So much for the lower prices!!!!!

So much for the lower Prices!!!!

SO!!!!

Time for the fanboys to chime in about why glossy screens are better when those of us who have to stare at screens all day doing intricate graphics work know they are a perversion. Bring it on.

I'm extremely disappointed in Apple's decision to go with Glass Displays as the only display option for their notebooks. I've been waiting to purchase the new MacBook Pro. I guess I'll have to get my hands on an "old" MacBook Pro before they're all gone. The reflection and glare on the glass display make it a deal breaker for me. I hope creative professionals like myself give Apple an earful about this disastrous decision. Maybe if we stop buying Apple, they will listen. I doubt it. Unbelievable. I'm just shaking my head. What are you thinking, Apple?!

I've already posted feedback on http://www.apple.com/contact/feedback.html

Amazingly, the last non-glossy MacBook Pros are now under Exchange/return programs for bad nVidia chips.

I'm using glossy screen on my Macbook Pro from 2006 as a professionall graphics designer. I prefer this one then mat version.

If there is no matte option, I'll be selling my early 2007 15" MacBook Pro, and buying one of the outgoing 15" MacBook Pros with MATTE LED-lit display. That will be my last Mac portable purchase until they bring back the matte display.

"Think Different?" Come on Apple, give me a break. Glossy displays started on PC laptops, and when I saw them then, I thought they were horrible. I was sure glad Apple wasn't using them. If you're going to be a follower, don't follow BAD ideas.

It would be interesting to see actual sales numbers on gloss vs. matte for MacBook Pro's since the gloss option was offered.

I am curious why they have gone all glossy displays. They have an option now, so why not continue the option but just charge extra for the non-standard matte screen? They charged extra for the color black for a MacBook after all. If their sales are showing more glossy being sold, they could make up the difference in replacing screens for a few with a $50-$150 installation/customization charge.

Perhaps there are availability issues for good matte screens? Maybe they know something about future availability? ::shrug::

I was thinking of getting one of these new MacBooks, but not with a glossy screen. It seems the only decent Mac I can now buy is a MacPro and use a decent monitor on it. But they are too expensive, so no new Mac for me for awhile and at least two lost sales for Apple (I would have bought a new iMac if not for the glare screen).

Obviously, Apple is going after the consumer who is easily distracted by shinny things and dropping out of the professional market that needs to be see the screen without glares and with accurate color reproduction.

The funny thing is, back in the 80's all the CRTs are glossy and you had to buy glare screens to use them without eye strain. Then the matte screens solved that problem. Now back to glossy screens. Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them...


Sad day.

To all creative professionals and anyone else who know first hand the importance of a matte display on a notebook computer! Please call Apple's Customer Relations Department NOW to voice your opinion on Apple's decision to abandon the matte finish display. Call 408-974-2042, select zero for the operator, the ask for the Customer Relations Department. Log your complaint NOW. I just called to say that the Glossy Display is a deal-breaker for me. I was ready to buy a new MacBook Pro today. It's not going to happen now. Log your complaint today. An Apple representative will take down what you say and give you a case number. Hopefully if enough creative professionals call in, Apple will realize the error and reinstate the matte finish option for the display on the MacBook Pro. Call now.

... there is no glare, because I control where the ambient light comes from.

My contrast is better. My blacks are blacker. My small type is sharper. I've been carrying this unit for a year, and no visible scuffing or scratching on the LCD.

I would never trade for a matte display, and Apple's customer care is not going to hear a peep out of me.

I understand personal preference, but there are some good arguments for not frosting the screen. And the idea of a graphics pro putting a glare filter on a production display is flat-out weird to me.

A correction:

The new MacBook Pro has a Mini DisplayPort, not a mini DVI port.
There are adapters available for DVI dual-link DVI, and VGA.

I too called Apple all the way from India to express my disappointment with respect to the "entire" line of monitors gaining the Glossy Glass Screens.

How are Photographers, Designers and the likes going to deal with this curved ball ?

In addition to the phone call, I also wrote to Apple at the following URL :

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

During the Q&A part of the presentation, a question of the Glossy Screen was asked and it seems from the answer provided that a Mat Screen mostly will not be an option !

A SAD day indeed !

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Guest wrote:
... there is no glare, because I control where the ambient light comes from...

