Buying a new MBP

[dancertom3]

This week I'm ordering my first Mac, a MacBook Pro

2.33Ghz
2Gb RAM
160Gb HDD
Glossy screen

Anyone got any tips or recommend any must-haves to go with it?

6 days and it's killing me!!!

 

[extraextra]

Is 6 days with standard shipping?

You might want to start off with a few programs, Adium (IM client), Firefox (I find Safari to be a slow browser after awhile), CoconutBattery, VLC (to play videos), Handbrake (burn DVD's to MPEG-4), OmniDiskSweeper.. that's all I can think of at the moment. You can google any one of those and their respective sites should come up.

Oh and, keyboard shortcuts are always useful.

 

[kristiano]

Transmission for torrents and maybe Writeroom if you do a bit of writing.

 

[timswim78]

An external hard drive for backups
Carbon Copy Cloner for Backups
MS Office or NeoOffice
PhotoShop or GIMP (free alternative)
Carrying case
Screen cleaner
MacSaber (just kidding)

 

[iBookG4user]

See how you like Safari before you go to firefox. I like Safari a lot better than Firefox.
Some apps that I use:

iSquint (free video to iPod video converter)

Cyberduck (for when I need to connect to FTPs)

Azureus (for torrents)

Handbrake (for ripping DVDs)

VLC (for watching videos)

CoconutBattery (for checking your battery capacity)

SMCfancontrol (so you can control the fan speed for if it gets too hot)

WhatSize (for checking how much hard drive space everything on your hard drive is taking up)

That's all I can think of.

 

[timswim78]

Some links for ya':

Great stuff here:
http://www.macgamesandmore.com/best_freeware_applications.html

Apple's links to downloads:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

 

[jnc]

Is 6 days with standard shipping?

The 120GB is the standard config. Maybe it's taking longer because of the hard drive

 

[Maxwell Smart]

Adium, Firefox, Thunderbird, Parallels, Azureus, Toast 8, Photoshop CS3 Beta. You'll be fine Have fun!

 

[dancertom3]

Thanks for all the responses!

extraextra, I'll be ordering my MBP in 6 days. But then, because of the custom-built thing, there's 2-4 days shipping, but then probably another 3 days on top of that for delivery, at most. So a week after I'll receive it, hopefully!

Firefox will be the first thing that I download. I'm on Firefox now and like it.

What's so great about VLC? I've downloaded, in advance, Windows Media Player for Mac for all my mpegs. Thinking about it, WMP is not such a great choice. What about DivX? Does anyone use that?

 

[Icewind]

What about DivX? Does anyone use that?

I use it all the time. Just download the DivX codecs for Quicktime and install. I've never had any problems playing any DivX avi (and I watch watch millions of Anime on my Powerbook). I have a 1 Tarrabyte Firewire 800 external drive connected to my iMac in my study where I have my massive Anime collection stored. I can then stream the DivX AVI's from the external HD to my Powerbook and watch them while lying on my sofa with a beer

Enjoy your MBP... You luck sod!

P.S. Forgot to say... The first thing I would shell out hard-earned cash for is a carry case or sleeve for your baby. You will probably use that a lot if you're transporting your MBP around. My Powerbook is about 1.5 years old and still looks as good as the day I bought it. I think my neoprene sleeve has help a lot in this respect.

 

[phantomsd]

Proud parent of a new MBP 2.16 C2D Matte since 8:30pm last night. Been waiting 4+ years to make the switch! So far so good. No dead pixels, even screen illumination, no signs of grainy screen here. Its a winner!

Please continue to post your "must-have" widgets, apps, new user knowledge/tips, etc.