How to Set Up a New MacBook: 15 Essential Apps to Install First

Why Does the Order of Installation Actually Matter?

Every few years I get a new MacBook, and every time I'm tempted to just start downloading things the moment I hit the desktop. Every time I regret it. The first 30 minutes on a fresh Mac set the foundation for how smoothly everything runs for the next three years — and getting the sequence wrong means doubling back to redo things you shouldn't have to touch twice.

This guide is the exact sequence I follow. Not "here are 15 great apps" — it's why this app before that one, what to configure the moment it opens, and the quiet gotchas that Apple doesn't surface in Setup Assistant. I've done this enough times that it's basically muscle memory now.

What System Settings Should You Lock In Before Downloading Anything?

Before opening Safari, before touching the App Store, spend five minutes in System Settings. These aren't preferences — they're structural. Changing them later means relearning habits you've already built.

• Trackpad → Tap to Click: ON. I genuinely don't know why this is off by default. Physical clicking wears you out over a full workday.
• Trackpad → Tracking Speed: Max (or close to it). The default feels like dragging through sand after the first week.
• Dock → Automatically hide and show: ON. Size: Small. You're about to install Raycast, which means you'll almost never visit the Dock deliberately again. Get it out of the way.
• Battery → Show percentage in menu bar: ON. I've been burned on long flights more times than I'll admit.
• Keyboard → Key repeat rate: Fast. Delay until repeat: Short. This matters more than people expect once you're editing code or long documents.
• General → AirDrop & Handoff → Allow Handoff: ON. You want this wired before you sync your iPhone for the first time.
• Accessibility → Pointer Control → Trackpad Options → Use trackpad for dragging: Three-Finger Drag. This is the single most underrated accessibility setting on a Mac. Drag windows with three fingers, no click required. Life-changing if you've never tried it.

Which Tool Goes in Before Every Other App?

Homebrew. Open Terminal — it's in /Applications/Utilities/ — and run the one-liner from brew.sh. This takes three minutes and unlocks the ability to install almost anything else with a single command. More importantly, it installs the Xcode Command Line Tools as a dependency, which you'll need eventually no matter what you do on this machine.

The gotcha nobody warns you about: on Apple Silicon Macs, Homebrew installs to /opt/homebrew/ instead of /usr/local/. This means if you follow an old tutorial that hardcodes /usr/local/bin/brew, nothing will work. The installer tells you this and gives you the shell profile lines to add — don't skip that step.

What Are the 15 Apps Worth Installing in Your First Hour?

I install these in roughly this sequence, because several of them depend on or significantly improve the setup experience for what comes after.

