Hard Drives! Everybody's Favorite!

Hey everyone it's @jacobpolli New Twitter handle, very different!! Well, a new laptop means that sooner or later, there'll be a new external hard drive to go with it. Keeping true to that tonight I unbox the G-DRIVE Slim 500 GB that I bought at the Apple Store earlier today. I use a G-DRIVE Mobile 750 GB with my Mac Mini so I already trust the brand. I'll be using this disk for backups and extra storage as you will see in  the setup part of this video!

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Is The MacBook Air Overpriced?

In the beginning of my research for buying a Mac computer, the first one I did want to have hands on, was the MacBook Air. After using my friend's for a month, I didn't like it at all. For what it brings to the user it is way overpriced. To learn why, read the rest of the article.

First of all, if you didn't know, the MacBook Air is a netbook. As Steve said "NetBooks are best at anything", and I definitely agree. Its price starts at 999$. Let me give you a quick speck review of the particular MacBook Air model.

Screen: 11"

Processor: 1.6GHz dual-core Intel i5

Ram: 2GB

Storage: 64GB

Graphic Card: Intel HD Graphics 3000

After carefully reading this model specks, do you still believe that the MacBook Air's price is logical? In my opinion, no. With 999$, the consumer can purchase a quad-core Windows laptop with four times better specks, or build a custom one, which is going to be as powerful as the 27'", quad-core iMac. I know it 's made by aluminum, it's very thin and light and it's perfect for traveling, but there are hundreds Windows netbooks which are thin and  light (Not made by aluminum of course), and they are perfect for traveling too. Those Windows netbook's price is 300$-450$ and bring to the user exactly what the MacBook Air can bring too.

Now you will wonder "Then why do people buy it?”. The answer is simple; it's because of the OS. Let me give you an example. Would anyone buy the iPhone 4S if it run iOS 3? No. Before purchasing a product after reviewing the specks, the user also wants the device to have a good operating system. For business people Mac OS X is the best OS, and if they travel a lot those people need a small computer running Mac.

For the Apple fun boys also, who are going to hate on me, I never said that the MacBook Air is a bad computer. It's the best netbook in the market. What I said is that it's way overpriced. So before you start trolling on me, please, take those words into consideration.

Thanks so much for reading my thoughts on this topic. If you have a different opinion on this, or if you have any questions based on this article, feel free to leave them in the comment section below, or mention me on Twitter @OrestGPap.

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iMac or MacBook Pro?

Many Apple consumers, including me, when they decide to purchase a Mac computer, they can't decide between the iMac and the MacBook Pro. Speaking more generally, this topic is about "Desktop Vs Laptop". Which one is the best for you? Read the article to find out.

First of all let's see who should buy the iMac. If you are a professional graphic designer or video editor (and even if you aren't professional, but it's your job or something else in a high level), the iMac's beautiful huge screen with the amazing resolution, will be perfect for you. If you want to use your computer like a TV, for watching Netflix, or as an external monitor for your gaming console, or for gaming on your Mac again the iMac is your gadget. And finally, if you don't use and need that much your computer while traveling (or even if you don't travel that much), the iMac is your computer.

Now let's take a look who should buy a MacBook. I would suggest the MacBook if you do a lot of traveling and you really need and use your computer. It's a portable and a really powerful computer. If you still do graphic designing and video editing but you do it like a hobby and not as your main job, I think MacBook's display is good enough.

Now it comes another question. What if the user wants portability and a big display for home in the same time? In my opinion, you should buy the 13” MacBook Pro, and for external monitor the fantastic 27", Apple's Thunderbolt Display. If you can't afford buying Apple's Thunderbolt display, you can still find really good 24” monitors (I suggest you Asus) at Amazon for around 250$-500$.

I am currently asking this question to myself too and can't decide. I am in both, the first and the third occasion. Firstly I want to see the new 2012 iMacs and MacBook Pros which will be coming soon, and then, depending on the new features that those two computers will have, this will help me to choose.

I hope this article helped you out to understand in which occasion you are and which Mac is better for you (compared to those two). Thanks so much for reading, if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comment section below or mention me on Twitter @OrestGPap.

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Learning to Play Guitar Just Using a Mac?

Can you learn to play guitar just with GarageBand and YouTube?

Since January I have been learning to play electric guitar by only using interactive tuition. My main tutors being Garage Band (on the Mac) and a YouTube based guitar tutor. I have been really pleased with the progress I am making even though I have not had a 'proper lesson' yet.

My current kit includes:

- iPad (running GarageBand - very useful for writing your own practice tracks to play along with)

- MacBook Air running GarageBand with downloaded lessons - chord analysis is fantastic when you are not sure you are playing the right strings.

- Guitar Jack to USB connector to plug the guitar straight into the MacBook and iPad 

- Yamaha REV500 - digital reverb unit

- 20W guitar amp

Learning to play any instrument can be fun as well as frustrating.  Using a Mac as your tutor is a great way to learn!

This is a short video of my desk setup I am using for this.

My Written Review: 2011 Apple MacBook Air 13"

The new 2011 MacBook Air 13.3" is truly a stunning machine with an awesome 1.7GHz duel-core Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM packed inside this beast. Surely this is the perfect notebook for students who want something which weighs in at just 2.96 pounds and is less than an inch thick!

In this article, I am going to cover the good, the bad and what can be improved, followed by me awarding it a score out of 10.

Starting with the Good - 

Apple's MacBook Air 13.3" LED-backlit widescreen has got to have been the nicest screen I have ever looked at, the resolution of the screen is 1440x900 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). The colours are so vibrant and films look amazing on screen, too.

The MacBook Air 13.3" is as beautifully thin as ever, at it thickest end it measures 17mm thick and it's thinnest point is only 3mm thick which is incredible!

The 2011 MacBook Air 13.3" comes standard with a 1.7GHz, dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM. The notebook also built in flash storage tucked inside its aluminium unibody chassis, this is great for students who want tasks completed quick such as word processing and music, photo and video editing. I am able to get roughly 6 and a half hours of battery life out of the MacBook Air and is capable of staying in standby mode for 30 days without dying from loss of battery.

The Bad -

I am a little disappointed that there is still only 2 USB ports on the MacBook Air 2011, even if apple added just one more USB port would be a wonderful add-on. I am also a little unhappy that there is no USB 3.0 port to be found on the notebook, this would be another huge key selling point for the MacBook Air. The third thing I am disappointed about is the low resolution built-in FaceTime camera. Apart from that, the laptop is great.

Room for improvement? - 

As always, nothing is perfect. In the future, I would like to see Apple introduce a FaceTime HD camera (featured in the MacBook Pro's and iMac's). As the MacBook Air's FaceTime Camera performs horribly in when in low-light. I would greatly appreciate more flash storage inside this elegant machine, aswell.

Over all, I give the 2011 Apple MacBook Air 13" a whopping 8 and a half out of 10. If you want to check my new YouTube channel out for plenty of tech coverage, please feel free to do so and don't forget to subscribe! - kieransmithtech