Macbook and Accessibility- Ultimate guide for all Abilities !

G’day friends and welcome to another week and another blog post!!!

If you guys saw my instagram stories during the last week or so, you will know that my much loved Lenovo Yoga 910 decided to say goodbye unexpectedly. And so I needed a new laptop asap as I had Uni deadlines around the corner.

I immediately texted my brother who is super smart when it comes to technology and asked him to help me figure out what computer was best after I had nailed it down to three computers.

He originally said to me that there was no point in trying to sell me an Apple product when I despised Apple. Apart from owning an iPod back in the day I have been Android all the way.

However as I got down to the business end of deciding a laptop, the three I had chosen weren’t ticking some of my boxes. That I will get to later.

At the end of the day I did the one thing that I said to my brother I wouldn’t. I bought an Apple Macbook and tablet. Double whammy I know!

So I want to talk about my first week using a Mac and why I honestly think it is the best purchase thus far and all the things that make this super accessible for anyone!!

Lighter the better

a weight wrack with silver dumbbells on them
Photo by Ivan Samkov: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silver-dumbbells-on-black-steel-rack-4164766/

So very quickly, I had a list of things that I needed a laptop to be able to do, both right now and have the capability to do in the future.

However above all else the most important thing is that it needed to be LIGHT! I mean feather light. I needed to be able to carry it around the house and put it in a tote bag that would then break my back or make me fall to the floor due to the weight of my bag.

Me and lifting things is never fun and the heavier something is, the more I can get thrown off balance by trying to carry it. So therefore, lightweight was crucial.

One computer I was looking at weighed over 2kg. I was nearly about to buy it because it was a 2-in-1 like I had previously, but the fact it weighed a ton to me was the nail on that coffin.

So what was it?

The Macbook and Ipad on my coffee table still in their boxes. The fronts of the boxes are facing the camera. The coffee table is black with white flowers on the left and a wood diffuser on the right of the boxes

So I ended up going for the Macbook Air M2 base model in the colour Starlight, and the Ipad Air base model also in Starlight.

Despite all the controversy in the tech world with the M2 chip and the 256gb being ‘slower’ than the M1 chip in the 2020 Mac Air, I honestly haven’t had an issue with it yet. And the whole thing about GPU and what not, still makes no sense to me.

The colour is absolutely amazing and it ticks the light category by only being around 1.2kg, and still powerful to do all my study work and things I want to do in the future post study.

Not to mention I needed a good camera for volunteering and taking courses remotely given our crazy times so this has certainly delivered.

Why Tablet and Macbook?

So good question. It sounds extra extravagant and my bank account definitely felt it, but both were a necessity.

I loved having a 2-in-1 as I loved the touchscreen. It made productivity so smooth.

However the 2-in-1 laptops currently in the market are either way too expensive or weigh a ton and have faults in one part of it.

So it made sense to have a Macbook and a tablet for ease of having two screens instead of split screening everything or having to buy a monitor. And so far so good!

And not to mention in keeps the weight down! Winning!

Accessible heaven!

the accessibility screen of my computer set up showing all the different choices for accessibility

Okay when I signed into the Macbook Air I honestly was blown away by the accessibility options that makes this laptop feel totally accessible for anyone no matter their ability.

I don’t know much about the other computers in the market at the moment but I haven’t heard of any other companies doing this!

So I want to quickly break all this down for you in terms of what accessibility features are on the Mac Air!

  1. Vision

For all my vision impaired friends there are several options you can enable. Such as voice over, that will read to you the words and also braille that is on the screen and also utilises the keyboard. You can zoom in further and can also adjust the colours on the screen to suit your needs. There is also an option to have a description of photos and other visual media spoken to you!

2. Hearing

For my friends needing a little more help in the hearing department, there is the option to have the screen flash at you when there is a notification or alert. Not to mention the trusty captions that you can select in various sizes to suit you.

3. Motor

If you need adjustments to do with motor skills there is an option that allows you to control your computer by speaking directly to it. Keyboard shortcuts so you don’t have to use the entire keyboard and also pointer and switch control that enables you to use different devices to use your laptop.

I am in love

As soon as I saw these options on the Macbook I knew I had to do a blog on it, to hopefully help you if you have family and friends in need of a new laptop.

Obviously I am not a big enough blogger to be sponsored by Apple or have a promo code to give you, but I desperately wanted to give you my opinion.

It is great to see tech companies making their products super accessible and adaptable to anyone’s needs instead of downloading extra apps or buying different products.

So far, I am absolutely in love with my laptop and I am super grateful that my brother told me it would be worth it and was suitable for me.

I hope this blog did the same for you if you needed it.

Till next week,

Rhi

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