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Arsenal09

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 13, 2011
35
0
Belgium
Hi guys, i wanna hear your opinion about the 15inch MBP screen. Should i just take the 1440 x 900 or is it worth upgrading for €100, is it really beter?

Cheers.
 
It's subjective, so everyone has their own opinion. Can't make a value statement about a subjectivity. It's like asking which is better; Pepsi or Coke? You need to decide. For me and what I use this computer for, standard res is better. With the higher resolution, text and icons are all smaller; too small, in my opinion. Is there any place you can go to compare the two? If you can, I'd suggest doing that.
 
It's subjective, so everyone has their own opinion. Can't make a value statement about a subjectivity. It's like asking which is better; Pepsi or Coke? You need to decide. For me and what I use this computer for, standard res is better. With the higher resolution, text and icons are all smaller; too small, in my opinion. Is there any place you can go to compare the two? If you can, I'd suggest doing that.

Thanks for your opinion, if i can try both i surely will, but i never saw the higher resolution on it yet, that's why i asked :)
 
Thanks for your opinion, if i can try both i surely will, but i never saw the higher resolution on it yet, that's why i asked :)

I spent many months going back and forth between high res matte and high res glossy on MacBook pro. I looked every time I went to the Apple Store. The last time I made 3 trips and spent hours on each. Of course this was after coming from a high res MacBook air 13". I finally bought a 15" standard res about a month ago. Right at the end of my two weeks I was in the Apple Store looking again at the high res 15". Spent a few more hours and drove home. Returned the next day and exchanged the standard res for high res matte. No looking back. Completely happy. Not sure if this helps you because I agree that this is really very subjective. You need to look at both.
 
I spent many months going back and forth between high res matte and high res glossy on MacBook pro. I looked every time I went to the Apple Store. The last time I made 3 trips and spent hours on each. Of course this was after coming from a high res MacBook air 13". I finally bought a 15" standard res about a month ago. Right at the end of my two weeks I was in the Apple Store looking again at the high res 15". Spent a few more hours and drove home. Returned the next day and exchanged the standard res for high res matte. No looking back. Completely happy. Not sure if this helps you because I agree that this is really very subjective. You need to look at both.

Yes it helped cause now It looks clear to me that i really have to go to an Apple store. But there aren't much in my area, but i'm gonna do my best for it! Thanks.
 
You don't need to.
Just get to a 16:10 screen.
Make screenshots in 1440x900 and 1680x1050 or the 16:9 equivalent. Resize them to be as big as a 15" screen and you will see how well you can read it.
Going to the store is really more important for deciding matte vs. glossy but for res alone a very uncreative solution and impractical if there is no store close to you.

As far as text size goes. Don't forget that it can almost everywhere be resized. Most applications allow you to set a font size. The only stuff that stays small is usually menus and icons but that helps save space.
High res just can fit a lot more and it shows sharper text. Like in MS Word or PDFs zoomed to show two pages next to each other looks with 11-13pt font size pretty bad on 1440x900 but perfectly sharp on 1680x1050.
 
Hi Res Anti Glare all the way. It's honestly the best IMO.
+1 I've had my 2011 15" Hi-res Anti-glare MBP for a week now and couldn't be happier.

It looks fantastic and the fact I don't have to worry about reflections is fantastic (I previously owned a 27" iMac - glossy display was a pain). I'd definitely go for the high resolution, much nicer having the extra space.
 
+1 I've had my 2011 15" Hi-res Anti-glare MBP for a two weeks now and couldn't be happier.

That an an extra 4gb of memeory and it's the most wonderful machine I've ever used! :):)
 
hi-res
anyone who tells you otherwise has no experience with high-res (for a while)

What's the best? Pepsi or Coke?

"Pepsi
Anyone who tells you Coke has no experience with Pepsi (for a while)"

See how ridiculous that sounds? It's not an objective difference. High-res is not higher quality; it just has more lines. If you like it, that's great. Some people don't.

Here's another one. Tires. I could spend twice as much and get high performance tires for my car. Sure, they stick to the road better, but it's because they're soft and will only last 10,000 miles. They also don't channel away water and can be downright dangerous in the rain and, God forbid, the snow. So I won't buy them. But, they're high performance, so they must be better, right? Well, better for whom? Certainly not better for me.
 
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What's the best? Pepsi or Coke?

"Pepsi
Anyone who tells you Coke has no experience with Pepsi (for a while)"

See how ridiculous that sounds? It's not an objective difference. High-res is not higher quality; it just has more lines. If you like it, that's great. Some people don't.

Here's another one. Tires. I could spend twice as much and get high performance tires for my car. Sure, they stick to the road better, but it's because they're soft and will only last 10,000 miles. They also don't channel away water and can be downright dangerous in the rain and, God forbid, the snow. So I won't buy them. But, they're high performance, so they must be better, right? Well, better for whom? Certainly not better for me.

