google.com, pub-6750398400224078, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

I bought a Mac

I bought a Mac

I’ve had enough of Windows 10

I’m sorry Microsoft, but I’ve had enough of Windows!  My home-brew PC ran fine on Windows 8, but ever since my horrible upgrade experience to Windows 10,  I’ve had no end of problems.  There have been so many Blue-Screen crashes that I’ve lost count. Even completing a fresh Windows install is wrought with danger, with the process failing or crashing countless times before a successful install was achieved.  Even with a fresh install, some pretty common programmes, like iTunes, simply refuse to run.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Windows.  I’ve embraced every iteration since Windows ’98.  I really like the latest design of Windows 10, but I’ve had too many problems.  My two sons have issues with their Windows 10 computers too, although not as bad as me.  On the other hand, my wife’s W10 laptop works fine.

Then there are the quirks that make me question the latest Windows, like when you cant find what you want in the Windows 10 “Settings” screen, you can click through to the old “Control Panel”, with the same appearance as the old Windows versions.  This gives me the impression that the Windows 10 design has just been tacked on top of the older Windows versions, rather than being a completely new operating system.

I know there are thousands of people who use Windows 10 without any issues, but my experience has not been pleasant.  The final straw was when my desktop started freezing, not necessarily freezing during intensive tasks, but often just during simple web browsing!

So I bought a Mac

I’ve chosen the latest 13 inch MacBook Pro with Touchbar, Core i5 and 16GB of Ram.  This laptop is small and light, about the size of a magazine, and not much heavier, yet it’s powerful enough to handle my photo editing in Lightroom.  I may even try my hand at video editing.

The Retina Display is amazingly clear, the track-pad is amazing big and the USB plugs are…different.  Apple have done away with the traditional USB plugs, and rely on the new USB-C for everything, even charging.  This laptop doesn’t even have an SD card reader, but neither did my Windows desktop, so all I needed was an adaptor to connect my USB card reader to the new plugs.  I ordered the usb to USB-C dongle for $12 when I ordered the MacBook online.

USB to USB-C dongle to connect my card reader

USB to USB-C dongle to connect my card reader

I’m still finding my way around the Apple Mac operating System (“MacOS”), but so far I’m really happy with my new MacBook Pro laptop.  It connected to our network printer and NAS easily.  There was no problem installing software like Adobe Lightroom and Microsoft Office 365.  I’ve found the big trackpad really easy to use, editing hundreds of photos from White Night without a mouse wasn’t a problem, the trackpad is that easy.

The Keyboard

The only thing that’s slightly negative about the MacBook is the keyboard.  It’s noisy – tap, tap, tap, click, click, click.  So typing in bed while my wife is sleeping isn’t a good idea.  Apart from the noise the keyboard makes, it’s comfortable and easy to use.

No more problems

The more I use this MacBook, the more I learn the Mac way of doing things, and the more I like it.  Now I can spend less time stressing about, or fixing my computer, and more time on my photos and blogs.

iPhone 6S

I Picked up my new mobile phone on the weekend, an iPhone 6S.  I have been using an iPhone 5S for two years, the new phone is bigger, so I was a little worried about fitting it in my pocket and comfortably holding it, but after a couple of days I’ve gotten used to it.  I remember thinking the same thing when I upgraded from the iPhone 4S, which seems teeny-tiny now!

The new phone is definitely faster, and the camera seems pretty good too.  I’ll post some test shots in a future blog post.

Apple’s silicone cover was a bit pricey at $55, but I guess it’s cheaper than replacing or repairing a dropped phone!

My new Apple iPhone 6S

My new Apple iPhone 6S

 

Old and new iPhones stacked up.

Old and new iPhones stacked up.

Apple snooze keynote

So I thought I’d check out the Apple Keynote held yesterday in California.  Unlike last month’s iPhone launch, this keynote went under the radar with hardly any mention in the media, so I wanted to see what exciting news Apple were announcing.

I’ve got an Apple TV at home, normally used for watching pod-casts, YouTube and iTunes movies, but today I selected the Apple Keynote channel and very quickly got bored hearing about how good the iPhone launch was.  I even fell asleep for a while, waking just in time to the predictable announcement that the new iPad Air 2 is a little bit thinner and a little bit faster with a camera almost as good as the iPhone.  Sorry, no “Wow!” factor there, I guess I’ll hang onto my three year old iPad 2, even if it is slowing down with the bloated iOS8 operating software.  There’s also a new iPad Mini 3, which is really more of the same, so I’ll also be hanging onto my two year old original iPad Mini too.  Both new iPad did get the Touch-id fingerprint scanner, which isn’t really an issue for me.

Apple also announced a new iMac with a super high resolution monitor (they’ve called it “5K”), it’s very nice, but I could never justify $3000 (in Australia) for a computer that cant really be upgraded.  Overdue incremental changes to the Mac Mini were announced too, but I will be sticking with my homebrew computer.

Interestingly, as I write this 18 hours after the keynote, the Apple Store is offline again for “upgrades”.  The site was updated with the keynote, so I wonder what they’re up to now?!  Maybe, like me, they’ve fallen asleep with boredom.

Screenshot 2014-10-18 00.55.37

 

Siri sings a song and tells a story

When I accidentally activated Siri (the Apple Personal Assistant found on iOS devices such as the iPhone) this week, I was reminded that you can actually have a bit of fun with this built in app on my phone.  Seeing as I haven’t really used Siri in real life, I thought I’d have a play…
First I asked Siri to “sing me a song”; IMG_2885
I then asked Siri to “tell me a story”, but this time “she” was a bit more reluctant and came up with several excuses such as “you’ve heard it before”, but with a bit of persistence I finally got my story;

Technorati Tags: Apple,Siri,iPhone

This post was originally published on simonsays.smjbk.com