Posts Tagged ‘macbook pro’

Spring Cleaning for the New Year


06 Mar

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MacBook Pro keyboardHappy New Year everyone!(3 months late) As this new year begins, I have the purge bug in my system again and feel it’s time to start spring cleaning a little early. What do we use on a daily basis and what is necessary? These are the questions that we should ask ourselves frequently to keep from acquiring too much clutter and junk in our lives, and what better time to start than the beginning of a new year.

-Last week I got to spend some creative time by myself without the little one with me. For well over 5 months, I have been a bit stifled in the creativity department. It’s not his fault, but it’s really hard to keep focused when a little one is demanding so much of your time as well as the time when you would normally be sleeping.
     -So what does this have to do with purging you might ask? While I was writing at my favorite coffee shop, I started to think how often I am able to sit at my desktop computer. I have a Mac Pro desktop and a MacBook Pro that I use sparingly these days. Lately I have been on my 1st Gen iPad for the bulk of my computing time. At this point in time, my son is starting to demand more and more of my attention, which means I can’t have my back to him while I’m working on the desktop. It got me thinking, what do I use my Mac Pro for and how necessary was it in my daily life. Could the laptop or iPad replace it?
     -The short answer is no. Being a freelance editor/producer at heart, the desktop can’t fully be done away with. However, on a daily basis, I think the laptop/iPad combo could replace it. There aren’t that many apps on the desktop that aren’t on the iPad or laptop in some shape or form. I have a Mac Mini being used as a media server in the house, so all of my entertainment needs are on that computer. In the long run, all the Mac Pro is to me is an editing workstation. If I didn’t do work that required such heavy processor workloads, I could most likely do away with the thing, sadly.
     -Since the beginning of the year, I have made 2 Goodwill trips and have three boxes in the dining room ready to be sent off to Amazon to make some side money. As I look around the bonus room, the room has probably less than half of the items it had in it when we moved here nearly 4 years ago. That’s saying something considering it now has a pack and play, exersaucer and swing in it. All of the kids toys are stored in a basket (out of site) as well as all the DVD/games that can’t be burned. Changing from a materialist to minimalist is an interesting journey and I can definitely see progress in this room the most.
    -What do you do when it comes to spring cleaning? Donate, sell or toss? We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.

To Upgrade, or Not to Upgrade? Is there really a question?


21 Jul

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About this Mac

Should I Upgrade?

**Disclaimer- I am an Apple fanatic, but just shy of fanboy.

When I first heard that Mac OSX Lion was coming out, I had some mixed feelings about it. In a previous post, I said that I just wasn’t all that in to the hype about it. After reading the glitz and glamour on Apple’s website, I still felt like I wasn’t getting the big picture. In the past, I have ALWAYS been an earlier adopter to the operating system updates and have even been at some of the launch parties; but this, this feels different.

I have a few Mac’s that I use around the house; including a MacBook Pro, a Mac Mini as a server and a MacPro which is my workhorse editing machine. I have a LOT of software running on the workhorse, so I am a little hesitant to upgrade on it. I finally got ProTools running again after firmware updates, so I would like to keep it that way. Being a creative, I also have a bevy of Adobe programs, which seem to not be playing nicely with the kitty. Another reason at the moment is because of Quicken. Since Intuit’s desire to cripple the best-known software application for Mac several years ago, there has not really been a good program to switch to. With the release of Lion though, all support for it on the Mac side has disappeared due to dropping the Rosetta software architecture that made PowerPC programs still run. Once everyone gets up and running with the new OS, i’ll probably switch over to iBank.

So to be fair, I have purchased the upgrade and installed it on my laptop. The whole idea is to give it the feel of the iOS devices…right? Since I have a trackpad on the laptop, it made sense that I could use multi-touch gestures with it. After having some difficulty downloading it, I played around with it for 10-15 minutes and haven’t found anything really negative to say about it….but I haven’t found anything really positive to say either. Just a big “meh” so far. Maybe after playing around with it some more it will yield some stronger emotions. I will say this though, if you have a machine that you do a lot of post production or graphics anything, wait. Wait until all of the kinks have been worked out; but I’m sure you know that already.

WWDC Thoughts


07 Jun

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The Holy Trinity

My Holy Trinity, minus the Bastard Child

WWDC had just gotten underway yesterday and I felt that I should point out a few things that I am looking forward to in these software revamps. *Disclaimer- I am an Apple fanatic, but just shy of fanboy.

I guess the main thing I am excited for is the iCloud. You’re probably thinking that I am excited for the music streaming ability of the service, which is a plus, but you’d be mistaken. It’s the fact that all of my devices will be in sync. My main devices, or the Holy Trinity, are an iPad, and iPhone 4 and a MacBook Pro. I do also have a Mac Pro (the workhorse) and an iPod Touch that I use mainly for games and randomness. Being able to make sure all of my data is synced AND correct with all of them is what I have been needing for quite awhile. I have been a MobileMe user for several years now and it has been less than stellar. The main reason I started to use it was the ability to use iWeb and to keep contacts and email synced across all of my devices. As of late, I had been using it as backup for archived documents, but it’s been giving me trouble…lots of trouble.

