Choose the right tool for your work

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I’m approaching my one year anniversary of owning a MacBook, and I’m incredibly happy with the service it has given me.

I still have my HP laptop on my work desk as the day-to-day machine, but the MacBook Pro 13 has been the tool I’ve used when travelling, when away covering events such as SXSW and Eurovision, and for a decent amount of use around the house as well. But last July the MacBook Pro had one main goal to fulfil – and I’m glad to say that no matter how much fun I am having with other areas, the primary role is a success.

That role is video editing.

Once I sat down with a bit of paper to list what I would need in any new machine, it was clear after Eurovision 2012 that I needed to be able to edit video myself competently. I had some PC tools, but they simply weren’t good enough. An Apple refurb MacBook Pro came in at a reasonable cost, and it had iMovie bundled with it.  I was able to define what I needed, I was able to match that up with the capabilities and software on offer, and I’ve never looked back. Video interviews, short stories, and the adventures of Terry Vision have all went through the Mac.

And to give you an idea what I’m cutting now at a ridiculously fast paced, have a look at this montage of Terry Vision interviews from Malmö, and my thirty second edit of the three and a half hour long Eurovision Song Contest from this year. I very much doubt I would be able to do that on a PC in the short time it took to do them on the Mac.

So a simple thought for today. Stop. Think. And choose the right tool for the job.

Part of my #back2blog community series of blog posts.