New to Macbook Pro - Coming from a PC

[wibi]

What programs can I not afford to miss? Free or paid doesnt matter but I'm curious what cant miss programs do people have that I just cant live without.

I've found two so far that are pretty awesome. One is a game changer coming from Windows and the other is a really nice to have.

The game changer is Waltr (http://softorino.com/waltr) which allows me to drag any video file into the application while my iPad or iPhone are connected to the laptop and it will automatically convert and upload the video files to my ipad. For someone who gets a lot of high definition video from work that are usually packaged in MKV or AVI formats this has saved me a ton of time.

The nice to have is the SLACK program which allows me to keep track of Slack chat rooms without having to have a window open

 

[soxhop411]

"What programs can I not afford to miss?"
is a bit broad. Is there something specific that you will be using the mac for (say video editing) or is it just a generic (use it for daily tasks) mac... is there stuff you loved on the PC that you want to also do on the mac? Will help me with recommendations..

 

[wibi]

"What programs can I not afford to miss?"
is a bit broad. Is there something specific that you will be using the mac for (say video editing) or is it just a generic (use it for daily tasks) mac... is there stuff you loved on the PC that you want to also do on the mac? Will help me with recommendations..

Mostly generic day to day stuff. Some basic photo and video editing but nothing dramatic. Realistically this machine is going to become my daily use machine with my desktop PC becoming a gaming and media server machine

 

[AlNipper49]

For me, it's Alfred. I don't need to deal with the Grandma-friendly GUI and just type whatever the hell it is that I want.

 

[soxhop411]

Mostly generic day to day stuff. Some basic photo and video editing but nothing dramatic. Realistically this machine is going to become my daily use machine with my desktop PC becoming a gaming and media server machine

do you have a lot of passwords to remember?

If so, I would get 1Password. One of the better password management apps out there. Be back with more in a few

 

[Rovin Romine]

Get f.lux if you work or read at night. https://justgetflux.com

 

[JimBoSox9]

The first essential app for a transition user is Cheat Sheet: https://www.mediaatelier.com/CheatSheet/. Hold down the apple key, see a list of shortcuts for the program you're in. That's it and all.

And DON'T switch the vertical scroll off of default. Get used to doing it the right way.

 

[JimBoSox9]

As for video editing, this is probably nuclear overkill for your needs, but if you're willing to spend the cash, Final Cut Pro X is just a pleasure to use (after a STEEP learning curve)

 

[crystalline]

- TotalTerminal
- If you use git: Tower, best git app on any platform anywhere
- Mail Act On. And use it to assign "s" to Archive in Mail.app if you use Mail.
- Facetime is obviously awesome.
- Keynote is better than PowerPoint. I use Word and Excel from Office however.
- Picasa - only to download pictures from a camera into a folder with sane names on disk (instead of iPhoto which obfuscates the naming so you will only be able to use Apple photo apps going forward.)
- I like Lightroom for managing and editing pictures.

 

[JimBoSox9]

I found Picasa awful to use. I just have photos from my Android back up directly into a Google Drive folder. I can't tell you exactly how I managed to set it up, though. There was some trial and error. iTerm is also a good Terminal replacement.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

do you have a lot of passwords to remember?

If so, I would get 1Password. One of the better password management apps out there. Be back with more in a few

If you live in the world of Apple devices, iCloud Keychain may be good enough.

 

[crystalline]

I found Picasa awful to use. I just have photos from my Android back up directly into a Google Drive folder. I can't tell you exactly how I managed to set it up, though. There was some trial and error. iTerm is also a good Terminal replacement.

Yeah the Picasa UI stinks. Don't use it for anything but import.

Another option is to use Dropbox for photo import- they compete directly with Google drive on this feature. I haven't set up either, however.

 

[wibi]

I've got 50GB on dropbox thanks to a couple of early adopter promotions so I use that for everything photo and backup related

 

[Five Cent Head]

- Skim is better than the default Preview app, in some ways, for viewing PDF files. For example, if you are modifying the PDF with another app (like LaTeX), then Skim does a better job auto-updating.
- This version of GNU Emacs is a good one, if you're into Emacs. (I always have Terminal and Emacs running, but I was raised on *nix machines.)
- For math stuff, SageMath runs well on OS X (as opposed to on Windows).

 

[Scott Cooper's Grand Slam]

For me, it's Alfred. I don't need to deal with the Grandma-friendly GUI and just type whatever the hell it is that I want.

Seconded. Finder has become more Alfred-like with each update to OS X, but I assigned Alfred to CMD-Space and haven't looked back. Having a custom-search for B-Ref is helpful when browsing the Red Sox Forum. The Powerpack isn't necessary, but I bought it and have got pretty deep into custom scripts and hot keys. But even if you don't want to mess around with that, the default functionality (creating custom searches, and typing "find" + query to find literally anything on your Mac is a life-saver.

I love Deckset (it makes classy, striking, visually-rich presentations using only Markdown) because I give a lot of presentations and don't have an artistic bone in my body. http://www.decksetapp.com. I prefer it to Powerpoint and Keynote.

 

[wibi]

Any recommendations or tips for how to combine a bunch of mp3s? I check out books on CD from the local library and rip them to MP3 so I can listen to them on my phone. Normally I combine all the files into one big file but I cannot seem to figure out to easily do that with a mac.