After 24 years of PC I bought a Mac

[aram535]

Yes, I finally broke down and bought a Mac .. but I didn't jump in with both feet. I just got a Mac Mini to try out to see if I can get used to it or not. Had the oppurtunity to get a decent discount on a brand new one in the box so I took the step.

I have to say I'm a bit lost at the moment, I don't know what I need as I have never used or owned a mac before. I am going to go through Lynda.com's Mac tutorial probably tomorrow just so I know how not to embarrassed myself by not being to able something simple.

Anyway .. my question. Does anyone care to share their "mac os essential application list"? Things that you will download and install as soon as the OS is done installing?
I have it for XP, Vista and even the generic steps and apps for Linux. I've already did the apple software update, and firefox. What else?

BTW, for now, it's going to be the Aperture box, as I need to learn it for a project.

[swampler]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune (getting a Mac).

Originally Posted by aram535

Anyway .. my question. Does anyone care to share their "mac os essential application list"?

Might I suggest a trash can, or returning it?

In all seriousness, good luck with the Mac. I haven't tried one since the early / mid '90s, and wasn't impressed at all at the time.

[aram535]

Well the project that I am going to cover the cost of it. It's still money out of my pocket but at least I can resell it afterwards if it doesn't impress me. So far the mouse is annoying, but I haven't done much else to be able to say if I can use it on a daily basis or not.

[felix.reichardt]

Originally Posted by aram535

Well the project that I am going to cover the cost of it. It's still money out of my pocket but at least I can resell it afterwards if it doesn't impress me. So far the mouse is annoying, but I haven't done much else to be able to say if I can use it on a daily basis or not.

You can get a decent mouse from Logitech for your Mac.

[cyclohexane]

Does anyone care to share their "mac os essential application list"? Things that you will download and install as soon as the OS is done installing?

I always add Photo Mechanic, "EXIF Viewer" and Firefox.

So far the mouse is annoying

I use my old Razr gaming mouse I got for a Windows machine when I was a kid and played computer games. It works great, right click and everything.

[JDArt]

Originally Posted by aram535

Yes, I finally broke down and bought a Mac

My condolensces.



Seriously, good luck, but I've honestly never seen the much-hyped intuitiveness of the Mac over Windows. The PC-to-Mac people I know (both of them), in fact, actually are frustrated at the paucity of software compared to what's available for Windows.

[TonyK]

PathFinder is a better Finder than Finder.

I use GraphicConverter to do a lot of what I did with Irfanview on Windows.

1Password for managing the passwords and it will sync with Palm or iPhone devices.

[TonyK]

Hi JDArt,

No argument on the number of titles between Windows and OS X. Games is a sore spot with me, especially flight simulators.

During the day I run Windows 2003 Server and at home I run OS X. Keeping feet in both camps helps me understand both and to live in both.

5 years ago I could not have moved because of the applications. 1 year ago I did move and maybe in a year or two we will see more and better applications for OS X.

Take care,

Originally Posted by JDArt

My condolensces.



Seriously, good luck, but I've honestly never seen the much-hyped intuitiveness of the Mac over Windows. The PC-to-Mac people I know (both of them), in fact, actually are frustrated at the paucity of software compared to what's available for Windows.

[J.R.]

Originally Posted by aram535

Yes, I finally broke down and bought "my first" Mac...

I've edited your statement to more accurately to reflect reality. I know for a fact these Mac's breed. I started with the "Goose neck" IMac and now I have a total of six Mac's. (And there is only four of us in my family). 3 MacBook Pros and two more (recent) Imac's. (By the way I think it was in 2001 or 2002 that I bought that first one and it still works like a champ, albeit, a little slower than today's standards).

I am not trying to flame PC"s, I still have two of them. But I have to say I love my Mac's.

I don't know how proficient you are with Photoshop and Light Room but that's what I use and they work great on a Mac. (Both programs also work well on a PC too, I guess). I'm afraid I can't help you with any info on Aperture so you are on your own there.

Keep in mind, that you already do have IPhoto on your Mac and in reality it is not too shabby for what it is intend for. So before you purchase a bunch of software, you might want to check it out to see if it fills the bill. And did I mention it is free with your Mac. (Now before someone roasts me for suggesting IPhoto, I know know there are more powerful Photo programs out there,such as PS and LR for example).

Now I will admit that I am not a gamer so the lack of games (there are some) for the Mac doesn't bother me.

