What software should I buy for my Mac?

  This is a common question but I find it a bit odd. The real question is "What do you want to do with your Mac?" There are thousands of programs available to you but if you aren't going to make a movie for Hollywood, then you probably don't need Final Cut Pro. If you're not going to be multi-tracking the next one hit wonder for Sony Records, then you probably don't need Logic Studio 8. But, if you'd like to dabble with making movies or create your own soundtrack, then iLife would be perfect for you. Plus, it's only $79 so it is a no-brainer.

  iLife comes with iMovie, iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, iWeb and GarageBand. iTunes is a free download and will come with every Mac. Obviously, this is for organizing your music, syncing your iPhone or iPod and purchasing music, movies, TV shows and iPod Touch or iPhone apps. This suite of programs is for your creative side and is most common on most Macs. If you think you're going to be doing more "serious" work, Apple has another suite of applications for you called iWork.

  iWork comes with 3 programs; Pages, Numbers and Keynote. This is very similar to Microsoft's "Office" suite. Pages is Word. Numbers is Excel. Keynote is Powerpoint. Also priced at $79, this is a great deal. However, some people just can't be without their Microsoft office so I have often recommended Office over iWork simply for the fact that it is already "known" and a learning curve won't be necessary. Not that iWork is difficult to use- typical of all Apple products, it is intuitive and elegant. And what's really nice is that iWork can open Office documents AND can save as Office documents so that you can share your work with your Window's unfortunates.

  There is one program that I find most people appreciate that isn't part of any suite as mentioned above. To edit images, manipulate photos and to get creative with pictures, Adobe Photoshop Elements is a perfect suggestion. It isn't the full-blown Photoshop but it offers a lot of nice tools and features that iPhoto does not offer. And for only $100, again, how can you go wrong?

  If on the other hand, you are looking to do professional work, not only should you have a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro, but the software required is going to cost significantly more. There is the Adobe Creative Suite, Apple's Logic Studio and Apple's Final Cut Pro. These professional grade applications are pretty much industry standards. The full-blown version of Adobe's Creative Suite (CS4) costs about $2,700. Final Cut Pro costs about $1000 and Logic is only $500. I say "only" because for its capabilities, it is an incredible bargain! But again, this is not for the average user. These are designed for the professional in mind and required years of training and experience to master.