So, now I’ve made a move towards the dark side, any recommendations for essential accessories for the device? A padded sleeve case is high on the list, so suggestions appreciated.

That’s about it really. Lots of aftermarket sleeves, hard and soft. I like the neoprene style ones, work well and are cheap. A glasses cloth (opticians) is useful for cleaning the screen.

External hard drive for backup, eg Samsung one for about £50 for 1tb

Apple TV to stream content to your TV, £79 ?

BTW you have moved from the dark side into the light 8)

A speck case keeps it looking fresh

TK Maxx often have padded neoprene cases.

Thunderbolt to HDMI is useful for plugging into a spare monitor or TV.

I’ve also been looking for a spare power supply, but they are about 65 quid!

Nowt, just use it for a month then see what you need.

I bought quite a lot of accessories for my Air, but haven’t used them really. Used the USB to LAN adapter a fair bit when setting-up back-ups and shifting music to my NAS drive, and the CD/SuperDrive for the same. That’s because I didn’t have any of this (or my CD’s converted) before. If I had it wouldn’t have taken long over wi-fi I guess. Since then, not used them. Also don’t use the thunderbolt monitor adapter, however I see that I may need this for connecting to projectors one day. Maybe. And I’ve never used my bluetooth keyboard, reckon I’ll be selling that. Very glad I didn’t buy the apple mouse, the touchpad is so good I’d never use it.

Tucano if you want a nice well-fitting sleeve. Rather than a generic one from TK maxx that’ll likely be like a wizard’s sleeve on it.

External HDD for time machine if you don’t have one already.

Thunderbolt to HDMI is useful for plugging into a spare monitor or TV.

He has a rMBP, doesn’t he ? They come with an HDMI port.

Worth getting a bootable backup made, too, as opposed to just the Time Machine backup. Carbon Copy Cloner or similar will help with that.

Tucano if you want a nice well-fitting sleeve.

I have one of those – works perfectly (on both a Pro or an Air).

Rather than a generic one from TK maxx that’ll likely be like a wizard’s sleeve on it.

🙄

They sell specific sleeves for specific models. My Macbook Air is nice and snug at night.

They sell specific sleeves for specific models. My Macbook Air is nice and snug at night.

Oh I know that, just often the TK maxx ones are generic ones. I’ll not deny you might get lucky and find something nicely fitting. I guess that applies to the clothes too, mostly wizard’s sleeve sizing but you might get lucky 🙂

I have the Apple mouse for my Air as I use it for presenations and don’t want to keep leaning over the keyboard. Also have an airport which is a 3TB hard drive and a wireless router. It’s expensive but integrates seamlessly with time machine (we have two macs in the house) and you can use it as a remote drive from W7 as well so all our backups go on there.

I have the thunderbolt adaptor again for presentations.

Thanks for the suggestions. I’m already planning in getting a Seagate Central NAS drive for personal cloud storage, but a case is Probably the most important thing.

I will have a look at your suggestions.

Any good Mac specific software worth getting?

Any good Mac specific software worth getting?

Honestly for general stuff not really. If you are into photo editing at a more advanced level than iPhoto then yes there are things to look at (I do basic stuff so iPhoto is fine). I bought SketchBook which I use for marking up route maps but there is probably a free solution out there. For your home data server have a search round on forums (MacRumors) for advice and don’t discount the AirPort solution as the integrated WiFi router is probably better than your one at home. Most of the tools I use where free, as above like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. I spent £1 on a MacCleaner utility which frankly was a waste of £1 !

Evernote, the most useful piece of software I have, on my mac and my phone.

@m360 – what do you use it for ? I tired it (it was offered free) but then deleted it. I use Calendar and Notes instead with sharing via iCloud account. Happy to re-visit.

Any MBP users have issues with the MagSafe2 power pack?

Mine just went POP when I plugged it in and now won’t work. Second one that’s done that since I got this MBP last year (its a retina one).

I have a spare so all’s not lost (yet) but seems a bit odd to have two fail, one at home one at work so less likely to be a supply issue.

Hold on, I see the fuse in the plug bit is removable. Now to find a 3A fuse and see if that’s the issue…

@m360 – what do you use it for ? I tired it (it was offered free) but then deleted it. I use Calendar and Notes instead with sharing via iCloud account. Happy to re-visit.

I have the paid version now (£2.99 a month) so have it on my phone as well.

I use it for loads of stuff:

Clipping web pages, articles, notes etc for anything from stuff for Uni to gadgets for bikepacking, like a scrapbook of websites. It’s handy because when you clip an article, for example, it saves it with the full link, and active hot links in the clip.

I take photos in it a lot: documents, map-boards, notice board memo’s, business cards, etc.

I also scan/photo personal documents that I can then file away if I ever need the original, or bin. So rent agreements, receipts, etc.

Recently I emailed tickets for a film festival next year to my evernote account. Yeah, I could find them in my email, or print them, but if I lose them or forget them it’s dead easy to find them in evernote on my phone.

And there is the key – searching! Evernote is so damn easy to search. The above can be done in lots of ways, I know, but searching is what makes Evernote so good. The paid version has much better search features. It searches hand-written notes, business cards, map boards, etc.

I’m know that I don’t use it to its full potential, but for me it’s like a giant scrap book that’s super easy to search, on both my phone and laptop.

Not for everyone I guess, but I am a fan 8)

@m360 – thanks, interesting. I’m too tight to pay £36 a year for an app anyway !