I want to remind everyone of the great remapping app for the mac. With this app, you can map the vo keys to the capslock key, or (I believe) map the right command key to control, giving you vo keys on the right and left. If you plan to move around with your keyboard, perhaps sitting across the room from your iMac, then the bt keyboard combined with the afore mentioned app may serve you better. It's all subjective, though, and if you find yourself using the home/end and numpad keys a lot then the full keyboard may be best, but there's something to be said for having a wireless keyboard you can take anywhere in the room and that does not take up one of your usb ports. On Nov 13, 2012, at 11:15 AM, Nicholas Parsons <mr.nicholas.pars...@gmail.com> wrote:
> HI, > > I bought a mid 2011 iMac 21" 2.7 GHz quad-core i5 processor with 4GB of RAM > and 1TB HD earlier this year, along with a 13" MacBook Air 128 GB SSD with > 1.7 GHz i5 processor. > > Basically, I absolutely love my iMac and don't regret buying it. I only > slightly regret missing out on the new fusion drives, but not much I can do > about that now. > > I will offer a few observations though. > > 1. I Originally got my iMac with the standard BT keyboard. However, I found > that only having the VO keys on one side of the keyboard makes keystrokes > like VO-Shift-D and VO-Command-~ really difficult and life pretty sucky in > general. So, I bought a full Apple USB keyboard and this has made the whole > Mac experience so much easier and more pleasant. I really miss it now when > I'm using my MacBook Air. So my advice to you, if you get an iMac choose the > USB keyboard instead of the BT keyboard. > > 2. Despite having 4GB of RAM and a quad core processor, my iMac would become > "busy" surprisingly easy. This would happen most in iTunes and Safari. I've > since upgraded to 16GB of RAM and everything works so much more smoothly. I'd > really recommend upgrading your RAM. If price is an issue, you can buy RAM > online for fairly cheap. > > 3. For some things, e.g. loading ML and rebooting etc, my iMac is much slower > than my MacBook Air, despite it's much greater power. This is obviously due > to the MacBook Air's SSD. So, the iMac is great, but if you can get one with > an SSD or fusion drive I'd really recommend it, as an HD is the one thing > that will really noticeably slow it down. Although, I think a RAM upgrade is > probably better value for money. > > 4. Despite the super sexiness of my MacBook Air, I rarely use it in > comparison to my iMac. I only use it when I really need to, e.g. when I'm in > class or on holidays or away for business etc. The reasons I prefer my iMac > are: > • I love having huge amounts of storage for all my audiobooks, TV > shows, podcasts, music etc. My iTunes library definitely takes up the vast > majority of my space. > • The internal speakers and microphone are great for listening to > music, watching movies and making Facetime or Skype calls. However, I do have > external speakers when I really want to get the party started. > • I love the full USB keyboard with VO keys on both the left and > the right, proper home and end keys, and a number pad which I use for the > calculator. > • It's huge amount of RAM is great for iTunes and Safari and > GarageBand etc. > • It's a lovely feeling (and apparently looking) machine, and is > super easy to set up etc as it's all in one piece. It's also great to have so > many available ports, and the optical drive is great for importing old CDs > into iTunes and watching DVDs etc. > • I have some sight, though very little. I kinda hoped that with > the big bright iMac screen I may be able to see something of movies. But > unfortunately those days seem to be beyond me. I can't really see much on the > screen and tend to use the screen curtain much of the time. However, It is > nice to be able to get some feedback from the screen. Importantly, the screen > has been useful a couple of times when I've needed to get some sighted > assistance, either when VoiceOver has been misbehaving, or where there's > something inaccessible in an app or webpage. Also, the big screen means my > girlfriend and I can watch movies together straight from iTunes on my iMac. > > Hope these observations help you in your decision. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > Have a great day, Alex (msg sent from Mac Mini) mehg...@gmail.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
