“When Apple redesigned its laptops earlier this month, most of the attention, including mine, was focused on the entry-level MacBook. That was because of its popularity, and because Apple managed to make over the machine in a way that added some oomph and lots of style while actually making it thinner and lighter and preserving battery life. But what about the MacBook’s big brother, the 15 inch MacBook Pro, a powerful, if pricey, laptop favored by many power users? My verdict on the Pro’s makeover isn’t nearly as favorable, because there were more tradeoffs,” Walter S. Mossberg reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The new MacBook Pro costs the same, high, $1999 price as the old one, and Apple (AAPL) does give you more for your money — a faster discrete graphics processor; the same radical new button-free trackpad that’s in the MacBook; bigger hard disks. It’s also a tad thinner,” Mossberg reports. “[But] the new MacBook Pro is actually a downgrade from the old model in a few areas. For one, it has grown slightly larger and heavier, with a 4% bigger footprint and a bit more weight (5.5 pounds versus 5.4 pounds for the old one.)”
Mossberg is concerned about battery life being less when using the new MacBook Pro’s more powerful graphics chip (users have a choice of using it or not) and Apple decision to not offer the option for a matte screen:
Mossberg writes, “The new MacBook Pro is that it still provides a satisfying upgrade for power users willing to spend the money to move up from the MacBook or from a less powerful, or similarly powerful, Windows machine running the inferior Vista or XP operating systems. But, for owners of the most recent prior MacBook Pro, the new model’s tradeoffs make an upgrade an iffy choice.”
Full review here.
MacDailyNews Note: Last week, we asked in an online poll of our readers, “Should Apple offer customers a matte screen option for MacBook, MacBook Pro?” The results:
• Yes – 57%
• No – 36%
• Unsure – 7%
Total votes: 1667
@MDN
Another idea for a pole.
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Instead of “Should Apple offer customers a matte screen option for MacBook, MacBook Pro?”
Where most people like a choice even if they are not going to take it, how about, to see if the current audience follows Apple data, “Did you buy a glossy or matte screen when given the choice?”
@Gloss Screen- No Sale
“An EFI USB dongle can make any old PC a full Macintosh for way less money. Tell your established customers F.U. at your own peril.”
Yup, I don’t think you are at all alone in that idea!
A high spec’ed mid-range PC (stuffed outta-sight under the desk), a 24-inch professional matte monitor rendering millions of colours (not thousands of colours interpolated up, as Apple’s now are) all topped off with an EFI USB dongle… could be the only way forward for most of us with an eye for quality.
@Gloss Screen- No Sale
Why do you have to tellus?
Just buy some other make of computer.
Hello, I’m a graphic professional and have been using computers for desktop publishing and vector and bitmap illustration since 1984. I currently work on my white Intel MacBook with a glossy screen. I prefer its glossy screen to the previous matte screens I have used; it’s a joy to work with. Too many of the anti-glossy postings on this and other sites seem to be written from the point of view of people who imagine they would hate glossy screens in spite of not having used them or not having had an opportunity to become accustomed to them (for some people all change is bad). I don’t know if it matters, but I’m now 62 years old, and I would think that if glossy screens were actually problematic for design work, I would have noticed by now. I do a LOT of work on this MacBook.
@Twenty Benson
Did you know that smoking kills?
Interesting survey, but isn’t this like quoting the polls after we already have the election results?
Apple, and as far as I am aware, only Apple, have the real votes. They know exactly how many customers prefer which display type.
The rest of us can argue back and forth which one we, and apparently by extension everyone else, prefers. But surely Apple must have counted the actual votes, and the verdict, after weighing in other factors, is they can go glossy and not offer the choice.
Does anyone seriously believe that Apple have seen a clear and overwhelming vote for matte but decided to go glossy anyway?
I do wonder if maybe the 17″ sales showed a preference for matte, and that will continue to offer a choice. Maybe some of you are right. Real pro’s prefer matte. Well, maybe real pro’s use 17″ too!
I’ll wait for the Rev.B MacBook Pro.
Hopefully Apple will smarten up and:
1.) PUT BACK the second FireWire port (like they did with the first MBP). Bump both to FW3200 while they’re at it!
2.) Offer a MATTE screen option for those who need/prefer it.
3.) Move the DisplayPort port toward the back of the machine (near the power cord), instead of in front to interfere with other cables.
