COMPUTER CHAT
by Keith Richardson
As we head into the back-to-school season, many of us, long removed from school daze, look around for tech benefits aimed at younger generations but which we can take advantage of, too. It’s a good time to consider selling (or bestowing) the old laptop to someone needing it for school research and reports.
And, of course, availing ourselves of that frisky new machine we so deserve! Look for specials not only from the major distributors (Apple, Sony, and now, Samsung stores), but our local London Drugs and neighbourhood computer stores. Old stock on sale is still “new stock” for those with the right attitude; the money saved will buy a few precious peripherals.
If you’re looking at a Mac computer, wait until your store can supply you with a Mountain Lion machine—available this month. Apple online is offering three-month no-interest financing that is nearly impossible for its “resellers” to match.
On the other hand, if you’re thinking of an iPad, hang tight until rumours of a smaller, cheaper “iPad mini” are either confirmed or proven false. We’re betting on the former and anticipating that it will have been announced before you receive this column…. Or, perhaps you’re planning to get Amazon’s Kindle Fire (you’ll have to buy it in the US; Amazon still hasn’t seen fit to unleash it on us Canucks! or a Nexus 7 (Android system) made by Google. Both of these are smaller than the 9 inch iPad and hoping to carve a niche for people who find the latter just a little too big to fit into a purse or briefcase, but more than the four inch screen of a smart phone. Hence, the virtual certainly that Apple will enter the fray with a 7-incher of its own.
According to the New York Times, “The most credible challenge right now to the iPad appears to be Google’s Nexus 7, an Android device that costs CDN$209 and is of the company’s own design. With a seven-inch screen, the Nexus 7 has already won enthusiastic reviews for its software and battery life — and, of course, its size and price.”
If you’re looking to purchase a Windows 8 computer or tablet (yes, the same OS runs on both), you’ll have to wait until sometime in October. Died-in-the-wool Microsoft fans hoping to scoop up a new Microsoft/Asus “Surface” tablet may have to wait a bit longer. There has been much discussion about Microsoft’s decision to foray into controlling both software and hardware (at least in the Surface) while continuing to license the new OS to other PC makers. Some Mac fanatics have disparaged the Surface as a “state of the vapour tablet.”
If you’re a PC owner switching to Mac, take some time to analyze how Apple’s comprehensive, integrated system links their computers, tablets, and phones. I’m always a bit surprised to see folks with Macs still using Hotmail in Firefox, an Android smart phone, and photo software downloaded as part of their printer software instead of Apple products that all talk to each other and work together. I understand that some folks prefer to run MS Office on their Macs (I do) and use Outlook (I don’t) instead of Apple Mail and Address Book/Contacts.
However, when you add an iPad or iPhone to your mix of devices, it makes so much more sense to have an Apple email (dot-me) account, and to sync your contacts and bookmarks on both machines via iCloud.
Firefox 13, which in the past six months has evolved through six iterations (!) has improved considerably in its security and speed, is still, for many Mac users NOT as appropriate to use as Safari 5.1.7 with its Reader function, ease in editing set up and bookmarks, and integration with Apple’s dictionary. Yes, we can find fault with the individual products, but the way they work together is marvellous. Safari also runs on PCs, faster in some cases on Windows 7 machines than it does on some Macs!
For those thinking of upgrading their Macs from Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.8) to Mountain Lion (OS 10.8) for only $20, make sure your hardware and apps are ML compatible and properly prepared. For example, if you are still running PowerPC apps on your SL system, you won’t be able to after upgrading either to Lion or Mountain Lion.
For more comprehensive guidance, check out MacWorld online: “Get your Mac ready for Mountain Lion.” (http://www.macworld.com/article/1167629/get_your_mac_ready_for_mountain_lion.html)
While most folks upgrading to Mountain Lion will want to do so over the existing OS, some of us would be better off, after backing up all of our existing data and apps, to do a “clean install.” Go to It’s All Tech for this tutorial: http://itsalltech.com/2012/07/16/how-to-clean-install-os-x-mountain-lion/ .
MacSeniors also suggests delaying upgrading until OS 10.8.1 comes out and takes care of the bugs that will inevitably pester early adopters…. The first update is usually very significant and arrives often within a month of the newOS release.
On the other hand, if you’re buying a new machine, you need to be thoughtful about what apps you import from your earlier system. For an App Compatibility Table that is constantly being updated, check out http://roaringapps.com/apps:table .
The changes we’re seeing in mid 2012 are going to look like nothing compared with what we’ll see over the next two to five years: smartphones and tablets that we have intelligent conversation with, or control by tactile pressure; flexible, foldable, displays; pico projectors that cast small 3-D images of our Skype buddies on a wall, devices that can only be turned on by recognizing their owner’s face and/or voice or retina. Our brains will be boggled as never before! Or so we’re being led to believe….