Monday, November 18, 2013

My wife loves my new MacBook Air

My wife and her family have been buying a lot of laptops in the 6 years that I have known them.

Her 2 year old Dell laptop purchased from the US has given her nothing but heartache this year (I am about to remedy that... I just need to find some time)

I also had a Dell laptop from my office but had to return it as I no longer do field work.  One of the many reasons why I love my new MacBook Air.

My wife loves to watch movies in our new MacBook Air.  I just need to remind her constantly that she can close the laptop to pause the movie that she is watching when our baby boy cries, "Mommy!"

I think is has been a force of habit from Windows users to keep the monitor on and pause the movie so that you are sure that the movie will continue to point when you paused.  From my new experience with the MacBook Air you can close the laptop and due to its fast start up you can immediately watch the movie from the point when you paused.

I also found out that if you keep the monitor running (and did not close the MacBook Air) the area where the body of the laptop and the monitor join becomes quite hot - which I think might damage the MacBook Air or decrease the battery life.  I had a similar problem with my Compaq laptop.  I closed the laptop (without turning it off) and placed it inside my backpack.  Sure enough before the year ended my battery was shot and my monitor was damaged.

Just to end this entry back on my wife loving my MacBook Air.  Can I assume that females prefer MacBooks over other laptops?

Monday, November 4, 2013

Mavericks, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband

This is a follow up to my post on installing OS X Mavericks on my new Macbook Air.

I did not make a bootable OS X Mavericks USB.  My rationale: time consuming and since it was still new I perceived that I did not have to do a clean install (although I was very much tempted).  My internet connections was not also fast enough.  Truth be told: I had to stay up all night to finish the installation (albeit I had to finish a pending report).

Yes.  I had to stay up all night... all Saturday night to complete the installation.  How I miss buying a CD or a DVD (or 3.5 disk or 5.25 disk) and installing it in 2 to 3 hours.  I think I might be doing something wrong.

I stayed up all night not just due to the Mavericks installation.  I was really surprised that I was eligible for the free apps: Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garageband.  I took on the task of installing them as well :) I got my Macbook Air from Japan in October 2013 and I was eligible for these free apps as explained in the apple website.  The App Store informed me that the apps were free! Great!  I did not think about it anymore and just downloaded it for fear that they might rescind the free offer.

I just have a problem now: I already have Garageband in my Macbook Air.  App store was informing me that a free Garageband was avaialble.  I clicked on it and it started to download.  I have not yet finished downloading the Garageband and it seems that it will not update the Garageband app that was installed in my Macbook Air.

Hmmm... curious-er and curious-er...

I really think that now is the best time to buy a Macbook! If you need help in looking for a store, you need not look far.  My amazon store on the right can help link you with your Macbook Air or Pro.  Hopefully it give you the best price for your Macbook Air or Pro.

Nice article from CNET on the free iWork and iLife:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57609693-37/free-software-will-result-in-$900-million-deferral-at-apple/

Friday, October 25, 2013

OS X Mavericks

I have recently learned that there is a free upgrade from OS X Mountain Lion to OS X Mavericks.
http://www.apple.com/osx/

I have never upgraded an operating system in a MacBook Air before.

I have tons of experience in updating MS DOS and MS Windows.

This website offers some analogy and rationality for me as new convert to Mac OS from MS Windows:

How to creat a bootable OS X Mavericks USB

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57608836-285/how-to-create-a-bootable-os-x-mavericks-usb-install-drive/

Creating an OS X USB installer from the App Store download hasn't been very straightforward in the past, and the old methods no longer work for OS X 10.9. However, there's a new Apple utility with Mavericks that makes it relatively simple, and thanks to MacForums member, tywebb13, we know how to use it. With a USB installer, you'll be able to perform a clean installation ofMavericks whenever you want and without having to download it again from the App Store. Here's how to create a bootable OS X Mavericks install drive: (kindly proceed to the website from CNET for the steps)

http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57608836-285/how-to-create-a-bootable-os-x-mavericks-usb-install-drive/

Wish me luck as I will try this over the weekend.  I only installed minimal very few programmes in my new MacBook Air.  (I just installed open office and updated Adobe flash for Safari).  I am not entirely sure if I should do a clean install of mavericks...

Thursday, October 24, 2013

New Macbook Air (October 2013)

I recently received a brand new Macbook Air.

We got it from Japan so the keyboard has Japanese characters.

This is my 1st time to own a Macbook Air.  I have been using Microsoft OS since DOS was starting to become more prevalent (i.e. early 90s)

I have always been intrigued by Macbook: the right computer for right brained people.  I am not in a "creative" industry like advertising or the arts.  I received an MBA but most of my electives were on finance and old school marketing.  I still believe this "equipment" might be able to squeeze out some creative juices from me... and I more than happy to squirt these juices :)

In the past 2 weeks, I only played around with the macbook air 2 -3 times.  My usual work is office/desk bound in front of a dell desktop using MS.  When I come home I usually just play with my iPad 2 and iPhone 5 :) which are great items by the way.

Kudos to Apple for coming up with a low cost iPhone 5C (I'm still happy with my iPhone 5 so I will no be switching to 5C/5S anytime soon).  My last iPhone was a 1st generation one from Singapore which served me well from 2007 - 2013.  Six long and productive years.  iPhones are great investments.  I might get a new iPhone in 2019... if I'm lucky :)

Kudos also to Apple for coming up with the iPad air!  I had my iPad 2 since 2011 and I currently have no plans of upgrading because it still works great! :)

My current dilemma with my Macbook Air is that I don't have a protective covering for it: case, display and keyboard protectors.

My 1st few posts will be regarding the resolution of this problem

I do hope that this will be interesting for you