[nabs-l] Some Questions About the Mac

Thu Sep 8 15:04:01 UTC 2011

Kerri,
From what you say, I think the 11 inch air will do everything it needs to do for you, and probably a lot more. I don't know if you're interested, but you can buy refurbished products directly from the Apple online store. On a Macbook air you would probably save $100 or a little more, and you really won't even notice that it's a refurbished product. I've personally had great experiences with refurbished stuff from Apple. If you get a refurbished air, you can spend the extra $100 on the external cd/dvd drive, for example.
A Macbook air is more or less like a netbook and it looks like it would be the most natural switch for you. It's very light and works great.

IC
On Sep 7, 2011, at 9:03 PM, Kerri Kosten wrote:

> Hi Mark:
> 
> What is the list you are on with 700 mac users? I would like to subscribe to it.
> 
> Well, I don't really use intense applications. I mainly browse the web
> a lot, listen to music all the time (I purchase lots of music), do
> word processing, and other things like that. I don't have any vision
> so I'm not playing graphical games or anything like that.
> 
> Having said all that, with so many apps in the store who knows what
> I'll want to do once I really get the hang of using the mac and
> discover other apps that work with Voiceover. Maybe I'll just go with
> the air. I guess I just want to make the best decision for paying such
> a high price and get the best bang for my buck. Keep the opinions/info
> coming. I want to make the best decision possible since a mac is so
> expensive.
> 
> Kerri
> 
> 
> On 9/7/11, Marc Workman <mworkman.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm not sure it's purely a matter of preference.  I don't know, I suppose if
>> the issue is that I prefer to be able to browse in a variety of ways
>> depending on the situation (e.g., line-by-line, paragraph-by-paragraph, or
>> or from top to bottom), and I prefer to be able to select text with as few
>> steps as possible, then I guess it's preference, but I really can't imagine
>> why anyone would prefer less flexibility and a larger number of steps to
>> accomplish a task when browsing the web.
>> 
>> I've transitioned from snow leopard to lion, and the Mac mini is
>> considerably slower with 2 Gb of ram.  I used to be able to have a dozen
>> apps open, and switching back and forth did not result in busy messages, but
>> now I get such messages even when running only two or three apps.  It also
>> takes much longer to wake from sleep.  Perhaps the Air with the SSD does not
>> have these issues, but I'm on a list with 700 or so Mac users, and consensus
>> seems to be that you can run lion on 2 Gb (technically you can run it on 1
>> Gb, as I had to do for 10 days), but if you can afford it, get a machine
>> with 4 Gb.  Of course, this all depends on how hard you push the machine.
>> 
>> To turn on quick nab, just hit the left and right arrows at the same time.
>> The same action will turn it off.  Whether single letter navigation when
>> quick nab is on is enabled by default, I'm not sure, but you can easily set
>> this preference in the VO utility.
>> 
>> I only have the mini now, so I can't comment on the Air vs. the Pro.  If you
>> don't need the processing power, then the Air is the slimmer, lighter, and,
>> in some ways, faster machine.
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> Marc
>> On 2011-09-07, at 12:27 PM, Ignasi Cambra wrote:
>> 
>>> As you said, it's really a matter of what you prefer. I don't need to
>>> browse line by line and don't find the VoiceOver method to select text
>>> slow or annoying, so I'm fine with browsing the internet on my Mac. As I
>>> said on my previous email, if you get a Macbook Air with 2GB of ram it
>>> will run lion just fine because of the SSD. I'm pretty sure that all
>>> Macbook Pro models come with 4GB ram these days.
>>> On Sep 7, 2011, at 1:07 AM, Marc Workman wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Personally, I don't enjoy browsing on the Mac.  This is mainly because I
>>>> like to move down a page line by line, and this is not possible on the
>>>> Mac, unless I'm missing something; in which case, I'd love to be
>>>> enlightened.  Also, selecting text while browsing involves a series of
>>>> steps, which I have still not learned.  Don't plan on just holding shift
>>>> and hitting the down arrow because that ain't happening.
>>>> 
>>>> I love the mac for mail, iTunes, RSS feeds, and a few other applications,
>>>> but I am way more efficient with JAWS and a PC if I'm going to spend time
>>>> on the internet, or if I'm going to do serious text editing.
>>>> 
>>>> Lastly, if you get a Mac, I would recommend getting something with 4 Gb.
>>>> You can run Lion, the latest operating system with 2 Gb, but I'm finding
>>>> my Mac mini, bought in December 2010, quite sluggish with only 2 Gb.  And
>>>> this is with a monitor plugged in, which if you are thinking of getting a
>>>> Mac mini because it's cheaper, you will also have to do.  They are very
>>>> sluggish if a monitor is not attached.
>>>> 
>>>> Don't get me wrong, I really like my Mac, but they are not without their
>>>> problems.
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> 
>>>> Marc
>>>> On 2011-09-06, at 6:05 PM, Ignasi Cambra wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>> Lots of questions here… First of all, I find navigating the internet
>>>>> with Safari and VoiceOver quite enjoyable. Especially with the
>>>>> introduction of single key navigation on websites finding links, headers
