bought my first mac

[vestonind]

after several years of running mac inside of vmware, i took the plunge and bought my first mac computer. it should arrive in a few days.

13.3 / 2.9ghz / 8 gb ram / 750 gb hd

they were clearing out their old stock, so i am not sure if it's running 10.7.x or 10.8.x. i would like to know what the users think would be mandatory stuff i should install.

i still need windows compatibility with some software, so which of the following do you think is better for me to use VMWARE FUSION or PARALLELS. i have downloaded both.

any help or feedback the community could provide would be greatly appreciated.

[billaboy25]

Boot camp will always be best.. Running emulation or virtualization whatever u call it. is a waste... Anyway cngratulations.. You wont regret it.

[Insane08]

yea you will not regret it at all..Def worth the money, well at least I think so...here's a few things i have installed...

caffeine - keeps your screen on from falling asleep for a set amount of time you want (helpful while I researched/wrote papers/ studied with my laptop next to me for help)

dropbox - great to keep things sync between my laptop and phone

Cinch - like the window snap functionality in windows

Wallpapers HD - self explanatory application

UnRarX - for unzipping

FreeMemory- clean up some mem

********e- some free paid for apps

GeekTools - put some cool information on your desktop

Spotify

AppTrap - I feel is a must. makes deleting apps much more clean to make sure everything associated with the app has been deleted

HyperDock - Also very handy, gives you a preview of the app in your dock if it is open so you can see it before you open it.. also has cool functions like pop up itunes controls ..

and some more but thats all the programs i can type right now .. Have fun...
The best part is exploring for new programs and apps so enjoy

[vestonind]

Originally Posted by billaboy25

Boot camp will always be best.. Running emulation or virtualization whatever u call it. is a waste... Anyway cngratulations.. You wont regret it.

understand what you mean, but i don't need a major windows install. just a basic windows install to run messaging programs. as i am residing temporarily in china now, i always run chinese software in a(n) isolated environment. that's why am wanting to run a virtual windows.

[Gallo_Negro]

I like parallels, but there is no crack (that I know of) only new trial keygen.

Bettersnaptool just like cinch mentioned above.

Bartender, Gemini, totalfinder, yoink, mountain, secondbar, audio switcher, burn.

Prey is a must.

[vestonind]

Originally Posted by Gallo_Negro

I like parallels, but there is no crack (that I know of) only new trial keygen.

Bettersnaptool just like cinch mentioned above.

Bartender, Gemini, totalfinder, yoink, mountain, secondbar, audio switcher, burn.

Prey is a must.

i have little snitch and a 100% working parallels.

[franzenk]

Ive only used Parallels and I love it. It is worth the money to buy and I use it everyday without any problems. I like the fact that it works like a program running in the background and not a full on boot up like boot camp. Welcome to the wonderful world of mac, you do need to get a anti-virus program although many people would say you dont but I use Sophos and Clamxav and they work great. Both are free.

[AnG]

Congratulation...........
Boot camp issss better as compare to any software avil in mrkt
Go for boot camp
this will help u
How to Install Boot Camp and Run Windows on Your Mac | PCWorld
if u wana pay some money money go 4 Parallels

Originally Posted by vestonind

after several years of running mac inside of vmware, i took the plunge and bought my first mac computer. it should arrive in a few days.

13.3 / 2.9ghz / 8 gb ram / 750 gb hd

they were clearing out their old stock, so i am not sure if it's running 10.7.x or 10.8.x. i would like to know what the users think would be mandatory stuff i should install.

i still need windows compatibility with some software, so which of the following do you think is better for me to use VMWARE FUSION or PARALLELS. i have downloaded both.

any help or feedback the community could provide would be greatly appreciated.

[TheRealPorkchop]

Toast 11 for CD/DVD burning

Cyberduck - can't think of WTF you call it when you access your iPhone by IP... damn it...

Handbrake for ripping DVD's

Little Snitch - So you can keep track of what's going on with your internet connection and stop programs from calling home.

iSerial Reader - Serial Box for freebie apps

Jaksta - ripping off YouTube videos

Transmission for torrents

UnRarX

Stuffit

Paragon NTFS for Mac - only if you plan to share a USB drive or external HDD with a Windows machine, lets Mac see NTFS file structure.

Aimersoft Total Media Converter - Lets you take video and audio and convert it to any format just about. Nice for converting most anything to iPod and iPhone format.

Those would be my first suggestions. Welcome to the Mac Club... I hate to tell you this but now you're gonna want another one, then another... you'll keep on until you have a house full of Mac stuff, I know I do. I can't stop buying Mac's now...

