Apple Press Release Thoughts

Hi, I used to be a PC, and am now a Mac, and proud of it!

           I recently purchased a Mac and had about 3 weeks to get used to it. I thought, considering the press event that is scheduled for Wednesday, I would go over some of the benefits that I have noticed in my Mac compared to my PC. As well, I will cover some of the rumors that hopefully will be set straight on Wednesday. I am not going to go through all the technical stuff. All the points that I bring up in this blog are from personal experience up to now.

           I grew up as a PC user. My family bought a 286 computer way back in the early 90's which I took interest in. While in school I had mostly learned on Mac's but always thought my PC was superior. To be fair, this was back in the days of the Mac box that was first released in 1984. That Macintosh was the original personal computer that featured a mouse and a 3.5" disk drive.

           Since then I continued to use PC's. I considered switching over to a Mac on occasion, but I didn't because I was enjoying myself with all the programs that were supported by a PC. Well, to be honest, it was mostly for the games. Also, the software versions that I had for doing design work, and audio producing had been on Windows.

           As we all know with using PC's comes trouble. The countless possible viruses, the worms that slip around on the Internet, the frightening "Blue Screen," not to mention the bad customer service that seems to exist with all PC manufacturers. I guess this really laid the groundwork for my switch to Mac.

           I recently bought myself a Macbook Pro. I have to say I am really impressed. The Macbook came with Snow leopard. I find the Dock much easier to use than the windows toolbar, as well as being easier to customize and organize. The wide variety of open-source programs available for Mac is an awesome plus that I have been enjoying. (See my previous post about Freemind for example.) Not to mention you can't beat an OS that costs 30 dollars. (Compare that to Windows 7's multiple price levels.)

           The hardware that is in my laptop is quite surprising as well. I am amazed at how many things I can do at one time. This includes running many of the Adobe Creative Suite applications, some at the same time, with great success. I haven't experienced any lag whatsoever.

           The design of the laptop is also impressive. I love the unibody idea. Having a unibody makes me feel a little more comfortable walking around with my laptop in my backpack. Its lightweight, probably weights half as much as my previous HP laptop. The trackpad is massive giving you a lot of room to use it. Being able to access all of your screen in one slide instead of 2 or 3.

           All that being said, there is another Apple product that I want to touch on, that it seems everyone else is as well. As all avid Apple followers know, there is a press event happening on Wednesday which is supposed to announce some new products for Apple. One such product is a possible tablet. There are numerous names out there for this piece of computing hardware. iTablet, iSlate, iPad and many others have been thrown around. Along with the many names there has also been many possible renderings of what it might look like. From what I've seen from the online media, most people are thinking it will come out to be a stretched iPod touch more or less. Never the less, I am sure that Apple will deliver a tablet (if not on Wednesday, but someday) that keeps up with the "Sleek and chic" look that they have been doing very well with.

           Besides that I have a few questions of my own that I am excited to get answered. Like what will the specs be like? Screen size? I have read the idea that the screen will likely be between 7 to 15 inches. What kind of options will there be for different processor speeds? Will this be a more or less "netbook" with Tablet functionality? Will users be able to draw on the screen? In that the question will have to be asked about how well the sensitivity will react to stylus pressure and etc. Will it be good for doing more detailed work, for example in photoshop and the rest of the Adobe suite. Will there be dual screen possibilities? I can see hooking the tablet up to a monitor, and while still having all the functions of a tablet, also being able to connect and view it through a bigger monitor.

           There are many more questions leading up to this press event. I am still kind of surprised at how well Apple can keep their secrets under cover until they decide when to release information. It blows my mind. I look forward to the new toys that Steve and the rest of the guys up at Apple will have for us. Even if we don't get all the information that has been thrown around online, I am sure that Steve Jobs and the rest of the guys at Apple will not disappoint.