“As of last week’s special launch event, Apple has finally answered the call for an updated MacBook Pro, giving its flagship mobile an overhaul on both the outside and the inside. And boy, are there a lot of changes. A single unibody enclosure. An expanded, button-free trackpad. Multiple GPU units,” Clint Ecker and Jacqui Cheng report for Ars Technica.
“In a controversial move, Apple now offers only glossy screens on its MacBook Pro line. Previously, customers had a choice… Consumers in general—and especially crotchety Mac users—love arguing about glossy vs. matte. Everyone has their personal preferences, and the matte group is particularly vocal about their intense hatred for Apple’s decision,” Ecker and Cheng report.
“Apple’s excuse for going glossy-only is that there is only a small group of users who still use matte, while the vast (‘with a capital V,’ says Steve Jobs) majority of consumers like the contrast and color pop that glossy screens offer. This we can’t argue with. Nearly everyone we spoke to who considers themselves an “average” computer user preferred glossy screens for that exact reason. Where the real argument comes in, at least among our readership and the tech world, is whether glossy is preferable to graphic and video professionals,” Ecker and Cheng report.
MacDailyNews Note: You can easily make a glossy screen matte, but you simply cannot make a matte screen glossy. Apple MacBook, iMac screens too glossy? Apply inexpensive non-glare film – November 05, 2007
Ecker and Cheng continue, “Apple has introduced one, two, three, and four-finger multitouch gestures with this machine—more than any previous Mac laptop. The usual ones are all there—two-finger scrolling, pinch and zoom, document rotation, and two-finger-right-click. But now, if you’re using a new MacBook Pro, you can also use three fingers to go back and forth in Safari, for example (three finger swipes do different things in different applications). Four finger swipes let you switch between apps like you would with Command+Tab, and four-finger swipes up and down activate Exposé and/or expose your desktop. This doesn’t seem like much to fawn over on paper, but once you get used to some of those four-finger swipes, you’ll fall in love.”
Full review (part one; part two coming tomorrow) – recommended – here.
For two grand, it better love me back, “long, long time”…
You are saying this as if the old one was $500…
I have a 23 month old 15″ MBP. It’s a great computer!
I saw one on Saturday at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. There were unbelievable lines and the store was absolutely PACKED…
Then new MBP is gorgeous! It feels much thinner and lighter than the current “old’ MBP. The milled aluminum shell is stunning! Apple has rewritten the book on laptops… AGAIN!
The monitor port is the closest port to the user, the FRONT of the machine. I could see this interfering with the other cables. Strange choice.
The glossy screen is a tragic flaw. It’s a real shame.
Mike, I just sold my 2006 MBP for $1,250 on ebay. Goes a long way toward justifying the upgrade. I LOVE this new machine!
“. . . once you get used to some of those four-finger swipes, you’ll fall in love.”
The same could be said for prison.
The complaining about glossy-only screens is really, really getting on my nerves.
After Leopard came out last year, I went into an Apple store fully intending to get a MacBook with a non-glossy screen. After trying the glossy vs. non-glossy demo models in the store, I felt very confident going glossy instead. I’ve never once regretted that decision.
It’s really not the big deal the anti-glossy folks want you to think it is.
Well, I chose the glossy screen a year or two back (whenever they were new) because of the ‘pop’ factor in the AppleStore, and I have no real problems — or at least, I’d rather have the luscious colour and the occasional reflection, rather than matt and duller.
The glossy’s been fine for Quark, Photoshop and movie editing, so no worries! Guess I’ll have to wait another season before springing for a replacement MBP though, as mine still trundles along nicely.
@ Reeee or is it eeeeR
“The monitor port is the closest port to the user, the FRONT of the machine. I could see this interfering with the other cables. Strange choice.”
Perhaps if they were standing on the head like obviously you were.
From the anti-glare site. seems this may not be a solution either
The anti-glare films are not recommended for color critical applications. Our “AR” crystal clear film would be best for color critical situations but then the only benefit is the protection that the film offers.
MDN says:
> You can easily make a glossy screen matte, but you simply cannot make a matte screen glossy.
When you put a glass cover over the actual LCD, those matte fuzz filters don’t work very well. Why? Because the glass puts a space between the LCD and the matte fuzz filter.
They work fine when applied directly to the glossy LCD because there is no space between the matte fuzz filter and the image. It should look like an regular LCD with a matte fuzz coating applied. Apple’s design, except for the old style MacBook, makes this impossible, because of that glass cover.
“Graphic and video professionals” used to use glass (glossy) surface flat-screen displays all the time. They were called CRTs. There was not an outcry for a matte option, because the displays were bright, just like these new LED backlit displays from Apple.
The updated MBP – just sucks.
Who gives a rats arse about a “unibody” – I want speed and performance – you Mac people are all just sick.
Where the heck is the quad-core Intel Laptop? HP announced theirs over a month ago!
The Price?? – GIve me a break – why pay $2499 when you could get a MacBook for almost a grand less and 95 percent of the features? Who cares about a dying port standard Firewire – it is going away by 2010 anyway, and the extra graphics chip is only good if I log out and log back in to do what – play COD4??? – Save a bunch of coin and buy an XBOX or PS3 – and get the BlueRay drive that Apple refuses to include!
Man – what a waste from Steve this time around!!!
@ken1w
Good point about CRTs! I hadn’t even thought of that.
The glossy v. matte battle rages!
This is what I don’t get you glossy haters: if you’re a graphics professional on a MBP you demand accurate color and portability (since you’re working on a laptop). OK, if color is so important to you, move someplace where reflections are not a problem (just pick up your computer and go). Is that so hard? I would wager if color is SO important to you, you would be working on a professional monitor, not a laptop.