[tronlegacy]

I think the best way is to use BOTH bootcamp and fusion. Thats what I do. Fist install windows on bootcamp. Then install fusion and point it to your bootcamp partition.


Apart from this the softwares I'd recommend:

VLC - for videos

The Unarchiver - for archives. works best in my opinion. least intruding. i've tried many other unarchiving tools out there

AppCleaner - For removing apps along with their traces from the system. (Somewhat like uninstalling)

Cloud/Droplr - For sharing files/links with others. It uploads whatever you throw at it on the web and gives you a link

Pixelmator - If you want an advanced yet lightweight image editing software

Flip4mac - For streaming wmv videos on the web

Evernote - Excellent cloud based note making software. Also available for mobile devices.

iWork

uTorrent

[ffk]

I'd add iStat menus to the list and mountain lion cache cleaner.

There is a great script in mountain lion cache cleaner that will repair the boot drive and run some other scripts for cleaning and maintenance. I highly recommend it. It works on hackintosh too.

1. Once you install the script, just boot in single user mode (Command S or -s on hackintosh).
2. Then at prompt type usr/local/mlcc

Having that script installed will let you repair your boot drive without using a boot disk or USB key.

Enjoy your Mac, and remember... Always browse with Firefox.

[tronlegacy]

www . cyanworks . net/dboardTunesTEXT.html

This widget automatically searches for lyrics and saves them to the itunes song you're currently playing. Must have in my opinion.

[GorgonSin]

Originally Posted by vestonind

after several years of running mac inside of vmware, i took the plunge and bought my first mac computer. it should arrive in a few days.

13.3 / 2.9ghz / 8 gb ram / 750 gb hd

they were clearing out their old stock, so i am not sure if it's running 10.7.x or 10.8.x. i would like to know what the users think would be mandatory stuff i should install.

i still need windows compatibility with some software, so which of the following do you think is better for me to use VMWARE FUSION or PARALLELS. i have downloaded both.

any help or feedback the community could provide would be greatly appreciated.

great machine!!!!! you will be happy..

if you have a nice big monitor at home it will run it great .. get one of these for versatility

Henge Docks

[th0mas96]

Little Snitch often makes problems when it's not purchased, use Hands Off! instead. and bettertouchtool ist awesome, too

[repulsivestyler]

Congrats. I myself bought one a month back and loving it. Actually most of the softwares which are important are already listed by other users above. Just go through them. And yeah when you receive your Mac you can go to the apple website and look for a form to apply for a free copy of Mountain Lion since you just bought one if its not pre installed thats how I got mine

Cheers!

[Movenpuck]

Congrats on your new Mac, i recently converted from "Gates" of Hell !
Never going back to windows

[AlphaCypher]

I went to a Mac mini and Macbook Air a few years back, best thing i ever done. havent had to re-install my OS do to slow downs and corrupt drivers like on a pc. dont even run antivirus or firewall and still have not got a virus and trust me i do alot of torrent downloads and going to sites people say i shouldnt 3 years later no viruses. i did install and done a scan with avira antivirus for mac a month ago just to see what would turn up, just as i thought nothing!!! so i un-installed the antivirus. I know, I know PC lovers gonna rant and rave and tell me how much of an expensive piece of crap Macs are and Macs get viruses too, but I'm more than happy with it and its stress free the way computing should be.

[TheRealPorkchop]

Originally Posted by AlphaCypher

I went to a Mac mini and Macbook Air a few years back, best thing i ever done. havent had to re-install my OS do to slow downs and corrupt drivers like on a pc. dont even run antivirus or firewall and still have not got a virus and trust me i do alot of torrent downloads and going to sites people say i shouldnt 3 years later no viruses. i did install and done a scan with avira antivirus for mac a month ago just to see what would turn up, just as i thought nothing!!! so i un-installed the antivirus. I know, I know PC lovers gonna rant and rave and tell me how much of an expensive piece of crap Macs are and Macs get viruses too, but I'm more than happy with it and its stress free the way computing should be.

They aren't that expensive really, not when you look at it over a long term thing. I've got one of the first generation Mac Pro's, 2006. In 06 if it was 2500 bucks, and 6 years later it's still basically an up to date machine... then how was it expensive?

In 06 the PC you bought is outdated pretty much today by PC standards. And if I went out and bought a new Mac today, I'd still be able to do the exact things with my 06 that I could do with a '12 model...

