Sunday, July 6, 2014

I Surrender!

Apple has always been the centre of my creative universe. Most of my work is now done on the road, at coffee shops, so I have been waiting patiently for years for beloved Apple to supply another magical miracle machine - by delivering  a truly portable creative studio. Its been a long, long wait which this week has finally ended -
but inconceivably Apple is not my saviour!

In my lifetime I have only used a PC a handful of times, mostly to check my email while travelling. About 17 years ago I purchased my first Apple computer - an original PowerMac G3. Since then it's only been macs, including one that was stolen right out of my hands at a coffee shop!

Over the years all of my computer purchases have been justified by the need to make my work better and more efficient. But a strong motivator has been my love, perhaps even lust, for Apple computers. This emotional attachment makes it seem unfathomable that I would ever purchase a PC. But I just did ... and I love it! Is it treachery? Am I a turn coat, a deserter, have I went over to the dark side?

Or has Apple abandoned me, a creative professional, for the mainstream? In the end I don't think the emotions matter, its about getting things done and while my new PC doesn't 'just work', it does work. It's a sweet machine that is stupidly light with plenty of battery life, but more than powerful enough to do my illustrations in photoshop. Like the one above which the machine did effortlessly and with battery to spare.

Does this mean I am over Apple?


Not at all, I can't imagine anything but an iPhone and I have my eye on the new Mac Pro for doing animation and other heavy digital lifting. 

Traitor? Let's just call it a cease fire, or perhaps an alliance. 

For an excellent creative review of the Surface Pro 3 go HERE

(I chose the Surface Pro 3 over the Cintiq Companion because of portability and cost. Wacom seems to think everything should be big and expensive.)

Update: A couple of issues with the Surface Pro 3 I should mention: 1) It has a lot of jitter on slow strokes, but is smooth with faster strokes. 2) I like to use it just as a tablet without the keyboard but it’s a compromise because I don’t have any shortcut keys.