This last week I picked up a sweet set of Mac gear! Now that I have a nearly full-time job, I thought that it might be nice to have a powerful setup so that I can work on personal creative projects away from my desk, whenever I manage to find some free time to do so.

But why Mac, you might ask, especially when I had put together a really nice Windows desktop not that long ago? I’ve never been one that’s been stuck to one platform. In fact, my first “real” computer experience was with an Amiga.

In high school during the late 90s I used Macintosh computers. It was there I learned a lot about Photoshop and printing. At the same time, at home, I had a Windows PC. So I became pretty used to going back and forth between the two system.

After college, around 2000, thanks to a friend I was able to get my hands on a PowerBook. I loved that laptop and it was my main computer for some time. I took it everywhere I went. A year later I also got the first generation iPod. I actually still have both of them.

I did eventually learn how to build Windows computers, and from then on I went back and forth between Macs and PCs, but I almost always had some kind of Apple product. Even when I had a pretty sweet Windows setup in 2004, I had an iBook. My last Mac, though, was an Intel-based Mac Pro around 2006. From then the only Apple products I had was the iPad, from the first one to a couple others since.

The iPad really changed everything. From the start I tried nearly every stylus that came out for it, trying my best to make it into a sketch pad. It wasn’t really until Apple made the Apple Pencil that that was a reality. Last year I got a iPad Air with the Apple Pencil and it was great… except one thing… that Apple Pencil was almost never charged when I wanted to use it. That really became frustrating.

Jump to today. I started thinking of upgrading to the iPad Pro with the 2nd Gen Apple Pencil. That one has the ability to charge right from the iPad itself. But wait… there is this thing called Sidecar which allows you to use your iPad as, basically, a “Wacom” for a Mac. And that’s when I started to think that I should finally get a new Mac and why not the modern equivalent of the PowerBook I loved all those years ago. It would give me the ability to work on personal projects (and I have many ideas) away from my desk, which has now become pretty much my place of work.

Of course, I should get a nice pair of AirPods so I can listen to music while I work… It also happens that my current Android smartphone was starting to go… Hmm… They just came out with a new iPhone…

ALL THE MAC PRO ARE BELONG TO ME! Muhahaha!

Ehem… Yeah, I might have gone a little overboard:

  • iPhone 12 Pro – 128GB – Graphite + iPhone White Silicone Case
  • AirPods Pro
  • iPad Pro – 12.9 inch – 256GB – Space Gray + Apple Pencil 2nd Gen + iPad White Smart Folio Case
  • MacBook Pro – 16 inch – 8-core i9 – 16GB – 1TB SSD

Whew, that’s a lot… Yeah, I’m a geek… and now very poor, BUT… I have plans (don’t I always have plans?).

But… what about the new Mac Silicon? I am well aware of that, but as it turned out, and I assumed, they only announced the MacBook Pro 13 inch for their Pro line. It will also take a little bit of time for some software to be converted over. These are the first generation of these chips. I think it’s safer to wait a little bit. I want to see what sort of high-end chips they come out with and maybe some redesigned hardware. So maybe when the second generation of the Mac Silicon comes out I’ll look into it.

On another note: It was almost 10 years ago that I got my Wacom Cintiq. That was a little bit after I got the first iPad. Now the two are in one device! It’s kinda neat to see the two of them next to each other.

This year has really been crazy in so many ways. Thankfully, I’ve been fortunate enough to find an awesome job that’s given me the opportunity to get these things and pursue some longtime goals.

I still need to get some software for the Mac, though, and time to get all my thoughts and plans together. The first big app will likely be Final Cut Pro (there’s that word again). As I mentioned when I paused Darkborn, I felt limited with the comic format. The “scenes” are more dynamic in my head than I can portray on a static image. I think it’s been a long time coming and comics have been mostly a holdover for what I always really wanted to do… animation.

But we’ll see how that goes. Time is at a premium for me right now and I can’t predict how it will pan out long term. If this 10 year old blog is anything it’s a testament to my perseverance, but also shows the reality of how long it can take to get a personal project off the ground. I will forever endeavor to move forward. And now I have some great, can we say, Pro tools to help me get there.

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