The Ultimate Low End Mac With High Cool Factor.

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Here’s my list of great low-end, high-power, ultra-cool “I can’t believe this stuff is free” software. Head over to MacUpdate.com and do the search for each. Feel free to add a few suggestions of your own.

First, NeoOffice J. Think of it as a Mac OS X version of the open source and free Open Office. Did I mention that it’s free? So is AppleWorks on the Mac mini.

While AppleWorks is a great application, it’s not fully compatible with Microsoft Office. NeoOffice J comes closer and doesn’t look like an X-11 application (if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry—you wouldn’t like it).

For creating slick and sassy iPhoto albums, I recommend two free applications. Galerie 5.0.1 and JAlbum 5.2. Many albums, many templates, no price tag.

Need to upload your files to another server? That requires an FTP/SFTP application. The best on Mac OS X is Panic’s Transmit, which I use religiously. For low end, go with the free CyberDuck 2.4.3.

Need text editing beyond TextEdit but don’t want to cough up nearly $200 for the famed BBEdit 8.x? Try BareBones’ TextWrangler 2.0. It’s good, it’s free.

While Mac OS X’s Dock is a decent place to launch applications, you’ll have problems on a 15-inch LCD display. Not enough screen real estate. Drag Thing to the rescue? It’s the best, but it costs money so try Quicksilver instead. It’s a classy file launcher with a loyal (though misguided) following.

Too many web pages to check each day? Try an RSS reader. Yes, Mac OS X Tiger’s Safari 2.0 comes with a built-in RSS reader. Ranchero Software’s NetNewsWire Lite is cooler and free.

Free graphics applications on the Mac? You won’t find an open source Photoshop (maybe one of the best applications ever on a desktop computer), but the GPL open source crowd like GIMP. There’s two good versions for Mac OS X; GIMPshop and GIMP.app. Your mileage may vary.

Web page designs? Try Nvu or Mozilla or TacoHTML. Free, free, and free again.

All these great applications add up to increased productivity and higher quality at very low cost. As in, “no cost.”

Put them on the Mac mini running Mac OS X Tiger and you’ve built the ultimate low end machine with a high cool factor (even if you find a cheaper cheapo PC, it just doesn’t have that “cool” factor no matter how much you add to it).

How about you? Got a favorite “free” application that works great on Mac OS X? Share your thought, experience with other readers and click the Comments link below.