New Laptop, New Setup

Getting a new work laptop is always a mixed experience. On one hand, new machine. On the other, institutional IT has a habit of locking things down in ways that make setup more of a negotiation than a process. This time around, I have to request admin access to install things, and I only get a 30-minute window to do it in.

So I thought carefully about how to set up my Mac quickly and efficiently. Over time I've evolved a fairly stable list of applications I genuinely depend on, and rather than clicking through installers one by one, I used Homebrew — a command-line package manager that can install applications in bulk. I gave Claude my app list and asked it to generate the Brewfile script to do it, and it worked a treat. Apps are installed - now I just need to log in to everything and set them all up!

Here's the list — my go-to tools for starting up a new Mac.

Dev Essentials

• Node - for 11ty / npm projects
• NVM – Node version manager
• Visual Studio Code – Code editor

Browsers

• Zen Browser – Firefox-based browser with vertical tabs and spaces

Notes & Writing

• Obsidian – Local, Markdown-based knowledge management and note-taking
• iA Writer – Distraction-free writing Markdown editor
• iA Presenter – Markdown-based presentation tool
• Grammarly – Grammar checker

Productivity

• AppCleaner – Thorough app uninstaller
• DaisyDisk – Disk space visualiser
• CleanShot X – Screenshot and screen recording tool
• DeskPad – Virtual display for screen sharing
• Thaw – Menu bar manager
• Soulver – Notepad calculator
• OmniFocus – Task management
• WhatCable – Identifies what a USB-C cable can actually do

Audio & Dictation

• Handy – Free, open-source offline speech-to-text dictation
• MacWhisper – Audio transcription
• Brain.fm – Focus music

Security

• 1Password – Password manager

Media

• VLC – Media player
• Gifski – Video-to-GIF converter

Cloud Storage

• Dropbox – Cloud storage and file sync

If you're keen to do this yourself, there's the two files you'll need: Brewfile and Install.sh. You can go ahead and edit these to suit your needs - then just type into the terminal:

chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh