It has been just over a week since the mac Book Pro arrived. So far, it still works. Getting used to the mac has been like riding a bike–a little wobbly after not having been on for a while, but once I got the hang of it, everything has been smooth riding. My Mac rehab has come with a few curve balls, like learning the iTunes interface, navigating with Safari and interacting with iCal
My thoughts are generally favourable towards the Mac. Just the hardware engineering alone is worth the price of admission. The MBP comes complete with Bluetooth connectivity, wi-fi, lots of battery life and very stylish and durable construction. Typing on it will feel much less intense if you are used to PC keyboards that can be quite laborious and loud.
On the software side, the little things about OS X Leopard make the Mac a treat to use. One ting I appreciate is the virtually universal presence of spell check in just about everything. I am still trying to figure out iCal and Address Book, but I am impressed so far. I’m really looking forward to the innovations in Snow Leopard, especially with Voiceover.
That has really surprised me–Voiceover. I originally thought the settings panel would have been much more complex, but Voiceover seems to work on the KISS principle. there are a few things I’d like to see though, such as quick navigation keys in Safari and the ability to jump quickly between edit fields. Also, I have not yet found a function equal to Say All in JAWS. If anyone can provide help in that regard, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve also installed iWork 09 and have made it a point to look through Pages and Numbers. So far, the application seems pretty solid. I will also install OpenOffice, which is fully VO compliant. In future posts, I’ll be focusing a bit more on how VO works with these applications in a practical way.
Regarding the iPhone…. I had an opportunity to test the new iPhone 3GS this past Saturday. It was quite an experience having such a tactile interface. I’ve decided to go ahead and purchase one, so I’ll be relearning the mac and teaching myself the new iPhone at the same time.
Until next time…