Well sometimes we can not control the placement of our monitors. I do not have any glossy monitors at this time, but I have worked a few recently and I do not think that they would be a problem.

Any old time yeggs here remember the Apple II monitors that had a nylon mesh over the monitor? We used to cut them off because the gloss screen was better.

Ditto!!

I'm a photographer and I was waiting for the new one with a matt screen. The glossy screen is annoying enough indoors let alone outside.

On the upside, the old model will be cheaper (by about $300?!) on Amazon. I'll have to see the new one in the Apple Store first before I give it the thumbs down. Who knows, maybe it will transform into one of the Transformers and I'll change my mind.

No Matte Display - Sucks!

As far as I'm concerned, it's no longer a "Pro" model without a non-reflective screen.

Only firewire 800? - it seems that the raft of external drives, peripherals like audio interfaces etc. that I possess will now be rendered useless if I "upgrade".

"bag of hurt" - very true.

I have both types of screens, Glossy and Mat on machines at home. A BlackBook with the glossy and a 3 week old MBP with mat. My wifeis a marketing professional and has been a Mac user since the IIc. When we were buying her new MBP, she had no preference. Her old 17" PB was mat and she had been using my BlackBook for a while and she said she would go either way. It drove me and the Apple guy nuts trying to get her to make up her mind! She ended up with Mat primarily because it was what she is used to, but she would have been fine with the glossy. Her Art Director, who lives in Photoshop and Qaurk and InDesign, loves her old 23" Apple CRT with its glossy screen. Since all the folks I know who in the graphics business don't care or prefer glossy, I don't see the massive hue and cry over the glossy only MBP. Since so many are "guests" I wonder.

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Anonymous wrote:
Only firewire 800? - it seems that the raft of external drives, peripherals like audio interfaces etc. that I possess will now be rendered useless if I "upgrade".

"bag of hurt" - very true.

FW 800 is backward compatible to FW 400 with a $20 dongle.

Since when is A matte screen a "pro" requirement. MAYBE I can see a photog on the go having a problem, but any color critical setup I've seen has calibrated displays, Munsell 7 on the walls and indirect lighting save for the proofing box (or a JUST viewer next to the display.)

If you're not controlling your lighting (and your clothing for that matter) then you're not a color critical professional.

OK, so that's harsh....

But there were so few of you that Apple decided that pissing you off wouldn't affect the 4th quarter. Given their recent success, I'll keep my Apple stock in play.

Besides, if you REALLY want a matte display, connect one. And then by all means, complain to Apple. If there really are enough of you, you'll get what you want. Until then, get an external monitor for when you're in the studio.

Some of us just want to use iPhoto, or Word, or whatever without getting eyestrain. If you think I'm supposed to be responsible for "controlling" every aspect of the lighting in my living room because Apple made a bad decision, you're an idiot.

This idiot loves his glossy iMac. The window behind me doesn't bother me, the lamp above me doesn't bother me. As you can read in some of these comments, many of us are happy with the glossy screen. And I guess there are more of us idiots than there are of you iPhoto/Word using eyestrain sufferers.

Sucks to be you.

I have an older macbook with a glossy screen and when I am outdoors or in a room with sunlight shining in I have to constantly reposition the screen so it's not a mirror. I find this very annoying. It may be easy to control the light that hits the screen in a controlled environment, like your own home or office, but this is a MOBILE computer and I often find myself using my laptop in cafes, parks, other peoples homes, airplanes, etc.. where I don't have control over the environment. In these less-than-perfect environments a matte screen is worlds easier to look at. I can see having a glossy screen in a dark room. That would be the only place where it would make sense to me. I'm holding out hope that Apple will at least provide the option of a matte screen in the future. I don't think I'll ever buy another mobile computer with a glossy screen again.

Chris

I prefer matte screens, but more accurately I'm pro-choice. Give the consumer a choice. Don't make us wait for a product revision in January. This has been a BTO option for many models, so obviously additional product focus groups or marketing research is not needed. If it costs a few bucks more for screen finish choice, pass it -- Apple was never afraid to do that before...

will you whiners get serious....I can't stand indesign on the 15'' display and always plug into 23'' display in the office...I can't believe y'all can't deal with glossy while traveling...

you have to be kidding me if you think the vast majority of pros are not plugging into 23'' or larger screens for serious bread&butter work...and I'm not talking about some blogger sitting at a coffee shop just word processing, I'm talking about having 3 to 6 apps open simultaneously all day....

