[Electronics-talk] MAC vs PC

[Jim Barbour]

I second Dave's questions, and haven't seen any answers to them yet.

I have extensively used by MacOS 10 with voiceover and windows with
most of the well known screen readers on them.

The generally accepted pros for using a Mac for blind folks are...
    
* The screen reader is free and built into the OS.
* The hardware is nicer
* You get Apple levels of support

The generally accepted cons for using a mac for blind folks are...

* Voiceover is not a mature as windows screen readers like JAWS.
* It is much harder to collaborate with others at work who are using MS Office.
* There are fewer blind folks who know how to use a Mac, and so can help you figure out a Mac.

There will be those who will pick at these pros and cons, just
remember that they are generally accurate.

So, the question is where do you want to spend your money and what are
you hoping to get for it.

So, the question becomes what are you hoping to do with your computer? If it's just playing music and surfing the net, why not consider an iPad?  If it's collaborate with coworkers then you probably ought to get what they get.  If you enjoy playing around with new technologies, then a Mac is a lot of fun to mess around with.

I hope I've given you enough to start with <grin>

Jim

On Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 09:22:07AM -0500, David Andrews via Electronics-talk wrote:
> Well, a couple things here.  First, what is your reason for wanting a Mac?
> It seems to me that with your level of use, and skill level, a change of
> this magnitude doesn't make a lot of sense.  Unless you like learning new
> technology, then why do it.  If your existing technology does the job you
> should stick with it.
> 
> Although in this case that may be a problem too.  You can't buy a new
> computer with Windows XP on it.  XP is quite old, and no longer supported by
> Microsoft.  They are no longer doing security updates, so if you plan on
> using it on the internet, this is not a good idea!
> 
> You are going to have to bite the bullet and learn something new, so go for it!
> 
> Dave
> 
> At 08:44 AM 8/17/2014, you wrote:
> >Hello all, I need to get a new laptop, and am wondering if I should get a
> >MAC. I have only had an  Asus PC, and use it only for its internet and
> >DVD/CD capabilities. I am a mediocre skills user, able to do mostly what I
> >need, but don't know much more than that about how to figure out more
> >complexx  operations. I don't have anyone who can help me with my computer
> >unless I take it to a store. But I thought maybe from what everyone has
> >said on this list A MAC would be better, since I still have Windows XP and
> >don't feel comfortable graduating to Windows 8. Can you advise me?
> >Thanks,   Shonen
> 
>         David Andrews and long white cane Harry.
> E-Mail:  dandrews at visi.com or david.andrews at nfbnet.org
> 
> 
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