What's an absolute must with a new macbook?

[Kernel Sanders]

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, i'm thinking of getting a mac this summer, specifically a macbook. Your opinions convinced me to get one, but i'm wondering what I get "out of the box", and what I need to buy?

For example, is Office 2008 for mac awesome? Or should I opt for iWork? Does a mac come with burning software, or do I need to buy something like toast? etc...

Cheers :)

[tamoneya]

i have little experience with Mac but I know that Open Office 3.0 will have better mac support as well as supporting the OOXML formats. I would just use that myself.

[LMP900]

As I mentioned in an earlier thread, i'm thinking of getting a mac this summer, specifically a macbook. Your opinions convinced me to get one, but i'm wondering what I get "out of the box", and what I need to buy?

For example, is Office 2008 for mac awesome? Or should I opt for iWork? Does a mac come with burning software, or do I need to buy something like toast? etc...

Cheers :)

What kind of burning tasks will you be performing? You can burn data CDs and DVDs through Finder, iMovie creations through iDVD, and ISO or other images using Disk Utility.

For office apps, I use NeoOffice, and will be using OpenOffice.org 3.0 when that is released.

Enjoy your Mac! :)

[bashveank]

On my Macbook Pro I'm running:
Photoshop CS3 (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/index.html) ($650-$1000) - I need it for my Uni classes. If you don't have the budget for CS3 I'd go with Pixelmator (http://www.pixelmator.com/) ($60) You could use The Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/) (free) but you have to use it through X11 which feels kind of messy.
Aperture (http://www.apple.com/aperture/) ($200) - Love Aperture for organizing and doing basic edits of my photos. iPhoto is probably fine too though.
AppCleaner (http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/index.php) (Free) - some apps wont be completely removed just be deleting them, so I use AppCleaner.
Awaken (http://www.embraceware.com/software/awaken/) ($13) - iTunes alarm clock. iTunes Alarm (http://www.johnnarun.com/itunes_alarm/) (free) works too though.
Burn (http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/) (free) - OS X does have disc burning capabilities, but Burn's a bit better.
CandyBar (https://www.panic.com/candybar/buy.html) ($30) - Easiest way to customize icons and dock.
Cha-Ching (http://www.midnightapps.com/) ($40) - My favorite money management app. The other option is Money (http://www.jumsoft.com/money/) ($40)
DEVONnote (http://www.devon-technologies.com/products/devonnote/) ($20) - I use it for note taking with automatic wiki links.
Final Cut Express (http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/) ($200) - I do video editing for people as a side income, iMovie is probably fine for most people. iLife 08 is free with OS X, but I would probably download the, also free, downgrade to iMovie 06 (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html). The interface seems more logical.
FotoMagico (http://www.boinx.com/fotomagico/overview/) ($49-$129) - Great slideshow creating program. iMovie can produce ok looking slideshows as well though.
Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) (free) - it's just fun
HandBrake (http://handbrake.fr/) (free) - DVD ripper and encoder
iScrobbler (http://sourceforge.net/projects/iscrobbler/) (free) - iTunes Last.fm client
iWork 08 (http://www.apple.com/iwork/) ($80) - iWork has a much better interface than Office. It's also just as good as Office for word processing, and hands down better that office for presentations, spreadsheets could use some work, but they're acceptable by my standards.
Missing Sync (http://www.markspace.com/) ($40) - iSync doesn't have great syncing capabilities for my Treo, Missing Sync fixes that
NewsFire (http://www.newsfirerss.com/) (free) - My favorite RSS reader, people seem to like NetNewsWire (http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/NetNewsWire/default.aspx) (free) as well though.
Quicksilver (http://www.blacktree.com/) (free) - Amazing keyboard interface.
The Unarchiver (http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html) (free) - Unarchiving program, if you need to unarchive .sitx files than the only option is Stuffit Expander (http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit.html) (free)
Transmission (http://www.transmissionbt.com/) (free) - Favorite torrent program.
Transmit (http://www.panic.com/transmit/) ($18) - Favorite FTP client. Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/) (free) is good too.
Perian (http://perian.org/) - Codecs for Quicktime.
Flip4Mac (http://www.flip4mac.com/) - WMV codecs for Quicktime.

[H3retic]

http://www.opensourcemac.org/

[LMP900]

On my Macbook Pro I'm running:

*snip*



Excellent list! Transmission, Handbrake, Quicksilver, The Unarchiver, and Flip4Mac are apps I use myself. Adium is another "must" that I didn't see on list.

Also, thanks for the Burn link. I'll have to check it out myself.