Anyone else wonder why Apple made the bezel on the air silver instead of black? I think it's the only device in their current line-up without a black bezel. MBP, iMac, Thunderbolt display, iPad all black. I know the glass doesn't go all the way to the edge of the screen on the Air. Just figured they'd make the bezel black to match the rest of their line-up.
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MacBook Air bezel
- Thread starter mpaquette
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I was advised over at Apple and MicroCenter when you customize a MBPro 15.4 inch with a matte display, you loose the black bezel and get the silver bezel as in the MBA.
Have no idea why they decided to only make a few models with the silver bezel but I think I like it better than the black one.
Simply because the Macbook Pro with the black bezel have an additional layer of glass on the screen (protection) that makes it glare, when obviously this is best to have a mate bezel.
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I just wish they'd make the bezel thinner. It's the only mistake they made aesthetically in an otherwise gorgeous laptop.
I just wish they'd make the bezel thinner. It's the only mistake they made aesthetically in an otherwise gorgeous laptop.
Apple has traditionally made the bezel of the same material and color as the rest of the laptop.
Only the heavy glass covers have a painted border. Personally I greatly prefer the silver. Nothing wrong with black, it just looks odd to those who have been using PowerBooks for years.
Apple made the glossy extra shiny by using glass. They sell the best to those who go into the store, since they show well under the artificial lighting. Shiny toys sell best.
While I agree, it just isn't possible without shrinking the size of the keyboard. You could possibly up the size of the LCD, but the way the lid tapers off on all sides also makes that very difficult, if not impossible (until LCDs get even thinner, I suppose).
It's a tricky situation for their industrial design team, I'm sure. You could potentially move the ports inward, but you'd have to raise the keyboard, which would add thickness. There are tradeoffs and I'm excited to see what Apple comes up with next.
if the MBA had glas, and the black bezel, i probably would never have touched it at all.
I canot understand the desire for glass, and black glass bezels.
all glass, no matter how quality provides glare. its just unecessary pain in the but for what comes down to, an aethestic choice, as while the display is on, it makes no difference.
I also find that black bezels take away from the screens contrast ratio. o matter what, no display can reproduce true black in the same blackness that pain or a physical bezel's black can be. So no matter what, you always have the contrasting diffefence between simulated black levels in your picture and this monstrous black border.
When they do it in silver, which is much much lighter colour, those blacks are darker relative to their surrounding, giving the impression of better contrast
I canot understand the desire for glass, and black glass bezels.
all glass, no matter how quality provides glare. its just unecessary pain in the but for what comes down to, an aethestic choice, as while the display is on, it makes no difference.
I also find that black bezels take away from the screens contrast ratio. o matter what, no display can reproduce true black in the same blackness that pain or a physical bezel's black can be. So no matter what, you always have the contrasting diffefence between simulated black levels in your picture and this monstrous black border.
When they do it in silver, which is much much lighter colour, those blacks are darker relative to their surrounding, giving the impression of better contrast
DING DING DING, We have a winner. I like the contrast and relative ease that the bezel disappears while I am working. I used to be slightly upset about it, moving from my 09 Pro, but now I am a huge fan.
Ive never paid attention to bezels....never understood the obsession with the unusable space of the screen....LOL
I dont understand why they put such a huge bezel around the MBA screen. It's almost an extra inch on each size, so I'm sure they could have squeezed a 14" screen in that size.
Or even better, squeeze a 1440x900 12" screen in the MBA 11". Now THAT would have been my chosen machine!
Or even better, squeeze a 1440x900 12" screen in the MBA 11". Now THAT would have been my chosen machine!
Honestly? The bezel is the one reason I didn't buy an Air. Everything else on my desktop has a black bezel and the air would stand out hugely in comparison, which is a petty reason to avoid a computer; but I did end up with a more powerful computer because of it.
Agreed. The wide bezels just waste space that could be used for bigger displays.
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Cost, weight, and fragility. If you want a more expensive and heavier computer then just move up to the next larger Apple laptop. It will be less expensive and less fragile than if Apple used a smaller bezel on the current MBA.
Yes, that's a pretty silly reason to make a choice one way or the other. At least you called it out.
Battery life.
The size of screen + bezel determines how big a battery you can fit in the body, without making it thicker. Thinner bezel = smaller battery = less battery life. Bigger screen inside same form factor = higher power consumption = less battery life.
Cost would only be slight, weight would be slight, and the fragility argument just doesn't fly. Even old laptops tend to have much thinner bezels than the Airs.
...in a much thicker lid, though, which not only allows for completely different stabilizing structures inside, but most importantly for placing the illumination (CCFL & electronics) behind the screen instead of at the sides like the LED's (and electronics) in the MBA.
Just who currently manufactures these larger displays in both the quantity and with the quality that Apple requires, but with only a slight difference in cost?
And these old laptops had much thicker, heavier lids to go with those smaller bezels. If you like that style and weight, just get a MBP instead.
If I'm gonna drop £1350 on a laptop; I want it to be perfect. A think like that is small and petty and if I had to look at it every day, I'd quickly regret my purchase.