If you plan to use this Mac for any business applications, you might want to try downloading "Neo Office". It does what Microsoft Office does and it does it very well. I have MicroSoft Office on one of my PC"s, but now I almost always use Neo Office instead. By the way, I should mention that Neo Office is "FREE". (You can donate if you want but not mandatory).

I agree with you about the Mouse, I hate mine. But if you are going to do any serious photo editing, you probably will want to get a Wacom Tablet. It will come with a mouse and that will provide the "right mouse Clicks" for you. In reality, the Mac works very well with a two (or more) button mouse.

The one piece of advice I would like to give you, is, when you are trying to do something on the Mac that you have done with the PC, and it doesn't seem to want to co-operate, don't get frustrated, try looking for a simple solution. One example, is if you are trying to put the copyright symbol © (on a photo for example), I know with a PC, you have to put the "Octal" value. With a Mac, just hold down the "Option Key and type "g".

Now I know that Mac's aren't perfect, but I have it on good authority that "God" himself uses one. Just look at this...

YouTube - Bill Gates Praising Apple Computers

YouTube - Bill Gates Praising Apple Computers

O.K., That link is meant as a bit of fun. I really do like Bill Gates. I think he is brilliant.


Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Mac. I know I do mine.

And as a bonus, at least so far, there are no viruses for the Mac. (Yes there was one quite a few years ago, but you actually had to intentionally download it).


HTH

J.R.

P.S. Please note that anything I've said has not been intended to upset any of the die hard PC people, (they already have a big enough cross to bear).

[Stercus Vultus]

Congrats, Aram. You'll love it!

Originally Posted by aram535

Does anyone care to share their "mac os essential application list"? Things that you will download and install as soon as the OS is done installing?

Here's a list (excluding what OSX already installs on your Mac) from my Applications folder:

A Better Finder Rename for OS X
AbsoluteDeNoiser
Adobe DNG_Camera_Raw_4_4_1.dmg
Adobe Flash Player 9 UB Install.dmg
Adobe Photoshop CS
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Adobe Photoshop CS4
AirRadar.app
AlienDestroyerX.app
Amadeus II
AP Grapher.app
AppCleaner.app
AppTrap.dmg
Audio Hijack.app
Back-In-Time - 1.1.0.zip
Backdrop
bullet.app
Camouflage.app
Combine PDFs
ConvertIt Pro.app
Data Rescue II.app
Delocalizer 1.1
Dictionary.app
DNSChanger Removal Tool.app
DoubleTake 2.1
Drive Genius
ExifRenamer
EXIFViewer.app
ffmpegX.app
FileJuicer-4.11
Firefox 3.0.app
Flip4Mac
flvThing.app
FocalPoint 1.0
FreeDMG.app
Google Earth.app
Google SketchUp 6.zip
GPSPhotoLinker
GraphicConverter.app
Handbrake, DVDripper
iAlertU_0
iBackup.app
Image Rescue.app
Instant JPG from RAW for Mac.zip
iPhoto Diet
iPhoto Extractor
iPhotoToGoogleEarth.dmg
iPodRippers
ircle 3.5a6.dmg
iRecord (iSight photo).app
iRed
iServicesTrojanRemovalTool.dmg
iStumbler.app
iSweep
iSync.app
iWatermark
iWork '09
JPEGCleaner
Keyboard And Mouse Recorder 4.2
KisMAC.app
Lab Tick.app
MacJanitor.app
MacOSaiX 2.0a6.app
MacSaber
MacTheRipper
Microsoft Office 2008
Mount Me! 2.05
MountWatcher
MusicRenamer.app
Name those Files!.app
NameChanger.app
NDNoise
Net Monitor 4.3.14
OnyX1.8.4.app
OpenOSX TrojanDefuse.sit
Pacifist
Pando.app
Pano stitch tool
Paparazzi! 0.2.3
Photo Booth.app
Photo Desktop.app
photo Drop.app
Photo to Movie
photoinfoeditor.dmg
Photomatix Pro 2.2.3
PhotoMechanic 4.4.1.1
PhotoPresenter.app
PhotoPresets with One-Click WOW! for ACR
PhotoRescue 3.1.8.app
PictureRescue-1.1.0.sit
Podmailing.app
PopChar.app
RadicalPhoto.app
RawPhotoProcessor4OSX
RemoteDesktopView&Share
SantaSnaps.app
Seashore graphics editor.zip
SecureFiles.app
Share My Desktop
SiteSucker 2.2.4
Skooby
Skype.app
smcfancontrol_2_1 Folder
StreamRipperX
Temperature Monitor.app
testdisk-6.10 for disk recovery
Tidy Up!.app
Transmit 3.5.4.app
VLC-0.8.6-powerpc
VMware Fusion.app
Watch It.app
What's Keeping Me?.app
Xbench 1.3
YouSendIt.app

Enjoy!

