Every now and then I remember what a marvel this OS X really is. I have ten apps open at this moment, one of them, Folding@Home, a real memory hog, running in the background all the time, and I never ever have even the slightest hiccough with my old 400 MHz G4. You just gotta love it <br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

Let's see now...browser, email, um...that's two, F@H makes 3, and um....?<br><br>Ten apps! Good lord man. What do you have installed on that machine? I'm an inveterate app collector and I'd be lucky to run more than half a dozen at one time.<br><br>

Indeed. This is one of the things I try to tell people about the Mac platform (I'm on a mission to convert every PC user I actually like) that isn't really understood. They look at the price tag and see a couple hundred bucks more and don't realize that it isn't just the hardware that is the difference. In fact, I try to tell them that the real reason to switch is the operating system and how it works with the Apple hardware. A difficult thing for people who've never used a mac to understand.<br><br>I've almost got BOTH my sister and my parents, but negotiations will probably continue until the end of the year...<br><br>

I could list them, but you go ahead and guess.<br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

The bare minimum:<br><br>1. Browser<br>2. Mail<br>3. iCal<br>4. iTunes<br>5. Textedit or Word (gotta do SOME work)<br><br>does this fit most bare minimums?? (messenger? Photoshop?)<br><br>

Word<br>WeatherPop (or similar)<br>iTunes<br>Quicktime<br>iPhoto<br>Moz (or similar)<br>Email app<br>F@H<br>iCal<br>Limewire<br><br>OK, not really Limewire. <br><br>

Gee, I wasn't even counting WeatherPop!<br><br>Here's what I have running:<br><br>Entourage<br>IE<br>Acrobat<br>Sherlock<br>QT<br>F@H<br>LaunchBar<br>AppleWorks<br>TextEdit<br>Word<br>GraphicConverter<br><br>There's also WeatherPop, MenuCalendar, CeePeeYou, WindowShadeX, ASM, and other assorted haxies, but I'm not counting them.<br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"

I was 'instructed' by MacGizmo that Weatherpop is not a real application, it is a menubar app (which is why it doesn't show up in the dock). So, does the bare min only pertain to Dock applications? Otherwise throw in there:<br><br>6. PTH Clock<br>7. System preferences?<br><br>

Why three different word processors???<br><br>

I don't think System Preferences counts. If it does, then you have to include the Finder too!<br><br>Great wits are sure to madness near allied.--John Dryden, "Absalom and Achitophel"