Hi, Siri will not be part of mac but we do have a powerful speech recognition system and have had it for quite some time. You have to write for it to make it nearly useful, but it should be able to do whatever you want it to do with the right command processing. A good place to gather info is http://www.apple.com/mac they list all the macs and their characteristics. if you want, you can use a usb keyboard on a macbook but as far as voiceover is concerned, yu don't have to use the numpad although it can increase efficiency. I use a macbook pro and have not found anything that I cannot do fairly easily without a num pad. On Dec 7, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Jean Menzies wrote: Hello all, I am just beginning my adventure into the Apple world, and will be getting an iPhone later this month. I have also decided to switch to a Mac sometime next year, as our PC needs replacing and, well, my investigations tell me that the Mac world is a great place. A first question as I am trying to get oriented to this new environment. Can people share their observations as to the various Mac versions? Having always used a numberpad, I am hesitant to go to a Macbook without one. But I also know not to compare Jaws to VO or Windows to the Mac. Just wondering about the ease of use between the Macbooks and the full keyboard Apple PCs. And, I'm just curious. No one knows, but do you think they might introduce Siri and the Dictate feature now on the iOS5 4s iPhone into the operating system for the Mac? When did the Lion operating system come out? And a final note of thanks so far. Thanks to John. I found the Mac4theblind website and it is a wonderful resourse. Thanks to Bubba, who has shared many links for valuable resources. And, Mike Arrigo, if you're on this list, I have listened to all of your Mac podcasts on BlindCoolTech. What a trip, and thanks for doing those. It's amazing to see the progress. Even by the 2nd or 3rd one, I knew that the Mac was a good product. Looking forward to my Apple plunge. Jean On the other hand, you have different fingers __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 6691 (20111207) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com -- Jonnie Appleseed with his Hands-On Technolog(eye)s reducing technology's disabilities one byte at a time ************ You are subscribed to the mac4theblind mailing list. The url for this list, where one can unsubscribe or make any changes to their list subscription is: //www.freelists.org/list/mac4theblind The list archive is located at //www.freelists.org/archive/mac4theblind/ All emails intended for the list owner can be sent to: john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx