In July of this year, I bought my first Apple product, an M2 MacBook Air. The intention was to see if the laptop could replace my aging, ailing Windows PC. As I suspected, the transition to macOS has been cumbersome, and quite annoying at times. Here it is weeks later, and I’m still in the process of transition. Two pieces of financial software are yet to be moved to the laptop. I would like to say that process will go smoothly, but I have had several surprises about how hard it is to set up something on a Mac after doing it so easily on a PC.
That is not meant to imply a Mac is harder to use, only that figuring out how to make things work does not follow what would seem to be a logical process. I have spent a number of hours on the phone with support people from Apple (for hardware and software issues), from HP (for my new printer that was required because my old printer was not supported), and from Logitech (the source of my new external keyboard and mouse). Things that should’ve been easy for me turned out to be beyond my ability to understand. And in some cases, support folks were also baffled, although solutions were eventually found for most things.
In one instance, after spending almost two hours with an Apple support person trying to deal with my Apple ID and email account, he finally suggested that the problem be turned over to a senior advisor, which turned out to be an excellent idea. The senior advisor quickly understood the problem and helped me through resolving it.
In my current mental state (really, really old PTSD survivor), I can do quite well when things go as planned, and provided that too many conflicting issues don’t pop up at the same time. A lot of popping up of conflicting issues has occurred over the last several weeks. That has resulted in a few days where I just decided to do nothing and let it rest until the next day, hoping I would have a clear mind by then.
The most positive part of all of this is that my new laptop is much faster and smoother than my old PC desktop computer in every possible way. When occasionally I have to go back to the PC, I get reminded just how slow and clunky it is.
Another positive aspect of this transition is my opportunity to rethink some of my work processes. When it’s all over, I feel certain that I will be much better organized, therefore more productive. ”When it’s all over” is an interesting thought. I’m not sure when I will arrive at that point. It will probably be a few weeks more, perhaps a few very annoying weeks more.
This morning, for the first time, I did not turn on my Windows PC. The plan is to see how far I can go with my normal daily activities without needing something from the PC (note: I made it all day). The current set up I have makes it an easy switch between computers. The laptop is in clamshell mode most of the time. And both the laptop and my PC share the same external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. All I have to do is push a few buttons to use the other computer.
But today the “other computer” is not on.
And I will tell you this: not having the PC on is kind of weird. Plus, I think my subconscious mind misses that constant drone of the computer’s internal fans. The laptop doesn’t even have a fan. So the room is very quiet. There are going to be plenty of situations where that silence will be helpful. I am sure I will get used to it.
I use dictation software extensively. My keyboard skills are lacking. My hunting and pecking fingers are quite slow, and they are dyslexic, resulting in words I know how to spell being typed incorrectly. Beyond that, I am a terrible speller. Dictation software, if it recognizes what you’re saying, knows how to spell. I use a professional dictation software in Windows, software that will not run on the Mac. I’m using the built-in dictation software on my MacBook Air. So far, that ain’t no fun. I’ve had to turn off some of its capabilities because of unexpected results. And there does not appear to be a way to teach the software how I pronounce things.
A perfect example of that just happened: when I said the word “things” above, the software heard “thanks.” No matter how clearly I pronounced the word, it never recognized it. That sort of thing happens quite a bit. Nonetheless, I will adjust. I plan to speak to Apple Support in hopes of refining my dictation results.
A positive way to look at this is that the dictation software is requiring me to speak more clearly, something that I will need to be able to do before I get comfortable recording my voice for video. I have not been in a professional setting for many years now. And I have reverted back to my homegrown, lazy-tongued Southern style of speaking.
I’ve had an opportunity to play with iMovie a little bit. I think I’m going to like it. It will probably be quite a while before I post any videos. That may not happen until after I transition to a mirrorless camera system, many months in the future. I will practice with the software in the meantime. Editing clips is more fun than I first imagined; lots to learn yet, though. If I really enjoy working with videos, I will probably move to Final Cut Pro sometime in the distance future.
I am using Apple Notes quite extensively. I am using Pages. Lots to learn there. Based on what I know now, I believe I will like Pages better than Microsoft Word. I have no current plans to put Word on the laptop.
I especially like Numbers. I have used Excel for dozens of years; I actually started with Lotus 123 back in the 1990s. It appears as though the transition to Numbers, for my limited use, will be smooth. Immediately, I saw a way to break up a very large Excel spreadsheet into several tables in Numbers, making data easier to enter and find.
Although it has been a bit painful, I am certain I made the right decision to move to Apple. The only outstanding issue now is whether I will purchase a Mac Mini or Mac Studio in the future and use the laptop just as a laptop and not as my main computer. That decision is probably two years, maybe three, away. And it will be guided by two things: how well the laptop handles heavy loads that I haven’t had the opportunity to apply to it yet, and whether I can justify the cost of a second computer.
There are lots of advantages to having more than one computer in the Apple eco system, involving things that I find exciting but are possibly beyond the scope of my abilities, certainly beyond my current comfort level, things like Live Streaming. Those are decisions that will come in the future at the appropriate time. But between now and then, it will be exciting to think about.
I have a number of writing projects that I need to get back to, all on hold these past few weeks. Hopefully, my subconscious mind has been percolating in the background with some interesting dialogue and storylines. I am still working on the story about the old man and the “bridge to the past.” I’d like to at least finish one rough draft for that story before the end of the year. Interesting things have happened to the old man since the original story I posted to my blog. I don’t think I can make a novel out of it, but it is becoming an expanded short story. I want to get back to that soon. So I really need to finish my transition from Windows to Mac.