Ahren's Tumblelog, My Favorite Mac Apps

1 year ago

My Favorite Mac Apps
This post is going to be slightly nerdy/geeky just to warn you. Ever since I purchased my MacBook, I’ve really turned into quite a Mac fan. I used Windows my entire life, but I don’t think I’ll ever go back to using it full time. Windows 7 is pretty damn awesome, but I still prefer OSX and the Mac hardware to it. One of the best things about Macs, are the great apps that people have made for it. So, here are just a few of my favorites. I’ll probably try to keep this updated if I find something cool and new.
- Google Chrome (Browser) - FREE - I used to always used Firefox as my browser of choice, but ever since Chrome came out for the Mac, I’ve ditched Firefox for it. Chrome starts up literally at least five times faster, doesn’t bog down, and loads pages very quickly. Now that it has extensions, there is no reason not to use it.
- Tweetie (Twitter Client) - FREE/$$$ - I like Tweetie because of the simplicity for posting tweets. It is not cluttered like TweetDeck and simply has that “Mac-feel”. I would highly recommend it.
- Adium (IM Client) - FREE - This is by far the best instant messaging client for the Mac. It supports all the major chat networks, including Facebook. The only downside is that it doesn’t do video chat yet.
- iLife Suite (General Purpose) - COMES WITH MAC - These apps like iTunes, iMove, iPhoto, iCal, and Garageband come on every Mac, but they make the purchase worth it. They all make the tasks that they specialize in so easy and fun to do. They just work, and they look very visually appealing, too.
- VLC (Media Player) - FREE - This open-source media player will play nearly every codec out there and has a ton of options. Use it if you don’t want to be locked down by the proprietary players.
- 1Password (Password Manager) - $$$ - If you are like me, and have a million different passwords, 1Password is a lifesaver. It stores, encrypts, and auto-fills all your logins for you!
- iFinance (Personal Finance) - $$$ - This is the best and simplest way that I have found to keep track of purchases and your finances on the Mac.
- MacJournal (Journaling/Diary) - $$$ - I just recently started using MacJournal to keep a journal of my thoughts. I’ve found that writing when you are sad or emotional can really help to get you through things. This seems to be the best journaling/diary software on the Mac.
- Skim (PDF Reader) - FREE - If you hate the bloated Adobe Acrobat reader as much as I do, then use this PDF reader. Mac’s Preview can read PDF’s but it is not as near as functional and complete as Skim.
- Handbrake (Video Encoder) - FREE - Another great open-source app. It’s amazing and simple to use if you need to convert your videos or other forms of media. Awesome piece of software!
- AppFresh (Updater) - FREE - This app scans your system and checks to see if any of your applications have updates. Very useful!
- Smultron (Text Editor) - FREE - Although it’s no longer in development this was my favorite text editor for writing code in. It was simple, highlighted the syntax, and just worked.
- AppCleaner (Uninstaller) - FREE - Although you can just drag most apps to the trash, AppCleaner searches for leftover files and removes them, too.
- Things (Task Management) - $$$ - This is very well designed app that helps you manage yours tasks and to-do’s! Great for homework and/or job related activities.
Just for fun, I want to plug a couple cool things that Mac owners might like.
- Macheist - These guys are awesome. Every so often they compile a bundle of different Mac apps and sell them for WAY below what they cost. For instance, they’ll give you like $500 worth of apps for like $20. If that wasn’t enough, 25% of your purchase goes to charity! They rock.
- MacUpdate - Great way to find new software and to see if there are new versions available.
- PLEASE BACKUP YOUR DATA - I am serious about this one. If you don’t, you’ll regret it. If you have an external hard drive, just use Time Machine. It’s built into your Mac and is incredibly easy to use. Once setup, you don’t even have to think about it. For Windows users out there reading this, check out Cobian Backup. That’s what I used on Windows. Works great!
So, what do you think about this list? What would you add or take out? Let me know in the comments!
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