My Aunt recently bought a new Mac and asked me what next? What applications should I get, do I need Microsoft Office and what else do I need. This inspired me to put together a list of items that I think a new Mac User and Veteran alike could use.
Out of the box, your new Mac has nearly everything you need to get started but there always a few gaps that needs to be covered. There are some hardware and software I suggest.
Hardware
Most of my hardware advice will mimic the advice I give to anyone with a new computer. First off lets talk about what you already own. Good news in this category is as long as it is a USB device, more often than not it is compatible with your Mac and the drivers are pre-installed. If the drivers are not pre-installed, usually you can download them from the manufacturer’s site or load them from disks that came with the device. (Getting on my soapbox for the next statement) Being environment and pocketbook conscience, I advise people to reuse what they already own verses using a new computer purchase as an excuse to by new stuff.
External Hard Drive
The most critical piece of hardware you can buy is an external USB hard drive for backups. All new Macs come with an application called Time Machine, which will keep an active backup of your computer. I suggest a drive that is at least twice the size of your Mac’s internal hard drive. As an option, I suggest having second hard drive for archiving files that you no longer need or access less than once a year.
MS Office vs OpenOffice.org vs Google Apps
Software is a tricky subject because it’s all about what your needs are but there is a couple of recommendations that I make to everyone. Unless you have specific business needs to use MS Office, I promote the use of OpenOffice.org which is full featured applications suite. Best of all it’s free. Google Apps is also a good alternative to MS. It is very limited in its feature set but offers true online collaboration on documents and is available though any computer connected to the internet.
Evernote
I’m a huge promoter of an application called Evernote, which is a great tool for taking notes, storing pictures and what ever you needs it to be. (I will have a complete review of this application coming soon).
Parallels
If you need to run Windows, I suggest Parallels which runs windows on a virtual machine while you run your regular Mac apps.
Security Software
Many claim that Macs are immune to security attacks. I wish this was true. While Macs are relatively secure out of the box, Mac users should still take the same precautions that PC users take. First, you computer does need antivirus, I suggest using iAntiVirus. It’s free and lightweight but scans for mac virus problems. The only commercial solution that I suggest is Intego’s Internet Security Barrier X5 ($89.95). ISB X5 is comprehensive and still does not rush your computer performance like some other solutions.