The popularity of MacBook computers by Apple is growing yearly - they are fashionable, compact, fast, and convenient. This year the company will surpass itself and release the MacBook Air with a "nuclear" charge on its ARM processor A14 Bionic, which will be the cheapest in the line - this should spur the interest of buyers to these laptops even more.
Suppose you are going to buy or have already purchased a MacBook. In that case, the built-in programs for macOS are already enough to start simple work: the Safari browser, QuickTime media player, Mail email client, and simple text editors are already installed.
However, to get the most out of your Apple computer, you need to explore the standard applications installed on macOS and go through the best charts of the Mac App Store. Many of the best apps to improve MacBook productivity, organize your workflow, and tweak your operating system have been around for years, but they can be hard to find, especially if you're a first-time Mac user.
I've compiled a list of the top 10 best apps we recommend installing after buying a MacBook: from alternative email applications and messengers to assistants, cleaners, and multimedia players. Of course, this is not the most exhaustive list, but it will be useful for beginners who want to expand the functionality and improve the usability of their MacBook.
VLC or IINA media players.
Watching videos is a common problem on macOS that almost every Mac user faces. The built-in QuickTime player, although evolving, supports very few media formats and is practically devoid of flexible settings.
To forget about codecs, video formats, audio track support, and subtitles once and for all, it is enough to install one universal player. Previously, the VLC player was incredibly popular - a versatile "media combine" that can "digest" any video and audio format. But only some people like the design of the program.
Recently, VLC has been a worthy competitor in the person of IINA. It is a free and "omnivorous" player with a nice minimalist design and a rich set of codecs and flexible settings. While VLC is a multiplatform project, IINA is created exclusively for macOS, written in the progressive Swift language. It works faster and is currently the best video player for mac.
CheatSheet.
To quickly learn all possible keyboard shortcuts, a simple but extremely useful utility, CheatSheet, was invented. The application runs with the operating system and, at any time, displays a list of all hotkeys for active use. You must press and hold the Command (? ) key for a few seconds.
Magnet.
Windows 10 users are used to desktop space management, a built-in operating system feature. All windows can be conveniently arranged in a special, strict grid so as not to get lost. And for Mac users, window management is a kind of nightmare. Unfortunately, it has always been so, and Apple does almost nothing about it.
To fix this drawback, the Magnet program was invented, which allows you to attach windows close to the edges of the screen according to pre-configured layouts, like a "magnet." The program is paid - it costs 2.99 dollars. Still, it will be extremely useful for those who have switched from Windows to macOS and want to get the same convenient window management functionality as in the OS from Microsoft.
AppCleaner.
Removing programs on macOS is implemented much easier than on Windows, but this procedure has drawbacks. After the uninstallation, the system remains "garbage," which is not easy for an inexperienced user to clean. And if this is not done, the system will start to work slowly over time.
It is better to uninstall programs through the AppCleaner utility to avoid such problems. This free application helps you remove any applications from your Mac that you no longer use without a trace and gets rid of all related files that may remain in other directories.
OnyX.
The "garbage" in macOS will accumulate in the operating system over time for various reasons: cache, temporary files for installation, and other unnecessary "junk" that slows down the system. Of course, you can use the famous CleanMyMac, but it is paid.
Therefore, the best solution to ensure the cleanliness of your MacBook is a free alternative in the face of Onyx. This is a multifunctional utility that can be used to check the boot disk and the structure of its system files, to perform various maintenance and cleaning tasks, to configure settings in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some Apple applications, to delete the cache, as well as to restore various databases and operating system indexes.