[cool.aquarian]

Hi All,

I am looking forward to getting the new Intel Penryn+Santa Rosa based Macbook Pro basic model (2.4 GHz C2D, 200 GB HDD, 256 MB 8600M GT).

After a lot of thinking and reading opinions of other people I have finally made up my mind to get the one with glossy display.
I came to this conclusion as I will be using the notebook indoors only and within controlled lighting conditions, hence reflections wont bother me. So I dont want to miss out on the deeper contrast offered by glossy screen.
I am also not much into graphics design and print graphics, so accuracy of colors while printing is not required for me. I will be using the notebook primarily for Net-Surfing, web-development, movies and games.

Now comes the problem area:
I stay in India and I have come to hear from Apple-India that they do not import macbook pro with non-standard options. So they can only offer me matte display. After some persuation, a dealer has agreed to import one with glossy display for me, but he says I have to give the entire amount in advance and have to wait for about a month for it to arrive.
Also if some problem occurs in it later, it might take much longer to get it replaced as they won't have ones with glossy display to replace with.

So what do you people suggest me to do?
Is the risk of going for the glossy display by giving entire amount in advance and a wait of one month worth it?
Or should I give glossy display a miss and go for the standard matte display?
How much will I be missing the brighter and shining colors of glossy if I go for matte?
This will be my first Mac as I have only worked on PC since last 8 years.
And I would prefer to get my notebook sooner, as I cant wait tooooooo long.

Thanks for bearing with such a long reading.
Please provide me with ur advice on what I should do.

[naphtali]

Some questions/thoughts:
-How good is Apple India's support in general, that the bottleneck will be matte/glossy displays and not some other administrative issue?

-Unless your display fails outright I think the next time you'll need to deal with it will be if you crack it or a couple of years later when it starts to die off. At that time, it's likely that you'll have to wait for parts for either screen anyway.

So I guess the big worry here is if you get an outright lemon that you're really dissatisfied with from the get-go. I'm going to order a MBP soon too, so I've been reading around and there doesn't seem to be much of an issue with screens.


Waiting time
If you're dead set on the glossy screen and have a machine you can already work with then by all means wait for it.

One month seems rather long to import anything though. (Aside: I can kind of understand how that happens, from frustrating experiences mailing things to friends in India. I know the place is really huge, but really?)

Also, by then we'd be uncomfortably close to the next revision and you might feel bad about the whole situation.


Matte vs glossy
I've used matte displays all this while and the PowerBook/MacBook Pro displays are definitely great screens, matte or glossy. It seems more of the pros are choosing the matte so you'll definitely not be missing out on quality.

Movies and games will probably look great with the glossy screen but really, you ultimately can't miss what you don't know


By the way, did you struggle with the 2.5 GHz / 512MB graphics card issue? I'm wondering if it's worth that extra.

[MacosNerd]

Personally if the product is not generally sold in your country I'd not look to get a special unit. Support could be an issue, mostly in terms of getting parts for the display portion of the MBP. Also as you had mentioned the payment options and the wait time.

I've had both a MacBook with a glossy screen and a MBP with a matte screen. I prefer the matte myself but I don't think its a huge enough issue that you'd go out of your way to buy one with glossy.

just my $.02

[cool.aquarian]

ya, 1-2 weeks could have been fine, but a month is too long.

thanks 4 ur opinion about matte display.

Originally Posted by naphtali 

Movies and games will probably look great with the glossy screen but really, you ultimately can't miss what you don't know

u know, its human to want the best of what cud be in offer.
so i alwys feel like going for it.

Originally Posted by naphtali 

By the way, did you struggle with the 2.5 GHz / 512MB graphics card issue? I'm wondering if it's worth that extra.

are u asking abt being unable to decide b/w the two 15.4" macbook pro's??

For me, the price difference b/w them is simply not worth it (at least performance-wise). The Additional 256 MB VRAM or the 0.1x2 GHz cpu with L6 cache won't affect my work at all.
There are lot more useful ways I can spend that 500 bucks.
I would buy it only if someone gives me extra $500 and exclusively instructs me that I can spend them only by buying the higher end 15" model.

[cool.aquarian]

My only concern about matte display is that:
1. It might show even the deeper blacks in grey shades only
2. I heard that matte surface is a little grainy and thus colors will appear more diffused (less sharper)than glossy.
How true and noticeable are these observations?

[MacosNerd]

I've not noticed any of these issues and to be honest I've not even heard about those concerns.

[bballe336]

I have the matte screen and there is no way I'd trade it for the glossy. The glossy screen shows smudges more easily and misrepresents colors. There is a reason that all of the cinema displays (pro displays basically) are matte only.

[pat++]

I have a matte display, and there is no way I would trade it for a glossy display. This screen very very good. I wouldn't wait for the glossy screen. It's really not worth it...

[siQness]

yes the wait is worth it, i just got mine a few weeks ago, even though it said 2-3weeks i got mine in a week and a half. the glossy hd looks so nice.

[mduell]

The glossy screen gives sharp reflections while the matte screen gives diffuse reflections. Which is better/worse depends on what you're doing with it.