After About Six Weeks (or "what I think of my apple")

Ok, so I have had this iMac 21.5" (?) for about six weeks. I read all of the do's and dont's I could find here (particularly the stickied ones in this section). They were indeed "sage" advice and likely saved me from a world of woes.

I have had no major problems and only a couple of minor ones. We have two of these macs and they sit within 10 feet of each other. My wireless mouse still wants to take over the other computer from time to time, so the unwired rodents were swapped for wired ones and that problem was solved.

I have managed to download and install some wanted word processing software and the required Solitaire package. I put some other games on Her Nibbs machine so she is happy.

I went through the Mountain Lion upgrade on my machine, but I haven't done the other one just yet (not required and not sure if it is worth it).

I do nothing fancy on this machine. Mainly email, web browsing, forum browsing, and all round general research. No music, no video, no tv, no newspapers or magazines.

What I want to do is mainly writing (10 or 12 books started over the last 25 years, so you could say I want to "play" a little more serious). I have Pages and also Evernote.

Does Evernote store things on my computer or is the stuff "up there" somewhere?

I want all of my files here, with me. I don't do cloud, I don't do the dictation 'cause it is done "up there", not "down here".

Now, if you have got this far, I want to expand my Apple line. I am looking at either an iPad or Mac air or Macbook Pro. I am leaning toward the iPad because of it's portability. The only question is that since I don't do cloud and don't want files stored anywhere else but with me, what kind of hoops and hurdles will I have to go through to get whatever I type into the iPad, onto my iMac?

I have a laptop, but it is of the "other" breed and it is no longer very friendly to me, so at this point it is not an option as I am not interested in corrupting my iMac with another os.

Cheers,

Tom

I have an iPad and a MBP, as well as an iMac and a MacMini for my "Her Nibs" (also known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed). Anyway, I use DropBox to sync files. I know it's "up there" but it seems an innocuous service. On the iPad, moving files back and forth without the cloud somewhere involved is pretty difficult, as the iOS operating system is not quite as open for viewing as is OSX. Between my iMac and MBP, on the other hand, moving files is dead easy. If I have both in the same network, I can use AirDrop (You should find it in Finder. Mine is in the side window) or a thumb drive. AirDrop is literally that, you connect the MBP and iMac by WiFi using AirDrop and drop files from one to the other. Thumb Drives are as you expect, you copy files to it from one and read them from the other. Thumb drives do require something to write NTFS format, but that's easily found with a brief search. I love my iPad for reading, checking mail, watching video, surfing the 'net, etc, but I wouldn't recommend it as a device for major work requiring typing. The keyboard is functional, but I find a standard keyboard at least an order of magnitude more efficient. From your post, I suspect either MBA or MBP are better choices.

I am also a fairly new mac user - only since May - and I have found that if I set up my ipad with one email and my mac with another moving files back and forth only involves an email with an attachment. That was before the icloud shared nicely between them.

Since I use my mbp for most of my production and my ipad mostly for consumption it has not been a problem. I understand your desire to keep all of your files on your computer, and with something like time machine running you do have a decent backup, but using the icloud as another form of backup is not a bad thing. If something goes wrong with your system and your time machine backup at least you would have a copy of it running around some where. I find it easier to think of the files as being physically stored on my system and a back up copy is floating around on iCloud. The only exception to this is as a high school teacher I have accrued a rather large stockpile of electronic information and I tend to keep most of it on a usb drive or two instead of my laptop unless I am working on it.

My 2 cents worth, set up your icloud and try it. If you still don't like the way it works simply turn that portion if icloud off. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Thank You for your replies, they are very helpful.

I guess I just don't trust iCloud. It has been said by one of the Apple founders) that one day the cloud will burst and all could go bad. I truly hope he is wrong, as the idea and technology is great ... just not for me.

My first extra purchase was a 1t external drive running Time Machine, and I keep all data, photo's, and important info on thumb drives. I do do this faithfully so if all went bust, I would lose nothing.

Since we have 2 Macs, both with wireless keyboards, I could easily steal one for occasional use on the iPad and I have multiple wired keyboards around here to use short term on the Mac.

I just emailed myself some pics from my phone to see how that worked out (should be similar to ipad to mac) and that would likely be fine. I don't have anything synced and don't want to ... our two identical Macs are not on a network either although that should be easy. (Can you tell I'm not a tech kinda guy)

I would like to have both, but that would be nearly 2 grand more up here in Canada, and I already have a bunch sunk into the two new Macs ... way more than I need invested in 'puters that mostly just play.

So, I will take all of your info on board (Thank You again) and make a decision next week.

Cheers,

Tom

I back up to external drives connected by Firewire, but I do use the cloud (DropBox) to transfer files to/from my devices. I am, like you, not trusting the cloud for my backups, just file transfers and keeping them in sync. If I lost the cloud, all I'd lose would be whatever I was trying to transfer at that minute, and even then it would still be there on my source drives. I also use both TM and Carbon Copy Cloner to backup my system. I have an internal SSD in my MBP, back that up using CCC to one drive. I also have an internal harddrive in the MBP, where I moved my Documents folder, and I CCC that to a different drive. I have a third drive I let TM do its thing to backup the data automatically for me. (Yes, I have had failures in the past and I don't want to be burned. Belts and suspenders do work together.) So I'd say use the cloud to move things around, but have a backup on a device (or devices) YOU control.

@oldflyer2 If you are interested in dictation at all and don't want to use something cloud-based take a look at Dragon Dictate for Mac. It's not cheap but works nicely for me. I have not used it much recently though because that much talking drives the wife nuts when we are in the same room.

