You may know that I’m using Mac for years now, but not because I love Apple so much, I gave up Windows completely 5 years ago, because I had a lot of trouble on the software side, endless hours have been spent installing, defragmenting hard drives, solving problems. On the other hand I had different hardware issues with my Macs in recent years but I suspect a lot of it not being Apple related, having more to do with tech in general and the so called planned obsolescence. Someone I know has been hired by a company as computer expert to implement software into products that makes them break down after a couple of years. This phenomenon seems to be reality and in line with contemporary capitalism rather than a conspiracy theory. Anyway, those hardware issues in mind I still couldn’t imagine going back to Windows, software and OS just run on Macs and give you very little to worry about. BUT, I think Apple’s undeniable focus on consumer products like iPhone and iPad come a long with a decline in reliability, data security and ease of use in areas of professional usage, that translates into time and often into money for a self employed professional. My impression is that Apple especially went downhill since the introduction of their operating system Lion, that was more focussed on optical gadgets similar to iOS rather than improving or retaining reliability or customizability. Another fact, though, that keeps me away from going back to Windows is that I am quite heavily invested in Mac software meanwhile, f.e. Lightroom and Photoshop. And as I said I think Windows is still much worse.

I love tech since I am a young boy and it never stopped. That’s why lots of people get me wrong thinking I was an Apple fanboy. I’m not at all, I strictly oppose their treatment of workers in China for example, especially as you’re paying a premium price for their products. It’s just that there isn’t really an alternative at the moment. At least I choose to buy a different smartphone in autumn 2012, but my HTC is assembled at Foxconn as well, the same inhuman production facility Apple is producing their iPhones and iPads. With phones, though, their seems to be an alternative with the new Fairphone that is produced the best possible way from an environment point of view.

I’m using different electronic devices because they make what I do easier and Apple still delivers in this area. That’s why I would still recommend to buy their products, the premium you pay is worth while considering the time, effort and nerves you save when using them. They also still seem to produce pretty environmentally friendly, much better than the average cheap company. Of course their industrial design still rules and always sets new standards. And their products are fast and get your work done easily. I can totally understand when people hate them because of their aggressive marketing and all this brand hype, you won’t be able to deny, though, there is some real value behind it.

I want to share some things that annoy me with my Macs at the moment and there seems to be no way it’s going to change soon. Surely you find a way to work around, but it’s less comfortable, it costs time and money in the end.

First one is the Three Finger Swipe gesture that was introduced with Mountain Lion in 2012, it has disappeared with Mavericks in October 2013. I fortunately only upgraded my MacBook Air to Mavericks and it benefits from different power saving features on the other hand, especially useful with a mobile laptop. My main machine is an early 2011 Quad Core MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM and an Intel 520 240GB SSD and an external Dell 24“ attached. It’s still doing great. It’s running on 10.8.5 Mountain Lion and the swipe gesture is active. I wouldn’t upgrade the machine to Mavericks as long as I find a solution because I’m using it so often. It means that in finder I can flick through folders back and forth only by moving three fingers left or right instead of doing it manually with the cursor up left. It seriously drives me nuts on the Air, well, it’s only my mobile computer for writing blog articles, downloading and importing images, browsing, social media etc. Serious archive tasks I do on the desktop Pro. It’s great to have different operating systems installed because you can easily find differences, both pros and cons.

Another thing that I really don’t like on the new MacBooks is the MacSafe 2 power cord plug. It’s much too easy detached from the laptop and it’s literally impossible to comfortably write or work with the computer on your lap, the power cords just bends up and looses the connection. I don’t really get why they changed the plug, the last one just seemed great to me.

Third, I am using my iPad mini as mobile hotspot very frequently, it's actually the main reason I signed a two year business contract with T-mobile, the mini was just 10 € with that and therefore a no-brainer. Anyway, for some reason the hotspot is only recognized by my MacBook Air or other Macs when I switch on the iPad (hotspot is activated all the time) and bring up the hotspot settings, actually doing nothing other than waiting for the laptop to connect. The computer won't connect by itself with the iPad turned off (stand-by mode; my HTC phone connects with no problems in this situation). You may say: "Come on, that's not a big deal!". True, it's much worse than having no iPad at all, but it's all relative and I'm talking about tech annoyances here. When you switch your laptop to stand-by and back on over and over again while travelling f.e. this kink becomes really annoying.

Happy playing ...

KIKI