Evernote (note taking program that ties in with the cloud)
Fairmount (remove CSS from DVDs)
FileZilla (open source ftp client)
Fluid (similar to Mozilla Prism)
HamachiX (Hamachi front-end)
iBank (great personal banking app)
insomniax (allows you to keep the computer from going into sleep)
MacTheRipper (DVD Ripper)
MediaInfo Mac (mac codec info)
Menu Eclipse (Control the menu bar transparency)
Monolingual (Remove all the other language files that you don't need)
Onyx (mac maintenance utility)
Pathfinder (Great program like Windows Explorer)
Peer Guardian (BitTorrent IP Blocker)
RightZoom (Allows a program to expand full screen similar to windows)
Things (To-Do Manager)
Transmission (Great Bit Torrent Program)
Vine Server (Manage VNC Program)
VLC (Great Media Player)
ZenMap (nmap front-end)

System Preferences
DoubleCommand - Keyboard Mapper
GeekTool
Growl
Hazel
Hazel
iStat Menus
Perian
SynergyKM
Witch
Click to expand...
Damn? That question mark isn't a typo..

But wow that list is quite thorough thats for sure.
 
Yeah... scary thing is that I use all of those constantly.

No wonder my battery life is the suck :)
 
Hahah, makes sense though.

Does anyone know of any games that will run well on a 13" MBP?
 
Warcraft 3 + expansion = good luck.

I can't get Frozen Throne to install and Warcraft 3 tends to crash from time to time.

World of Warcraft is supposed to run fine, albeit not cranked.
 
Warcraft 3 + expansion = good luck.

I can't get Frozen Throne to install and Warcraft 3 tends to crash from time to time.

World of Warcraft is supposed to run fine, albeit not cranked.
Click to expand...

They work fine for me.
 
What I probably should have said, what are the good games for Mac? I don't really like MMO's. Do they have RCT3 (Roller Coaster Tycoon 3)? It was fun on PC and really didn't require that much power, so it seems perfect for the Mac.
 
prodigee said:
What I probably should have said, what are the good games for Mac? I don't really like MMO's. Do they have RCT3 (Roller Coaster Tycoon 3)? It was fun on PC and really didn't require that much power, so it seems perfect for the Mac.
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Yes, RCT3 is on the Mac. However, you're kidding yourself if you think low-power games are all the Mac can run. Again: a relatively modern Intel Mac will run CoD4 at full speed. My 2008 unibody MacBook runs CoD4 perfectly. If you get a 15'' or 17'' MBP, then the GeForce 9600M inside those will be even better. Now, granted, games on OS X tend to be a year or two behind what you can get on Windows or consoles, but that's not due to hardware limitations, but rather a lack of developer/publisher determination to release OS X ports in a timely manner.

Apple maintains a list of commercial OS X games plus trailers and demos. If that list doesn't do anything for you, then install Windows XP via Boot Camp.
 
Well I just don't want to burn through my battery is all thats why I said low power.
 
prodigee said:
Well I just don't want to burn through my battery is all thats why I said low power.
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In that case, you may as well just play Chess and forget about "real" games. Any full-screen game is going to drain battery one way or another. Even RCT3 will drain battery because of its CPU demands, albeit not quite as quickly as CoD4.

Mobile gaming is always a compromise. If you're really worried about battery life, buy a DS.
 
Yeah... I'm experiencing the Frozen Throne bug's plastered all over Blizzard's support forums. Their fix... Try someone else's disk... which I can't seem to find a friend w/ a copy.

Grrr.
 
disuse_nc said:
Yeah... I'm experiencing the Frozen Throne bug's plastered all over Blizzard's support forums. Their fix... Try someone else's disk... which I can't seem to find a friend w/ a copy.

Grrr.
Click to expand...

Try using the downloadable copy.
 
Terpfen said:
In that case, you may as well just play Chess and forget about "real" games. Any full-screen game is going to drain battery one way or another. Even RCT3 will drain battery because of its CPU demands, albeit not quite as quickly as CoD4.

Mobile gaming is always a compromise. If you're really worried about battery life, buy a DS.
Click to expand...
I know that I will always burn through battery but with certain games I know it won't go as fast as others. Which is really what I was trying to say. But what other games are there like RCT3 that I can get? Because I do all my other intensive games on my desktop, I just want to have something that I can take on the road and do some lighter gaming on.
 
prodigee said:
I know that I will always burn through battery but with certain games I know it won't go as fast as others. Which is really what I was trying to say. But what other games are there like RCT3 that I can get? Because I do all my other intensive games on my desktop, I just want to have something that I can take on the road and do some lighter gaming on.
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Sims? Spore?
 
Ok, well I got sixtyforce to run properly finally... So for now I am happy with all the N64 roms that I have,.

But don't let this thread die, if anyone has some helpful or useful, or even just a random app that they feel like sharing please do. Its not like it is going to hurt anyone. I mean Daisy Disk was a random app, but wow after using it, it really is a sweet app.
 
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