[andrejan]

Congratulations.

After owning an XT, 286 etc. I bought a white MacBook a while ago and was totally surprised that Lightroom worked much faster on it than on my 2 years old XP PC. The hardest part at getting used to it was to stop to think everything needs effort like on my PC: plug in a harddisk, turn Time Machine on, and you have backups. Plug in a video camera, and iMovie recognises it.

I've installed all Canon software on it. Luckily Lightroom has an OS independent licens agreement, so no extra costs there. OpenOffice saves you the money for MS Office or iWorks.
You'll need Flip4Mac when you want to look at wmv movies.


Andre

[aram535]

Everyone who posted, thank you very much, please keep them coming. If anyone has a blog or a continuing about new apps (like the Gizmo newsletter for PC apps) that would be appreciated as well.

Originally Posted by J.R.

I don't know how proficient you are with Photoshop and Light Room but that's what I use and they work great on a Mac. (Both programs also work well on a PC too, I guess). I'm afraid I can't help you with any info on Aperture so you are on your own there.

I'm very proficient, and I use LR for myself. The project that I actually bought it for is to organize about 12,000 photo for an old time photographer that is finally moving into the digital age. I already got a serial for CS4 for photoshop, but he wants to use Ap. rather than LR so hence why the Ap.

If you plan to use this Mac for any business applications, you might want to try downloading "Neo Office". It does what Microsoft Office does and it does it very well. I have MicroSoft Office on one of my PC"s, but now I almost always use Neo Office instead. By the way, I should mention that Neo Office is "FREE". (You can donate if you want but not mandatory).

I'll have to take a look at Neo, I actually use OpenOffice on all of my non-work machines. I like it, it's fast and easy to use. I'll take a look at Neo though.

Originally Posted by Stercus Vultus

Congrats, Aram. You'll love it!

Here's a list (excluding what OSX already installs on your Mac) from my Applications folder:

A Better Finder Rename for OS X
AbsoluteDeNoiser
Adobe DNG_Camera_Raw_4_4_1.dmg
Adobe Flash Player 9 UB Install.dmg
....

Perfect thank you very much, exactly what I was looking for, set of apps to get started.

[Stercus Vultus]

And to get you kickstarted into the spirit of things, how about 50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know | Mac|Life

[robertro]

What, you don't like devoting half your computer resources to malware protection and spending half you free time getting incompatible devices to work?

I'm still living with PC's, but thinking of making the move!

[aram535]

Well I can honestly tell people now that I have given Mac a shot, but sadly it's just not for me. Yes, it's pretty, yes it seems like it should be easier, but I just don't like the interface or control you have over the system.

It's not that I'm stuck on windows either, I have Linux w/Gnome running on my primary laptop, Freebsd with X11 on my server and OpenSolaris and Solaris KDE at work so I'm hip deep in different UIs'. I just don't think the MacOS is for me.

[TonyK]

Right, each to their own. Myself I can operate in any of them, including OS/2.

[swampler]

Originally Posted by aram535

Well I can honestly tell people now that I have given Mac a shot, but sadly it's just not for me. Yes, it's pretty, yes it seems like it should be easier, but I just don't like the interface or control you have over the system.

Same problem I had...sorry it didn't work out for you.

[Jaleel]

Despite having a macbook I really think the whole OS X experience is overrated. With a few exceptions that PC makers are finally catching on to and a few which are a matter of taste.

1. I love the trackpad on the macbook more so for the 2 finger scrolling, I can help myself with that one and I wonder what took PC makers so long to join the party on it.

2. I like that OS X seems to have some native support for certain media files that Windows simply doesn't have out the box, such as the ability to see raw files in finder. Even Lightroom has the ability to use PSD files for the Identity Plate at the top, where as, in windows you have to export the ID Plate as jpg or png before being able to use it.

3. I must say that some developers have done a great job with some of the UI where cross platform is concerned. VLC on mac is much nicer to use than the PC version and I don't know why they can't have the same interface.

With that said, I do all my heavy work on my PC running Win7 RC1