Updated for new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro Chip - April 2022
My previous Mac was starting to overheat so it was swapped for another.
I decided to install things as I required them rather than restore from a Time Machine backup as I thought I'd probably built up a lot of things that did not need over the last couple of years.
Here are my notes on the basic tools and config for a new Mac that I find useful working mostly with AWS.
Set Appearance To Dark Mode
Settings --> General --> Appearance
Enable Mouse Secondary Click
Settings --> Mouse --> Secondary click (on right side)
Docker
https://www.docker.com/get-started
iTerm
Parallels Toolbox
https://www.parallels.com/uk/products/toolbox/
Apps From Apple App Store
Keynote
Bear - Markdown Notes
Marked 2 - Markdown Preview
Logic Pro
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Slack
Other Apps
Dynobase
JetBrains All Products Pack
BlackMagic DaVinci Resolve Studio
Blackmagic ATEM Switcher
RodeCasterPro
Rogueamoeba Entire Lineup
Xcode Command Line Tools
xcode-select --install
Install Oh My Zsh
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
Install Homebrew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
Quick Look JSON
http://www.sagtau.com/quicklookjson.html
brew install quicklook-json
JQ
https://stedolan.github.io/jq/
brew install jq
Terraform
brew tap hashicorp/tap
brew install hashicorp/tap/terraform
AWS SAM
https://aws.amazon.com/serverless/sam/
brew tap aws/tap
brew install aws-sam-cli
AWS CLI
brew install awscli
AWS Shell
https://github.com/awslabs/aws-shell
brew install aws-shell
AWS CDK
brew install aws-cdk
DBeaver
brew install --cask dbeaver-community
Go
brew install go
Node
brew install node
Corretto JDK
https://aws.amazon.com/corretto/
brew install --cask corretto
Maven
https://maven.apache.org
brew install maven
Gradle
https://gradle.org
brew install gradle
wget
brew install wget
Make iTerm Look Nice
Colour theme set to solarized dark
Powerlevel 10k
https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k
git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ~/powerlevel10k
echo 'source ~/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>~/.zshrc
Restart iTerm and run through the config wizard that starts
.zshrc settings
`
ZSH_THEME="agnoster"
plugins=(
git
git-prompt
aws
docker
git-extras
pip
python
)
`
Top comments (3)
Very useful. I also created a doc on my gdrive with all the steps and stuff I need in case I buy another laptop. :-)
And regarding overheating... What was your previous one? How old? I bought a MacBook pro in March and I noticed recently that the fan starts spinning like crazy, just by using Chrome..
Thanks!
Yes I've been meaning to document the steps for a while and now I've been forced into it.
My previous model is a 2018 Mac MBP. Not that old really but it is on all the time. I also noticed the Chrome thing for quite a while.
The crunch point came last week when I was trying to use the machine on its own. I normally work at a desk with a few screens. Without the external displays I managed to get about 10-15 minutes work done and then the built in display would just switch off.
At this point it would cool down a little and I started to get the warning on the battery icon saying "service recommended".
I also had the kernel_task process running a lot and consuming CPU which when I googled is apples way of trying to prevent overheating. support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207359
All these things combined and work were kind enough to swap it out for another unit they had in stock. :-)
I just did a bare metal install of Big Sur on my iMac to fix some issues, and it really is interesting to see how many tools you REALLY need day to day. It's a helpful fresh look.