Techuisite Digest

03.26.2024: Affinity acquisition, YouTube tech reviews, and a Space Black MacBook.


This will be the third and final Newsletter for March. I missed February, though I did have a good excuse, but I wanted to do an extra one this month to make up for it. I am also making this one available for all, instead of my usual 2nd member-only version for the month.

I was hoping to discuss the new iPad today, but instead, Apple announced WWDC 2024. Exciting news, but I am not a developer, yet, so it isn't something I planned to discuss in today's Digest.

Anyway, thanks for subscribing and have a great week!

Affinity's Acquisition

Source: affinity.com

I wanted to include some thoughts on Apple's new iPads this morning since it has been rumored today is the day they are announced. Instead, news broke about some very bad news. I love Affinity products, I have been using Affinity Designer for Techuisite posts for years now, and the thought of Canva purchasing it makes me nervous.

The Verge has a great article going over the acquisition here. I have been using the old version of Designer for years now, but I am probably going to buy a license to Affinity Designer 2 now just so I have it in case things go bad.

The Affinity team deserves recognition for creating something that has inspired an acquisition and I hope that they are compensated a lot for what they are selling. The Affinity suite was one of those gems within the macOS, iPadOS, and iOS platforms and I hope it continues to be so after this acquisition.

If you have been thinking about buying Affinity products, now is the time to snatch up a one-time fee license for the suite of products. Who knows what the pricing will look like in the future but I am sure you will be paying a lot more once Canva has full control.

YouTube Tech Reviews

One thing I realized as I watched what felt like hundreds of YouTube videos going over the newest MacBook Air and MacBook Pros, was that all of these reviews are so biased on using a Mac for video development. This was not only frustrating as a non-video producer, but it got boring after a while.

I say this because after feeling this way I started to self-reflect on how I write my own reviews. Most times when I write about a device, I judge it on how I use it specifically, which most of the time is for my writing. A lot of people may not find that appealing or useful.

Since I started writing on Medium, I tried to stay away from the whole geekbench and try not to go overboard when talking about specs. But since writing is my creative craft, which I like to use my personal computers for, I think I may have a bias too in how I review technology.

This really didn't resonate until I watched a YouTube video by Alec Sullivan titled I Was Right About The M3 Pro.....:

I Was Right About The M3 Pro..... - YouTube

He made the point that experience and getting the gadget out of the way to get things done should be the focus in choosing technology. It is hard to not agree with this. We go overboard with how much this improved, or how much that didn't get a bump, that most of us don't care or would never know.

Though I titled this section specifically YouTube Tech Reviews, I myself plan to be better about trying to grasp the experience of these devices over my specific needs like for writing. I don't think it is bad to discuss your personal use of a device in a review, but for that to be the main focus I think is unhelpful to many.

Space Black MacBook

Space Black MacBook Pro

Speaking of experience, let's talk about my use of a M3 Space Black MacBook Pro. I found a really great deal on a base 18 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD that I just couldn't pass up, and yes, this is definitely my dream machine.

When I spoke about eventually buying my true Pro Computer a couple of months ago, I did say I wanted a 36 GB RAM and 1 TB configuration, but because this model was such a good deal, I had to try it out first before deciding on what configuration I truly needed. To be honest, I think 36 GB for me would be overkill, it is the SSD that has me a little leary on if I am settling on this machine.

Regardless of the specs though, this MacBook Pro is quite a computer. The Space Black is really amazing in person, and the display is just so beautiful. I can't help but want to use it all day at home and at work. Text is so crisp and colors are glorious. I downloaded a Basic Apple Guy wallpaper, called Graffiti, and "oh wow" do the colors just pop!

I have had some issues with the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED recently and I plan to go over more details in a post I am working on. Speaking of the specs above, one area that I know I have been lacking in my reviews that I found has been very important to me since using the Zenbook for an extended period of time is battery life.

Because my setup is mobile, due to having two kids now and not having the ability to go to my office as often as I used to, having a computer that I don't have to plug in constantly is something I realized is super important for me. Apple, and I am sure some Windows laptops too, offers other computers with great battery life, so the MacBook Pro isn't unique in this, but it is a huge benefit.

Space Black MacBook Pro

I will have a more thorough review of this MacBook Pro very soon. I plan to go back and forth with it and the Zenbook for another few days to flesh out my feelings compared to both. This isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, I am aware of that, but I think it would be good for me to do a somewhat side-by-side comparison with what I believe to be one of the best Windows laptops you can get and compare that to Apple's best right now.

My first impression of this MacBook Pro is that I don't ever want to let it go. It is hard to justify the price, even with the deal I got. But like Alec spoke about in the YouTube video that I linked above. It is all about experience and getting the technology out of the way, I think this MacBook Pro does that with its performance, beautiful display, and plentiful port offerings (the SD Card slot is a huge life improvement).

Subscribe to Techuisite

Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only issues.
Jamie Larson
Subscribe