You’ve really got to wonder what Apple, Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive are thinking sometimes. Apple has a history of given and taking at the same time and certainly not to the benefit of the us
Think about it: Apple at one point offered both matte and glossy. Now they offer just glossy. Every one of us knows that if matte had contributed a significant portion of their sales, they would not simply drop it.
Obvious fact: vast majority of people prefer glossy, only the noisy minority favor matte.
Kinda like the Dems….just the noisy minority (aka news media) that insist Obama is somehow going to win. Right.
Glossy glass screen is better, and Apple did the right decision to cut out the useless, ugly matte screen.
Listen up you assbaby whiners. Carry your ass over to PC if you dont like the glossy screen. You have no fscking choice. Period.
@PR,
“There is simply no good argument to be made in favor of a glossy screen on a laptop. Having owned a long series of Macs (and other computers) since the mid 1980’s the advent of a laptop with a glossy screen was ONLY for initial sales purposes NOT for real world use. If you are a graphics professional, or anyone who has to really use a mobile device for work….will be sorely disappointed by not being able to see the image clearly without reflections.”
AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.. You can easily make a gloss screen matte by adding an easily avalible film. You can also add a privecy film too. BUT YOU CANNOT make a matte screen glossy.
Glossy is better designed for darker rooms, true. I have a harder time reading the screen in my office vs my home. But I actaully ALMOST NEVER look at my screen. I have a 22 in diag screen that the MacBook powers and its matte and BIG and cheap. So,
bite me.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> er thats bite me with a smile. LOL
Just a thought.
en
@David Cramer
Let me get his straight. You’re a ‘graphic professional’ working ‘a LOT’ on a 15″ MacBook?? Man, I’d hate to see your colour corrections and double-page-spreads! No very convincing.
The fact is, Apple have pull these tricks before – it’s part of its strategy… Remove a product that people depend on and force them to buy the replacement Apple want’s them to buy. As most users have locked themselves into the Apple monopoly by investing thousands in OS X software… Apple know users have no choice but to submit. In some cases it works and has kept Apple a fit company – but attempting to force professionals to use inferior hardware tools that negatively affect the quality of their work and their working will NOT work. It begins to smell when Apple are boasting about the huge profits it makes and the very large pile of money it has sitting in the banks… slowly, as Apple gets more successful, everything starts to stink of that Microsoftian ‘screw the customer’ approach.
It has nothing to do with unknown Apple claims about ‘what its customers prefer’… and everything to do with Apple providing usable tools and support to its core customers. Did Apple even canvas opinion from its Pro graphics/photography/video/music base? (clearly not). The customer is always right… and if Apple begs to differ – it can wait and see what a large section of its loyal customers do.
“MacBook Pro offers an antiglare widescreen display that’s perfect for color-minded professionals” (Apple website – until recently)
I have a black MacBook with a Glossy screen and it’s fine. I don’t see reflections and the blacks are much darker, colours are more saturated and movies seem a lot clearer.
I have two 23″ widescreens on my MacPro and they were only £150 each. Cheap as chips!!!
I prefer the glossy screen. I guess you should turn off the big lights above your head and have subtle desk lamps either side. Feels far cosier that way and you don’t get reflection. Might save you a few quid on electricity as well.
I switched to Macs in 2002 and have liked them a lot. I have a PowerBook 12″ and a new Mac Pro desktop with a 20″ Apple Cinema Display. It’s close to time for a new laptop. But I don’t think I want a MIRROR for a display.
Windows is not that bad. I don’t want to switch away, and I love .Mac syncing between my Macs and my iPhone, but the new laptop displays are CRAP.
Thanks for nothing here, Steve Jobs.
“Does anyone know if there’s any way to make a glass screen matte?”
No, it can be frosted to reduce glare, but that’s not the same thing as a Matte LCD screen which uses Fresnel lense technology to provide a wide viewing angle while obliterating reflections. The surface of the Matte screen is like millions of prisms, and in order to function properly they need to be very on the outside surface and very close to the pixels. Glass, by nature, must be much too thick to work efficiently this way, simply to avoid breakage.
Unless Apple provides a non-glass Matte option, they’ll never sell another laptop or display to me.
There is a simple solution to this arguement you know. If you like it buy it, if you don’t like it don’t buy it. There is no one FORCING you to buy anything; you chose to fork over the money to get the product. Buyers have power over the company, if the company can’t or won’t produce what the customers want they lose money, and change their product or go out of business. Obviously Apple is still making money. So if you are that ticked off for a GOOD reason then stop buying.
