Time for an update on my
continuing saga of using an Apple MacBook Pro with Retina...
Last night during our Exposure
class, I was asked how I was liking my Mac.
Well... I can't answer that with just an "I like it" or an "I don't like it." It goes
much deeper than that.
If you have been reading my blog
or even my Facebook posts about my computer, you'll know that I purchased the
MacBook Pro to learn the Apple operating system since many of my students come
in with a Mac to take their Photoshop or Lightroom class but they may be so new
to the Mac that they don't really know how to use it! Because of this, the class slows down and I
could not help move them along because I knew nothing about the Mac either! I've been a PC user since PC's were invented!
So I purchased the Mac early in
2015 and have been forcing myself to learn it and to use it exclusively
whenever I am not at the school. I
decided that I would use the Mac the way all Mac users should use it. I use the trackpad (which I initially hated),
I learned the shortcuts. I try my best
to function like an Apple user should.
I only use a PC when I have to
now. At the school, I have a PC so I
must use it. But outside of the school,
I use the Mac 100%. So here's my current
thoughts...
I am beginning to appreciate the
Mac. I didn't like it at all when I
first got it because it was so foreign to me.
You can't do things on a Mac like you do them on a PC. Is it the Mac's fault? Not really.
It's a learning curve that you just have to accept. Once I accepted that I must retrain myself, I
started to get to know how to move quicker on the machine.
Today, I have so many Apple
products, I might as well work at Apple!
I have an Apple iPod (my first Apple product from years ago). I have an iPad Mini 3 with cellular. My wife has an iPad Air. We both have Apple iPhone 6s+ phones.
What I appreciate is how well all
these devices work together. I can
answer my phone calls on my computer! I
can answer calls on my iPad Mini 3. I
can text and talk on the phone through my computer at the same time. It's amazing!
I have not had any issues with
the computer slowing down after use. My
PC's had notorious issues of slowing down once the registry gets messed up from excessive use. It has gotten to
the point where I had to wipe the hard drive and reload the operating
system on the PC's just to get them to work at a reasonable pace again! None of that for the Apple... so far. I'm told I probably won't ever see that
happening. We'll see, but so far, all
indications point to that as a fact.
So in all, yeah... I'm an Apple
fan now I suppose. The MacBook Pro with
Retina is a 13" version. It's
smaller, lighter, never gets turned off and just sleeps when I close the
cover. It has amazing battery life. It starts up in an instant. No more long waiting times just to boot the
computer. I have not seen any
indications of a virus on the computer (although I'm told that it's not
impossible to get a virus, it's just less viruses around for Macs). I have not seen any malware issues.
Does it work fast for all
programs? No. Microsoft Excel still runs slowly on it. I think it's the program's fault though, not
the computer's. You can't copy and paste
quickly on it. It takes a while to
"memorize" the copy before you can paste and if you do it too fast,
it will paste the previous copy. That
results in mistakes. Not good. But if you use Apple's own
"Numbers" program which is their competitive software to Excel, it
has no problems.
I don't see any real advantages
using a PC or a Mac while using Photoshop or Lightroom. There are some different ways to approach the
same result, but I don't see any advantages of one system over the other.
The computers whether PC's or
Mac's are only as good as the user using them.
If you master the differences between the machines, you can use both
effectively. But for now, yeah, I guess
I'm more pro-Apple than I have been in the past.
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