Your analogy doesn't really work. The higher resolution screens do not have downsides compared to the standard resolution screens. It gives sharper images, more screen real estate as well as just looking better. I would say the only real reason for going with the standard resolution is if you didn't want to spend the extra 100 euro or you don't have the best eye sight and you need a lower PPI screen.
 
Your analogy doesn't really work. The higher resolution screens do not have downsides compared to the standard resolution screens. It gives sharper images, more screen real estate as well as just looking better. I would say the only real reason for going with the standard resolution is if you didn't want to spend the extra 100 euro or you don't have the best eye sight and you need a lower PPI screen.

It does not give more real estate. They have the exact same area (length x width). If your home appliances and furniture were all 36% smaller, would you say that your house has somehow gained more real estate? The high-res display does give sharper images for sure. But I hate how small it makes standard text and icons. It's too small for my taste. I would not want a high-res screen for essentially the same reason I wouldn't want all my appliances and furniture 36% smaller. That would make them less functional for my needs. I happen to prefer the lower PPI of the standard screen.

My analogies obviously don't hold up to scrutiny because they're completely different things. I'm just using the analogy to illustrate my point. It's not higher quality. It's just different. I know most people prefer high-res and that I'm in the minority here. I just don't think it's fair to say that high-res is "better". That's such a blanket statement. Weigh the pros and cons of each and then come to a decision on which one is better for you.

I'm more than willing to let high-res owners prefer the resolution on their screens. What I don't understand is why so many of them feel the need to convince standard-res owners that their screen is somehow inferior.
 
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I would say it is better in the way that it offers much more than it takes away.
Try fitting the standard Eclipse (programming tool) on a 1680x1050 and a standard res screen. You can see so much more and don't have to often click around to get some information. It is a real blessing to keep more information on the screen. For convenience one can still make the font size in the main editor window larger.
Buttons and Icons are smaller and take less space this is especially good since with all the full hd desktop screens many buttons on GUIs simply grew way too big. Menu items and secondary stuff takes less space but still fits. The main thing is still as big as I want it. In Word a page I zoom to the same size I always zoom it the only difference is I can zoom out further without a text looking bad. And I do have the direct comparison with a 19" 1440x900 screen as my external screen. Terminal, mail, .. can all change the text size. "Standard text" is confusing as it is mostly secondary text, like menus and icon descriptions that are small not the main text.
High Res gives you freedom to choose how big something is displayed without sacrificing sharpness. And there is a huge difference especially when displaying text.
 
+1 for HR Anti-Glare, coming from a MBP1,1 the black bezel seemed really bizarre and ugly, I upgraded more for aesthetics but after seeing friends with the 1440x900, really glad I went with the upgrade. Lots of room for lots of things on this screen.

Do it!
 
It does not give more real estate. They have the exact same area (length x width). If your home appliances and furniture were all 36% smaller, would you say that your house has somehow gained more real estate? The high-res display does give sharper images for sure. But I hate how small it makes standard text and icons. It's too small for my taste. I would not want a high-res screen for essentially the same reason I wouldn't want all my appliances and furniture 36% smaller. That would make them less functional for my needs. I happen to prefer the lower PPI of the standard screen.

It's not the exact same area. If you're running Photoshop and have a large image open, the extra 150 horizontal lines and 110 vertical lines allow you to see more of the image. It's not necessarily the size of the physical screen that matters, it's the resolution.
 
Both screens are 15.4". By definition, they have the exact same area. Yes, you get to see more of the pixels in the image if you're working with a large photoshop image. But the pixels are smaller. So the flip side is if you're doing fine correction, you'll have to zoom in further on the high def screen to see the pixels that need correcting.

Again, there are many things that the high-def is better for, and there are a few things that standard def is better for. I happen to be one whose needs dictate my preference for standard res. If you're going to make a categorical statement, you need to show that the side you're advocating for has no deficiencies. You guys keep making the categorical statement that high-def is better, and then give a specific example. It doesn't work like that; you can't make a categorical statement then use a specific example to demonstrate the truth of your claim. I then give a specific example for which the standard def is preferable. I understand that each screen has its own benefits and drawbacks. Do you?

Decide what your needs are, then get the screen res that fits your needs. Perhaps one of your needs is to save money. Perhaps you have poor eyesight, or you suffer from eye-strain. Or maybe you just don't like to squint if you're like me, and the majority of your work is reading and writing, and not photo correction or using Eclipse for programming. The different configurations are offered because we all use our computers differently and we each have our own opinions and preferences.
 
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Thanks everyone for the replies. I think i will go for an glossy hi-res screen, just another month of waiting and than i will order my first mac, can't wait for it! But if you take the hi-res, do you have to order it from Apple.com or is that also in stock in Apple stores always? Sorry if it's a noob question.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. I think i will go for an glossy hi-res screen, just another month of waiting and than i will order my first mac, can't wait for it! But if you take the hi-res, do you have to order it from Apple.com or is that also in stock in Apple stores always? Sorry if it's a noob question.

They may or may not have one in stock. Give them a call and ask them if they typically stock high-res screens or not.
 
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