This is a post that is unashamedly geeky.

You see I’ve always liked Apple hardware. Partly to do with the
design – which is the closest that IT has ever come to being cool, but also the
little ergonomic details and how well spec’ed their hardware is. What I have
not yet been a fan of to date is MacOS – the operating system that ships with
all Apple machines. Although it received a significant update with MacOS X and
subsequent releases, I think it’s been the years of slowly burning Windows shortcut
key combinations into my subconscious that makes working on a Windows machine more
efficient for me. So when Apple announced some time back that they were moving
to Intel processors which is much more akin to PC architecture, it was only a
matter of time before someone put Windows on a Mac.

And now that’s happened. All Intel Mac’s are now capable of
dual booting – meaning when you switch on the machine you can choose to load
MacOS or Windows XP, giving people like me the opportunity to run their apps of
choice in the environment they prefer, on something that looks much cooler than
a regular laptop.

So, with all the incentive I now needed, last week I went
and bought a 13” widescreen black MacBook. Pictured below:

After just a short afternoon of working with Apple’s Boot Camp (a download
which allows the whole dual boot thing to happen), I was up and running with all
my favourite applications. Was remarkably straightforward to setup and I now have
a laptop which I can use for work, personal and photo editing. The dual core 2 chips
that run inside the Apple hardware mean that it’s as fast as any other laptop
out there, battery life is excellent, screen is phenomenal. Every detail is
taken care of, even down to the power cable which inserts into the MacBook via
a magnetic connection so that if you trip over the cable, it just comes flying
out – without bringing your laptop along with it (something both me and my two
rotts have all been guilty of in the past).

Photoshop CS2 and all the other relevant applications for
photography are a breeze on this kind of hardware – I find a 13” screen easily sufficient
for the kind of post processing work I do also. Prices are available on Mac’s
website – I found them to be comparably to equivalently spec’d PC’s. FYI, rumors
are rife that Apple is announcing newer models in the coming weeks so it might
even be worth waiting if you are considering. If anyone is interesting in
getting one though and wants to know more about the transition or Boot Camp
software, just let me know.

So – that’s it really – just a quick kit update on something
that goes on outside of the camera. As I say, unashamedly geeky – but when we’re
capable of worrying about whether a UV filter lets in 97% vs 99% of available
light,
there’s no point apologizing anymore as no one would believe it anyway.