My Thoughts On Apple Products
Back in the early 90s, I was a Mac guy while in high school and college. I graduated college thinking that Apple products would be everywhere. At my first job in the workforce, I realized that was not the case. Nobody was developing business software for Macs, so I had to migrate to Windows.
Fast forward to 2004, and our company started transitioning to Macs. While a bit nervous at first (I was and am hooked on Outlook), shortly after transition I didn’t look back.
It’s 2012, and the landscape is severely changed once again. Here’s what I’m using now, and where they fit in my tech world:
MacBook Air: I’ve had a MacBook Air (MBA) for about 2 months now. I spent 7 years with MacBook Pros, but technology has drastically changed. The two things I might need a MBP for (DVD drive and hard drive space) are both less of an issue now than they were just a few years ago. And, the MBAs have really good processors, in some ways better than the MBPs. All in all, both laptops have served me very well. We’ve had a total of exactly 2 laptops out of about 20 go bad after 7 years due to old age. They don’t have problems with viruses, and because the operating system doesn’t chew up memory, you don’t need to buy a new laptop every 18 months to keep up with newer programs. It’s also pretty easy and affordable to add memory to a Mac on your own.
iPhone: This is the Apple device I’m least happy with. It’s still a good device, but I don’t think it’s a great phone. I’ve been a Blackberry guy for a long time, but the newest Blackberrys have weaker signals so they don’t work in my house. I moved over to the iPhone about a year ago. I have a lot of trouble typing on a touchscreen that small, and I was an excellent typist on the Blackberry physical keyboard. This slows me down significantly for e-mail productivity. That being said, it does also reduce the chances I die in a fiery car crash, as I’m a lot less likely to type on a touchscreen while I’m driving. With the intro of the 4S 6 or so months ago, and it’s voice assistance Siri, I now use Siri to write all my e-mails while I drive and while I walk around places like airports and grocery stores.
As a phone, the iPhone is pretty bad. There’s really no way to break out of the wizard-like approach it takes to everything. I liked the inherent shortcuts built into the Blackberry. Signal strength and battery life are not great, and basic phone functions are lacking. It’s fine for beginners, but the phone portion of the iPhone is not for power users.
The argument from iPhone diehards is that all the other things the iPhone does (surf the web, take pictures, movies, play music, plus all the cool apps) make up for the fact that it’s a damn crappy phone. Before March, 2010 I would have agreed with you. Which leads to the last piece of Apple technology I carry, and undoubtedly the best.
iPad: The single, greatest piece of technology I can recall. Before the iPad, there was no tablet market. There may be other tablets now, but they’re just poor comparisons. It’s lightweight, has a 10-hour battery, and thousands of awesome apps. None of them cost much money, and tons of them are super functional. My iPad is the closest thing to a fully functioning laptop, and it weighs just over a pound. I can head out to a meeting with just my iPad under my arm and get virtually anything accomplished. It’s a great learning tool for kids, and the most essential business tool I’ve ever carried.
If there’s one piece of technology you buy this year, the iPad is it.
Extra credit, Apple TV! They’re only $99, and provide a bunch of great options.
Live stream pretty much anything from your iPad to your TV.
Cheap and easy movie and TV rentals, stream podcasts.
If you’re a baseball fan and you don’t live in your team’s home city, you can get every MLB game on your Apple TV.