I think this widely read (by stock market traders) lukewarm review had an impact on Apple’s stock price today (Monday). It was down 4.5%, while the NASDAQ was down only 3%. During the previous week, AAPL had out-performed the NASDAQ.
Twenty Benson: not thousands of colours interpolated up, as Apple’s now are
Wrong.
The smaller iMac has the only deskop screen with interpolation in Apple’s lineup, and almost all laptops from any manufacturer with extremely few expensive exceptions have such screens as well as the MacBooks.
The interpolation works quite well, though. Under almost all circumstances you won’t notice it at all.
Mr. Reeee: 1.) PUT BACK the second FireWire port (like they did with the first MBP). Bump both to FW3200 while they’re at it!
No, you can not!
It has been explained many, many times by now: With a glass pane significantly in front of the screen, such a film would irrecoverably blur the display image as well. Matte coating only works when there is no glass pane in front of the panel.
Mr. Reeee: 2.) Offer a MATTE screen option for those who need/prefer it.
In the new MacBooks the glass pane is unfortunately a structural element, so they could not remove it without adding a thick strengthening frame to the screen even if they wanted to do that. The new design has removed that possibility in effect. Which is why only the old 17″ model still offers matte. I’ve got one of these myself, and it has a solid but nowhere near as rigid screen as the new MacBook (Pro).
… he was reasonable with almost all his claims in this video about the MacBook but made a big deal of the lack of flash memory cards slots? WTF? Even the lack of FireWire seemed like a minor issue compared to the huge unbelievable mistake of not including the flash card reader. What a joke.
Oops — I misposted just above.
Just the corrected parts again:
Mr. Reeee: 1.) PUT BACK the second FireWire port (like they did with the first MBP). Bump both to FW3200 while they’re at it!
FW3200 would be very welcome, but the chips aren’t even available for that!
And the separate FireWire400 port in my “old” MacBook Pro is actually not separate, really. It is basically the same as plugging a FireWire800 to FireWire400 cable into your last FireWire800 device. The two are actually compatible (at the lowest common speed), despite the different-looking plug.
ElderNorm: AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.. You can easily make a gloss screen matte by adding an easily avalible film.
No, you can not!
It has been explained many, many times by now: With a glass pane significantly in front of the screen, such a film would irrecoverably blur the display image as well. Matte coating only works when there is no glass pane in front of the panel.
I hate to disagree but…: … he was reasonable with almost all his claims in this video about the MacBook but made a big deal of the lack of flash memory cards slots? WTF?
Uncle Walt obviously has a few card-carrying devices lying around…
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I was all ready to buy one, but now I’ve been waffling since I can’t wrap my brain around that fucking glossy screen…
Better graphics or energy savings is a big plus, people underestimate the GPU advantage because they don’t understand the technology roadmap. I use the trackpad customization from Leopard on my 12″ powerbook, and it’s VERY efficient compared to my friend with a 15″ MBP who doesn’t even know it exists. My other friend used trackpad controls when he had a Mouseworks pad before Apple bought it, and it greatly increased his workflow. As usual, most people won’t have enough foresight to see the technological advantages, until everyone else does. In my work, I’ve automated procedures with Filewrangler, Renamer, and Photoshop actions, which have shaved about 98% off the time it took to do these tasks manually. Whatever Apple gives you is most often very useful, but you have to implement these assets into your workflow to gain any benefit. 4% heavier? Is that even a talking point when you consider 4x more powerful graphics? I feel it’s nit-picking.
Fantastic, I would love to know how many people who claims that glossy is just as good (or better!) than matte, actually work with colours.
On a sidenote, a friend of mine who works at Gravis, Germanys largest Apple chain, told me that they basically never sold any MBPs with the glossy option at all. And this quite much mirrors my own experience: I have yet to meet a person with an MBP with a glossy screen.
The true reason behind all this is simply because Apple wants to serve the floods of ex-Windows users who knows nothing about colour accuracy and…finally…the production price (yes, glossy is less expensive).
@MacFan
`bite off you nose in spite of your face` much ?
@Predrag
“Once again, let me restate: Apple is selling exactly what the customers are asking for.
‘Try finding Windows laptops with matte screens. One out of every twenty out there.”
1 out of 20… perhaps the seemingly missing numbers are (or were) using macs?