I’ve been a regular Apple user for some time – I have a Mac Mini at home and a MacBook Pro (of some vintage) that I rarely used. Now I’ve gotten rid of the MacBook, I thought I’d just putter along with the Mini at home, but no – it was not to be. Instead, the opportunity has come along for me to use a Mac at work and so I managed to get my hands on a MacBook Pro – brand new 13″! It’s very nice. Fast and responsive indeed. I’m not sure I love the keyboard, but I did get a Magic Keyboard. I usually use a Microsoft Natural keyboard – the big black ergonomic chap so changing back to a regular style keyboard might be interesting for my wrists. At home it’s no problem – I use the little Mac keyboard and it’s all good, but here at the office I’ve got the full sized one with number pad (which is a bit novel!)
Changing one’s thinking to Mac from Windows requires a bit of adjustment. Different keyboard shortcuts, different layouts etc – all are a bit of a challenge initially. I’ve managed to make the transition reasonably easy, but it does require some concentration. I couldn’t remember the screenshot shortcut even though I use it constantly at home! Yes I’m a nerd…
OK so back to what it’s like for work. I’m currently installing Microsoft Office for Mac 2019 (which is the latest). It’ll be interesting to see what the new Office is like – I am usually quite happy with the Apple offerings (Pages/Sheets/Keynote) to be honest. It’s a solid suite of applications and has all the features I generally need. I’ll come back to Office 2019 once it installs (using 9GB of space!) and see what it’s like.
Here’s a brief look at the specs of the MacBook I’m working on:
More than adequate for working with. I doubt I’ll even really push the processor and with my full load out of:
- Chrome (with many tabs)
- Firefox (also with many tabs)
- OneNote
- Remote Desktop stuff
- Calendar
- Word
- Excel
It is thus far traveling without any problems at all. I also got an Elite Mini expander for it. This give me 2 x USB3 ports, 2 x USB-C (with one power pass through), HDMI, MicroSD and regular SC. I have it plugged into a 4 Port USB3 hub that also gives me access to my backup drive and to my USB camera for video conferencing. Pretty neat huh? It came from PC Case Gear and was pretty inexpensive the handiness it yields. Here’s the link to it: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/42096/mbeat-ucd-p2-mini-usb-c-dock
I’ve had to download drivers for my Logitech USB camera to get it to work nicely, but that’s not a real issue. The big test will be next week, when I’m using files from the Windows Server, accessing all the normal stuff and trying to get my day to day work down. Thank God for OpenProject and osTicket being online!
OK, stay tuned for the next installment on this topic!
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