Category: Geeks r Us
Hey everybody, it's been a while since I wrote a topic on any board, haven't been on here much. But anyway, I have a question for everyone and a Window-Eyes question for those who use it. Lately I've been thinkin' of jumpin' ship to a Mac, but I'm curious as to what I can download and install on a Mac. 'Cause like I like a female voice from the Realspeak brand, Samantha, and I'm wonderin' if I can use her on a Mac. I'm finally readin' the 6th Harry Potter book and I like how Samantha reads it 'cause she almost sounds like one of the female readers from my old Manitoba Education talkin' book days. If not, then I'm also thinkin' about stayin' with PC but I don't wanna use Vista, or as a friend of mine called it, "Shista." 'Cause there's one store here in Winnipeg that still sells computers runnin' XP but I dunno how much they're gonna charge me. I do realize that the Mac has Alex which is cool 'cause he breathes and shit, but I like Samantha for the reasons I said above. I'm askin' this 'cause I learned today that my USB port is cracked in the inside and I dunno how much it's gonna cost to fix it on an old IBM laptop. Anyway, my other question is about Window-Eyes. How do I eliminate it sayin' top or bottom when I use the read to end feature? Thanks.
Hmm, the old discussion.
Mac pros, VoiceOver built into their OS (the downside, of course, they can decide to discontinue it on any future release, but I doubt they will, not near future), Mac is all fashionable, stability is famous and you get a very fancy laptop .. Mac enthusiasts can gie you loasd more reasons I am sure, I doubt you can use that voice synth, but I am not an expert so I will leave that particular answer to others who may correct me.
Pros for PCs (desk or laptops), if you already have a screen reader you can keep it and its settings, the PC or Laptop costs around half the price, possibly less, from a Mac, www.buy.ca might be a good retailer in Canada for computers, some still have XP, some don't, Dell also still offers XP, at least on some of its laptop lines, all Netbooks offer XP as well. There's more software choice of course and more familiarity, but it's not a fancy mac and voice support is not built into the OS, it kind of depends what you want out of a laptop, if you are looking for price and comfort or style and new experience, what apps you want specifically, Appleis famous for its specialized software support, such as music making/recording, although Sonar/Cakewalk is doing some damage in the PC arena etc. It's really hard to give you a difinitive answer without knowing more of your preferences really.
Agree with Wildebrew on this one, and I'm a Mac user. That said, however, I went all the way, bought a $2000 MacBook Pro, and run OS-X, Windows XP in a virtual machine, and Windows Vista natively in Boot Camp. Yes, three operating systems. So, even if you wtill want to use Windows on some very nice hardware, it's available to you on the Mac. Samantha, however, will not work in OS-X, so your best bet would be to install Windows on your machine, either using Fusion, or Boot Camp, and run it that way. Just a thought
You don't seem very technically inclined based on your posts, so you should probably stick with Windows rather then having to learn an entire new system when you dont have a need for a mac like some people who edit sound and music need.
You're right, Roman Battle Mask, the only actual computer I 've been usin' is a PC, though in my old elementary school years up to grade 6 I've used the old Apple II E computers, lol. I'm goin' with the help of my Voc Rehab worker and I doubt that his agency will buy a $1100 Macbook to begin with. I offered to sacrifice my PacMate in order to get one 'cause I don't use the damn thing, but he says let's not think about tradin' the PacMate just yet. So I called Computer Trends, a local place here in Winnipeg and they gave me 2 prices. Actually, there are a few locations here in the city, so I called one and they have one for $395. Another location had an IBM that was sellin' for $895 but I don't think his agency will approve that price, and I have an older IBM as you know and I don't like how they don't have a protective door or somethin' over the USB port, that's how it got cracked in the first place. So I'm thinkin' he'll go for the Asus.