[nabs-l] questions about a mac bok pro

[Bryan Jones]

Hello Laurel,

My perspective is as someone who has never used a Windows screen reader, so I can't offer much in terms of comparing VoiceOver to Jaws or Window-Eyes or NVDA, but I can provide a bit of input to a few of your other questions.

> 1. Macbook Pro vs iMac.
I've used a variety of Mac desktops and laptops in the past 5 or 6 years and my personal favorite is the current 11 inch Macbook Air. Portability is a high priority for me, and the Air also offers good performance and a decent, though notperfect, keyboard. If you are set on choosing between an MBP and an iMac, you might consider waiting another month or two as rumor has it Apple will soon be introducing updated versions of the MBP.

> 3, Kurzweil / OCR options.
I use Abbyy FineReader Express for OCR. It's been able to handle most of the jobs I've thrown at it, including PDF conversions and multi-language documents. Again, I've never used Kurzweil, so can't offer a comparison.

> 4, anything else.
> 4a. MS Office for Mac is not accessible using VO. In fact, if you expect to be editing or creating documents that include tables and several other key elements, there is currently no word processor that smoothly allows VO access to these functions. Pages and Nissus Writer are close and getting better, but are not there yet. That said, if you do not expect to be working with complex documents, you might be OK just using  the Mac's very good built-in word processor called Textedit. It opens Word documents and can save in a variety of formats.

4b. Web browser options are still limited on the Mac. Safari and it's cousins Webkit and Chrome work OK with VO, but FIrefox  and Opera aren't there yet and there is no version of IE on the Mac.
4c. Generally, when folks ask me if I think they should switch to a Mac, my answer is "No, unless you really have a desire to learn something different or you just want a new toy." For most Users and functions, the Mac OS is no better than Windows. You'll still crash sometimes, you'll still be vulnerable to malware and other security threats, and you'll find plenty of hardware and software that does not play well with VO.
Plus if you've already invested in an expensive windows screen reader, and expensive Windows office suite, and if they're working OK for you, you'll lose that investment when moving too the Mac unless you decide to go through the hassle of installing Windows on your Mac.

More than anything else, I strongly suggest spending time in an Apple Store, Best Buy or other place where you can get your hands on the Macs and spend a bit of time trying them out. If you want to actively learn how to use VO while sitting in front of any current Mac, you can turn on VO by pressing Command+F5. The Command key is the key immediately to the left of the spacebar, and the F5 key is the sixth key from the left in the top row (the first key being the escape key). When you press Command+F5, you should hear the announcement, "VoiceOver On." Once VoiceOver is running, you can access a quick VoiceOver tutorial by pressing and holding the three keys located immediately to the left of the Spacebar and then pressing the F8 key, which is the ninth key from the left in the top row. You should hear VoiceOver announce, "VoiceOver Quick Start." The quick start tutorial will introduce you to the "VO" keys and will point you in the right direction for learning more about the Mac and VO. Consider bringing a pair of headphones or earbuds when you try this out. It can get pretty noisy in an Apple store.

If you haven't already joined, there are a number of active email lists and forums for blind and low-vision Mac Users. A quick google will turn up a list of them.

One last note: I personally think the best way to purchase a Mac is through Apple's own refurb store, which can be found from their main shopping site at store dot apple dot com. Macs purchased there usually cost a couple hundred dollars less, come with the exact same 1 year warranty as new Macs and can be covered under the same extended Applecare warranty plans. The only Macs I've had to take in for service were ones I purchased new. My refurbs have never needed service.

HTH,
Bryan

On Apr 20, 2012, at 10:29 AM, Laurel wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have to confess, I haven't been watching the recent thread where
> people were talking about mac vs. pc. I wanted to buy a mac but I
> didn't have the money so I was putting it off. This week I got some
> very unexpected money from somewhere (I don't wanna go into all the
> details) but I have enough to buy a mac. I plan to do so but I wanted
> to ask some questions about the mac that maybe some of y'all could
> answer for me.
> 
> 1. Do you all prefer the Mac Book Pro (lap top) or the iMac (desk top).
> 2, those of you who use JAWS and switched to voice over on the mac,
> how hard/easy was the switch? I already use voice over on the
> iPad/iPhone but I'm not used to it on the mac yet.
> 3, Do any of you use Kurzweil for scanning? I have Kurzweil 1000 for
> windows, and I don't know what to do for my scanning program on a mac.
> Should I use my Kurzweil, I know you can use mac to run programs that
> run on windows, or should I switch to another program. What other
> scanning programs out there work well with voice over?
> 
> 4, is there anything else, accessibility related as far as softwear
> goes, that I should know before I make the switch?
> 
> I plan on keeping my pc at least for the summer so I can slowly switch
> over and have time to get used to a mac. I know this is a long email,
> but for you mac users out there, thanks for the help. It's
> appreciated.
> Laurel and Stockard
> 
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