+1 for Aquamacs. Two years ago I tried several options, here are the screenshots if you care: Aquamacs: http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/1.png http://www.mo

+1 for Aquamacs. Two years ago I tried several options, here are the screenshots if you care: Aquamacs: http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/1.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/1.png Regular emacs, using mac's native UI with the pretties font I tried (and I tried quite a few): http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/2.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/2.png Regular emacs, using X, with the font I normally use on Linux: http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/3.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/3.png Emacs ran inside Apple terminal: http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/4.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/4.png As you can see, (1) and (4) kicks (2) and (3)'s ass with respect to the looks of the font. (4) would be a good option, especially since it comes with the OS X, but you have to use ESC, key instead of meta+key (b/c of Apple terminal), which kind of sucks. Plus, Aquamacs lets you set the color theme: http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/default.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/default.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/black.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/black.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/classic.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/classic.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/xcode.png http://www.mogiel.net/~pfedor/emacs/xcode.png Aquamacs has some behaviors that I don't very much care for, like opening a new window every time you open a file, but it can be easily fixed in the .emacs file.