Some reviews have recommended some rather expensive mics for it. I have not tried the more expensive ones. I am currently using a cheap headset mic but have also tired several others.

MacinWin, thank you again. I will try using the cloud for some transfers when/if I get the iPad. I am also going to check out some of the other ways you do your backups as well. I have heard of Carbon Copy, but never used it.

Slydude, thanks for the link to Dragon... That is a bit pricey, but it looks like a very useful program. Do you know if it will work with Pages or the LibreOffice suite?

A question about Mac software ... If I was to buy something like Word For Mac, or Dragon Dictate, is my licence limited to just my machine, or could I put it on both Macs and say a laptop if I got one of those?

A bunch more to think about now.

Cheers,

Tom

If you use any kind of web mail service, such as Gmail or Yahoo, you already use the cloud. Your mail is stored elsewhere along with any attached files or photos. I don't think there are many people who think that such web mail servers are suddenly going to just "go bad". I can't remember that last time a major server just up and went bad. The chances of your hard drive going bad are MUCH higher than Apple's servers all crashing.

Besides, just because you use iCloud doesn't mean you can't also have those files on your computer. But it's a good way to have spare copies of them where you go.

Personally, I find it useful not for storage but for syncing. When I take a photo, add a new contact or enter a new calendar appointment, I only need to do it once. iCloud syncs it across all my devices and machines.

@oldflyer2, Microsoft has a three-machine license for Office. That's the one we bought for my wife's business, so that she could have it on her MacMini in the office and on her MBP when she travelled.

It should be noted that not all versions of Microsoft Office allow the three-machine license you refer to. One needs to check carefully on that point BEFORE purchase.

Apple's license on its software, by comparison, is simple: you can install the software on any Mac you directly control (ie in your household) using the same iTunes account. There may be a limit of five machines but I haven't come across that yet.

Oneironaut, I was not aware that Gmail etc was using the cloud. I don't do Google or Yahoo, but likely Bing and Zoho, which I do use is the same thing. Perhaps I am just being too paranoid, but I have had problems before and don't want them again.

I will work out some extra storage and backup procedures.

MacInWin, I did know that about the Microsoft products, but I don't plan on using any of them on this machine. I did need some for business, but I have now retired and everything I need is available in or from Apple.

chas_m, thank you for confirming the license set up. The most I would need would be three, so I should be good to go.

Thanks Again for all the input.

Cheers

oldflyer2 said:

Slydude, thanks for the link to Dragon... That is a bit pricey, but it looks like a very useful program. Do you know if it will work with Pages or the LibreOffice suite?


Cheers,

Tom

Click to expand...

It works with almost any software that has a text field that you would normally type into. I have used it with iChat, an IRC client, TextEdit, and others. I think I have used it with NeoOfice which is similar to LibreOffice. I have not tried it with LibreOffice (it should work) but I could later tomorrow if you like.

Slydude, I would likely only use it with Pages and Evernote at the moment, as they are the two programs I seem to use the most for writing at the moment.

I guess I could lose my attitude toward the cloud, use dictate, save some money, and use some of the technology that I have already paid for!

Thanks Again,

Cheers

Oldflyer, any time you use a website to store or create files, that's basically cloud computing. All cloud computing is is using a server instead of your own hard drive to store files. If you use Flickr to save and organize your photos, that's essentially cloud computing. Using Google Docs is as well. When was the last time you heard of Gmail or Flickr crashing and users losing all their stuff? That's just about as likely as Apple's iCloud servers crashing. Of course it's always POSSIBLE, but far less likely than your own hard drives crashing.

Oneironaut, it is not so much that I worry about cloud based thing crashing, it is the security I worry about. Now, I don't use any of the stuff you just mentioned, 'cause I mainly knew about them. I have had personal (luckily not expensive) experience with the wrong info getting into the wrong hands ... apparently I tried to buy some sports equipment in NYC and being the nice guy I am, I was going to send it free of charge to someone in Africa. I found out quickly 'cause they were trying to use an older credit card of mine that I hadn't ever verified. There were two other incidents of a similar nature.

As far as I am concerned, most of those places want way more of your info than they need to do the task you give them. Even Apple dictation wants stuff I don't think is relevant

Since I dropped all things Yahoo and Google, my spam had virtually disappeared. I have had no more problems I have had none since using the apple either.

I never used Flikr and I don't do any of the social networking (facebook etc.,) because of that same reason. I know ... millions do, with no problems, but there are some rather nasty cases of identity theft out there. My sister has had trouble with Homeland Security for 6 or 7 years because a security leak through her computer use.

I appreciate all the information, and I am not trying to be purposely argumentative ... this security thing really worries me. That is partly why I spent the 3 1/2 grand to get two macs instead of the "other" types.

Cheers,

I

No one can steal your identity unless you're sending and receiving information, though any computer system (your bank's, the government's) can theoretically be compromised. By that line of reasoning, even the computer you are on at this moment can be compromised. Using the servers at Apple, Gmail, or any other large company just to store files is much less risky than your storing them on your home computer, which can not only be compromised, but is also much more likely to crash or get stolen.

If you want be 100% safe from security flaws, don't use the internet at all! I never think it's a good idea to throw the baby out with the bath water.

I have actually considered not using the internet several times. The problem is that I do use it a lot for research and to keep in touch with the many people I have met from all over the world that are associated with some of the various hobbies I have.

You are likely right about the security issue and I am over paranoid about it.

Cheers