After years of Windows (from Windows 3.1 through to 10) I have finally bought a Macbook.
Why? My Lenovo was starting to have battery problems – only lasting a 2-3 hours. My Samsung never lasted long on battery and it’s really too big for a laptop. I use a lap top on my lap! Both are windows 7 machines and some of the newer apps are not supported… Read more
I changed to a MacBook. (19/6/21) I’ve had it for quite a few months now and the change has been mostly good, especially since I bought an iPhone 12 (18/8/21) and it links seamlessly with the MacBook.
Some things are much better.
The integration of the iPhone and the MacBook makes it very easy to manage photos and music. I can drag tracks or Albums into Music on the MacBook and they end up on the phone too.
I’ve started using Siri. It’s very good. Maybe Alexa is just as good, I never got around to using it. I use Siri to select radio stations on BBC Sounds, as the BBC app is so rubbish.
“Books” on the MacBook and the iPhone is excellent. I tend to read books on the iPhone now instead of my Nook. I can drag a book from the Calibre Library (or anywhere else) into Books on the MacBook and a few second later it’s available for download on the iPhone.
Some things I have had to change Read more
I am very used to managing my photos on a Windows computer using my old Photoshop CS2. I’ve been using it for over 15 years. I used to use actions in Photoshop to batch edit hundred of photos at a time when I did wedding and nursery shoots. But CS2 doesn’t work on my MacBook air, and I do not shoot professionally now, so I can make do with less power. But it’s a relearning exercise. All of this is probably very elementary for a seasoned MacBook user but it’s all new to me. Read more
When I got the iphone I thought I’d try out Apple Music. It seemed OK, and it’s free for three months. Then it’s £9.99 a month. (Let’s say £10. I will round up everything by 1p to show the sensible price.) That is £120 per year.
Now I have quite a selection of CDs available already, and they are mostly what I listen to. I am very unlikely to spend £120 on new albums in a year. But I would like to but the odd track or maybe album. Albums on itunes are normally £8 or 80p for tracks (regardless of the number of tracks on the album) So if I buy less than 15 albums a year I am winning…
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I used to work as a photographer and I accumulated huge number of pictures, all of which needed be securely backed up. Losing a customers wedding pictures was unthinkable. I ensured there was always at least two copies of everything (including websites) in different locations, i.e. the pc hard drive and external hard drives. This worked well. It was a manual process but I had it off to a fine art. I used it for many years. Those pictures are now stored away on their hard drives. Read more
While browsing the web I found Video Pad. It seemed like a good alternative to Movie Maker and works in a similar way.
There is a free version which I have, a home version and a masters version. The latter are paid for, but they come with a free trial. It is unclear what the limitations of the free version are.
You really have to look for the free version though and there seem to be many disgruntled users who have assummed the home version was the free version then found it was only a trial. Read more
My first video made with Moviemaker was 600Mb and 3m 38s long. I tried to upload it via the home broadband and after 5 mins it still estimated an hour and 12 mins to go.
I gave up and transferred it to my phone, switched its wifi off and I uploaded it via the 4G network in around 11 minutes. So my estimated figures were not far off… Read more
According to many websites I need a PC with a 8 core processor. Which means a PC made in the last 3 years. It makes one wonder how they edited videos 10 or 20 years ago. Of course it is bullshit. My 10 year old Samsung RV511 with an i3 processor running windows 7 will do fine – for starters anyway… Read more
So I bought an action camera – a Dragon Touch Vista 5.
This was with the idea of taking videos of our dog Meg, and also on my scooter.
It now hangs up after only recording a minute or so of video. I have tried resetting the camera to factory settings, formatting the memory card, and operation with either battery supplied, all to no avail.
Since buying it I have recorded a total of maybe an hour of video.
Waste of money, time, and effort. Read more
My Windows machines are all old and slow by modern standards. Two run windows 7 and one runs windows 10. The Windows 10 one is the slowest.
So I am thinking of getting a new laptop especially for editing videos. Years ago I would not have considered a Mac as they were so expensive, but the new Macbook air looks like a good buy. Read more