The other argument I hear goes something like “I work on a computer all day reading and editing text. It hurts my eyes, I can’t look at reflections all day, etc. Glossy sux!” In this case, use an anti-reflective film would be perfect. If you’re editing text you don’t need accurate color. Problem solved.
Am I wrong? I’m interested in hearing what the matte fan have to say. They sure are a vocal minority…
@ken1w
I know this video professional (of over 26 years) has always worked in an edit suite with the lighting of a cave. Sure I’m not going to complain about reflections. But when I had to take a CRT into a normal office for display, there was usually a glare problem.
Even in the home I had to keep floor lamps away from the couch to keep from watching myself during dark scenes on the TV.
Glossy screens are old tech that has been gone just long enough to be brought back as “new and innovative”.
Sure, I’ve used plenty of glossy screens over the years, when I didn’t have a choice. But when I have a choice, I choose matte.
“once you get used to some of those four-finger swipes, you’ll fall in love.”
I’ve found most girls like the three fingers (The Shocker) but others need the fourth (The Shocker Plus).
OK, if color is so important to you, move someplace where reflections are not a problem (just pick up your computer and go). Is that so hard? —mm
You’re obviously not a graphics professional or you wouldn’t make such an absurd suggestion. Say you’re a designer overseeing a print run at the printing plant. Changing your location is not an option. Say you’re working on a project at 30,000 feet and all the reading lights are on in the row behind you. Can’t change your location. I could go on and on.
The only location that really works for these glossy screens, imho, is a completely dark room. Great! Just don’t work during the day. No problem! HAH!!!
“Graphic and video professionals” used to use glass (glossy) surface flat-screen displays all the time. They were called CRTs. There was not an outcry for a matte option, because the displays were bright, just like these new LED backlit displays from Apple.”
When was the last time you looked at a CRT? Most were convex, not flat, which happens to make reflections look smaller, and many also had anti-glare coatings on the glass.
The biggest issue is viewing angle. A glossy screen is fine when you are sitting directly in front, but the moment you look from the side …. nothing but reflection. We use our matte screened PBook as a TV in our kitchen precisely because of the non-reflection wide viewing angle. My wife took one look at the new MB/MBPs and simply said “They won’t do”. No sale.
I bought a MacBook Core duo three years ago. Glossy only.
Last Saturday, I went to the nearest Apple Store to look at the new MacBooks, and they are fantastic! the screen is even nicer than the one on my old MB, brighter, cleaner colors. The glare wasn’t any worse than I am already used to on my old one – that is to say, not a bother at all.
I do some amateur photography, and the colors for that on the new MB are truly outstanding. Glare on my current one isn’t a bother at all.
Gonna get a new one next spring after I empty my Juniper card.
@Brau:
CRT’s were reflective, but less so than the super-shiny glass panels Apple is using to cover the entire face of their machines. People didn’t complain because there was no other option. Now there is. Why take that option away? Who benefits but Apple? No one!
The argument between glossy and matte is one of habit. People have been told they need matte for color work, and they need matte to avoid reflections.
The fact is, Apple has seen that matte displays don’t sell well next to glossy ones. When people buy, they buy glossy. People who need a wide gamut for color work, should buy a standalone display, they have wider gamut, though the LED backlights Apple has been using for the MBP have class-leading gamuts, according to professional photogs.
In the old days, reflections were bad. Part was due to the dim display being overpowered by the background light. Part was due to the glass being far in front of the monitor surface, causing some people to have focus eyestrain issues.
Nowadays, in particular with the bright LED displays, the issue of reflections is far far less. It’s like a house at night with its lights on inside. You can see perfectly clearly inside. During the day, you see a reflection off the window. The key is to have the light of the monitor be brighter than the light from the source of the external reflection. With a bright LED, that’s the idea.
Steve is just highlighting the odd situation where people say they want one thing, and go and buy another. There’s a vocal minority on this issue, as we’ve seen on MDN. Legit reason or not, the vocal minority do NOT want to discuss the issue rationally. They just say it’s a deal-breaker and that’s that. I say, good riddance, go buy another laptop, if they’re so unhappy.
The DisplayPort being to the front is a minor issue. My 12″ AluPB has its mini-VGA port to the front as well. Exactly as the new laptops have them. It is a minor issue, though I would prefer it to the back.
@Cubert,
That’s what *she* said…
ba-doom, tsch!
Thank you, thank you… I’ll be here all week… don’t forget to tip your waiter….
“I bought a MacBook Core duo three years ago. Glossy only.”
Dang, you beat everyone else by about 6 months….
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@ Brau
> When was the last time you looked at a CRT? Most were convex, not flat, which happens to make reflections look smaller, and many also had anti-glare coatings on the glass.
I use one now. It’s a huge (once high end) display that I got at a surplus store for about $100 a few years ago. 21-inch 1600×1200 totally FLAT screen, Sun Microsystems branding, Sony tube. The surface is glass. I can see reflections if I intentionally look for them, but they do not bother me because the display is so bright. That’s my point. The new LED backlit displays are very bright.
> A glossy screen is fine when you are sitting directly in front, but the moment you look from the side …. nothing but reflection.
Most people use laptops as computers, looking at it directly from the front. Not as TVs in the kitchen.
just use an anti-glare film. there are some really good ones out there. plus they do last a long time. I’ve been using an anti-glare film since i bought my MBP glossy 15months ago. trust me they work great and i get way better picture than i would of with a matte screen.