<p>I'm going to be a freshman next year. I just got my macbook pro and new to having a mac. What are some useful products like cases or software I should get to go along with my laptop?</p>
<p>a bluetooth mouse, a hard shell case, Microsoft Office, a laptop lock, a back up hard drive</p>
<p>I’d recommend a Time Capsule, which contains a wireless router, hard drive and printer port. You can set this up to be your Wi-Fi connection, and then you can automatically back up wirelessly to the hard drive. In addition, you can print wirelessly as well. These are not cheap, something like $275, but I think it would be a great addition to a dorm room.</p>
<p>get clean my mac
It’s a software which cleans unnecessary files and creates more space for you</p>
<p>^^ I wouldn’t recommend buying a time capsule from apple.</p>
<p>The markup on them is incredibly high, the 2tb is over 300% higher then what an appropriate retail value would actually be. the 1tb is like 200% over. Additionally, the warranty is only a year, which is an awful warranty for anything HDD related. The industry standard is 3 years and for some 5 years.</p>
<p>For perspective I can get an internal hard drive plus an enclosure for it for $100, with a well-received drive, even. 2tb, aluminum enclosure, 3 year warranty, etc.</p>
<p>Seagate and Western Digital hard drives all come with 3 year standard warranty.</p>
<p>Never used time capsule so idk…</p>
<p>Hard shell cases are for scratches and bumps. Soft neoprene/cotton sleeves are for putting it in your backpack to keep the computer from getting crushed by books and destroyed if you put your backpack down fast. Some people get both cases. I prefer only the sleeve.</p>
<p>Is a laptop lock even necessary? How do they even work to lock your laptop so someone can’t steal it, chain it to a desk or something? I don’t even know…Can someone please explain more about them?</p>
<p>They’re usually cables, loop around stuff and get locked to a special spot on the computer</p>
<p>Get Microsoft office, a laptop sleeve or bag, that’s it.</p>
<p>I’m getting a laptop sleeve for my Mac- the Vera Bradley one I think, does anyone have that? Like it, is it good you think?</p>
<p>Productivity suite (Office or iWork) is a definite must. </p>
<p>A laptop bag is also a necessity. A good one will cost a pretty penny.</p>
<p>I got a hard shell case on eBay and do not regret purchasing it.</p>
<p>I also bought LoJack for Laptops. I could never figure out how to use the laptop locks.</p>
<p>What other accessories besides a laptop sleeve and a lock? Also what other software besides office is needed for a college student?</p>
<p>GIMP is pretty useful.</p>
<p>You don’t need many accessories for your MacBook Pro.</p>
<p>If you’re going to college in the fall, get an ethernet cable. Why?–because many times, it’s faster than the wireless at school.</p>
<p>You don’t need a neoprene sleeve or hard case. All you need is a backpack with a good padded laptop sleeve (The North Face Surge has excellent padding, a completely separate padded laptop section, and will last a long time). </p>
<p>You may want to install Microsoft Office Student/Home for Mac. </p>
<p>For backups, you can buy an external hard drive. You may want to buy a USB Memory Stick.
This way, you can save your work (such as a research paper, essay, etc.) from your MacBook Pro and work on it at one of the public computers located as various places on campus. Another option is to save your documents by uploading them to dropbox. </p>
<p>Good laptop backpack or messenger bag, ethernet cable, USB memory stick, and an external hard drive. </p>
<p>When you go off to college, be sure to bring all of the operating discs and program discs.</p>
<p>Dropbox beats USB drives any day of the week in my opinion.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend putting a laptop in a backpack. I tend to cram lots of stuff into my backpack, and I would NOT want to crush my poor little MacBook Pro.</p>
<p>The Ethernet cable isn’t a bad idea. Wireless can be moody at times. (One time, wireless in my building was out for three days. Talk about annoying!)</p>
<p>Apple currently has a special in which college students get a $100 gift card for the Mac App Store. If you bought your MacBook in the past month, you can take it back to your local Apple Store, repurchase it, and get the $100 gift card. Then use this money to upgrade to Lion (if you feel the need) and get iWork (instead of Office).</p>
<p>My advice is to wait until college starts before buying iWork. A new version is overdue and will probably be released alongside Lion.</p>
<p>I just got my MBP today and I love it! One of the things I bought right away for it is a hardshell case, which seems to protect it well. They fit exactly on it and don’t slide around or anything, it’s great, if anyone’s wondering. They come in some pretty colors too! I got one in aqua.</p>
<p>A 120GB SSD hehehehe. jk.</p>
<p>But just MS Office,
Transmission (if you are into torrents),
Skype to keep in touch,
Chrome for web browsing as Safari is horribly insecure,
CoconutBattery to measure your battery health,
iStats to measure your computer’s status (RAM, CPU, etc.),
gfxCardStatus to switch between discrete/integrated gfx card (good for saving battery life as OS X can be ‘dumb’ in deciding which to use),
The Unarchiver to unarchive files that OSX can’t such as .rar,
Dropbox is a must for some,
and Adium to log into msn/fb/gchat/aim. :)</p>
<p>I can’t think of much more… Starcraft II maybe? or Civilization V?</p>
<p>what’s a good hardshell case and laptop sleeve because i’m thinking about buying the two</p>
<p>I bought the hardshell case that you can get at the Apple store, not sure what it’s called. For a sleeve, I’m getting the Vera Bradley sleeve.</p>
<p>Agreed. Don’t buy time capsule. Waste of money. I would invest (if you have a 13 inch) in a monitor for your dorm for those late nights that you’ll have to squint to see the screen. And here’s a list of some of my most used applications on my Macbook Pro:
1.Music Rescue - download music from your friend’s iPods onto your computer
2.iMovie - easy movie making app (part of iLife which is on your computer already); extremely easy to use
3.Handbrake - burns DVDs to your computer and formats them for different media players (eg. iPods, PS3)-make sure you download the VLC player with it
4.Google Earth
5.Gimp - editing tool
6. Frostwire (no Windows viruses :D)
7. iWork software/Microsoft Office - I personally have both, but I do prefer iWork</p>
<p>Actually, I would contact your college that you’ll be attending also to see how the software discounts work at the school. For instance. my brother is able to get $2000 Adobe software for free from his college, and a ton of other software also. Some schools only give you a slight discount from retail though. </p>
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