Sadly I agree. The glass displays, while pretty, are complete deal-breakers for a creative professional. I don't believe for a second that there is a preference for glossy displays amongst this demographic, how could there be? The reality is that Apple, since the growing success of the iPod and iPhone, have been prioritising the average consumer over the creative pros who helped build the company. The poor, inconsistent iMac displays, which are virtually unusable by designers or photographers, are evidence of this. These new MacBook changes, as well as conspicuously side-stepping 17 inch's in the launch, continue this new tradition.

I agree with BanjoBanker - the number of guests and the style and content of their messages makes me very suspicious that Apple's competitors are employing tactics well documented in election campaigns: employ a marketing company to target the core audience by writing messages posing as 'one of them' in a futile attempt to turn opinion one way or another... beware the viral anti-marketing...

Just so you know I am writing this on a glossy macbook. I'm not a creative professional but what I do know is that matte or glossy there is a compromise. My thinking was that glossy was the better compromise because at best the screen is way better than matte for photography depth, clarity and colours. The worst bit is the narrow viewing angle which means there is some 'whitening out' for certain viewing angles. If I was a pro I'd probably have an external monitor as ctopher said. Sorry I'm not a pro so I don't know the language very well.

Probably more important is the graphics power right?

I have been an Apple User for 20yrs, and I love to be in the elite group, but recently i think Apple are lagging behind other PC makers, maybe this is because they are focusing on the Iphone and Ipod market too much.

I was like most Mac fans waiting with anticipation on the new laptop models, will they have Blu-Ray? will they be faster but cheaper, will have HDMI output, will the macbook be 14inch? and lots more.

I was very please with the look of the new look of the macbooks and macbook pros, great design again from Apple, love the trackpad too.... but thats where it ends.

Dell has now announced a Quad Core Laptop, this makes them the fastest video and design portable around, this used to be Apples playground. They also have another model of laptop with 8hrs battery life!!!!!!

WHAT APPLE SHOULD HAVE DONE

Macbook should have been same entry level spec but at a price point of $900, this would have mad many more less well off students really consider a Mac as a work machine.

MacbookPro should have been Quadcore with Blu-Ray DVD combo drive, and HDMI output.

Mr Jobs you can make Apples look pretty and we will still buy them up to a point, but when we consider that we can get more bang for our bucks in the financial climate we will really have to think hard about spending our money else where, for years I have been happy to pay more for an Apple Mac knowing that it was faster and better than all other PC makers out there, I cant say that totally at present. Please Mr Jobs sort this out as soon as possible.

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ctopher wrote:
Since when is A matte screen a "pro" requirement. MAYBE I can see a photog on the go having a problem, but any color critical setup I've seen has calibrated displays, Munsell 7 on the walls and indirect lighting save for the proofing box (or a JUST viewer next to the display.)

Ctopher, why are you so threatened by those of us who rely on a matte display? What does it matter to you that we prefer this option? I don't understand Apple's decision to abandon the matte display, but the flames that our complaints have caused are just as baffling.

Some of us take our notebooks out in the field or to a client, so we don't have the luxury of connecting them to external matte displays.

So for those of us who actually use our notebooks to make a living, we prefer the matte display. You can have your glossy display for your gaming, too.

Quote

Anonymous wrote:
will you whiners get serious....I can't stand indesign on the 15'' display and always plug into 23'' display in the office...I can't believe y'all can't deal with glossy while traveling...

you have to be kidding me if you think the vast majority of pros are not plugging into 23'' or larger screens for serious bread&butter work...and I'm not talking about some blogger sitting at a coffee shop just word processing, I'm talking about having 3 to 6 apps open simultaneously all day....

So you take your 23" screen with you in the field or to a client? Are you kidding me? Why don't you get serious! I, too, plug my PowerBook into an external matte display at the office. But I'm not always in the office. When work takes me to a client or out in the field, I prefer the matte display! Simple as that.

I don't understand why this preference makes any difference to you. We don't belittle your preference for a glossy screen. Get a life.

I'm not threatened by a person's preference to a Matte display. But I would like to temper is the notion that glossy is for kids.

