An end to an era

It’s truly an end to an era for me.  I bought my first Apple product probably back around 2005 or 2006.  Since then, I’ve always had an Apple computer beside my iPhone or an iPad.  I’ve actually only had one Samsung product since about 2008.  I’ve always had an iPhone beside my MacBook Pro.  Now that I have the 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 512GB hard drive, I no longer need the Apple MacBook Pro.  I bought it in early 2013 just before my now ex wife and I went on a trip to Prague.  Later in 2016 I bought the 5k Apple iMac.  Both computer served me well.  I sold the iMac back in January 2019 and now I’m looking to sell the 2013 MacBook Pro.  It’s a great computer, don’t get me wrong.  It’s got 16GB of RAM and an SSD hard drive.  It’s great at editing my 1080p/60fps footage and my photos that I shoot with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  It does have a hard time editing 4K footage.  Considering it’s now 6 years old, I don’t think it can handle the 4K footage I’d be throwing at it if I was shooting 4K footage.

I still have a Windows 10 laptop that I bought back in November 2018.  I’ll be using that for printing and scanning my timesheets for work and doing my taxes.  But I think for 99% of my daily needs, I’ll be using my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  I create and consume a lot of media.  I find that I can carry my iPad with me anywhere with my Sony RX100 Mark VI all in one bag and I can be setup in literally less than a minute.  The iPad is always on unless I’m doing an iOS install that needs a reboot.  Apps on the iPad don’t need to reboot the tablet like a program many need to reboot a laptop or a PC.  I haven’t ran the iPad the whole day yet as I’m at work pretty much the whole day.

The apps I currently run are Luma Fusion for footage editing and Affinity Photo for photo editing.  I also use Snapseed and Camera+ 2 in a pinch.  I use the Shutterstock app to upload any photos I shoot with my Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I actually haven’t even had a chance to test that out yet as work has been very busy the last few months.  

I’m currently sitting at a coffee shop writing this post on my iPad Pro just relaxing, writing and listening to music.  It is truly relaxing. Got the ear pods in and just typing away.  Not that I couldn’t do this with my MacBook Pro but this is just more convenient.  I just open up the iPad and open my app and start typing.  I have iTunes running in the background pumping out some cool tones that I relax to.  And considering I live in Canada, I’m sipping on some really warm Timmies steeped tea.  No coffee for this bad boy.

I am really impressed with the 2018 Apple iPad Pro and my Apple iPhone 8+.  I don’t think for most of my productivity on a regular day, I won’t need anything else.  My iPhone, iPad and Sony RX100 Mark VI and I’m all set.  I am truly mobile.  I don’t need to carry around a 4-6 pound laptop.  This iPad weighs less than 2.5 pounds.  I’m pretty sure, in the next ten years, Apple will make the iPad into just a clear sheet of glass that will bend.  On purpose.  ;) 

Blogging off the new 2018 Apple iPad Pro 12.9”

This will be my first blog post from the brand new 2018 Apple iPad Pro 12.9” with the 512GB hard drive and the 4GB of RAM. I can tell you that this thing is truly amazing. It is incredibly fast. It feels blazingly fast compared to my early 2013 Macbook Pro and my 2018 Asus Windows 10 laptop. I finally got the keyboard folio today. I went to the Apple store today again and asked if they had the keyboard folio and neither Apple store in Ottawa did. Best Buy doesn’t even have any keyboards available for the 2018 iPad Pro. I went to one of the local Staples stores and they had none either. They did mention that one of the other Staples stores half way across the city had two and that was the only Staples store in Ottawa to have any. I rushed to the Staples store in the South Keys neighbourhood to grab one. The iPad doesn’t come with anything except a USB C cable and a power brick. That’s it. I so far have purchased a dongle for my earphones which work with my external speakers. I had to buy a USB C to USB A dongle to attach my Blue Yeti mic which works flawlessly. I still need to buy an SD Card dongle so I can transfer my photos and footage from my Canon Vixia HF G40 and my Sony RX100 Mark VI point and shoot camera that I use for my photography business. Now I have to find a proper blogging software since this software I am using now is very limited in its abilities. Also I have to find some voice editing software to remove hiss and clicks from my sound files when I do voice overs for my videos when I actually start doing that. My desk is also littered with cables for these various attachments I have for the iPad Pro. The screen on this is absolutely amazing. The sound quality coming straight from the speakers are truly fantastic. It’s amazing the technology that is in the 2018 iPad Pro. The Apple keyboard is actually pretty good. I can get buy with it. I don’t mind that there is no true multitasking on the iPad Pro. I can actually concentrate on doing just one thing and not multitasking on a few things at once. The fact that there is no mouse is ok. The Apple pencil v2 does all that I need so far and more. I haven’t had a chance play with the Apple pencil yet as I’m still learning the ins and outs on the iPad Pro. The work flow is different for sure than working on a Macbook Pro or a Windows PC. The only limitation that I can currently see is that there is absolutely no support for an external hard drive. I am hoping that with iOS 13, support for external hard drives will happen as I only have the 512GB hard drive in the iPad Pro. Work wise, my contract with CMHC is coming up in 3 weeks and my boss is trying to get us into Shared Services Canada. I also have my name for a deskside support position with Global Affairs Canada which I am not fond off. I do hope we get into Shared Service Canada. I’m 99% sure my girlfriend will get into Fisheries and Oceans which means she’s staying in Ottawa. I still want to go out west to Calgary. I cannot stand Ottawa. I hate this province. I hate this city. I need to get out.