Apple’s Mac OS X is one of the most popular operating systems in the world, and by most accounts, it’s better than the more widespread Windows. In fact, the only reason it doesn’t have as many users as Microsoft’s OS is that it only works on Mac computers, and they simply can’t compete in volume with the dozens of PC and laptop models out there.
After the success of the App Store for the iPhone and iPad, Apple has also decided to create a central place for all the apps for Mac OS X – something that most people thought would not be that useful, but the new App Store is actually great. You can find a lot of great apps for Mac OS X there, and it’s very easy to download and install them. With that in mind, here are just a few of the most interesting Mac OS X apps that you can get on Apple’s App Store.
1. Amazon Kindle
After seeing that their own Kindle eReader was doing worse than the iPad, Amazon decided to release a special app for iOS and later Android, which would allow anyone to access and buy books in digital format from the Amazon market without having to get the actual Kindle hardware. That was a great move and it benefited both Amazon and the users, and just recently, they also released an app for desktop computers, including for Macs. The Kindle app is available on the app store and it lets you do all the things you’d expect – browse Amazon’s huge collection of books, buy and download the ones you like and read them full screen or in a window – it’s very easy to use and a must have if you like reading books.
2. Pixelmator
Pixelmator is a simple to use image and photo editor with an elegant interface and enough features to let you do most of the things you’d need to do without becoming overwhelming, like Photoshop, for example (it’s also cheaper than Adobe’s solution, too). The app supports layers and has over 40 tools for editing, as well as 15 color correction tools and over 150 various filters – you can make any photo or image look the way you want it to, then upload it to Facebook, Flickr or any other site.
3. EverNote
Evernote is considered the best app for taking notes, saving bookmarks, ideas, photos, videos, drafts of tasks and anything else in an organized and easy to review fashion. The app also has an accompanying online service that allows you to sync all the information you have on your computer with the remote server, as well as any other computer or mobile device (like your iPhone or iPad), so you can always have access to it.
4. GarageBand
GarageBand is, of course, the popular audio recording and editing software from Apple, and it’s pretty darn good at what it’s supposed to do. You can use it to record music with real instruments, mix songs and loops using an industry standard visual interface, change and fix the timing of your music, add effects and filters, and even learn the basics of playing an array of instruments with some great lessons.
5. MindNode
MindNode is a simple and easy to use mind map software for Mac OS X, which lets you do pretty much everything you’d want when creating a mind map – you can draw lines, create nodes, arrange them however you want (freestyle, which is better than the fixed positions that other apps offer), add notes and hide them, as well as export the documents in one of the many supported formats.
If you have a Mac computer but still haven’t checked the new app store, you should definitely do it when you get the chance – the experience is quite similar to that of the iTunes store for music and mobile devices, and you can find a lot of genuinely useful apps there, which makes it even better.