[gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

Sat Aug 15 15:46:00 UTC 2009

Al,

I've never shopped for a PC laptop, or any other laptops. If I'm shopping 
for the most durable and powerful PC laptop I can find (I don't mean 
kick-ass powerful as in for programming or international video gaming, of 
course) then how do I go about shopping for one with an adequate-sized 
keyboard? I'd also hope to be able to plug in my good speakers if I had the 
unit on my desk and wanted to play tunes, dude.

Help me out, here. I may be looking at some financial help on the computer 
upgrade at holiday time, and I want to have my list ready when Santa asks 
for it.
somputer bood PD lHow would of
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "albert griffith" <albertgriffith at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List'" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 8:11 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

Joel, A Windows based laptop will be ch eaper and you can get a keyboard
you'll like.  Until there's a clear advantage to switching I can't see the
reason to do so.

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 7:50 PM
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

Andy,

thanks for chiming in with this information and talking about your own
experience. I happen to know someone, a sighted friend, who has a Mac
notebook and sometimes runs Windows on it by way of that boot camp deal
where you have to, well, reboot in a special way, after which she reverts to

using the Mac OS for anything that doesn't happen to require a Windows
application. She has a profession IT guy as a friendly neighbor, so he sets
up everything for her and has taught her to use it.

II didn't start on Apple, as you did, although I began using a computer in
the early 80s, too. But my first one was a KayPro so-called ""portable" (it
was a heavy m-f, actually), and then I got an early DOS PC in the 8088
family or whatever it was. So when my eyes began going seriously south, I
got into MAGic and then Jaws, but all that was tacked onto my previous
experience with using a PC, first DOS and then Windows 3.1.

But now I've got a Dell Dimension number something-or-other that's about
five years old, whose hard drive surely is bound to falter one of these
days, in addition to which I don't own a laptop, though I often wish I could

read, write, do email and read the New York times or the L.A. Times in bed
or at a friend's house.

So I'm thinking, maybe the next computer shouldn't be a clunky desktop to
begin with, if I can't really afford two good machines, one to use just for
getting away from my desk, so maybe if one of the laptops was known to be
pretty durable and have a decent keyboard for an adult, not a little person,

plenty of RAM, able either to use my already-paid-for Jaws 11 or simply have

a talking OS, well, I could at least think about it.

you see. At this point, I'm out there in fantasyland, with no clear idea
except feeling like a kid looking into a candy store window. I mean, when I
was a kid, there were such windows, and I could see, so I did indeed look
longingly into them, but I digress.

Just thinking. Anyway, Andy, how imminent is your possible purchase of a new

machine? And do you plan it to be your *only* machine, or just a second one,

sort of extra?

Thanks for anything you care to share about your thought processes and
experience. I live in the Beverly Fairfax area, by the way. How about you?
Just curious.
bad comeyars eyars somethingexprience get port'm compute teto----- Original
Message ----- 
From: "Baracco, Andrew W" <Andrew.Baracco at va.gov>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

I attended informational sessions about the Mac, iPhone, and Voiceover
at the ACB convention, and at our local visually impaired computer users
group here in L. A., and I am impressed with what I saw.  I started out
with an Apple in 1983, and it would only be fitting that I come full
circle.  At home, I am not a power user, so it  appears that a Mac could
do what I would need it to do.  The only economic drawback, is that
Macs, especially Mac laptops are much more expensive than Windows PC's
and laptops.  One could say that this isn't really true, because the
adaptive technology is built into the OS, but this would only apply to
folks who are starting out, because I already have purchased a Windows
Screen reader.  As was said previously, there are two ways to run
windows on a Mac.  One is a utility called Bootcamp, which creates a
dual boot system.  The other is a utility called Fusion, which allows
you to run Windows in its own Window with your Windows screen reader, so
you can have the best of both worlds.  I do not know how difficult it
would be to set up either Bootcamp or Fusion, but fortunately, here in
L. A. we have a blind Mac guru, and I am sure that, for a price, of
course, I could get him to help me set it up.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Les Kriegler
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 2:49 AM
To: 'NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

Hi Joel,

Interesting you're bringing this up.  Actually, I've decided that when
the
upgrade to the Mac Operating System comes out, I'm purchasing a Mac
laptop.
Many of their laptops come with 4 Gigs of memory, and I plan to install
Windows 7 on the laptop as well.  There is software that allows one to
switch back and forth Between Mac and Windows without the need to
re-boot
one's system.  So I'm taking the plunge, likely next month.  I've
started
reading up on the Mac and on the screen reader called VoiceOver and I
like
what I've read thus far.  Obviously, I cannot give you impressions of
using
a Mac yet, although I've confident I'll learn it when I start working on
it.
I took a year to learn Doss, I'll invoke the same plan with learning the
Mac.  Eventually, I hope to be in a position to train others, as I
suspect
there will be a need for this to occur.

Les

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On
Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 2:16 AM
To: GUI-Talk
Subject: [gui-talk] Basic inquiry about Mac, including the laptops

as I've sort of watched the Mac evolving over the past couple of years
in
the sense that its operating system seems to be getting close to
achieving
self-voicing screen reader capability that an experienced jaws guy like
me
might be able to take seriously, I'm asking for some thoughts.

Aren't there a couple of folks on this list who actually, already, *are*
Mac
desktop or laptop users? How do you folks like your Macs? And Albert, I
know
you've been toying with the idea of going Mac, same as I'm expressing
now.
Just seems interesting to think about, now that I allow myself. This in
spite of the fact that I have Jaws 11 already paid for on my SMA, but my
goodness. I guess if I could get myself a brand new computer that didn't
heed it, would be nice to give away my old PC with new Jaws on it. To
the
Braille Institute or something.

Nice ,anyway, a thought experiment. How about it, Mackies?

I have one more question, also to do with my daydreaming, but I'll post
it
separately.

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