There are lots of posts on this thread that state ALL creative professionals prefer matte displays. This is simply not the case. Nor do I believe it's the case that *most* creative professionals prefer glossy. But it appears to be the case that a vocal minority hates the glossy display.

Calling it a "sad day" may be true for you, but I don't believe it's a sad day for Apple. Someone said:

Those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them...

They were referring to glossy displays and glare screens in the 80s. In my experience, creative professionals were not using glare screens in the 80s. Office workers did use those screens, but I believe their main selling point was privacy. In any event, no one was getting rich selling glare screens. (but you can still buy one if you want!)

Perhaps the mistake of the past was to have too many models with slight variations rather than having a clean line-up. They are not repeating that mistake.

So please, complain to Apple about not having a choice anymore. Let it be your deal breaker. Let us all know in your posts how disappointed you are. But don't call Apple stupid for taking this away. Apple is a consumer products company, not a graphics professional company.

Don't hate the player, hate the game. Don't hate Apple, they are catering to the masses who clearly prefer the glossy screens. College students, hockey moms, Joe Sixpack have all usurped the brand and decided that they like Apple computers and prefer the glossy display.

I write this as a user and as an Apple shareholder. As a user I want a great machine. As a shareholder I want a profitable company. Sometimes you can't have both.

Lets think about giving you the choice of a matte display.

Once you add that level of choice, you've added several new parts that have to be sourced, approved, tested, stocked, forecast, controlled, etc. Yes, they don't have to invent the wheel for another part but it definitely has a cost over and above the parts cost. If they were to pass on ALL of those costs, then the choice would be so expensive that no one would buy it. I have no insider information so I'm guessing here, but I'd guess that Apple looked at the sales figures and decided that even if they lost ALL of their matte loving customers, the increased margins afforded by a simpler product line would still put them ahead.

So again I say, Apple is not being stupid or repeating mistakes, they're reacting to their market.

All we ask for is CHOICE! The glossy displays on the iMac have stopped me buying them for my research lab. Now we find that matte finish are not an option on the MacBook "Pro", or new LED lit displays. A real backwards move. I now cannot honestly recommend an Apple computer to friends and colleagues - despite finding the software so much easier to use.

Apple: Please bring back some choice to your product line!

The "Pros" need to realize that the 6-bit screens on laptops should never be used for color work. They are crap. They are dithered to "fake" the color spectrum. I have yet to be able to accurately calibrate them with a hardware calibrator. Gloss or no gloss is a lame argument against the laptop in that respect. If you care about accurate color then you need to worry about gloss or no gloss on 24-bit cinema style displays. Get an Eizo or NEC and you'll have terrific color with your laptop. The screen on the machine is a toy.

Well... quite a lot of mixed opinion here regarding the new Macbook screen.

There is, of course, the option of getting the 17in, which offers the screen in matte and gloss. Although personally, although I love the idea of having a 17in laptop, I find laptops of that format too large for travelling (which I do a lot of).

Personally I think the whole lot are over priced considering the specs, which I think are only mildly impressive. As "Guest" with subject "Apple Is lagging Behind Dell" said... they should/could pack of punch considering the price. It appears to me Apple is relying too heavily on the "sex" appeal of the Mac brand and style/look with this new Macbook line-up, and not enough on innovation and high-end features I would expect for such a high-end price.

I understand the gloss on the macbook pro's is less glossy than many Wintel laptops. I've also read around the net comments from many photo professionals who prefer the gloss as it provides richer and more accurate colors. I was expecting to see people saying the opposite of this. So it seems to me (having now spent about 5 hours researching this issue) that it really is a matter of opinion and personal preference. Go try one out in a shop for 1/2 an hour... and see what you think then. Compare the gloss to the 17in Matte model.

Jonathan

http://smokingapples.com/opinion/new-macbook-users-glossy-aint-that-bad/#comment-1667

i'm a club/rave dj who operates in a dark environment with light bouncing all over the place and worry that the glossy might suffer in this environment as well (and also some outdoor gigs in the sunlight) and with spontanaeity being so important in what i do, even a temporary distraction or need to be fussy about positioning could really suck. i'll go the the Mac store, though, and ask them to flick the lights on and off while i play with it and see how it compares to the matte

i also prefer 17" for this application so either way i'll be waiting for the 17 to get the performance upgrade, and maybe by the time it does we'll have the matte option back.