It's nice not having to worry that much about a virus or trojan. It's nice having a dead silent machine. Never having a blue screen. Not having to reinstall the operating system cause of some bullshit. No driver issues, hook shit up and it just works. Not having a daily damn drag to a halt cause of damn updates ALL the damn time. Thank God for Safari, I love it personally and I don't use nothing else. Fuck iTunes, damn communicator of Satan...

[lolroflmywaffle]

Originally Posted by TheRealPorkchop

They aren't that expensive really, not when you look at it over a long term thing. I've got one of the first generation Mac Pro's, 2006. In 06 if it was 2500 bucks, and 6 years later it's still basically an up to date machine... then how was it expensive?

In 06 the PC you bought is outdated pretty much today by PC standards. And if I went out and bought a new Mac today, I'd still be able to do the exact things with my 06 that I could do with a '12 model...

It's nice not having to worry that much about a virus or trojan. It's nice having a dead silent machine. Never having a blue screen. Not having to reinstall the operating system cause of some bullshit. No driver issues, hook shit up and it just works. Not having a daily damn drag to a halt cause of damn updates ALL the damn time. Thank God for Safari, I love it personally and I don't use nothing else. Fuck iTunes, damn communicator of Satan...

its expensive since most ppl dont wanna plop $1200+ muchless $2500+ off the bat for a mac when a $300 netbook/laptop does what they need it to (email & internet browse). Yes Macs are stress free but most ppl are ignorant to that (ignorance is bliss for them)

And Macs arent future proof either as every 5 years they rig things to make you upgrade (In 2001 ppl had to upgrade to use OS X... in 2006 they made everybody switch to intel macs... in my 2007 MBP's case I cant even run OS X Mountain Lion as they stopped supporting ATI x1600 gpus ("Planned Obsolescense" is common practice among corporations making ur old machines irrelevant after a specified time, thus forcing u to upgrade)

Mac vs. PC is basically Benz vs. Ford (Macs are a luxury imo)

And how dare you give props to Safari while bashing iTunes (they both suck lol)

Firefox + No Script addon FTW

***NoScript addon is the ultimate popup blocker that NO one knows about***

Using Bitdefender + Peer Block + Firefox & No Script is the way to keep viruses off of windows, unfortunately most ppl dont know of these programs and will use Internet Explorer which we all know is the biggest PoS of a browser ever.

[TheRealPorkchop]

Originally Posted by lolroflmywaffle

its expensive since most ppl dont wanna plop $1200+ muchless $2500+ off the bat for a mac when a $300 netbook/laptop does what they need it to (email & internet browse). Yes Macs are stress free but most ppl are ignorant to that (ignorance is bliss for them)

And Macs arent future proof either as every 5 years they rig things to make you upgrade (In 2001 ppl had to upgrade to use OS X... in 2006 they made everybody switch to intel macs... in my 2007 MBP's case I cant even run OS X Mountain Lion as they stopped supporting ATI x1600 gpus ("Planned Obsolescense" is common practice among corporations making ur old machines irrelevant after a specified time, thus forcing u to upgrade)

Mac vs. PC is basically Benz vs. Ford (Macs are a luxury imo)

And how dare you give props to Safari while bashing iTunes (they both suck lol)

Firefox + No Script addon FTW

***NoScript addon is the ultimate popup blocker that NO one knows about***

Using Bitdefender + Peer Block + Firefox & No Script is the way to keep viruses off of windows, unfortunately most ppl dont know of these programs and will use Internet Explorer which we all know is the biggest PoS of a browser ever.

I bought my Mac desktop a few years ago, a 2006 model Mac Pro desktop, I think it was about 4 years old at the time. I only gave $1200 for the whole setup which included the 23" cinema display, keyboard, mouse and tower. That was a very good deal, even if I could have bought something similar in the PC flavor for slightly less, which I doubt. I think it would be hard to find such, dual Xeon's (dual cores), 16b of RAM and the rest for cheaper? Maybe. I agree, they are expensive and it is hard to warrant forking out the price for one, sometimes or depending.

I agree, they aren't future proof and I agree with your statement about Apple "forcing" you to upgrade, almost. I've not upgraded though my system won't support the latest and greatest OS put out by Apple and I have no intention of doing so. Not as long as the programs I use and the things I do with my computer can still be done with my Mac. When it all completely stops working, then I'll upgrade to a newer Mac. But you're right, they do intentionally plan it this way... I believe that too and I agree. Otherwise, they wouldn't be selling so many high dollar machines and sooner or later they'd probably have to fold.

Personally, I like Safari. I don't use Firefox or Chrome on my Mac, I only use Safari and I'm rather pleased with it. I've grown to like iTunes a little more but I still don't have that much love for it... And I will absolutely agree with you about Internet Explorer...