[amazing]

Yeah, I know glossy is popular and works for many, many people. Those people shouldn't bother reading this thread and can even go test their knee-jerk posting reflexes elsewhere.

This post is for people who know they prefer matte, and it's regarding a brief loophole where you can get matte at a good price--because glossy laptops are definitely in everybody's future, will ye, nill ye. Don't need to be a soothsayer to tell you that, right?

Here's where I come from: PB100, 180, 145B, Duo (plus dock and mini-dock), 5300CE, Ti, 14" iBook, and 12" AlPB. I've had passive matric screens, active matrix screens, and the crippled super-iBook screen in the 12" PB. I've had heavy laptops, and light laptops.

Lightweight is good, excellent screens are necessary, the longer the battery life, the better things are. If you can't find all of these things in one laptop, you look for the mostest features you can find in your budget-range. You prioritize your preferences. For me, it's not-breaking-the-bank, matte, good viewing angles that won't give me eyestrain, good battery life, all without being crippled in the connection-to-other-stuff department. Longevity is good.

I've been reconciled to going for an MB, up until they went super-extra-glossy and eliminated firewire, which I use on a daily basis.

So I jumped on a clearance previous-generation 2.4 MBP with a $150 rebate, which is what I'm posting this from. Excellent matte screen, superb viewing angles (compared to the very restricted new MBs), all the connections I love including expresscard, and finally the illuminated keyboard (which I never thought I'd love until finally getting it...)

What I notice is how much my eyes are thanking me. Coming from the 12" PB, I'm noticing how I unconsciously had adapted to always adjusting the screen up and down for readability. Got to the point where I didn't even notice I was doing it, mostly. Now, I'm no longer bobbing my head to get a better view of what's at the bottom of the document, or shifting the laptop side to side. So, I'm remembering how much I missed the great Ti screen when going to the 12" AlPB

All this for $150 less than the $1600 2.4 MB. Yes, I'm lugging .9 lbs more, and it's wider and deeper. In summary, here's what I'm getting (and where the $150 savings is being spent, after more RAM):

--excellent and roomy matte screen with great viewing angles, no glossy reflection bobblehead-doll neck gyrations. Much less eyestrain.

--tons of connections, and have ordered a usb/esata case and esata expresscard. Great for longevity.

--better battery life than the new MB. An extra 20-30 minutes is hugely appreciated.

--a Kensington lock-slot that works vs an oopsie-we-didn't-check-the-sidewall-thickness-MB. An industry-common video connection.

I finally getting around to enjoying a model that tons of you have had for ages--and maybe this post will help you in staying satisfied with what you've got?

[fisherKing]

i was in an apple-authorized store this afternoon, for my second look at the new macbook.
it was sitting next to a white macbook, and made an interesting comparison.

when the macbooks first came out, i passed on them, i didn't like the glossy screen. anyway...next to the new macbook, the older one is a LOT LESS reflective...and the colors are better (i checked display preferences, so that they matched).

disappointing! the new macbook makes a great mirror. i find my eyes shifting focus, between the reflections, and the image onscreen.

i want a new macbook, i mean...i want a small, light apple laptop. shame i only have one choice, with a mirrored screen (and no firewire).

aaargh!

[amazing]

Funny how the new extra-glossy makes the old glossy look acceptable..even when I remember being convinced when the first glossy MBs came out that the screen wouldn't work for me.

Yes, I imagine I'm gonna miss the smaller, lighter 12" when I've been lugging this 5.4 lbs around for awhile. But I certainly can't do without firewire. The testing on the new MB shows that USB 2.0 is finally getting close to firewire 400, but that only makes me wonder why Apple didn't find room on the MB for fw-800?

One big consolation is that I've got Sheepshaver running 9.04 on the MBP. Real blast from the past playing Shanghai II, pretty much the best-looking Mahjong solitaire game I've seen.

[fisherKing]

i am also moving from a 12" powerbook (which was my favorite mac); i want a small notebook, but need firewire, and hate the glossy screen. apple could care less (and so i'm not caring about apple right now).

the macbooks i looked at today have the same desktop picture (orange and black images, for halloween), and the older macbook had deeper color, and less reflection (the new pro looked really good tho, even next to the older matte-screen pro; a surprise to me, as a glossy-screen hater).

will stick with my desktop, and see what 2009 brings (but am not holding my breath). i could do the new pro, but i REALLY want a 12" or 13" pro machine. c'mon apple!!!

[amazing]

Having had the PB 100, a Duo, and the 12" PB, I love small, lightweight laptops. But I've found that I'd rather not do without a screen that I like. My preference ranking has evolved to

#1 = good matte screen,
#2 = small(ish).

Getting a good matte screen on the 2.4 MBP has come to trump the smaller form factor of the MB. When you add in the lack of firewire, that's the death knell of the MB for me. Especially when I can get an MBP for less than the equivalent MB.

And I've been thru enough of Apple's laptop design decisions that were driven by marketing concerns to know that they won't be paying much attention to any of my druthers. About the only time I've seen bow to user pressure was when they first introduced the MBP with fw-400 but dropped the fw-800--they added it back in with the next revision. So there is very faint hope for the rev of the MB. And that was driven as much by the dreadful publicity they got for the terrible quality control on the first generation.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by amazing 

An industry-common video connection.

Mini DisplayPort isn't even an industry standard, much less common; it's proprietary to Apple.

[amazing]

ah, another proprietary Apple display connection? How original!

[Zen551]

I dunno.

I had a glossy Macbook Pro (first gen)

and now I have matte Macbook Pro (Early 2008/Late 2007) with the LED screen

I have to say that I liked the glossy better.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by Zen551 

I dunno.

I had a glossy Macbook Pro (first gen)

and now I have matte Macbook Pro (Early 2008/Late 2007) with the LED screen

I have to say that I liked the glossy better.

i never cared for the glossy macbook screen, but the new macbook is more "glassy", overly-reflective...and makes the earlier macbook look pretty good (sigh)...

[amazing]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Mini DisplayPort isn't even an industry standard, much less common; it's proprietary to Apple.

According to Peter Cohen at MacWorld, it does appear to be part of the industry standard. Nobody else is using it, and Apple will be the only mfg with displays that ONLY use displayport--but that's a separate discussion. People with "marooned" ADC displays will perhaps have learned their lesson about early adoption of Apple display trends?

http://www.macworld.com/article/1361...ayportfaq.html

[mduell]

Originally Posted by amazing 

According to Peter Cohen at MacWorld, it does appear to be part of the industry standard. Nobody else is using it, and Apple will be the only mfg with displays that ONLY use displayport--but that's a separate discussion. People with "marooned" ADC displays will perhaps have learned their lesson about early adoption of Apple display trends?

http://www.macworld.com/article/1361...ayportfaq.html

Who is Peter Cohen and what are his credentials in this field?
The DisplayPort 1.1a standard (you can read it for free at vesa.org) does not specify Mini DisplayPort; Mini DisplayPort (at least mechanically, and possibly electrically and logically) is proprietary to Apple.

[0157988944]

Mini Display Port is a proprietary connector, seemingly, and the fact that Apple doesn't seem to be including MDP > DP connectors with new Macs at the very least is annoying. This is an aggressive push to keep consumers inside the Apple ecosystem.