Must-Have Utilities

Here’s my personal list of tiny utilities and apps that I simply can’t live without on my Mac. These are the first apps I install on any new Mac I set up. Not all of these utilities are free, but they’re all worth the money (and not so expensive anyway).

• Rectangle • free open source window manager
• IINA • free video player supports more formats than QuickTime and doesn’t look like a 90s nightmare like VLC
• Stats app • free CPU/memory/temp stats in menu bar
• LinearMouse • free mouse driver to adjust acceleration curves, scrolling speed and customise buttons.
• Amphetamine free app to keep your Mac from going to sleep
• PastePal • pasteboard manager/sync for macOS/iOS
• CotEditor • free text editor
• Gapplin • free SVG viewer
• OptImage • free-ish image optimiser (up to 24 images/day are free)
• Keka • free compressor/archive tool
• AppCleaner • free tool to completely remove unused apps
• Lunar • control external (& internal) monitor brightness, volume via native controls ($23)
• Onyx • free system cleanup, maintenance
• OmniDiskSweeper • free tool to see and delete what takes most space on your drive
• Image Vectorizer • free image vectoriser
• Latest • free utility to check for the latest version of all your installed apps
• Dipper • utility for capturing any audio played on your mac without system extensions
• Vibe • free on-device language transcription from audio or video

Must-Have Creative and Productivity Apps

Here’s my list of full applications that I’m using for most of my creative work (mainly design & animation, but also music/audio stuff).

Must-Have Hardware

This is the hardware I’m using and have come to love.

• MacBook Pro 16″ (M3 Max) – My trusty work horse, this machine packs quite some punch
• iPad Pro (M1) with Apple Pencil – for drawing nothing can beat it.
  • Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPad • I finally got a used one (new ones are too expensive) and it’s fantastic!
• Razer Death Adder V2 • ridiculous name, great wireless mouse
• Matias wired tenkeyless keyboard • this one has a very light touch, perfect for heavy writing and no batteries or charging needed.
• Apple Wireless Keyboard • Yes the old one with the AA batteries. Still one of the best, very compact, reliable, great typing feel and when your batteries run out immediately ‘recharge’ by popping in two new batteries (rechargeable ones of course!) – unbeatable, indestructible.
• Synology NAS (in my case: the DS1621+)
  Using it as a file server for archiving the footage and source files of Phungus & Mowld, Shadywoods, and Fair Game and sharing it with my son for his video work, currently with 20TB of drive space (10 still available). Synology’s OS and server apps are just so super easy to use it’s a breeze to set it up.
• SONY MDR 7506 studio headphones
  These are not for audiophiles, these headphones have no bias, they’re used to judge audio and not to make it sound better. If your sound is crappy, it’ll sound crappy – and that’s why they’ve been standard headphones in every studio under the sun for decades.
• Yamaha HS5 Monitor Speakers • same deal as with the SONY headphones, these are not for making crap sound good.
• SONY Dual Sense Wireless Controller
  I don’t own a Playstation 5, but I’ve been using this wireless controller with some iOS, Apple TV and macOS games (mostly Steam) and it works flawlessly.
• LG 27UD88-W 4k Display
  A decent 4k display with a USB-C port, I’m quite happy with it. I’ll stick with this one until I feel the need for a 5k display.
• Apple TV (4k)
  Got this one used to replace my older Apple TV (HD). It’s worth every penny. It runs the latest tvOS, works perfectly with my AirPods, and still performs like a champ given its age.