I am a new macbook user! i have been a sony girl all my life and i just got the 13 inch Macbook pro retina display and it is yummy! after running all my software updates what are the next things to DO?best settings and what apps should i download?? HELP!

Welcome to the Mac. What you want to install depends on what you want to do with your computer. If you are a gamer, download some games. If you like photography download Photoshop Elements or play around with iPhoto. If you miss Windows, you can install Windows on it. You can search for some awesome desktop backgrounds to customise your machine... The questions is what is your hobby and how can your computer make that hobby more interesting.

This is much too general a question to give a simple useful answer! So let's try to narrow it down.

1. For web access you use Safari - it's already on your Mac.

2. For email, use Mail - also preinstalled.

3. For storing photos from your camera, use iPhoto. Also already installed.

4. For music, use iTunes - preinstalled.

So, please post back with any specifics you have.

And welcome to the world of Macs.

it is no good awnser for that question, realy it depends only on what you are using your computer for.

but good programs to have in my opinion it is iLife and iWork shoud be a good starter.

http://www.apple.com/osx/apps/app-store.html

http://www.apple.com/creativity-apps/mac/

Ada O wrote:

... i just got the 13 inch Macbook pro retina display and it is yummy!

Yes it is!

Just use it. The Mac already comes with everything you need to enjoy it.

Go to the iTunes Store and preview some movies. They will look good in HD on your Retina MBP.

Play with FaceTime. You can call friends anywhere in the world who have a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or an iPod Touch.

When you accumulate a lot of photos, emails, and other stuff you don't want to lose you will probably want to back them up. Your Mac already includes the software to do that (Time Machine), and to use it just requires an external hard disk drive. You can buy a 1 TB hard disk from any number of places for < $100. Plug it in once in a while and Time Machine more or less does the rest. If your Mac were to ever just stop working one day, tomorrow or five years from now, having a backup will make that a non-event.

Any music, apps, videos or movies you purchase from the iTunes Store are yours forever and you don't have to back them up.

Lastly ignore all advertisements for products that claim to "clean up" or "protect" your Mac. They are extremely prevalent, their marketing techniques are highly aggressive, and they account for the vast majority of Mac problems reported on this site. All that junk will do is make your life miserable. If your Mac should ever do something odd or unexpected, the first thing you should do is call AppleCare, followed by asking for help on this support website. No other company has a similar resource that comes anywhere near this one, and it's free forever.

Don't spill anything onto your keyboard. Keep any liquids an arm's length away from your Mac at all times. Liquid damage pretty much accounts for the remainder of Mac problems reported on this site. The repair is prohibitively expensive and it's not covered by AppleCare.

Exciting, your first Mac! Welcome. You rMBP is a nice machine. I’m jealous.

There are some free and inexpensive sources of software that are alternatives to the traditional expensive sources.

For editing photos one can use PhotoShop (expensive) one can use iPhoto (included in OS X) or Pixelmator ($30 in the App Store).

To create written documents, spreadsheets, and presentations your Mac comes free with iWork (Pages, Numbes, and Keynote). The iWork programs will read and write the file formats of the Microsoft Office analogs: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Macs that came with Mavericks installed (including yours) can download the iWork software for free: http://www.apple.com/creativity-apps/mac/up-to-date/. If you need programs that are almost identical to the MS Office programs then you can use LibreOffice, which is free open-source software. If you need the real-deal MS Office programs, that will cost you over $100 for a home/student edition.

And of course you also have iTunes for music and iLife (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband).

Also check out the free Mac seminars at your local Apple store.

Be sure to setup a backup drive to protect your data. OS X literally makes that as easy as plugging in a new external hard drive.

Time Machine Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1427

PlotinusVeritas gives some great suggestions for purchasing external hard drives in this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5602141?tstart=0

Feel free to use your battery when you need to. That is why it is there. OS X will warn you when your battery power is getting low and it is time to charge it. You should not run it down to zero; that is bad for it.

Leaving it plugged in all the time is also OK, except at least once a month you should run it on battery power to exercise the battery.

From: http://www.apple.com/batteries/

Exercise Your Machine

Lithium-ion polymer batteries need to be used for maximum performance. If you don’t use your device often, be sure to complete a charge cycle at least once a month.

> Also do i need to download the os x mavericks app in the app store?

What OS version are you running now?

Look at

 > About This Mac

to see which OS version you are running.