[nabs-l] Very Preliminary Impressions of the Mac

Fri May 14 02:48:12 UTC 2010

I rented it from the Mac Authority.

And no problem. I'm no expert, but I like to share what I know.

Briley
On May 13, 2010, at 7:17 PM, Dennis Clark wrote:

> Hi Briley,
> Where did you rent the Mack?  Also thanks for your advice on the Mack models in response to my email.
> Best,
> Dennis
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Briley Pollard" <brileyp at gmail.com>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 12:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Very Preliminary Impressions of the Mac
> 
> 
>> What I did before purchase was rent a Mac for a week. That way, I had more than 15 minutes to fall in love. Getting the hang of a new OS and screen reader won't happen in store.
>> 
>> Best,
>> Briley
>> On May 13, 2010, at 11:42 AM, Dennis Clark wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi Joe,'
>>> I really appreciate hearing your observations.  I plan on taking a similar Mac product journey soon.
>>> Best,
>>> Dennis
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
>>> To: "'NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List'" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>; "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 7:23 AM
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] Very Preliminary Impressions of the Mac
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Hello,
>>>> 
>>>> Earlier this week I had the privilege of handling a Mac Book Pro, iPad and
>>>> iPhone, none of which I'd previously touched before.  These impressions are
>>>> very preliminary and full of bias from a PC user.
>>>> 
>>>> Mac Book Pro:
>>>> 
>>>> I handled a 13-inch model, and the keyboard was fantastic.  I don't know
>>>> that I would jump at the opportunity to switch from my current Dell
>>>> Latitude, but if I had no other choice, the Mac Book Pro would not be a
>>>> disappointment in the slightest.  Very solid hardware and sleek design. I
>>>> have long fingers, and the keyboard was sufficiently comfortable.
>>>> 
>>>> Voiceover:
>>>> 
>>>> The speech is excellent.  It is very human-sounding and did not distort with
>>>> faster speeds.  Perhaps because the screen reader is built into the
>>>> operating system, I did not hear any pauses or experience too many delays in
>>>> accessing what I needed.  Where my admiration fell short was in the logic of
>>>> the command structure.  When navigating in Safari, for example, I used the
>>>> VO keys plus Left and Right arrows to navigate hyperlink by hyperlink. I
>>>> understand there are different modes to navigate web pages, but I somehow
>>>> enjoy the JAWS capacity to jump in different blocks with greater flexibility
>>>> without the need to make adjustments.  I did not much care for having to
>>>> copy and paste content from the iWorks processor to the text processor to be
>>>> able to tell certain formatting attributes.  Finally, I was not keen on
>>>> relying on VO keys as the central point to make what appeared to be the
>>>> majority of all keystrokes.  On a PC I suppose it is enjoyable to interact
>>>> more with a larger percentage of my keyboard.  Certain keystrokes on the Mac
>>>> Book Pro felt awkward to perform with one hand.  Activating check boxes and
>>>> selecting items from lists was awkward.
>>>> 
>>>> iPad:
>>>> 
>>>> I wasn't a fan.  The Kindle is more compact, boasts a physical keyboard and
>>>> to me just seems much more comfortable.  Both the iPad and iPhone use the
>>>> same screen reader the Victor Reader Stream uses.  Disappointing.  I somehow
>>>> thought these two products also used the Alex voice, but perhaps this is
>>>> simply processor capacity?  To me the iPad felt like a netbook with a touch
>>>> screen.  I did not much care for connecting a bluetooth keyboard for more
>>>> comfortable typing.  Portability seems to me the main driving motivator to
>>>> get an iPad, and as far as portability is concerned, the iPad fell very
>>>> short of my expectations.
>>>> 
>>>> iPhone:
>>>> 
>>>> I sucked at using it in the very short length of time I had to play with it.
>>>> Yet, someone demonstrated how she could easily navigate and interact with
>>>> e-mail.  I don't know that I appreciated the size of the device, think the
>>>> Samsung Moment running Android feels more comfortable in my hand.  Yet, the
>>>> iPhone very clearly beats the Android seven ways to Sunday in terms of
>>>> accessibility.  If you can figure out the touch screen, it may very well be
>>>> golden.
>>>> 
>>>> So there you are, very basic impressions.  I plan to continue exploring the
>>>> Mac alternative and hope other people contemplating a switch will also share
>>>> their experiences moving from a PC environment.  If any of what I've written
>>>> here is wrong or misleading, please correct me, because it may well have
>>>> been my own ignorance.  If you do play around with Mac products, just
>>>> remember it's true that Mac systems are no PC.  Accept the alternative
>>>> platform for what it is.
>>>> 
>>>> Joe
>>>> 
>>>> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>>>> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>>> The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.eset.com
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
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