Minimalism
I’m an advocate for minimalism in life and so that includes getting shot of clothes, furniture, and anything not essential in my home or provide me with “love” in the classic Maria Kondo style.
So began a process to help move to that goal where I also started to rationalise and justify reasons for keeping … or selling …. some of my computer equipment and photo gear. I was not averse to getting new equipment if necessary if it would provide some longevity and stability over hopefully the next 5 years or so. So I’ll spend the next couple of posts on here describing my thoughts on:
- Computer equipment
- Photo equipment
I have a 27inch iMac (2014) and a laptop, an Apple Macbook Air (2014), both top specification at the time of purchase and both have done really well doing photo and video editing, plus the general day to day activities of email, web browsing and web design, and producing documents. My iPad Pro 9.7 inch (2016) was well-specced at the time of purchase too, and whilst it could do a lot, it was not a tool to handle file management or complex photo management. So out of necessity I always went back to either the iMac or laptop to back up discs and do photo and video production. Lately though I’ve started to see some limitations in ability in all the computer equipment, particularly when video and photo editing. PLUS I’ve gradually reduced my workload over the last couple of years as I reach retirement age and so now class myself as being semi-retired.
So my mind is drawn to the idea of trying to combine all that I do into possibly one device and just using that for everything.
The fly in the ointment to that idea though up till now has been file management and backup of discs. However, I’m lucky enough to be on the Apple Beta program for IOS13, a new operating system that is coming soon for the iPad (and iPhone) that will allow connection and handling of external disc drives. And from my use of the Beta software it looks good so far, so there’s hope on the horizon. Combine that with changes to improved iPad video and photo editing capabilities with apps like mobile Lightroom and a terrific video editor in Lumafusion, we’re now getting towards a viable integrated and powerful solution. Interestingly, Lumafusion already integrates seamlessly with a Western Digital (WD) Wireless external portable 500GB Solid State Drive (SSD) that I’ve recently bought in an Amazon sale. So I’ve been using Lumafusion for a little while now and it’s good enough for what I need to do for the future. So with Lumafusion on the iPad being so powerful for video-editing (more than on my iMac and laptop), and IOS13 is coming along soon I have invested in a 12.9 inch iPad Pro. With the iPad I hope I’m in a position to do just about everything I want to for the foreseeable future and can of course use it on my travels.
So in summary what have I decided on in terms of computer equipment:
- I’ve just sold the iMac 27 inch
- I’m keeping the Apple Macbook Air for now, just in case I might have to use it for file management purposes or to use any application that currently is only available on a desktop computer.
- I’ve bought a 12.9 inch iPad Pro (2018), Apple 2 pencil and Logitech keyboard. I’ve got Lightroom mobile with my Adobe subscription and I’ve already got Snapseed that I’ve had for some time. Photoshop for iPad is coming soon apparently. I’ve already bought Lumafusion (£20) for video editing.
- I’ll use both the WD wireless 500GB SSD and a 500GB Sandisk Extreme SSD that I already have.
- I’ve already got my photos and files on various portable WD and Lacie disc drives. To use them on the iPad I’ve had to buy a powered
Hopefully I’ve now got a solution that is minimalist and will last me a long while. I’ll let you know how things go at some stage in the future. I’ll also chat about my decisions on photo gear in another post.
