Essential Applications for Mac

Lifehacker compiled a list of 20 apps you should have on your Mac but I don’t use some of the stuff in that list and I think they left out some stuff which are essential. So, this is MY list.

• Adium

Forget MSN messenger for Macs. For the ultimate messenger experience, go for Adium instead. Adium supports AIM, MSN, GoogleTalk and many many more all under one application. It is also fully customizable in terms of dock icon, sound effects, icons, friend displays and message displays. One downside is that your friends can’t see your unique emoticons from their side. Also, Adium can be confusing to use at first but once you have it down, man you’re totally groovy. iChat doesn’t support MSN so don’t even talk to me about that. Never used it.

• Firefox

Forget Mac. This is one browser that everyone should have on their desktop, no matter what operating system you’re using. Fully customizable (you’ll see this theme recurring a lot), secure and dead easy to use. You’ll be spoiled after this. Safari still triumphs over Firefox in terms on in-browser RSS reader but I found Google Reader manages just fine, if not as elegant. I do love Safari’s clean feel and functionality. Some browsers also still only display correctly on Internet Explorer, much to my utter bafflement.

• Growl

It’s not really a proper application by itself but a lot other applications use it. It is elegant and very nice. You’d better have it installed if you haven’t already.

• VLC Player

Look, VLC is a player okay. It’s like Windows Media except it supports a lot more formats. Just install it. You’ll need to use it in some way later on, especially if you download a lot of vids like me.

• The Unarchiver

I personally don’t have this installed in my Mac yet since I haven’t encountered any files that the Stuffit Expander can’t open (OMG so much better than window’s!!!) but it’s still a useful application to have in case you encounter those pesky formats that Stuffit can’t open. (Oh okay fine, I’m installing it now).

• Handbrake

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to rip DVDs to your iPod too. For Mac, this handy application does both ripping of your DVDs and converting it into .mp4 format for your iPod. In windows, I use DVD Decrypter and 3GP Converter. If you want, here are some alternatives.

• Skype

If your computer have an inbuilt camera and microphone (thus eliminating the need to buy those, or you can buy those anyway, they’re probably better in quality), you should get Skype. It’s cheap.

• Adobe Reader

One that you can’t go without, no matter what OS you’re on.

• Vienna (RSS Reader)

Vienna is a very nice RSS Reader for the times that you don’t want to use Safari’s or Google’s Readers. It’s very clean and very intuitive to use.

• Transmission

Transmission is used to download torrent files. I’ve never used this particular application before so I’m not sure how easy it is to use but you should always have one torrent downloader on your comp. In windows, I use Bitcomet.

• Caffeine

 Prevents your comp from dimming lights, going to sleep, playing the screensaver etc… useful if you wanna watch movies and doesn’t want to fiddle with the settings every single time.

Untested, Untried but Downloaded:

• NeoOffice
• Tofu
• TubeTV
• Vidalia

Not Freeware but You Should Buy It Anyway:

• iWork or MS Office Mac or you can always try the free NeoOffice.
• Delicious Library (nice and affordable if you really want to organize).

Also, check out the Mac software popular downloads at CNET.
Not application but you should check out these cool screensavers.

Other people’s essential applications:

Paul Stamatiou: 10 Apps Every New Mac User Should Download.

Mac Specialist: Essential Mac OS X Applications.

Best Mac Software.

Dustin Bachrach: Best Unknown Mac Apps. (Mostly developer tools).

Apple Design Awards.