1. For Notepad++: I use TextWrangler (decent syntax highlighting for PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, JS, C++, HTML)- for CSS see footnote. 2. But you said you wanted

1. For Notepad++: I use TextWrangler (decent syntax highlighting for PHP, Python, Perl, Ruby, JS, C++, HTML)- for CSS see footnote. 2. But you said you wanted to move away from coding? If you're into design, I recommend: InkScape and GIMP as must-haves on any fresh Mac install. 3. For email, I stopped using email clients a long time ago, and this isn't really Mac specific, but I'd recommend OtherInbox to organize your mail in your browser, on an iPhone (if you're getting one of those), which leades me to... 4. Google Chrome for your browser. 5. (Apple's built-in) Spotlight's pretty good for searches (use command + space to access spotlight search), google desktop isn't required. 6. VLC has a good Mac OS X port for video playback. 7. The other stuff you need to know about, are screencaptures are done via Command (apple key) + Shift + 3 for the whole screen, or replace 3 with 4 for snipping part of the screen 8. Since your new Macbook Air will come with Lion with the new scrolling paradigm, I would change the swipe under System Preferences > Trackpad options (you can find this via spotlight or the mac icon on the top left corner of your screen) and uncheck Scroll Direction: Natural, so you get back to your usual way of scrolling things. (First main annoyance with the new Macs). P.S. vim is still available in Mac OS terminal. .css files are by default loaded in (Apple's) Dashcode, which suffices for syntax highlighting and editing. Links: http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/ http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/ http://inkscape.org/ http://inkscape.org/ http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/ http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/ http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html http://www.otherinbox.com/ http://www.otherinbox.com/ http://scottlinux.com/2011/07/20/os-x-lion-how-to-reverse-scroll-direction/ http://scottlinux.com/2011/07/20/os-x-lion-how-to-reverse-sc... http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61544 http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61544 http://www.google.com/chrome http://www.google.com/chrome