What to install after getting a new MacBook

• Code editors
• VS Code plugins
• Environments & Package managers
• Terminal
• Browsers
• Note taking
• Design
• Others

Apple launched its back-to-school sale recently, so I upgraded from a 2015 13” MacBook Pro to a 2021 14” MacBook Pro. Though the new one does not look as attractive as the old one to me, the 14” MBP is still perfect in almost every way.

Anyway, I am trying to write a software checklist for setting up my new laptop.

#Code editors

• Visual Studio Code
• Xcode (along with Git)

#VS Code plugins

• One Dark Pro
• Dracula
• Python
• Volar
• EditorConfig
• LaTeX Workshop

#Environments & Package managers

• Homebrew
• Miniconda (brew install --cask miniconda)
• Node.js (along with npm)
• MacTeX

#Terminal

• Oh My Zsh
• zsh-syntax-highlighting
• zsh-autosuggestions
• I’ve heard that iTerm2 is great, but I haven’t tried it yet

#Browsers

• Chrome

#Note taking

• Typora (Markdown editor)
• Notion
• Bear, though it lacks some important features, the bear looks so cute!

#Design

• Affinity Designer
• Affinity Photo

#Others

• Paperlib is a new academic paper management tool

  • Pros

    • It’s simpler than Zotero
    • Its metadata scraper is tailored for computer science

  • Cons

    • Maintained by a single developer at the moment
    • Bugs occur sometimes (but I’m ok with it)

• Microsoft Office

• PDF Reader Pro

• GitHub Desktop

• Discord

• ClashX