[Arroz]

Hi!

I need to make a decision ASAP between an 17 MBP with regular or HD display.

My main use is programming, so I need to handle a lot of text. What seduces me in HD is that I keep opening more and more windows (eclipse, safari, documentation, terminal, ichat, etc) and I never seem to have enough space. So, the bigger, the better.

But of course, I'm worried about the text readability. Is text too small to read on these HD displays? Or is it big enough? Text on HD will be about 14% smaller than the regular display, the difference doesn't appear to be very significative, but who knows.

Going to an Apple Store is not an option (no Apple Store in Portugal). Yet, I have been on UK last week, and tried one of these Macs. I downloaded a screenshot of Eclipse, and the code seemed perfectly readable. But of course, one thing is using it for 5 minutes on the store, the other is using it many hours a day.

So, bottomline - is the 17 HD display good for reading and writing text? Or is it too small?

Yours

Miguel Arroz

[imitchellg5]

No. They made it so it's impossible to read anything.

It's fine for reading.

[Arroz]

Hi!

Originally Posted by imitchellg5 

No. They made it so it's impossible to read anything.

It's fine for reading.

Well, obviously you can read! What I meant to ask is if it's confortable for using many hours a day, or if you end up doing a big effort to read small-sized text, with the obvious consequences on your eyesight.

Yours

Miguel Arroz

[Geofries]

Miguel Rice?

[iamnotmad]

Wow, imitchellg5 must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today.

To me it's very readable, the only redeemable thing about this most recent update is that the hi-res 17" is LED. That's what I am looking to get. I have a Dell latitude for work that is 1920x1200 but only on a 15.x" display. I like very hi-res, small text though. I think the real answer to your question will only be answered by you using it since everyone's eyes will adjust to it differently.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Arroz 

Hi!



Well, obviously you can read! What I meant to ask is if it's confortable for using many hours a day, or if you end up doing a big effort to read small-sized text, with the obvious consequences on your eyesight.

Yours

Miguel Arroz

Nah, it's pretty comfortable. Have you used an iPhone/iPod touch? If you can read that fine, then you won't have any issues at all with the HD screen. Of course, if it really bothers you you could always get a cheap low resolution CRT too.

[Love Calm Quiet]

I don't know what code editing software you're using...
But isn't there a preference to allow you to increase the font size by a point or two if you need to?

[Kadarin]

I haven't had a problem with mine. (Disclaimer: My eyesight is 20/20.)

[mduell]

Yes, text is very readable. If you have particularly poor vision you can just make the text bigger; it will still look better.

[Simon]

IMHO 1920x1200 on a 17" is ok. I wouldn't want that resolution on a 15" (unless I have a fully resolution-independent UI), but on the 17" it's usable. The LED backlighting on the new 17" MBP is a nice improvement too.

Of course things like these are personal preferences and you should see it for yourself to be able to judge if it's ok for you.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Simon 

Of course things like these are personal preferences and you should see it for yourself to be able to judge if it's ok for you.

[jjahshik32]

I've owned the 17" hi res non led sr model and I ended up selling it because no led. I would love to buy the 17" led model and while the sr model was a 1920x1200 at first the text and everything was too small for my eyes and I ended up squinting. But after a few days I've gotten used to it and I loved the screen, especially when you have the laptop on your lap and its like a huge screen just infront of you look at webpages and run parallels and run a movie or 2 on one of the corners!!

I'm serious debating right now on selling my 2.8ghz 8 core mac pro with 16gb of ram and selling my 2.4ghz sr mbp and opting for the 17" mbp led hi res model just as my 1 sole computing needs. I love the 17" while its portable and the mbp's are pretty light and it works great on a desk as well.