Change these System Preferences immediately
1 – MAX OUT your Keyboard key repeat and shorten your delay
2 – Change your CAPS LOCK into (^ Control).
Think about it, unless you are constantly yelling on the internet, you never really use CAPS LOCK
Download these Apps
* Alfred
this is so much better than spotlight if not just for the ability to calculate numbers and save it to the clipboard (why does spotlight insist on opening the calculator app). Make sure to override the spotlight shortcut (Command+Space)
* BetterSnapTool – many people use magnet, but this free tool is a good replacement if you want simple window snapping. This program lets you snap a window to just the left or right half, corners or even thirds!
The half shortcut is best on my Macbook Air
I use an amazing programming monitor, Dell UltraSharp U3415W 34-Inch Curved, that is really game changing and it comfortably fits 3 full windows. Instead of having two monitors and a bezel in the middle, using a single monitor helps you never break context by looking from screen to screen.
* Dropbox – there are really VERY few valuable irreplaceable things on your laptop or cellphone. The main one is your personal photos. I’ve had phones stolen and laptops destroyed and when I replace them, I generally have a faster, stronger device but I realized the most important things were missing – memories. Upload your photos. Use any cloud you want.
* iTerm – Benefits are strong. Split panes for multiple terminal instances like shown below are super useful for running jobs.
Tip: “Hot Key” allows you to bring up the terminal window on a shortcut! Only Alfred and terminal should have such an honor. If someone combined the two programs… Set this to Control+Space
Tip: Make sure to change the working directory. You will be opening a lot of tabs, you don’t want to end up at Home
Tip: Turn on “Secure Keyboard Entry” from the iTerm2 menu
iTerm2 -> Secure Keyboard Entry
* RescueTime – this depends on whether you like to self quantify your productivity. The app runs on the background of your computer, constantly pinging to see what apps you are using or which websites you are visiting. With all this data, it puts all your activities into a pie chart and lets you know your productivity score. I find it extremely valuable.
Others:
Xcode, Chrome, One Note, Antisleep, Flux
Set up your configuration files
* Updated: added RescueTime; fixed typo