I still love this computer. Fortunately the Mac comes with Time Machine and I frequently back up to WD My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Auto Backup - Black.
When I managed to mess things up, I restored the system with very
little effort. I no longer feel like I have to be an IT admin to use
this computer. I wonder why 10 people didn't like my review?
Aside from an iPod I had purchased some years ago, this is my first Apple product.
First a bit of a preamble:
I
have many years of professional and personal experience using a variety
of computers and operating systems as a professional and a personal
user.
I had no intentions of buying this computer, but I was kinda "forced" into it. Here's why:
I
purchased the 13" Macbook Pro with retina display for my wife (her old
laptop with Windows XP was becoming a nightmare. (I had to be on 24x7
call as in-house admin, to fix any number of daily problems). But there
was a rub. Safari uses black fonts on a dark gray background for the
toolbar and tabs (I didn't notice this when I was in the store). I
expected that there would be a preference option to change the font,
color and background. Incredibly enough, there are no such options.
Apple support confirmed this. I installed Firefox and while there's a
free extension to change colors and font size, the results were fairly
awful. And, of course, Apple does not offer any support if you change
to Firefox which is "not their product."
Then the 13" MBP locked
up. It literally froze. I couldn't even power down the computer. I
called Apple and they told me what sequence of keys I needed to press to
restart the computer.
After doing some research, I found that
the computer freeze problem was common to the 13" MBP (this problem has
since been resolved). With the computer freezing up, and my wife not
being able to read that awful color combination, I returned the MBP.
I
set up an account for her on my $650 13" Asus Windows 7 laptop (great
Daily Deal) and she loves the light-weight computer with the large fonts
and easy to read colors (this is after I altered a bunch of
preferences).
But now I'm without a laptop and I really don't like using my desktop computer anymore.
I searched Amazon for a computer that had to have these 3 requirements:
1. Illuminated keyboard
2. SSD drive
3. 8 GB RAM
Incredibly
enough, only 3 computers met my criteria. One was Apple and the other
two didn't have great reviews and were fairly expensive.
So even
though I have absolutely no particular loyalty or appreciation of the
Apple company whatsoever, I decided to buy the 15" MPB with Retina for
myself.
I'm in love.
Computer heaven for the first time in decades.
I
was up and running within minutes and learned the basics in a few more
days. When installing Windows on other computers, I would have to spend
a day to install tons of updates. With Maverick, I simply turned the
computer on and registered my computer (optional - not required like
Roku). I also enabled the tracking feature so if I misplaced the
computer (or if it was stolen), I could find it.
Unlike all of the other operating systems I've dealt with, the elegant level of software integration never ceases to amaze me.
A few simple examples:
* An appointment appears in my email and with a click I can add it to my calendar.
*
While reading a newspaper, I press Cmd-I and the article appears in an
email (with the link to the article) and all I have to do is add the
email address.
* I want to send a person an image from the Internet
using iMessage. All I have to do is drag the image to iMessage, add
text and I can send the message to the person's iPhone or Mac.
Crazy simple.
The retina display is astonishingly sharp and viewable from all angles.
This
would have been a godsend for my wife but Apple designed the Safari
bookmark bar and tab in cool gray on black for those with perfect
vision.
What drives me crazy about other monitors is that the
contrast and brightness changes at different angles. I used to
constantly have to change the monitor angle whenever I repositioned the
laptop, hinging it back and forth. No more fiddling with new Retina
Mac. No matter what angle, viewing remains consistent.
The sound
on the 15" MBP is much, much better than the 13" version. This is the
first computer I've owned that doesn't require I use my Shure ear buds
in order to hear good sound.
The trackpad is wonderful -- I find that I'm not accidentally touching it while typing and I use a bunch of gestures.
I'm
already so spoiled that when using another computer I'm extremely
annoyed by having to use something as primitive as a mouse.
Dictation and speaking is surprising good. I downloaded a voice file (free) from Apple that barely sounds robotic at all.
If
I come across a word (in any program) that I don't know the meaning of,
using the keypad I press 3 fingers over the word and up comes the
definition. Press another key and I can hear the pronunciation (I learn
better when I hear the word said aloud, and I don't want to sound like
an jerk mispronouncing a new word).
I adapted to the new keyboard
very quickly and I make a lot less typing errors. Normally, it takes
me days or even weeks to become comfortable with a different keyboard.
The
computer wakes up instantly. Not almost instantly, but truly
instantly. My 'instant on' Asus laptop takes at least 2 seconds.
Unless
I'm watching videos, I usually get over 10 hours on the battery -- even
more when I'm reading a book with the wireless off, keyboard
illumination turned off and the screen comfortably dim. Typically, I
only charge the battery just once at the end of the day.
No fan! No noise! I believe that the MBP is using passive cooling. There's a vent at the back of the hinge.
If you're new to Macs, search 'David Cox tutorial macbook' for some great totally free professional quality video tutorials.
Aside
from the lack of color and font size flexibility for Safari, the only
con that I can think of is that a pop-up doesn't appear when typing in
passwords when the caps lock key has been pressed. Also, I would have
liked more USB ports. I can't use my external DVD drive since it has 2
USB cables.
The more I use the computer, the more I love it.
After
2 weeks, I haven't felt even a teeny bit of buyer's remorse (this was a
major financial expenditure for me). I even bought the 3 year Apple
Care warranty (actually, it's 2 years since the first year is covered
by the Apple warranty).
Unfortunately, the warranty doesn't cover
drops or accidents. When I pulled out the power cord on my Asus
laptop, the computer was very quickly repaired at no cost under the
normal warranty.
The computer and operating system is a work of art.
Now I'm sorely tempted to buy an iPhone to synch my calendar and notes. I was afraid of this - where does it end?
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