>>>>> etc is really quick and easy. You can configure VoiceOver to
>>>>> automatically interact with the HTML content when the page is loaded if
>>>>> you want to.
>>>>> As you mentioned, Flash is completely inaccessible under Mac OS X, but
>>>>> it won't bother you either. In other words, it's just not there at all
>>>>> for you, so if you are browsing a website with lots of Flash content you
>>>>> will be able to do everything that doesn't require Flash without
>>>>> problems. Navigating cluttered websites is just fine. You will probably
>>>>> find yourself using one key navigation very often, and then you also
>>>>> have the item chooser menu and the web items roter to make your life
>>>>> easier. Unless you absolutely need Flash, the Mac works great to
>>>>> navigate the internet. With some web applications such as Google Docs
>>>>> I've had much better results working with VoiceOver than with JAWS, for
>>>>> example.
>>>>> As for which Mac model to get, it just really depends on what you need.
>>>>> If you were to choose between the two macbook air sizes, I would
>>>>> definitely recommend that you get the 11 inch. It's small, and the
>>>>> bigger 13 inch screen won't do much for you if you're blind. Mainly,
>>>>> Macbook Airs are a lot thiner and lighter than Macbook Pros, but they do
>>>>> ship with slower processors. A big advantage of the Air is that it comes
>>>>> with a solid state drive instead of a hard drive. That alone makes the
>>>>> computer extremely fast when using it for normal tasks. A Macbook Air
>>>>> will probably feel faster to you than a Macbook Pro if you are just
>>>>> booting it, browsing the web and writing text documents. I'm in love
>>>>> with the 11 inch Air, but keep in mind that none of the Macbook Air
>>>>> models have an optical drive built in, so you will have to purchase an
>>>>> external one if you need to read CD's or DVD's. The optical drive
>>>>> offered by Apple is thin and light. I usually carry it in my laptop case
>>>>> and it never bothers me. Unless you are planning to use your laptop for
>>>>> processor-intensive tasks, I would really recommend the 11 inch air. If
>>>>> you don't mind spending a little more money I would upgrade the
>>>>> processor to the faster option provided on the Apple online store. This
>>>>> will make your computer a little faster, and it will probably handle
>>>>> future versions of the operating system a little better.
>>>>> Let me know if you have any more questions!
>>>>> 
>>>>> IC
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Sep 3, 2011, at 5:53 PM, Kerri Kosten wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi Everyone!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I posted a few months ago about needing to get a new laptop and
>>>>>> whether to get a windows or mac. Currently, I am still using my
>>>>>> netbook. Anyway, my frend got a mac in July and we went through the
>>>>>> voiceover practice mode and listened to the quick start guide
>>>>>> together. While going through this she did let me play a little with
>>>>>> the mac.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I realized that despite what I've previously been told the mac is
>>>>>> quite simple to use and though it is different from windows it isn't
>>>>>> that hard to use at all. I am now considering purchasing a mac but had
>>>>>> some questions befoore making a final decision.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> What is browsing Safari like on the mac? I love browsing the internet.
>>>>>> Is navigating the web with safari very complicated?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I have not been able to play with my friends mac using safari but I
>>>>>> have listened to her use it while she has done research for her
>>>>>> homework.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Once you click on a link on a webpage, how do you find the html/text
>>>>>> of the article to read it? Does voiceover automatically go to it and
>>>>>> then you interact with it? I love reading articles and such on the
>>>>>> internet.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> How does safari/voiceover handle webpages that are cluttered and have
>>>>>> lots of flash? I know the mac doesn't support/handle flash so how does
>>>>>> voiceover read these pages? Does voiceover read/handle these types of
>>>>>> webpages better than Jaws/windows does? Examples of pages I am
>>>>>> referring to are www.espn.com, www.cnnsi.com, or
>>>>>> www.usatoday.com/sports. I guess what I am trying to ask is how does
>>>>>> voiceover/safari handle webpages that are really cluttered, have lots
>>>>>> of flash, and have lots of links/headings?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> If I decide to get a mac should I go with the macbook pro or the
>>>>>> macbook air? What are the differences between the macbook pro and the
>>>>>> air?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I was also looking at the apple store online last night and I noticed
>>>>>> that they have a 13-inch macbook pro with a I5 processor for $1200 and
>>>>>> a 13-inch macbook pro with I7 processor for $1500. Is there a big
>>>>>> difference particularly in speed between the I5 and I7 processors? Is
>>>>>> it worth the extra $300 for the higher I7 processor?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thanks so much! If I think of any more questions I'll post.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Kerri
>>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
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