When you first purchase a new Mac, you will notice that iLife, the software that comes with OS X, has some awesome programs and applications, most notably, Garage Band and iMovie. However, there are some other programs that you will need to download in order to do things like view YouTube videos, open RAR files, etc. In today’s post we will list ten essential Mac apps for new Mac users, that will expand and add more functionality to OS X.
Note: If your Mac is fresh out of the box and you are just setting it up for the first time, it is recommended that you download and install any recommended OS X software updates first. To do so, click the Apple logo in the upper left side of the screen and select Software Update from the context menu.
Here are 10 essential Mac OS X apps that every Mac user should download and install:
While some PC manufacturers pre-install Adobe Flash Player and bundle it with Windows, Apple does not bundle Flash Player with Mac OS X. Thus, you will likely want to download and install it, so you can do things like watch YouTube videos and play online Flash games.
2. Open Office
Mac computers by default do not come with a word processing software, just the TextEdit app. You can however, purchase Apple’s Pages app, which is a quality word processor, or even purchase Microsoft Office. However, many Mac users prefer an equally good free solution in Open Office.
OS X has a built-in utility for managing ZIP files, but it won’t work with other compression formats such as RAR files. The Unarchiver is a free app that opens nearly every popular compression format in existence.
Windows has Windows Media Player which handles a variety of different file types. However, you cannot by default play many of these file types such as AVI and WMV on Quicktime on a Mac. Flip4Mac is a Quicktime Player extension that allows you to play AVI, WMV, and other file types on a Mac.
If you don’t want to extend OS X’s native Quicktime app, but would rather use a different media player all together, Flip4Mac is a popular and capable media player used by many Mac owners.
5. Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader is an excellent application for handling PDF files. By default, Mac’s can open and view PDF files via the Preview app. However, Adobe Reader is kind of the standard for opening and editing PDF files. It has more options and features than Preview, as it is engineered to be an application for handling PDF files.
Microsoft Windows comes with some games, the most popular being Solitaire. Mac OS X, however, does not come with any native games. Many people that are switching to Mac from Windows will likely still want to play an occasional game of solitaire. Full Deck Solitaire is a free and good alternative to Microsoft Solitaire with many additional options.
7. Virtual Box
All recent Mac computers come with CPUs (processors) capable of virtualization. Virtual Box is a free application that you can download, which will allow you to install other operating systems on your Mac, such as Windows 7 or Ubuntu Linux. Virtual Box, unlike Bootcamp, does not require you to reboot your computer and create partitions for additional operating systems.
Safari is a very good web browser that comes with every Mac. However, Safari can be buggy at times and it doesn’t always handle content from every website correctly. Often times, if a webpage or website does not work correctly in Safari, it will work correctly in Chrome, and vice versa.
9. uTorrent
uTorrent is a BitTorrent app that many Mac users have in their app collection. It is simplistic and minimal, like many native OS X apps, which is why it is favorable by many Mac users. It simply works.
10. Handbrake
You can use iTunes to rip audio CDs. However, Mac OS X doesn’t come with any utilities for ripping and converting video files. Microsoft Windows computer manufacturers such as Dell and HP often times include software, such as Roxio Creator with PCs. For Mac users, the free utility Handbrake is an essential option for people who rip DVDs or need to convert video files to different formats.
That’s it for our list of must-have essential OS X apps. When purchasing a new Mac, you can download the above software, which will allow you to: play YouTube videos, play flash games, have a word processing software, play AVI and WMV files, open RAR files and other compression formats, manage and edit PDFs, play solitaire, run virtual machines, browse the web, download torrent files, and convert, rip, and edit video, all things that Mac OS X doesn’t support natively. Any other must-have essential apps that your recommend? Leave a comment!
