There are currently two great software bundles now available for Mac OS X: the MacHeist Bundle and MacUpdate's Promo bundle. Both offer a collection of commercial Mac apps, and both offer great savings by purchasing the apps bundled instead of separately. Here is a quick breakdown of both bundles and our recommendation if you can have only one.

MacUpdate Promo
The initial bundle costs $64.99 (USD) and includes the following:

• Hazel - folder organization, trash emptying, app cleaning,
• Leap - Spotlight replacement that supports tagging
• ArtText - create pretty, artistic text (for headings, banners, etc.) from predefined or custom styles
• DVDRemaster Pro - compress DVD's to DVD5 (4.7GB) and convert DVD's to iPod formats
• Typinator - repetitive text and image replacement
• StoryMill - organization app for novel writing
• MenuCalendarClock - iCal access via the menubar

There are few ISVs (independent software vendors) who have a following like MacHeist, much less one so well-deserved. They're the makers of some incredibly popular OS X software, including developers' text editor TextMate, media organization app Delicious Library, RSS reader NewsFire, CD burning app Disco, and half a dozen other great programs. Most weeks MacHeist sells its apps for between $15 and $80, but this week they're giving something back. This week and this week only, MacHeist is selling a bundle of ten programs with sticker prices totaling almost $300, for $49.00. The bundle includes the four apps above, plus FotoMagico, ShapeShifter, DEVONthink Personal, RapidWeaver, iClip 4, and one game of your choosing from Pangea. Considering that many thousands have paid that amount for TextMate alone, it sure sounds like a good deal for me, and almost makes me wish I had a Mac. On top of that, MacHeist is giving 25% of this weeks' proceeds to charity, and when you check out you can choose from among eight, or split the donation between them all. So far they've sold over 1,000 bundles and raised more than $10,000 for charity. Way to use your powers for awesome, MacHeist.

[Thanks, Mattias and Jean Jacques!]

Update: This is the reason they shouldn't let me write the Mac posts. MacHeist isn't the maker of these fine apps--in the words of commenter L, it's "a FREE shareware application giveaway in which Mac users (and even some Windows users) from all over the world participate in whodunnit type puzzles called 'heists' that the people in charge set up all over the internet." And Dave points out that you'll only get NewsFire and TextMate if MacHeist raises $50,000 or $100,000 for charity, respectively.