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Think small.
That seemed to be the watchword for Mac hardware and software makers in 2005. The year began with the introduction of a slimmed-down Mac desktop (the Mac mini, which came with an equally skimpy price tag) and ended with the already tiny iPod mini making way for the even thinner iPod nano. On the software front, freeware, shareware, and other small programs made big waves with Mac users, delivering productivity boosts, simplified interfaces, and other noteworthy improvements.
But don’t let all this small talk lead you astray—2005 was a big year for Mac products. Whether you’re talking about hardware or software, you can find several dozen offerings that came up big in terms of value, performance, and innovation. The recipients of our annual Editors’ Choice Awards are ample proof of that.
We’ve looked at each and every Mac product released between November 1, 2004, and November 1, 2005. The results of our search? A list of 31 winners of all shapes and sizes that have one thing in common—they all packed a big punch in the past year.
And the winners are …
• Adobe Creative Suite 2 Standard • Automator • Canary Digital Hotspotter • Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT • Comic Life 1.2 • Delicious Library 1.5 • Dreamweaver 8 • Final Cut Studio • Firefox 1.0 • Flickr • Fujitsu ScanSnap for Mac OS X • iH5 • iPhoto 5 • iPod nano • iPod with video • LaunchBar 4 • Mac mini • Mathematica 5.2 • NetNewsWire 2 • OmniOutliner Professional 3 • PGP Desktop Home 9 • PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition • Radeon 9600 Pro PC and Mac Edition • Senuti 0.29 • Skype 1.3 • Squeezebox • SuperDuper 1.5 • TextWrangler 2.1 • Toast 7 Titanium • Transmit 3.2 • World of Warcraft • Readers’ Choice Awards