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If you can't compare them before purchase and you want to make a safe choice, get the matte.

Why?

Glossy is much more of a love/hate thing than matte. For those who prefer glossy, matte would probably still be acceptable to them, but those who prefer matte usually can't stand glossy.

So matte is the safe choice.
 
I was in the same situation as you a little over a year ago. I decided to go matte just because when I do work in environments with more lighting, I don't want to look at a mirror. Matte screens also tend to hide dirt / fingerprints a lot better.

Down the road you can always buy a glossy external monitor to hook it up too or vice versa depending on which you pick

Hope that helps
 
I would go for glossy, the colors are just a little bit better, and I can live with the reflections, I don't even notice them anymore.
 
When I went to the Apple Store, teh glossy screen "eliminated" small (and I do mean, SMALL) artifacts in blacks during video and pictures. It does give you a cleaner look, with darker colors and a richer picture, but its artificial. For accurate colors, go Matte, but you really dont need your colors to be accurate unless you're a pro photographer/video editor.

The glossy looks a lot better, in my highest opinion. You'll be way more satisfied.

Regarding your questions on the harddrive, yes, it does make a difference. Programs will open faster, boot times will be a tab bit faster. Read speed is quick, but write speed, I heard, is pretty much the same as a 5000+RPM.

Oh, and when you write/read or use your harddrive at all, the spinning will be noticeably louder then the regular 5000+RPM HDD.
 
For me it's a no brainer, I would buy the Matte hands down.. Now maybe I'm not the norm (I work professionally with image editing), but you'll find when editing photos (as you said you would in a small amount) you'll have better accurazy (especially in the deeper blacks) and in the color-tones..

Also I find the reflections annoying and tend to strain my eyes more on a glossy screen.. Isn't Indonesia very sunny =)..

A tip, instead of upgrading to the 7200rpm drive, buy a 3rd-part 320GB 5400 disc and put it in yourself, it will be equally fast to the 7200 drive due to the higher data-density (the data is more compressed - hence reading faster at a lower rpm)..
 
Guys, guess what.
I tried to purchase the MBP through one distributor in Jakarta. And apparently there was no stock left for the MBP (maybe it's just one distributor). However, the interesting part of it was, they said they are expecting to receive the new type with the next shipment.
Oh yeah, btw, the MBP sold for $2,350 for some reason. (discounted price?)

Checked with authorized reseller in Surabaya, depleted stock of MBPs.
Checked with apple store in Singapore, they offered free memory upgrade to 4GB with the MBPs.

I think something's coming up with the MBP.

Question: if I DIY installation of 3rd party hard drive, will I void the warranty? I have never done this before, but isn't it like tearing the laptop apart? Please advise on this issue.
 
Definitely IMO go for the matte. I had a MB and the glossy was nice, great for watching videos, but when I got my current MBPro I went back to matte and have never regretted it. So much more pleasing to the eye, more accurate, more useable. Good luck.
 
Matte. Glossy sucks. The only reason everyone is making glossy screens is because they look more attractive on the store shelves. Matte has more accurate color and almost no glare. I really wish Apple would give the option for matte displays on the MacBooks.
 
I just bought a macbook pro 17"! And i went for the matte screen!

This was a big question for me when i was going to buy it!

The glossy screen is great if you are in dark places!

But the matte screen is great everywhere! Movies looks really good on the matte screen aswell :p

And the glossy screen is a B*Tch to clean! My m8 has a glossy screen and it`s allways full of fingerprints etc!
 
Guys, guess what.
I tried to purchase the MBP through one distributor in Jakarta. And apparently there was no stock left for the MBP (maybe it's just one distributor). However, the interesting part of it was, they said they are expecting to receive the new type with the next shipment.
Oh yeah, btw, the MBP sold for $2,350 for some reason. (discounted price?)

Checked with authorized reseller in Surabaya, depleted stock of MBPs.
Checked with apple store in Singapore, they offered free memory upgrade to 4GB with the MBPs.

I think something's coming up with the MBP.

Question: if I DIY installation of 3rd party hard drive, will I void the warranty? I have never done this before, but isn't it like tearing the laptop apart? Please advise on this issue.

Interesting stuff about the MacBook Pro there, but I think the new one won't be out until next Tuesday (5th).

Replacing your hard drive WILL void your warranty, but it CAN be done: LINK
 
Matte!

Use an app like Nocturne if you are outside, it renders the desktop in high contrast, in any desired color.
 
Get a matte. Glossy is crap. It gets dirty VERY FAST and the glare is horrible. I am so happy I got a matte on my MBP.

I agree. I still recommend you for the matte.

My friend has a Dell laptop with a glossy screen. I found there are saliva spots (we might spat some when we were talking), fingerprints and dusts. All these things are extremely easy to spot. He tried to clean the screen and it was a very difficult job.

Also, glossy made me feel dizzy. The screen actually reflects everything that I don't want to see (some of them).

But I like the more saturated colours of the glossy screen.
 
c'mon

people are ridiculous ,you've completely forgotten the CRTs ...may be you had a "matte" CRT ??


definitely glossy ! :D
 
Interesting stuff about the MacBook Pro there, but I think the new one won't be out until next Tuesday (5th).

Replacing your hard drive WILL void your warranty, but it CAN be done: LINK

Wow, I'm amazed... Thanks IEatApples. However, after seeing the link you provided, I'm not sure I'll do it.
Have you tried to do it before? To me it's like operating someone except this one doesn't live. Nevertheless, thanks for this link. I'll surely keep this one.

I got a question: has anyone ever experienced any dead pixels with a glossy screen when you received your MBP? (in the case of mail order)
Reason: I just don't like the idea of 'special order' the glossy screen and find out when I receive it, it has any dead pixels. I just want to have statistic in this case I guess.

Thanks everyone.
 
I got a question: has anyone ever experienced any dead pixels with a glossy screen when you received your MBP? (in the case of mail order)
Reason: I just don't like the idea of 'special order' the glossy screen and find out when I receive it, it has any dead pixels. I just want to have statistic in this case I guess.

Thanks everyone.

I have never heard anyone ranting about dead pixels on MBP before (it's usually the bottom 1/3 yellowing). My glossy screen is perfect tho.
 
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