The default launcher for minecraft sucks
But someone has finally made a better one
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/939149-launcher-magic-launcher-094-mods-options-news/This launcher can do several things
It works as a mod manager, (its also the first mod manager that doesnt suck)
It lets you select which .jar of minecraft you want to use, so you can use older versions of minecraft (or use the snapshot versions more easily)
It saves the window size/position of minecraft
It has multiple profiles so you can test different sets or mods easily
It lets you change the amount of memory java uses easily, which can increase performance
I dont usually use mod managers, most ive seen add steps to what you have do it
While it is easier then doing it manually, it takes more time
And since doing it manually isnt really that hard i just do it manually
This goes for any game that can use mods
This launcher's mod manger just lets you drop the mod's zip into a folder and add it to the mods it will load, its quick and allows you to easily take mods away or test mods without having to worry about backing up your .jar
It also checks for compatibility conflicts between mods and gives you a debug console that can help you figure out why mods arent working for you
Its not perfect though
The first thing is that the default tab isnt the news page, its the minecraft forum news instead
While its nice to have those extra tabs id rather have it start on the news/changelog page and as far as i can tell theres no way to change which tab it starts on, this isnt really a big deal though
The 2nd thing is that it cant update minecraft, theres a force update button, but it doesnt work, the creator said that he will add updating in the next version of the launcher, so it should be there by the time minecraft 1.2 comes out