Saturday, August 2, 2008

How amazing is Apple Mac?

I can't believe I made it all the way to almost 42 years of age without knowing how great an Apple iMac computer is!


My girlfriend, Jayne, impressed on me the value of buying an iMac and after much harassment I said, "Okay." So here I sit in front of my ultra speedy new iMac computer with a 24 inch screen and I am just so overjoyed with what I can do, the clarity of the image I am seeing, the way that you can drag the windows around the screen and organise yourself.

Now, having been a devotee of Windows and PCs for over 20 years, I would never have thought that I would say that there was any program that can compare with Outlook, as I use it so much and find it very effective, but iMacs Address Book, Calendars, Email and Tasking even put Outlook to the test with the simplicity of data entry, the ease of creating calendars and the appearance of everything.  I mean, if there is a phone number, an event time in an email you can just click on it and off it goes to your calendar and address book!  No double data entry!  Plus you can colour code appointments simply by creating calendars for all the areas of your life.  I am so impressed I'm thinking of becoming an Apple affiliate!!!

I guess I've been bitten by iMac fever or something, but I just love it and that is coming from a very deeply ingrained Windows PC user.

I was also skeptical about the look of the keyboard and the mouse, as the whole keyboard could almost fit in my handbag, with it's flat little keys and lack of the extras like sound control buttons etc.  I mean, my usual wireless keyboard is everything a woman could want, almost including the kitchen sink.  But it is so bulky!  Looking at this MAC keyboard with it's totally flat keys I thought that's going to slow me down.  But you know what, it's so much more responsive to touch and I've actually increased my speed not slowed it.  So once again a great big tick and thank you to Apple!

And let's talk about the mouse.  I looked at it and thought, it's not going to feel as nice as my wireless mouse.  And now I realise that ergonomically it's probably better as my wrist is not being over stretched and it has extra button functions that I love.  For example, if I were going to get my calculator up in windows, it was about 3 clicks and multiple screens to get to it via Accessories.  Now I click a button on the side of my mouse and up pops a dashboard with a calculator, calendar, stock exchange and any other shortcuts I'd like to add as it is totally able to be customised.

And the creme de la creme is that I can also keep and use all of my windows based programs simply by loading up a program called Parallels that allows me to run the two systems on the one computer.  Can't ask for anything more than that!  Thank you Apple for your ingenuity. If only the whole world realised just how fantastic your products were, IBM and the likes would never have taken out the general market.

Now that I have such a fabulous computer, with it's inbuilt wireless networking capabilities I can set up my computer anywhere and do a presentation or demonstration.  It is going to be such a valued asset to my business.  I also realised that my broadband connection speed was way slower than it should be thanks to my friend, Jayne, and have upgraded to a way faster system so I get more time to do the things I love.

Also, by taking up the Apple of offer of MobileMe, I can access my files from anywhere in the world and there is no long uploading process.  I simply drag them into a folder and away I go.  I can give other people access too.  File sharing has never been easier.

The iMac comes with built-in programs such as i-photo (which has an awesome book making option where you can create a photo journal and get it printed hardcover for around 29.99US); i-movie (a movie editing suite and you don't need a camera because there is one built into the monitor which is great for creating short training DVDs); i-booth (a quick snap photo booth with effects); garageband (a really cool audio mixing suite where you can create songs simply by dropping and dragging loops); and much, much more!

Finally, my next purchase is going to be an iphone so I can link everything together.  It would certainly make my whole organisation easier if I only ever had to do one set of data entry! What a fabulous product, Apple.  You deserve an award for your innovation and for the world to recognise the brilliance of your products. 

PS  I am not an Apple iMac sales woman but with a product like this, it would sell itself!