shredder or Hiarcs or Chess.com???

Hello all

I am a low rated player (probably 1000) and was thinking of getting a chess engine to learn a bit more

There is Shredder and Hiarcs and then of course Chess.com

Can anyone tell me which is the best one for iMac??? Is there one I haven't mentioned??

I got the trial version of shredder and it didn't seem nearly as good as Fritz or Chessmaster which i had a few years ago before switching to Mac>

Any help would be appreciated.

I would like something that i could work with in a systematic way from start up to a decent level

Thanks 
Dave 

At your level, it honestly doesnt matter.

Thanks but still looking for a guide on which one is recommended, I want something that has a teaching element and don't need a high powered in depth program, just teaching facility and a user friendly interface

You are going to need to understand what the engine is going to spew out. If you don't understand engine analysis, getting an engine will be a waste for anything more than spotting tactics.

Ok so I might be using the wrong terminology here... I did say engine but what I mean is a chess program like say Chessmaster or Fritz but for Mac. It would allow me to play against it but also have a teaching section that I could work through systematically to help improve how I play. You are right with the example above, it would be too in depth for me

i think chess.com diamond membership is better as there is ton of cool features u can use to improve

So from all you guys say here its starting to look like Chess.com itself might be the way to go....I just want something that i can work through daily by playing , and studying, I have tried books but seem to quickly get bogged down! Chessmaster is not for mac as far as I know so it seems to be only Hiarcs, shredder or chess.com. 

Again...a chess engine will do you no good of you don't understand what +.4 means.  Now if you want to use an engine to blunder check your games?  That's a way of improving.  Remember...engine don't explain "why"

I get that... a systematic learning piece of software with a user friendly interface and structured lessons, thats the requirement 

I may be a little prejudiced since I'm a Diamond member here, but I think the new Lessons on Chess.com are just what you are looking for.  The're concise and very well done.  Any weaknesses that show up can then be addressed in depth with the more comprehensive "old" lessons.  I have Hiarcs and it's a great program, but there is no structured learning path such as you'll find here.  My $.02...

Thats great, someone who has used Hiarcs! I take the opinions given and appreciate you guys taking the time to answer these newbie questions. I think I will stick with chess.com and go through that lesson section you mentioned. I might go the whole way and sign up for the year for the video access as it looks pretty good..!

I've not seen any software that is as useful as online memberships here or elsewhere.

Then youre not looking...

I have Fritz and recently downloaded Lucaschess. Lucaschess is new to me and looks interesting but I haven't fully explored it yet.

I am not sure how or why I got a diamond invite for a month but thanks anyway whoever was responsible! One thing I note is that the lesson videos look different on the iPhone than on my Mac....is there a reason for this???? Thanks again anyway!