Just got my MacBook

[ywenz]

So far so good, what are some required utilities?

 

[thanatos]

I have Macjanitor and Onyx on my PowerBook to do occasional clean ups/fix permissions etc. Both are free.

 

[iml]

Lots of OS X software here:

http://www.versiontracker.com/

Ian

 

[RayPA]

I like the Dashboard widgets. You can get them at Apple.com. I've got one that provides local weather, another that gives me access to a ring of freeway traffic cameras, a calculator, a font viewer, etc. The iStat memory and iStat cpu widgets look useful. Some are just plain wacky. Have a look:

Apple Widgets

congrat on the computer. those are sweeeet


🙂

 

[dcsang]

I <3 my MacBook

I <3 it so much that I'm lusting after the Mac Pro... just waiting for the quad cores to come out 😀

Enjoy it Ywenz.

Dave

 

[LeicaM3]

So far so good, what are some required utilities?

Let us know what for and it might be easier to give tips.

Backing up will be tremendously improved with 10.5 and the ZFS filesystem.
Mac Backup uses Unix's dump and restore and works fine.
You won't need antiviral software.
There are a bunch of nice widgets as mentioned.

PS CS3 will be out in spring (likely). Lightroom in early February (try to grab beta 4 as long as it is around).
I like Vuescan for scanning, C1 for raw.
Gimpshop is a phantastic free photoshop clone.
Some like iView for organizing photos. FM is nice for organizing, I find.


Andreas

 

[bsdunek]

Solitaire😀 Depends on if you have any other interests than photo also. I have CS2, Reason for music, A VLC player to play everything on, Toast for burning cd´s and DVD, visualhub for convertion of movie files to play on the ipod and other formats and office.

My favorite is "Burning Monkey Solitair". Provides lots of entertainment, although you may have to turn the sound off when people are around, as you might be embarressed (it's just silly, not off color).

Of course some version of PS is necessary. iPhoto. iMusic & iDVD suit me fine for listening, organizing music or making music CD's, organizing my digital photos and making or playing DVD's.

I have Toast on my iMac desktop unit, but find I don't need it with what comes on the Macbook. Also, learn to use the address book - I like that too! 😎

 

[DavidH]

Firefox and maybe Thunderbird (though I use Mail because I can sync both my Macs when I'm on the road and in the office).
Some widgets - as mentioned above
Omni Outliner
One of the Mac osx books so you can configure the thing exactly the way you want...well worth it...
A lemon - to suck to get the smile off your face...
🙂

 

[ywenz]

PS CS2 comes in Universal binary correct?

Funny story.. I was so confused last night using OSX ( my first MAC ). I downloaded firexfox and the stupid thing shows up as a virtual drive on my system. And I can only see one file ( which I double click on to launch firefox ). I spent a good 1/2 hour looking for the rest of the firefox files on my HD until I read an article on DMG app distribution and how that one file is the whole program.. WOW! what difference

 

[amateriat]

PS CS2 comes in Universal binary correct?

Nope, that will happen with CS3. (I'm using the original CS, but since I'm on an older G4 tower, that's plenty).

Funny story.. I was so confused last night using OSX ( my first MAC ). I downloaded firexfox and the stupid thing shows up as a virtual drive on my system. And I can only see one file ( which I double click on to launch firefox ). I spent a good 1/2 hour looking for the rest of the firefox files on my HD until I read an article on DMG app distribution and how that one file is the whole program.. WOW! what difference

Yep...but I think you'll adjust quite nicely. To say the least, you've made a wise choice.


- Barrett

 

[Film dino]

Congratulations on your choice

A good thing to have is the disk utility Disk Warrior http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/ for rebuilding directories

David

 

[MikeL]

Onyx (or other GUI programs for maintenence), Disk Warrior (rarely use these days), and Mac's disk utility are all you'll need. For incremental back ups I've been happy with Superduper. One thing I love about OS X is how transparent things are, rarely are files put all over the place for an application. Many applications you can move from one computer to another and everything works. If an application starts acting funny, you know where the preference file is that may be corrupted (home library or occasionally, the system library). I'm sure there's a reason why other operating systems are designed a certain way, but everytime I use one I'm always left asking 'why is that necessary?' Mac's aren't perfect, but things seem more straightforward and just work. Nice tool.

 

[ywenz]

thanks. I am enjoying OS X and figuring out it's way of doing things. Unfortunately, my MacBook ( built around New Years 06 ) is plagued with a LCD flicker. When the internal components heats up and I turn the brightness down from full, a flicker is visible across the screen. Guy at the apple store says I can only exchange it twice, and after that I'd have to either return the laptop or send it in for repair. I got the sense that he was BSing me. Is the exchange policy accurate to what he said?

 

[visiondr]

Welcome to the other cult... that of the Mac. ;-)

As far as utilities go, Macaroni is the way to go. It runs as a behind the scenes to do routine UNIX maintenance. It's a control panel and it basically brainless once set up. If you like a faster mouse movement than the Mac allows (I know you'll use a trackpad with MacBook, but sometimes the mouse is necessary, for example, to efficiently use PShop.) then get MouseZoom (free).

Ron

 

[visiondr]

Also, consider getting a case/laptop sleeve for it NOW if you don't already have one. My wife's white MacBook is awash in tiny scratches to the plastic shell after 2-3 weeks of use (she later bought a dedicated laptop "purse").

Ron

 

[visiondr]

One more thing. It was mentioned previously, but no Mac user should be without DiskWarrior. It's the best all-around repair/prevent problems program out there for Macs. Here's a reveiw of the most recent version. I have it and it really has saved my bacon.

http://www.macworld.com/2007/02/reviews/diskwarrior4/index.php

Ron

 

[mwooten]

thanks. I am enjoying OS X and figuring out it's way of doing things. Unfortunately, my MacBook ( built around New Years 06 ) is plagued with a LCD flicker. When the internal components heats up and I turn the brightness down from full, a flicker is visible across the screen. Guy at the apple store says I can only exchange it twice, and after that I'd have to either return the laptop or send it in for repair. I got the sense that he was BSing me. Is the exchange policy accurate to what he said?

You just bought your MacBook, therefore if you are getting a flickering display then take it back. The machine is under warranty -- make them get it right. The flickering is not a super rare thing ( here ). If you can only exchange it twice, and then must return it for refund or repair-- then I think I would want a refund, and would use the refund to buy another macbook. 😉

If you do send it in for repair then it usually isn't a bad experience. One of my old macs, a white iBook, had to be sent to Apple for a repair to the screen hinges (they were as stiff and creaky as a rusty car door). I called on a Wednesday afternoon, and the DHL truck was in my driveway, with a special fully padded box, Thursday morning before I left for work. I asked the driver to wait a moment while I filled out the paperwork, she took the box, and brought my iBook repaired back the following Monday.

I'm sure it will turn out right for you.

Take care,
Michael

p.s. Bookmark macfixit.com