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| Image: Paolo Camera |
PCs and Macs
My PC rebuild is now complete. From installation of the new hard drive to being back up and running, the total time it took was only a couple of hours. Not bad. I’m now back up and running as I was before, only much, much quicker.
After all my posts last year about moving to Mac as soon as possible, I feel I should explain why I never used this outage as an opportunity to switch over to Mac once and for all. Basically it comes down to economics. I’ve not got *quite* got enough cash in my “Mac Savings Account” to be able to justify buying one at the moment, otherwise I would have on Sunday.
You see, I have my beady little eye on the splendid little iMac 21.5”, which I’m going to upgrade the specification of when ordering it. That means I’m talking of spending around £1600, which in turn means a few months of saving in order to make the purchase. But I do intend on doing it – just as soon as I have the dosh.
There is also a practical reason why I will never entirely split off from a PC. I need to support my wife’s photography business, and everything she does at the moment is Windows based (for photographic reasons, not technological) so unless she switches to Mac herself, I’ll need to keep both options available to me.
The iMac 21” is the future for me though, of that there is no doubt. The day it arrives and is installed in my home office will be a momentous occasion! 🙂
Grand National
Forgot to mention my dismay with Saturday’s Grand Nation result. While in Spoon on Saturday I picked out three horses for the big race. I intended on popping into a bookies on the way home but got picked up by my wife in Leith, who was passing through at the time.
Imagine my disgust then, when the first horse I had selected, Ballabriggs, won the race coming in at an impressive 14-1. Was I pissed off? Is the Pope a catholic?
You Too
I read that U2’s 360° world tour is now officially the highest grossing tour in history. The Irish band passed the $558 million (£341m) world record following their concert in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on 10th April. The tour, which kicked off in July 2009, still has more than 20 gigs to go and has sold more than seven million tickets for the 110 shows so far. On average, each show sees around 63,000 attending, taking in $6.4 million (£3.9 million) according to Billboard Boxscore.
I wonder if any of that money will make its way directly into the charities that Bono is so keen on “supporting”, though? After all, can you imagine sitting at the table as Bono and his good pal Rupert Murdoch share tips on what to do with each of their millions? Could be interesting…
Free Ebooks Giveaway on Twitter
Time is running out in my special Twitter giveaway. I’m giving away ALL my published ebooks for free to the 1000th person to follow me on Twitter. Not only that, but a randomly selected follower from between Friday 1st April right up to the 1000 mark, will also win the same prize! Click here for full details of the great Twitter Ebook Giveaway.
SPECIAL OFFERS
Get 25% off STELLA, my spy novella with a twist, when you order the e-book from the publisher’s website at www.eternalpress.biz. Simply quote 612JMZN67VZX at checkout.
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Freedom from the Mundane 
There’s a way to set up the Mac so you have full Windows capability (not just the kind I have with Office) and quarantine it to run separately, so it doesn’t taint the Apple applications.
Since your wife is a professional photographer, maybe she should switch over first. There’s iPhoto, which is head and shoulders above ANY photo programs on the PC, and there’s a photo program specifically for professional photographers. I haven’t invested in it because I don’t need that level of quality and flexibility and maneuverability in the photos, but it may well be worth looking into.
In Mac, you can move between Windows applications and Mac applications, which you can’t do in Windows. Staying in Windows will mean her business hits a ceiling at some point, whereas, in Mac, there is no limit to what’s possible. (if your hard drive’s big enough).
It IS a lot of money, which is one of the reasons it took me so long to make the leap, but once you’ve got the cash to get what you want, it’s well worth it.
Oh, I’ll get her onto Mac eventually 🙂 The main issue is Adobe Photoshop – it costs almost as much as the iMac does!
Cheers 🙂