As we delve deeper into the iOS update, we see that Apple has taken notice of a lot of complaints and workarounds that App developers have been using these past few years. The updating of the camera app along with notifications are two big improvements that will surely run well with users. Having an actual ‘shutter’ button makes me extremely happy as well as the option to edit and tweet from within the app. Another plus is that the camera app is available even from the lock screen making for quicker shots. That is an issue I always had with my old iPhone 3G; you couldn’t take a picture if it was spur of the moment. You had to wait at least 30-60 seconds to take a photo and another 30-60 for it to save. FAIL. Notifications that don’t interrupt me and at a glance is something that Android users have enjoyed, but I believe it will be taken to the next step with this update. Being able to see your notifications at a glance should be a pleasant change to the monotonous windows popping up constantly.

So with all these new enhancements and apps built in, where do my previously purchased apps fit in? Apps such as Camera+, Things and SplashShopper; are they now doomed to obscurity? Part of me could swing either direction on this. I love the customization of Splash Shopper and Things along with the desktop integration of both. If the interface is as accommodating as they claim it to be, then I might be ditching those apps…..but I highly doubt it.

As far as Lion goes, I don’t feel as excited about it as everything else. Perhaps since I haven’t seen the entire keynote yet I’m not getting the gist of it. About the greatest thing I can say of it is that it only costs $30, but is that per device or like other apps that you can download for each of your machines? Time will tell I suppose.

A lot of great enhancements that are moving in the right direction for our digital lifestyles. Not to brag, but I predicted this at least 4 years ago. Just saying.

iPad- Designer’s Friend…and Student’s?


29 Jan

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iPad and Macbook Pro

iPad VS Macbook Pro- Which one will win in the end?!

This is a followup to a post I did before the iPad was even released. Back then, I surmised that the iPad would be an indispensable tool for designers in the new world. Having finally received one as a Christmas gift, I couldn’t have been more right.

It’s everything I expected and more.  As much as it is a new way for me to consume media, my main use for it will still be as a digital portfolio. Having already gotten my photographs on here, my next step is to take my videos and begin to encode them for the device. There are a couple of apps that I downloaded to see how effective they would be. They are Portfolio and Minimal Folio. So far, one is very intuitive while the other is going to take some research in how to make it do what I want correctly. Of course, if neither of them is up to snuff, then I can always use the Photo and Video apps that come with the device.

As far as typing goes, it’s a bit hit or miss with me. The interface is nice, but my fingers don’t always seem to hit the right keys every time. I am going to have a lot of correcting to do to this document before I am done here. I’ve known some people who have written entire papers on this, but for me, something that is gong to take a long time to do, I would rather get the Bluetooth keyboard to use.

As much as I have been a supporter of the virtual keyboard, after using it, I feel that I am more of a tactile person when it comes to typing. It’s a shame though, I really like the concept. Perhaps in the future Apple will have it down pact.

The design of some of the apps is really stunning. After using several on the iPhone, to use their iPad counterparts is amazing. Evernote, iStudiez Pro, even the Calendar app. All of them are quite amazing. Its like using completely new apps.

I can see this as a really neat tool to use out and about and not have to carry around your entire production bag. For instance, if I was able to use iMovie on here, untested, then I could shoot film with my D90, upload it with the camera adapter, untested, and edit it on here. How cool would that be!? Ah to dream. I might have to look into the future of that. *NOTE: Sadly it cannot be done, iMovie is for iPhone 4 only.*

If I could just run around with this in my bag, anything would seem possible. But I digress.

On a side note, I have started using the iPad in an experiment. I want to see if it is possible to do all my schoolwork on the iPad. Granted, if I need to do any video editing I’ll have to use my laptop or desktop, but everything else I plan on only using the iPad as my computer. The heaviest thing in my bag now is my Sociology book. Here’s what I’m carrying with me now:

The whole bag, minus the Sociology book, weighs less than my laptop for the most part. Gotta love technology. The stand and keyboard are great for when you are in a comfortable spot, say sitting on the floor with the iPad propped on the coffee table with the keyboard in my lap. Perfect level.

So what about note taking in class? In my Programming class I have access to the web and a PC, so I just log into Evernote and type my notes as class goes on. Not to mention that I use Griffin’s iTalk app to record the lecture. And finally, I use the camera app to take pictures of the whiteboard and sync them to Evernote once class is done.

It will be interesting to see what my progress is in a few weeks, so I’ll check back in then. I have a feeling though, that I won’t be using my laptop very much anymore.

Crecraft digital Media

- The Missing Element in Design