Setting up a new MacBook Pro for Development
At my new job, I'm using a 15” MacBook Pro. It’s a really beautiful machine. I got it on Friday night just before the iPhone Dev Camp last weekend, and I stayed up until 3AM getting it all set up.
I’ll be using this machine for:
- iPhone Development
- .NET Development
- Rails Development
- General Office Use (Email, calendar)
- Working on the book
Here’s how I have mine set up. I’ve categorized each section. I’ve also indicated where tools are free versus paid with a ($) symbol.
General
- git
- svn
- Skype
- Pandora (I pay to get the player & higher quality stream)
- Dropbox (awesome folder sync between Mac, Windows & iPhone)
- The Hit List ($) (the best to-do app I’ve ever seen)
- CyberDuck (FTP client – also good is Transmit ($), but haven’t bought it yet)
- S3Hub (Amazon S3)
- Espresso ($) (super-polish HTML editor)
- also need to buy CSSEdit ($), which is really nice
- Pomodoro app (just trying this out as a means of focusing)
- Backup: Carbonite ($). (Unlimited online backup. I’ve used both Carbonite and Mozy, and while both have pissed me off in the past, I’m back at Carbonite again)
- Office Mac ($)
- iWork ($) – liking this much more than Office, mostly because of Keynote
- OmniGraffle ($) – This seriously kicks Visio’s butt
- Google Notifier
- FreeRuler (a pixel ruler is always handy)
- KeePassX (handy password manager)
- MarsEdit – for blogging (probably not going to buy this one, as Windows Live Writer is so much better. I’ve also tried Blogo & ecto and don’t care for them either)
- Evernote – still trying to work this into my daily routine. Right now it holds software keys, scanned receipts, and important documents.
- QuickSilver – quick app launch & more
- Camtasia Mac ($) – for screencasting
- LittleSnapper ($) – nice screenshot / annotation tool, automatically uploads to ember.
- Picturesque ($) – Awesome image effects at the flick of your mouse
- Tweetie ($/ads) – lightweight, sleek, twitter client
- Yammer – for internal twitter-like chat
iPhone Work
- Xcode with iPhone SDK 3.1
- Xcode with iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta (for iPad)
- AppViz ($) (checks my sales)
- iPhone Simulator Cropper (for taking nice screenshots in the simulator)
- HTTPClient (Good for debugging raw HTTP traffic)
.NET Work
- VMWare Fusion 3 ($)
- Win 7 ($)
- Visual Studio .NET 2008 ($)
- msysgit (for git on windows)
- Tortoise SVN
- Visual SVN ($)
- ReSharper ($)
- Windows Live Writer (I’m using it to write this post)
- Virtual Clone Drive
Rails Development
- TextMate ($) (with the Railscasts theme)
Book
- Microsoft Office 2007 (in the VM)
- I could use a different template, but my co-authors are all on Windows, and the macros & styles don’t all work properly in Office for Mac.
- Darkroom (for focusing on text)
Extra
- In my Windows 7 VM, I’ve installed Steam so I can try to see how playable games are within the VM. I didn’t expect much, but Torchlight is surprisingly playable. On my Mac desktop I’ve used Crossover Games and with that Team Fortress 2 plays like butter.
What am I missing?
I’m considering Pixelmator ($) for my occasional Photoshop ($$$) fix.
Are there any killer apps that I’m missing? I’m always on the lookout for new apps that can help me be productive.
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