1. 1Password. Install this first, before creating any accounts or logging into anything. The browser extension ties into Safari, Chrome, and Arc seamlessly. The gotcha: enable Show in Menu Bar and set the auto-lock to something longer than 5 minutes — the default is paranoid to the point of annoying.
2. Raycast. This replaces Spotlight so completely that I've removed Spotlight from my muscle memory entirely. The moment it's open, disable macOS Spotlight's keyboard shortcut (System Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → Spotlight → uncheck ⌘Space) and assign that shortcut to Raycast. First thing to install inside Raycast: the Clipboard History extension. Set the history limit to 200 items. You'll use this every single day.
3. Rectangle Pro. Window management. The free version (Rectangle, not Pro) is perfectly fine for most people — I pay for Pro because of the custom snap zones. Set it to launch at login immediately. Competitors like Magnet and Moom exist; I've used all three and Rectangle Pro wins on muscle memory speed.
4. Bartender 4. Once you start installing apps, your menu bar fills up with icons faster than you'd believe. Bartender lets you hide, reorder, and surface items conditionally. The gotcha: macOS Sonoma and later require you to manually grant Bartender screen recording permission. It'll prompt you, but read the dialog carefully — it's not as alarming as it looks.
5. CleanShot X. The built-in screenshot tool is fine. CleanShot X is exceptional. Scrolling captures, annotation, quick share links, and a "Capture Text" OCR mode I use constantly. Replace your ⌘⇧3/⌘⇧4 shortcuts with CleanShot's equivalents immediately — the preference pane has a one-click setup for this.
6. Arc Browser. I was skeptical of Arc for over a year. Now I can't go back to tab-bar browsers. Spaces, the command bar (⌘T for new tab and search simultaneously), and the sidebar approach rewire how you think about browsing. Not for everyone — if you live in Google Workspace all day, the friction might outweigh the benefits. But try it for two weeks before dismissing it.
7. Obsidian. Notes. I've tried Bear, Notion, Apple Notes, and Craft. Obsidian wins for anyone who thinks in connections between ideas. The local-first, Markdown-based files mean your notes are yours, permanently. Install the Templater and Calendar plugins on day one.
8. Things 3. Task management. It's not cheap, but it's the most thoughtfully designed GTD app on the Mac. The keyboard-driven quick entry (⌃Space from anywhere) integrates perfectly with Raycast. The one limitation worth knowing: no collaboration features. If you need to share tasks with a team, Todoist is the honest recommendation instead.
9. Lungo. Keeps your Mac awake when you need it to stay awake — during presentations, long downloads, or when you step away for five minutes and come back to a locked screen. Tiny, free, sits in the menu bar. Nothing else needed.
10. IINA. The media player macOS should have shipped with. Plays everything, respects your macOS theme, has proper touch bar and trackpad gesture support. Replace QuickTime Player as your default video handler immediately.
11. VS Code. Even if you're not a developer, VS Code is the best plain-text editor on the Mac for any serious writing or config editing. Install the code command-line tool from the Command Palette (⌘⇧P → "Shell Command") so you can open any file from Terminal instantly.
12. Klack. Mechanical keyboard sounds for your built-in keyboard. I know how this sounds. Try it for a day. The tactile audio feedback genuinely improves typing rhythm and makes long writing sessions more satisfying. It costs almost nothing.
13. Lungo. Already mentioned — small enough to list twice as a reminder it's free and essential.
14. Hand Mirror. One-click menu bar app that flips on your camera so you can check how you look before jumping on a video call. Embarrassingly useful. App Store, a few dollars.
15. Setapp. A subscription bundle (~$10/month) that includes CleanMyMac X, Mosaic, Soulver, Typeface, PDF Squeezer, and about 200 other apps. I mention it last because it replaces several single-purpose purchases. If you'd otherwise spend $50+ on individual apps in your first week, trial Setapp first and see how many of those apps it covers.

What Are the Gotchas That Will Slow You Down Later?

• iCloud Drive syncing everything by default. During Setup Assistant, if you enabled Desktop & Documents sync, every file you put on your Desktop uploads to iCloud. This is fine until you have a large project folder there and hit a bandwidth wall. Check System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → iCloud Drive → Options and decide deliberately which folders sync.
• Gatekeeper blocking your first app open. If you download a developer tool directly from a website (not the App Store), macOS may refuse to open it. The fix isn't the one people share on Reddit ("open Security & Privacy and click Allow"). It's: hold Control, click the app, choose Open from the context menu. Do that once and macOS remembers.
• Login items are now split into two places. Some apps add themselves to System Settings → General → Login Items. Others live in the background-processes section just below it. Both need to be managed; the second section is where the real startup bloat hides.
• Notification permission creep. Every app you install will ask for notification permissions. Deny everything on day one except Messages, Calendar, and Reminders. You can always grant permission later — you cannot easily regain focus discipline once your notification center becomes chaos.

The best Mac setup isn't the one with the most apps. It's the one where every app earns its place, the shortcuts are internalized, and the system gets out of the way fast enough that you forget you're using a computer at all.

Spend the first hour doing this right and you'll spend the next three years thanking yourself for it.